Patents Represented by Attorney Kanesaka Berner & Partners, LLP
  • Patent number: 8047791
    Abstract: Provided are a wind turbine generator and a method for constructing a wind turbine generator that allow for alleviation of construction costs, particularly for large wind turbine generators, and alleviation of limitations on construction due to weather. Provided are a rotor head that has a plurality of wind turbine rotor blades and that is rotated by wind power received by the plurality of wind turbine rotor blades, a front segment disposed on top of a tower and constituting a nacelle to which the rotor head is attached, a rear segment attached to the front segment and constituting the nacelle, a front frame disposed in the front segment and positioned between the rotor head and the tower so as to support a load on the rotor head, a rear frame disposed in the rear segment and attached to the front frame, a front cover covering the periphery of the front segment, and a rear cover covering the periphery of the rear segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Hisao Miyake, Masaaki Shibata
  • Patent number: 8043067
    Abstract: A wind turbine blade is provided with an outer skin layer formed of fiber-reinforced plastic, and a plurality of main structural members formed of fiber-reinforced plastic integrally with the outer skin layer to extend in a blade length direction. The main structural members include a plurality of main dorsal structural members positioned on a dorsal side of the wind turbine blade, and a plurality of main ventral structural members positioned on a ventral side of the wind turbine blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takao Kuroiwa, Toshiyuki Hirano, Nobuyasu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8042723
    Abstract: Provided is a method of repair which method is capable of holding a molten brazing material at the bonding portion when a component is bonded with a brazing material to an inclined or to a curved surface. The method of repair repairs by brazing a repair portion in which a crack has developed and which needs repair, wherein a brazing material support (4) holding in the interior thereof a molten brazing material (5) is brought into contact with the repair portion, and under the condition that the brazing material support (4) is in contact with the repair portion, the molten brazing material (5) is solidified. Under the condition that the brazing material (5) in a powder form is brought into contact with the brazing material support (4), the brazing material (5) can be melted by heating to a temperature at or above the melting point of the brazing material (5).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd
    Inventor: Shuji Holi
  • Patent number: 8039980
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to reduce stop time of a wind turbine generator caused by icing on a wind turbine blade in the wind turbine generator. The invention provides the wind turbine generator including an ice detecting unit for detecting an amount of icing on a wind turbine blade, wherein an operation mode is switched to a no-load operation mode with no power being generated in a case where the icing amount detected by the ice detecting unit exceeds a first predetermined value, and an icing amount is detected by the ice detecting unit in a state where the apparatus is operated in the no-load operation mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Taketo Mizoue, Mitsuya Baba, Yoshiyuki Hayashi
  • Patent number: 8040559
    Abstract: Colors of printed materials are easily matched. Provided is a print management system used in a printing system including a plurality of printing presses and performing printing using plates respectively created for each printing press. The print management system includes a tone-curve storage unit for linking and storing identifying information of the printing presses and tone curves for the printing presses; a communication device for obtaining binary image data from a host system; a binary-image-data correction unit for creating binary image data for each of the printing presses by correcting the binary image data using the tone curves stored in the tone-curve storage unit; and CTPs for creating respective plates for each of the printing presses on the basis of the corrected binary image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery, Ltd., NEC Engineering, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunichi Hashimoto, Shuichi Takemoto, Takahide Toshito, Norifumi Tasaka, Toshiaki Kumagawa, Minoru Nagata, Hisakatu Ochi
  • Patent number: 8039979
    Abstract: It is an object to supply, to the utmost extent, reactive power according to a demand of a utility grid side while maintaining the power factor within a predetermined range. The wind turbine generator system includes a main controller 19. The controller 19 includes a first controller 31 performing constant-reactive-power regulation, a second controller 32 performing constant-power-factor regulation, a judging unit 34 for judging whether a present operating condition is within a predetermined operating region, and a control-switching unit 35 for switching from the first controller 31 to the second controller 32 when the first controller 31 is performing the constant-reactive-power regulation and the judging unit 34 detects a deviation from the operating region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Akira Yasugi
  • Patent number: 8033791
    Abstract: The subject of the present invention is to provide a blade end portion protecting bag which is fit onto an end portion of a plurality of blades for protecting the blade end portion from damage when the plurality of the blades are hoisted with a rotor head to the position of an upper nacelle in assembling a wind turbine, the protecting bag having such structure that a rope joint for connecting a control rope is hard to break and therefore the durability of the rope joint portion is improved; and a rotor installing method for installing the rotor to the nacelle with the protecting bag fit onto the blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Naota Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8029256
    Abstract: A laterally independently operated column-equipped vulcanizer comprises two (right and left) die opening and closing devices (12A, 12B) disposed to be operable independently of each other, the die opening and closing devices having upper die mounting members (17a, 17b) corresponding to lower die mounting members (13a, 13b) installed on a base plate (11), the upper die mounting members being supported in an ascendable and descendable manner on right and left paired columns (18a, 18b) erected on the base plate. The right and left paired columns throughout the two die opening and closing devices are arranged in V-configuration as viewed in plan. Loaders (22a, 22b) capable of carrying green tires GT into the die opening and closing devices are disposed on the side of the columns narrowly spaced from each other in the lateral direction among the columns arranged in V-configuration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd
    Inventors: Katsuhide Aikawa, Hideki Fukuda, Hideaki Katayama
  • Patent number: 8026623
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle is detected with an accelerometer attached to the nacelle. In an active damping unit, a pitch angle of windmill blades for generating a thrust on the windmill blades so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit, a pitch angle of the windmill blades for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command ??* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command ?* for output control using a subtracter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Kazunari Ide, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Patent number: 8006552
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator system that can quantitatively determine the energy of a lightning strike on a wind turbine blade is provided. In the wind turbine generator system generating electricity by driving an electrical generation mechanism through rotation of a rotor head to which wind turbine blades are attached, an electrically conductive shield tape for judging the charge quantity (C) of a lightning strike is bonded to surfaces of the wind turbine blades.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Takatoshi Matsushita
  • Patent number: 7956999
    Abstract: An object is to efficiently measure the resistivity of a transparent conductive film with high accuracy in a non-destructive and non-contact manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Sakai, Akemi Takano, Yasuyuki Kobayashi, Kengo Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 7952215
    Abstract: To provide a wind turbine generator, a wind turbine generator system, and a power-generation control method of a wind turbine generator that are capable of improving the power-generation capability and reducing the fatigue load on the windmill.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Masaaki Shibata
  • Patent number: 7906365
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a solar cell panel, includes steps (a) to (e). The step (a) is a step of forming a solar cell module by laminating solar cell films on a transparency substrate. The step (b) is a step of performing an inspection of electric power generation on the solar cell module. The step (c) is a step of forming a solar cell panel by executing a panel formation on the solar cell module. The step (d) is a step of cleaning a light incidence surface of the solar cell panel. The step (e) is a step of performing an inspection of electric power generation on the solar cell panel. The step (d) is executed immediately before the step (e).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sonobe, Akemi Takano, Yoshikazu Nawata, Kazumasa Uchihashi, Kazuhiko Ogawa, Tsukasa Yamane, Nobuki Yamashita
  • Patent number: 7905707
    Abstract: Provided are a pitch actuator for a wind turbine generator and a wind turbine generator that can be prevented from losing their reliability. Provided are a cylinder (12) and a rod (13) that rotate a wind turbine rotor blade about an axis thereof relative to a rotor head to change a pitch angle; a cylinder bearing (14, 15) supporting the cylinder (12) so as to be rotatable relative to the rotor head about a first rotation axis (L1) extending substantially parallel to the axis of the wind turbine rotor blade and about a second rotation axis (L2) extending in a direction crossing both the first rotation axis (L1) and the axis of the cylinder (12) and the rod (13); and a rod bearing (16) rotatably supporting an end of the rod (13) on an end surface of the wind turbine rotor blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Masahiro Kawai, Seita Seki
  • Patent number: 7905701
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided in which, even in a cold snowy environment in a cold region, the time required for recovering a frozen anemoscope/anemometer is reduced to minimize a decrease in operating ratio. A wind turbine generator is equipped with an anemoscope/anemometer (7) at the top of a nacelle that accommodates a driving and generating mechanism connected to a rotor head on which turbine blades are mounted, wherein an in-nacelle cooling air outlet that opens in the direction of the anemoscope/anemometer (7) is provided at the top of the nacelle, and the air outlet has exhaust flaps (13) serving as blowing-direction changing means for the cooling air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Takatoshi Matsushita
  • Patent number: 7907276
    Abstract: An object is to improve production efficiency as well as reducing the burden on an operator. Light is radiated on a crystalline silicon film used for a thin-film silicon device, reflection light reflected by the crystalline silicon film is detected, a parameter of the luminance of the detected reflection light is measured, and film quality evaluation of the crystalline silicon film is performed in accordance with whether the parameter of the luminance is within a predetermined proper range or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Sakai, Yoichiro Tsumura, Masami Iida, Kohei Kawazoe
  • Patent number: 7905969
    Abstract: The feeding apparatus is provided with a first feeding section for feeding a long-formed sheet in the longitudinal direction of the sheet, a second feeding section for feeding the long-formed sheet delivered from the first feeding section in a direction intersecting obliquely with the feeding direction of the first feeding section and a control section for controlling the first feeding section and the second feeding section so that the second feeding section starts to operate before the leading end of the long-formed sheet delivered from the first feeding section is in contact with the second feeding section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Miyahara, Jiro Agawa, Makoto Tachibana, Yoshinori Miyamoto
  • Patent number: 7895744
    Abstract: A method of replacing wind turbine equipment, which can reduce the cost for replacing large equipment disposed in a nacelle, is provided. The method is characterized by including a winch-hoisting step for winching up to a nacelle a reciprocating winch that is used for replacing the wind turbine equipment disposed in the nacelle mounted atop a tower and a balance supporting the wind turbine equipment with an ordinarily-installed winch provided on a girder that moves in the nacelle; a wire-hoisting step for hoisting a wire that is used for the replacement of the wind turbine equipment to the nacelle from a drum disposed on the ground; a winch-replacing step for detaching the ordinarily-installed winch from the girder and attaching the winch for replacement to the girder; and a wire-arranging step for arranging the hoisted wire on the reciprocating winch and a movable pulley provided between the balance and the girder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Patent number: 7888912
    Abstract: Occurrence of overcharging and over discharging of batteries mounted on vehicles that travel on tracks in a wireless transit system is prevented by estimating a state of charge (SOC) of the batteries with accuracy. An equivalent circuit of the battery is composed of three circuit elements connected in series, including (i) a first component resistance R1 (ii) a component circuit which includes a capacitance C and a second component resistance R2 connected in parallel and (iii) an open circuit voltage of the battery. The open circuit voltage of the equivalent circuit is calculated using R1 calculated from measurements of current and voltage of the battery, as well as values k=R2/R1 and ?=C×R2. The SOC if the battery is calculated from the open circuit voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsuaki Morita, Masaya Mitake, Masahiro Yamaguchi, Hiroshi Yamashita, Masaomi Yamada, Kousuke Katahira
  • Patent number: 7855662
    Abstract: A technique for recording the front image of vehicles which violate the regulation in the axle weight is desired. In general, the weight of the leading axle cannot be excessively heavy, so that the over weight axle is a second or more rear side axle. Further, the distance between an axle weight detector and a vehicle detector for taking a vehicle image is normally below 8 meters. Under these conditions, when the over weight axle is detected, the over axle weight vehicle is predicted to be a vehicle being presently detected, a vehicle to be detected next, or next to the next. From the images of those vehicles, vehicles having no possibility of violating the axle weight regulation are eliminated based on a license plate read from the vehicle image or the measured vehicle height. The images not eliminated are stored as over axle weight vehicle images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2010
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shinya Yano