3002results about "Vehicle sub-unit features" patented technology

Electric rotary current machine that includes a casing and a stator fitted within the casing. The stator has at least one stator winding. At least two mechanically separate rotors are rotatably mountable within the casing and have a same axis of rotation. In this way, each rotor has electromagnetic interaction with the stator when the stator is electromagnetically active. The rotor speeds are the same or different. A motor control is arranged to control a supply to at least one of said at least one stator winding by superposition of at least two rotary field components, one for each rotor.

A start-stop or idle-stop method for a heavy-duty hybrid vehicle that turns off the fuel supply while maintaining the crankshaft rotation of the internal combustion engine when the vehicle stops or, optionally, when the vehicle travels downhill, travels in a noise sensitive location, travels in an exhaust emissions sensitive location, or operates in an emergency situation. The stop-start or idle-stop method automatically turns on the engine fuel supply to restart combustion when the vehicle starts accelerating, is no longer traveling downhill, is no longer traveling in a noise sensitive or exhaust sensitive location, is no longer in an emergency situation, or has dropped below the minimum energy storage restart level.

A double clutch transmission is described that ideally changes torque received from an engine and a motor by providing an optimal layout in power transmission scheme and motor location. Such a double clutch transmission is optimally adapted to a hybrid electric vehicle, and an optimal operation method for such a double clutch transmission is also provided, overcoming inefficiency in application of a conventional CVT to an HEV.

According to a nonvolatile memory device having a multi gate structure and a method for forming the same of the present invention, a gate electrode is formed using a damascene process. Therefore, a charge storage layer, a tunneling insulating layer, a blocking insulating layer and a gate electrode layer are not attacked from etching in a process for forming the gate electrode, thereby forming a nonvolatile memory device having good reliability.

A hybrid electric propulsion system for powering a vehicle using a natural fuel engine and an electric motor. The hybrid electric vehicle is comprised of a drive train; an electric motor for driving the drive train; an auxiliary power unit (APU); an electric energy storage system electrically coupled to the electric motor; and wherein the auxiliary power unit and the electric energy storage system provide energy for powering the vehicle. An electric bus is directly connected to both the auxiliary power unit and the electric energy source and the voltage across the electric bus is substantially the same as the voltage across the electric energy source so that a change in voltage of the electric bus results in the same change to the voltage across the electric energy source. A power management controller is programmed to control output power of the power unit to maintain the energy storage system between a predetermined high voltage set-point and a predetermined low voltage set-point.

A hybrid engine having a gas turbine engine and an internal combustion engine, both engines driving a common drive shaft. The compressor delivers compressed air to the combustor and to an inlet of the internal combustion engine, the compressed air picks up heat from the internal combustion engine either from the combustion process or through a heat exchanger, and is delivered to the combustor. When the gas turbine engine is not operating by burning fuel, the heated compressed air from the internal combustion engine is used to maintain the shaft speed sufficient for starting the gas turbine engine without the need to bring the turbine engine up to speed prior to ignition. The apparatus and process of the present invention provides a hybrid engine that is light weight, fuel efficient, and with enough available power for high powered situations.

A transmission having a plurality of tilting balls and opposing input and output discs provides an infinite number of speed combinations over its transmission ratio range. The transmission provides multiple powerpaths and can be combined with electrical components to provide motor/generator functionality, which reduces the overall size and complexity of the motor and transmission compared to when they are constructed separately. In one embodiment, rotatable components of a continuously variable transmission are coupled separately to an electrical rotor and to an electrical stator so that the rotor and stator rotate simultaneously in opposite directions relative to one another. In other embodiments, an electrical rotor is configured to transfer torque to or from a disc that is in contact with a plurality of speed adjusters, while an electrical stator is configured to transfer torque to a shaft that is operationally coupled to the speed adjusters via an idler.

The invention relates to systems and methods for rapidly and isothermally expanding gas in a cylinder. The cylinder is used in a staged hydraulic-pneumatic energy conversion system and includes a gas chamber (pneumatic side) and a fluid chamber (hydraulic side) and a piston or other mechanism that separates the gas chamber and fluid chamber while allowing the transfer of force/pressure between each opposing chamber. The gas chamber of the cylinder includes ports that are coupled to a heat transfer subassembly that circulates gas from the pneumatic side and exchanges its heat with a counter flow of ambient temperature fluid from a reservoir or other source.

A vehicle inside mirror device for displaying an image, which can obtain an enhanced mirror function of a prismatic glass caused by a black film provided at a rear side of a prismatic glass and has a relatively simple structure made by forming directly a transflective layer on a rear surface of a prismatic glass without using a substrate. The vehicle inside mirror device comprises a housing mounted in a passenger compartment of a vehicle; a prismatic glass provided on a front side of the housing and having a transparent transflective layer formed on a rear surface thereof; a black film provided at a rear side of the prismatic glass and having an opening formed on one side thereof; a liquid crystal display (LCD) module provided at a rear side of the opening of the black film; and a control circuit unit installed at a rear side of the LCD module.

A battery power system for a plug-in hybrid or electric tractor trailer employs a battery module which is carried by the trailer. A cable communicates with the battery module and connects with a connector on the cab for supplying power to power the electric motor of the cab. The cab can be disconnected from the trailer while the battery module on the trailer is charged. The cab can then be driven by the electric motor powered by the battery supply of the cab.

A grill shutter unit comprises a shutter unit provided in back of a traveling-air introductory port formed at a front end of a vehicle body and including shutter members, and a traveling-air guide member including a guide frame portion provided at an outer peripheral edge portion of the shutter unit and a seal portion provided to extend forward continuously from a front end of the guide frame portion and be made from soft synthetic resin having more flexibility than the frame portion, wherein the grill shutter unit is configured such that when the shutter members are closed, a seal portion of the traveling-air guide member is pressed against an outer peripheral wall face of the traveling-air introductory port by pressure of traveling air shut off by the shutter members closed.

A vehicle propulsion includes an alternating current (AC) traction drive, a first energy storage system electrically coupled to the traction drive through a direct current (DC) link, a second energy storage system electrically coupled to the traction drive such that the voltage output from the second energy storage system is decoupled from the DC link using a bi-directional boost converter, and a uni-directional current device that is poled to conduct current from the low voltage side of the boost converter to the high voltage side of the boost converter.

A method for controlling a power-shift transmission comprising controlling a vehicle travel speed by simultaneously slipping two or more clutch packs associated with opposing directions of vehicle travel and adjusting an engine speed, according to a programmed response associated with a change in one or more of the engine speed, a torque converter slip, a selected direction of vehicle travel, and an accelerator position.

An illumination module for a vehicle includes at least one illumination source for illuminating a target area at the vehicle. The illumination module may be mounted at a handle of a vehicle door and may be operable to illuminate the handle region and/or pocket region of the vehicle door and to illuminate a ground region adjacent to the vehicle and generally below the door handle assembly. The illumination module may include an icon established thereat and the at least one illumination source may back light the icon so that the icon, when the illumination module is activated, is viewable by a person viewing the vehicle. The illumination module may project or direct the illumination toward a targeted area so that the icon is discernible at the targeted area.

In a vehicular power transmitting apparatus provided with an electrically-controlled differential portion in which controlling an operating state of an electric motor controls a differential state of a differential mechanism, a control device for starting up a drive force source in an appropriate mode depending on a vehicle condition can be provided. The control device includes drive-force source start control means 86 for switching start modes of an engine 8 depending on a vehicle condition to achieve an appropriate start mode for the engine 8 depending on the vehicle condition, so that for instance a contracted drive range by a second electric motor can be avoided.

A vehicular electrical system for a hybrid electric vehicle provides a high voltage electrical system having a high power electrical energy storage device (HPD) and a power inverter that cooperate to provide power to a hybrid electric vehicle propulsion system; and a low voltage electrical system having a low voltage power source, at least one accessory power load, and a control switch that toggles between an opened and a closed position to control the flow of current flowing between the low voltage power source and the HPD. A method of using the vehicular electrical system provides the step of using the HPD and power inverter to provide power to the electric vehicle propulsion system; and opening a control switch to isolate the low voltage system from the high voltage system and closing a control switch to charge the HPD

The invention relates to measures for controlling or reducing drag torque occurring in a multi-plate clutch device (202) due to temperature-related increased viscosity of an operating fluid which is supplied to the plates in operation. The aim of the invention is to enable a motor vehicle to be started or operated even at low temperatures. According to one aspect of the invention, a motor vehicle comprising a drive train is especially provided. Said drive train comprises a drive unit (238), gearbox (330) having a first gearbox input shaft and a second gearbox input shaft, and a clutch (202) having a first clutch device which is associated with the first gearbox input shaft, and a second clutch device which is associated with the second gearbox input shaft, for transferring torque between the drive unit and the gearbox. Said clutch devices are embodied in the form of plate clutches to which an operating fluid can be supplied, especially a cooling oil in order to operate the same. Said gearbox (330) is associated with an actuator device and a control device (316) for controlling the actuator device, the arrangement of which enables the gears associated with the first and second gearbox input shafts to be engaged and disengaged. According to the invention, the control device (316) is designed in such a way that at least one gear is automatically engaged by means of the actuator device (236), as a result of the clutch release of the vehicle.

In a vehicle emergency evacuation device executing an automatic vehicle stop control based on a command of the driver through a switch or a command input device in a driver's emergency, there is provided a switch or a command input device which is easy to operate when a driver's body condition is abnormal or deteriorates but does not erroneously receive a command input when the driver's body condition is normal. The inventive emergency evacuation device comprises a driver's condition monitoring portions, such as a driver camera; a driver's command input portion that has a receptor put on a position accessible for the driver and receiving a command input indicating a driver's intention, and outputs a command of an execution start of an automatic vehicle stop control based on the command input; and an automatic vehicle stop control portion executes the automatic vehicle stop control in response to the command from a driver's command input portion, where, only when an abnormality in a driver's body condition is judged based on the information acquired by the driver's condition monitoring portion, such as a driver's image acquired with the driver camera, the command input is acceptable to the receptor.

Systems and methods for improving operation of a hybrid vehicle are presented. In one example, an engine may be started in one of two ways depending on operating conditions. In particular, the engine may be started via a lower power output electric machine or a higher power output electric machine.

A vehicle propulsion includes an alternating current (AC) traction drive, a first energy storage system electrically coupled to the traction drive through a direct current (DC) link, a second energy storage system electrically coupled to the traction drive such that the voltage output from the second energy storage system is decoupled from the DC link using a bidirectional boost converter, and an energy management system configured to control said first and second energy storage systems when the vehicle is operating in at least one of a pre-charge mode and a normal operation mode with the traction drive system enabled.

Systems and methods for improving operation of a stop/start vehicle are presented. In one example, an engine throttle position is adjusted in response to whether or not a starter engages a flywheel during engine stopping.

A battery charging system for hybrid electric vehicles that is capable of charging a low voltage battery with good energy efficiency. The battery charging system includes a high voltage battery for supplying electric power to a vehicle drive motor; and a voltage converter for converting a voltage, input from the high voltage battery, to a first voltage and outputting the first voltage. The battery charging system further includes a low voltage battery that is charged with the first voltage from the voltage converter; and an alternator, which is driven by an engine, connected with the low voltage battery in parallel with the voltage converter. The output voltage of the alternator is lower than the first voltage and higher than the rated voltage of the low voltage battery.

The vehicle drive device comprises a motor for driving wheels, an inverter for driving the motor, a rotational position sensor for detecting rotation of the motor, a gear mechanism for transmitting an output of the motor to wheels, an oil pump for circulating oil, and cases housing the motor, inverter, rotational position sensor, gear mechanism, and oil pump. The motor, inverter, rotational position sensor gear mechanism oil pump and cases are formed as an integral structure.

A method of operating an internal combustion engine coupled in a hybrid powertrain, the method comprising of extracting waste energy from a component of an electrical power system of the hybrid powertrain, and adjusting intake air temperature during homogeneous charge compression ignition operation of the engine by using said extracted waste energy.

New alternatives for integration of electric machines (EM1 to EM6) in an extensively integrated dual-clutch transmission (1) having one dual clutch (2), one first input shaft (8) designed as a hollow shaft and one second input shaft (9) co-axially supported in the first input shaft (8), the same as a first countershaft (10) designed as a hollow shaft and a second countershaft (11) co-axially supported. The possibilities of construction of such dual-clutch transmission are improved, and new areas of use under limiting installation space conditions are disclosed. The efficiency of the same, relative to certain possible uses, is optimized by adequate location of at least one electric machine (EM1 to EM6) and using it for a multiplicity of modes of operation are proposed.

A control apparatus for a vehicular power transmitting system including (a) an electrically controlled differential portion having a differential mechanism disposed between an engine and a vehicle drive wheel, and a differential-portion electric motor operatively connected to the differential mechanism such that a differential state of the differential mechanism is controllable by controlling an operating sate of the electric motor, and (b) a transmission portion constituting a part of a power transmitting path, the control apparatus including a shifting-point changing portion configured to change a shifting point at which a determination to perform a shifting action of the transmission portion is made, such that the shifting point is changed according to a shifting response of the transmission portion. Alternatively, the control apparatus includes a shift-control start-point changing portion configured to change a shift-control start point at which the determination to perform the shifting action is made, such that the shift-control start point is changed according to the shifting response of the transmission portion, and a compulsory shift-control starting portion configured to make the determination when an operating point of the differential-portion electric motor has reached the shift-control start point.

An integration assembly for a battery pack mounted between the passenger cabin floor panel of an electric vehicle and the driving surface is provided, the assembly utilizing a multi-layer thermal barrier interposed between the battery pack enclosure and the passenger cabin floor panel, where the multi-layer thermal barrier provides noise isolation, thermal isolation and vibration damping, and where the multi-layer thermal barrier is compressed when the battery pack enclosure is mounted to the vehicle. The multi-layer thermal barrier is comprised of a first layer formed from a compressible and conformable elastic material and a second layer formed from a conformable thermally insulating material. The multi-layer thermal barrier may also include a moisture barrier layer that encases the first and second layers, for example a moisture barrier layer fabricated from a plastic. A sealant may be used to seal and bond the moisture barrier layer to the battery pack enclosure.

Apparatus and methods for controlling attention and training of autonomous robotic devices. In one approach, attention of the robot may be manipulated by use of a spot-light device illuminating a portion of the aircraft undergoing inspection in order to indicate to inspection robot target areas requiring more detailed inspection. The robot guidance may be aided by way of an additional signal transmitted by the agent to the robot indicating that the object has been illuminated and attention switch may be required. Responsive to receiving the additional signal, the robot may initiate a search for the signal reflected by the illuminated area requiring its attention. Responsive to detecting the illuminated object and receipt of the additional signal, the robot may develop an association between the two events and the inspection task. The light guided attention system may influence the robot learning for subsequent actions.

A compressed air powered vehicle is disclosed. The vehicle includes a vehicle chassis having wheels. An electric drive motor drivingly engages at least one of the wheels. An electric generator is electrically connected to the electric drive motor, and an air motor drivingly engaging the electric generator. A compressed air source is pneumatically connected to the air motor, and an air compressor is provided on the chassis and pneumatically connected to the compressed air source to replenish compressed air in the compressed air tanks as needed.

The present invention is directed to a carrier for an automobile with integrated active ducting. The carrier includes at least one aperture, and at least one louver rotatably mounted in the aperture. Also attached to the carrier is an actuator, and the actuator is connected to the louver. The actuator is operable for moving the louver between an open position and a closed position such that when the louver is in the open position, air flow passes through the aperture.