US 11,794,845 B2
Leaning vehicle with a left-right pair of wheels
Keisuke Terada, Shizuoka (JP); Toshifumi Uchiyama, Shizuoka (JP); Keizo Araki, Aichi (JP); and Shota Kubo, Aichi (JP)
Assigned to YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Iwata (JP)
Filed by YAMAHA HATSUDOKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Iwata (JP)
Filed on Jun. 25, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/359,003.
Application 17/359,003 is a continuation in part of application No. PCT/JP2019/051353, filed on Dec. 27, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 2018-244901 (JP), filed on Dec. 27, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0316809 A1, Oct. 14, 2021
Int. Cl. B62K 5/10 (2013.01); B62D 9/02 (2006.01); B62D 61/06 (2006.01); B62D 61/08 (2006.01)
CPC B62K 5/10 (2013.01) [B62D 9/02 (2013.01); B62D 61/065 (2013.01); B62D 61/08 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A leaning vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body that
leans in a leftward direction of the leaning vehicle when the leaning vehicle is turning left, and
leans in a rightward direction of the leaning vehicle when the leaning vehicle is turning right;
a plurality of wheels supported by the vehicle body, and including
one steerable front wheel and two rear wheels, the one steerable front wheel being swivelable around a first steering axis extending in an up-down direction of the vehicle body, or
two steerable front wheels and one or two rear wheels, the two steerable front wheels being swivelable around a second steering axis extending in the up-down direction of the vehicle body,
the two steerable front wheels or the two rear wheels being arranged side by side in a left-right direction of the leaning vehicle, to form a left-right pair of wheels;
a suspension mechanism that supports the left-right pair of wheels in such a manner that the left-right pair of wheels is movable in the up-down direction of the vehicle body relative to the vehicle body;
a steering mechanism that applies torque to the one or two steerable front wheels to swivel the one or two steerable front wheels around the first or second steering axis;
a steering controller that controls the steering mechanism; and
an up-down direction acceleration detector attached to the vehicle body or the suspension mechanism, to detect an acceleration in an up-down direction of the leaning vehicle or the up-down direction of the vehicle body, that is generated as one wheel in the left-right pair of wheels moves over a bump or a pothole in a road, wherein
the steering controller so controls the one or two steerable front wheels that the one or two steerable front wheels are in a free-steering state, so as to swivel around the first or second steering axis freely, based on the acceleration detected by the up-down direction acceleration detector.