1. An adaptive steering control system for a motor vehicle, comprising:
a sensor adapted to detect a current value of an operation quantity of a steering wheel;
an actor adapted to turn steered wheels; and
a controller adapted to select, according to a speed of the motor vehicle, a map assigning to a detected current value of the operation quantity, a setpoint value of the operation quantity for the actor, and for issuing a setpoint signal to the actor,
wherein the controller further is adapted to decide whether the motor vehicle is in a state of motion requiring a high level of attention from a driver and to inhibit a switchover of the map (g1, g2) while the motor vehicle is in a high attention-requiring state.
2. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the operation quantity is a turning angle of the steering wheel and of a steered wheel.
3. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the operation quantity is a torque applied to the steering wheel and to a steered wheel.
4. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein a linear term of a map (g1) is selected at a low vehicle speed is greater than the linear term of a map s elected at a high vehicle speed.
5. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to decide whether the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if the lateral acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold.
6. The adaptive steering control system of claim 5, wherein the controller is connected to a lateral acceleration sensor.
7. The adaptive steering control system of claim 5, wherein the controller is connected to a steering wheel angle sensor and is adapted to estimate a lateral acceleration from a steering wheel angle detected by said sensor and a vehicle longitudinal speed.
8. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to a yaw rate sensor and is adapted to decide that the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if a yaw rate exceeds a predetermined threshold.
9. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to estimate a side-slip rate of the motor vehicle and to decide that the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if the side-slip rate exceeds a predetermined threshold.
10. The adaptive steering control system of claim 7, wherein the controller is adapted to estimate a side-slip rate from a yaw rate measured by a yaw rate sensor and the lateral acceleration measured by a lateral acceleration sensor.
11. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to a longitudinal acceleration sensor and is adapted to decide that the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if the longitudinal acceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold.
12. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is connected to a steering wheel angle sensor and is adapted to decide that the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if the steering wheel angular velocity exceeds a predetermined threshold.
13. The adaptive steering control system of claim 1, wherein the controller is adapted to determine a time derivative of a yaw rate and to determine that the motor vehicle is in the high attention-requiring state if a time derivative exceeds a predetermined threshold.
14. A steering control method for a motor vehicle, comprising the steps of:
detecting a current value of an operation quantity of a steering wheel;
selecting a map assigning to a detected current value of the operation quantity a setpoint value of the operation quantity;
issuing a setpoint signal to an actor of steered wheels, comprising the steps of:
deciding whether the motor vehicle is in a state of motion requiring a high level of attention from a driver;
if it is decided that the motor vehicle is not in a high attention-requiring state, selecting the map based on a speed of the motor; and
if it is decided that the motor vehicle is in a high attention-requiring state, re-selecting the map selected in a previous iteration of selecting the map based on the speed of the motor vehicle.
15. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a program product, said program product comprising:
an adaptive steering control program for a motor vehicle, the adaptive steering control program for the motor vehicle configured to:
detecting a current value of an operation quantity of a steering wheel;
selecting a map assigning to a detected current value of the operation quantity a setpoint value of the operation quantity;
issuing a setpoint signal to an actor of steered wheels, comprising the steps of:
deciding whether the motor vehicle is in a state of motion requiring a high level of attention from a driver;
if it is decided that the motor vehicle is not in a high attention-requiring state, selecting the map based on a speed of the motor vehicle; and
if it is decided that the motor vehicle is in a high attention-requiring state, re-selecting the map selected in a previous iteration of selecting the map based on the speed of the motor vehicle.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
an image carrier;
a transfer device for charging a back surface of a recording material in contact with the image carrier, and transferring toner images carried on the image carrier onto the recording material; and
a pressing section for pressing the transfer material onto the image carrier by pushing the back surface of the transfer material;
wherein the pressing section includes an elastic plate whose top portion is formed to be a trapezoidal shape, including:
a straight edge portion positioned at the center of the pressing section, perpendicular to the feeding direction of the recording material, and
sloped edge portions at both ends of the straight edge portion,
wherein the width of the straight edge portion is equal to or greater than 95% of the width of the recording material.
2. The image forming apparatus described in claim 1, wherein the pressing section further includes
an intermediate section, the top of which is curved at curvature radius of 5 mm or more, formed between the straight edge portion and the sloped edge portion.
3. The image forming apparatus described in claim 1, wherein the elastic plate is made of a polyethylene terephthalate film.
4. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image carrier;
a transfer device for charging a back surface of a recording material in contact with the image carrier, and transferring toner images carried on the image carrier onto the recording material; and
a pressing section for pressing the transfer material onto the image carrier by pushing the back surface of the transfer material;
wherein the pressing section includes an elastic plate whose top portion is formed to be a trapezoidal shape, including:
a straight edge portion positioned at the center of the pressing section, perpendicular to the feeding direction of the recording material;
sloped edge portions at both ends of the straight edge portion; and
intermediate portions between the sloped edge portions and the straight edge;
wherein the intermediate portion is curved at curvature radius of 5 mm or more.
5. The image forming apparatus described in claim 1, further comprising a position changing means for changing the position of pressing means from a pressing position to a standby position.
6. The image forming apparatus described in claim 1, wherein the width of the straight edge portion is equal to or less than 96% of the width of the recording material.