A few days ago, the patent image of Toyota’s tank turn (tank turn) application in the United States was exposed. This means that Toyota has mastered the core technology of tank turn. Let’s take a look at the picture of the patent application first:
As can be seen from the exposed pictures, the four wheels can be rotated at a certain angle or even twisted 90° and translated, similar to the universal wheels of office chairs. Friends who often park on the side must have had this feeling: When the front and rear length of the parking space is relatively narrow, there will often be an embarrassing phenomenon where either the front of the car cannot be parked or the rear of the car cannot be parked. The only way to do this is by continuously moving forward and backward. Moving the vehicle into the parking space bit by bit is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also very easy to cause scratches. If the vehicle can be translated at this time, side parking will become very simple.
Changing the rotation angle of the wheels is not only very convenient when parking, it is also more conducive to the safe passage of vehicles in some congested conditions. At least there is no need to move the rear of the car to another place like the car owner below. Side:
In fact, the idea of ??changing the wheel rotation angle has been around for a long time. For example, our common drift is a way to change the wheel rotation angle, but drift is achieved by wearing tires. Rotate the driving direction 90 degrees. If the tire changes from a round shape to a spherical shape, the drift will not rub the tire.
It’s just that whether it is the difficulty of design or manufacturing, whether it is driving road conditions or overall cost, spherical tires are strangled in the cradle, but not all car owners have drifting skills, and put aside Regardless of urban vehicle conditions, for some off-road vehicles driving on non-paved roads, the steering angle of the wheels can often affect whether they can safely escape from trouble.
When it comes to off-roading, we have to mention the Jeep brand. As early as 2005, it launched a concept car called Hurricane. The biggest highlight of this car is that it has two different wheels. Steering method, one is that the front and rear wheels can rotate in opposite directions at the same time, that is, the vehicle can turn in a circle while keeping the wheels turning, which can easily make a U-turn in place on narrow road sections.
Another steering method is that the four wheels can rotate in the same direction at the same time, which means that the vehicle can go sideways. For example, when parking sideways as we mentioned earlier, this can be turned on. Steering mode allows the vehicle to move sideways easily. Supporting these steering methods are two 335-horsepower HEMI V8 engines at the front and rear. Through the central transfer case and four transmission shafts, power is sent to the four wheels respectively, so that each wheel can steer independently.
In addition to Jeep, Chinese American Express, a new domestic car-making force, has also released a similar vehicle, but it is not a concept car, but an engineering prototype; in addition, Chinese Express’s four Wheel steering is achieved through a wheel hub motor, which requires a very large and complex electronic control program. If the logic of the electronic control program is unclear and incomplete, then this function will not only bring no convenience, but will also bring great danger. .
It is worth mentioning that the tank turning patent applied for by Toyota this time is also technically based on in-wheel motors. Combined with Toyota's pioneering popularization of dual-engine technology in family cars, does this mean that Perhaps Toyota’s technical reserves in the new energy field are deeper than we imagined? Many independent car companies take Toyota as a benchmark and hope that independent car companies will not fall behind in terms of technical reserves.
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.