Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8187149 | Coasting control systems and methods for automatic transmission A coasting control system for a vehicle includes a coasting monitoring module and a glide mode activation module. The coasting monitoring module determines whether the vehicle is in a coasting state. The glide mode activation module operates a transmission in a free... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8167773 | Method and apparatus to control motor cooling in an electro-mechanical transmission A method for controlling a powertrain including an transmission coupled to an engine and an electric machine and a hydraulic control system providing hydraulic flow to a cooling circuit of the electric machine, wherein the transmission is adapted to selectively tran... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8162797 | Methods and systems for heating transmission fluid Systems and methods are provided for heating transmission fluid in a vehicle, the vehicle comprising an engine and a transmission, the engine including a heat exchanger. One example method comprises, during a first engine running condition, operating an auxiliary tr... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8137239 | Transmission temperature sensing and control As one example approach, temperature indications from transmission actuators are used to control the actuators and transmission shifting. For example, temperature differences among the different actuators can be used to provide improved relative timing and actuation... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8079935 | Shift control device for automatic transmission and shift control method thereof A shift control device comprises: a thermal load prediction unit which predicts a thermal load state of a friction element upon completion of a shift from a current thermal load state of the friction element; and a shift control unit which, when the thermal load sta... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8062178 | Temperature control of dual input clutch transmission A system for controlling temperature of a transmission clutch includes a housing containing the clutch, a fan for circulating air through the housing and over the clutch, and a controller configured to determine an inferred temperature at a reference surface on the ... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8057357 | Power output apparatus, control method of power output apparatus, and vehicle equipped with power output apparatus An object oil temperature is determined by adopting a gradual change process for an oil temperature of a cooling lubricant oil, which is used to lubricate and cool down a motor and a transmission constructed to cause an output power of the motor to be subjected to s... | 11/15/2011 |
| 8052575 | Active fuel management mode torque converter clutch control A system comprises a slip module and a gas temperature module. The slip module adjusts slipping of a clutch of a torque converter based on a first slip value before a cylinder of an engine is deactivated. The gas temperature module determines a temperature of a gas ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8052574 | Transmission, straddle-type vehicle provided with the same, and control method for transmission An electronically controlled transmission in which a single drive motor is used to drive a shift shaft, in which shift shock is reduced during continuous running. The transmission has a shift shaft, an actuator, a gear box and a control portion. The actuator causes ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 7972241 | Drive control device of an automatic gearbox for a motor vehicle and method therefor A drive control device of an automatic transmission of a vehicle. The transmission having a main oil pump driven by an internal combustion engine, an electrically driven auxiliary oil pump and a hydraulic control device; a device for determining the required volumet... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7815544 | Method and system for releasing hydraulic pressure of automatic transmission The present invention relates to a method and a system for releasing hydraulic pressure of an automatic transmission that improve shift responsiveness and stability of hydraulic pressure control as a consequence of quickly supplying to a pressure control valve as fe... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7775933 | Control apparatus and control method for torque transmission mechanism An ECU executes a program including the step of controlling the current value of an actuator that moves a sleeve by increasing the current value subsequent to complete synchronization between a rear output shaft and a front output shaft of a transfer when the oil te... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7771311 | Enhanced catalyst performance by engine load adjustment A method comprises operating an engine of a vehicle to provide output torque to an input of a torque converter, determining whether the engine is in a cold start condition, fixing an input shaft of a transmission when the engine is in the cold start condition, and c... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7713167 | Automatic transmission control system An automatic transmissions control system varies times to start a shift to securing a good response in engagement pressure for an engagement-side frictional element as well as suppressing occurrence of hydraulic pressure vibrations at low temperatures. The control s... | 05/11/2010 |
| 7670260 | Oil warming strategy for transmission A method is provided for increasing a temperature of oil in a continuously variable transmission during engine start-up, the transmission including a fluid pump and motor, and a mechanical transmission. The method includes starting the engine, maintaining the fluid ... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7648439 | Operation of electrically controlled transmissions at lower temperatures A system and method for controlling electromechanical valves operating in a transmission is presented. According to the method, transmission operation can be improved by heating the valves, at least during some conditions. ... | 01/19/2010 |
| 7625312 | Control device for vehicle An ECT-ECU executes a program including the steps of: executing an oil cooler abnormality determination process; if the oil cooler is abnormal and an oil temperature TH is at least an other-component-abnormality-incurring temperature where the oil cooler is abnormal... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7553257 | Drive force distribution device and method for distributing drive force An ECU estimates the temperatures of the heat generating portions provided in a drive force transmission system, or a transaxle, a rear differential, and a torque coupling, in correspondence with not only the rotational speed (the differential rotational speed) of e... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7455618 | Fluid level regulating method and fluid temperature regulator for automatic transmission A fluid level of hydraulic fluid circulated in an automatic transmission is regulated while an internal combustion engine is running. When the fluid level is regulated, the hydraulic fluid is cooled, for example, by coolant passing through a radiator. In the cooling... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7445579 | System and method of compensating heating performance of continuously-variable-transmission-equipped vehicle A system for compensating a heating performance a motor vehicle with a CVT, wherein the system includes a coolant-temperature sensor for sensing an engine-coolant temperature, and a transmission ECU electronically linked to the CVT and the coolant-temperature sensor... | 11/04/2008 |
| 7438664 | Control apparatus for vehicle and hybrid vehicle In a hybrid vehicle incorporating an internal combustion engine having an in-cylinder injector and a motor, when the temperature of the in-cylinder injector rises, if a current engine operation point is inside a prescribed intermediate load range (deposit risk range... | 10/21/2008 |
| 7435201 | Engine driven vehicle with exhaust cleaning Method and arrangement for achieving lower emissions during operation of a vehicle that includes comprising a combustion engine (10) that emits exhaust gases into an exhaust system (140) having a catalyzes (320). An injection device (310)... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7433770 | Hydraulic fluid change indicating device for automatic transmission A hydraulic fluid change indicating device for an automatic transmission includes a first deterioration rate calculating unit; a deterioration acceleration coefficient calculating unit; and a thermal hydraulic fluid deterioration calculating unit for calculating a t... | 10/07/2008 |
| 7422544 | Engine driven vehicle with exhaust emission cleaning A method of producing lower emissions in the operation of a vehicle includes an internal combustion engine which gives off exhaust gases to an exhaust system comprising a catalytic converter, injectors which are designed to inject hydrocarbon into at least one of th... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7410446 | Oil warming strategy for transmission A method is provided for increasing a temperature of oil in a continuously variable transmission during engine start-up, the transmission including a fluid pump and motor, and a mechanical transmission. The method includes starting the engine, maintaining the fluid ... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7406948 | Internal combustion engine controller An engine ECU executes a program including: the step of outputting a fuel-cut instruction when conditions that an accelerator position PA is not higher than a threshold value and a rate of increase DNE of engine speed NE is not lower than a determination value DNE( | 08/05/2008 |
| 7399257 | System and method of controlling automatic transmission A system for controlling an automatic transmission includes a start clutch, an engagement element arranged in series to the start clutch and engaged during vehicle driving, and an ECU for controlling the start clutch and the engagement element, wherein the ECU is pr... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7384375 | Apparatus for controlling an automatic transmission When a charge control is applied to a clutch during a shifting operation of an automatic transmission, a charge counter of this clutch is set to a predetermined value. When a drain control is applied to the clutch, the charge counter is counted down. In response to ... | 06/10/2008 |
| 7370470 | Method for increasing the exhaust gas temperature of internal combustion engines A method for increasing the exhaust gas temperature of internal combustion engines, particularly for driving a motor vehicle under load in order to reach the necessary regeneration temperature of at least one component of an exhaust gas post-treatment system, has th... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7366601 | Automatic transmission having torque converter with lockup clutch and method of controlling same lockup clutch When a downshift instruction has been detected, the oil pressure of a lookup clutch is controlled, and the state of operation of the automatic transmission is detected. If a starting condition has been met, a slip rotation speed of the lockup clutch is calculated, a... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7364529 | Control device for hydraulic automatic transmission for vehicle A control device for a hydraulic automatic transmission for a vehicle, including start control device for supplying a hydraulic pressure to a first hydraulic engaging element for a low-speed position and a second hydraulic engaging element for a high-speed position ... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359792 | Method and apparatus for initializing injectors In an apparatus for initializing injectors based on pieces of correction data each corresponding to one of the injectors, an obtaining unit obtains injection characteristics of the injectors using temporally-input pieces of data as the pieces of correction data. The... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7329206 | Starting device for motor vehicles A starting device has a first friction element, a second friction element, and a control unit controlling them to change their power transmission states. The friction elements are arranged between an engine and wheels. The control unit controls the first element to ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7322903 | Control method for cooling a launch clutch and an electric motor in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain A method is for controlling a rate of flow of cooling oil to a friction launch clutch and electric motor in a hybrid electric vehicle powertrain. The rate of flow is determined by changes in clutch temperature and motor temperature. Cooling oil flow in excess of the... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7316631 | Automatic transmission apparatus An automatic transmission apparatus includes: a torque converter including a pump impeller connected to an engine and a turbine connected to an input shaft of an automatic transmission; an oil pump connected to the pump impeller and to the turbine; and a controlling... | 01/08/2008 |
| 7314429 | Method for the protection of an automatically actuated clutch of a vehicle against overload A method for the advance determination of an overload of an automatically actuated clutch of a vehicle during a slippage phase and to prevent the overload. The method determines the energy introduced into the clutch during a predetermined first time span of the slip... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7310593 | Sampling apparatus and method for determining the driving state of a vehicle An apparatus for determining a state parameter of an object to be monitored comprises a means for providing a plurality of measurement values, wherein the measurement values comprise information relating to the state parameter of the object to be monitored, a compar... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7309536 | Method for vehicle thermal management A method is provided which uses, or which calculates, a temperature gradient of a portion of a vehicle to determine a value equal to, or representative of, a time before a maximum allowable operating temperature is reached by the portion. If the value is less than a... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7306538 | Hydraulic control apparatus and method for automatic transmission A hydraulic control apparatus for an automatic transmission with a line pressure regulator valve operative to regulate an oil pressure produced by an oil pump and set a line pressure, the hydraulic control apparatus including a control unit outputting a first comman... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7291091 | Method for clutch control, in particular, for parallel gearboxes with wet clutches or wet dual clutches A method for clutch control for wet clutches includes the following steps: determining whether a viscosity of clutch fluid lies above a predetermine threshold value; when the determined viscosity is above the predetermined threshold value: adaptation of the clutch/g... | 11/06/2007 |
