US 11,866,122 B2
Leaning vehicle
Tatsuya Nagata, Shizuoka (JP); and Nobuo Hara, Shizuoka (JP)
Assigned to YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Iwata (JP)
Filed by YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Iwata (JP)
Filed on Mar. 1, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/684,280.
Application 17/684,280 is a continuation in part of application No. PCT/JP2020/033273, filed on Sep. 2, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-159394 (JP), filed on Sep. 2, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0250706 A1, Aug. 11, 2022
Int. Cl. B62K 5/10 (2013.01); B62J 45/20 (2020.01); B62J 45/413 (2020.01); B62J 45/422 (2020.01); B62K 5/05 (2013.01)
CPC B62K 5/10 (2013.01) [B62J 45/20 (2020.02); B62J 45/413 (2020.02); B62J 45/422 (2020.02); B62K 5/05 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A leaning vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body;
at least one front wheel and at least one rear wheel, which are supported by the vehicle body and include
one front wheel and two rear wheels, or
two front wheels, and one or two rear wheels;
a leaning device that causes the vehicle body, the at least one front wheel and the at least one rear wheel to lean
leftward when the leaning vehicle turns left, and
rightward when the leaning vehicle turns right;
a steering handle that is mechanically connected to the at least one front wheel and is rotatable by a rider of the leaning vehicle to change a traveling direction of the leaning vehicle, the steering handle being rotatable counter-clockwise to turn the at least one front wheel left and being rotatable clockwise to turn the at least one front wheel right;
a steering-handle rotation sensor configured to detect an amount of rotation of the steering handle;
a lean actuator that is connected to the leaning device and that supplies power to the leaning device for leaning of the vehicle body, the at least one front wheel and the at least one rear wheel; and
a control unit that controls the lean actuator in accordance with an output signal of the steering-handle rotation sensor, wherein
the steering handle is configured to be
at a neutral position that permits the leaning vehicle to go straight,
rotatable counter-clockwise within a counter-clockwise rotatable range that is a range of counter-clockwise rotation from the neutral position, a part of the counter-clockwise rotatable range continuous from the neutral position being a first counter-clockwise rotation range, and
rotatable clockwise within a clockwise rotatable range that is a range of clockwise rotation from the neutral position, a part of the clockwise rotatable range continuous from the neutral position being a first clockwise rotation range; and
the control unit is configured to, upon determining that the detected amount of rotation is within the first counter-clockwise rotation range or the first clockwise rotation range, control the lean actuator to restrain the vehicle body, the at least one front wheel and the at least one rear wheel from leaning along with the rotation of the steering handle.