Patents by Inventor Eiji Okamoto

Eiji Okamoto has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20210023624
    Abstract: A method for producing a metal shaped article having a porous structure includes a mold formation step of forming a mold having a plurality of columnar structures extending from a substrate by performing a resin material supply step of supplying a liquid containing a resin material to a plurality of places of the substrate at intervals in two directions crossing each other, and a curing step of curing the liquid, a sintering target material supply step of supplying a sintering target material to the mold, a removal step of removing the substrate, a degreasing step of degreasing the columnar structures, and a sintering step of sintering the sintering target material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Inventors: Eiji OKAMOTO, Ichiro UECHI
  • Patent number: 10894289
    Abstract: A manufacturing method for three-dimensional structure has a layer forming step of supplying a flowable composition containing a powder and an organic material to form a unit layer, an organic material removing step of performing a treatment of removing the organic material on the unit layer, and an energy applying step of applying energy to the unit layer after the organic material removing step to form a molten layer or sintered layer, wherein the layer forming step, the organic material removing step, and the energy applying step are repeated with respect to the molten layer or sintered layer in a stacking direction as appropriate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Ishida, Tomoyuki Kamakura, Takeshi Miyashita, Eiji Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20210001548
    Abstract: In a three-dimensional shaped object manufacturing device, when a unit is moved in a forward direction, powder is supplied from a first supply portion, a powder layer is formed by a first layer forming portion, a liquid is discharged to a shaping region from a head, and a shaping table is moved in a direction separating from the unit after discharging the liquid is ended and before a second layer forming portion faces the shaping region, and when the unit is moved in a backward direction, the powder is supplied from a second supply portion, the powder layer is formed by the second layer forming portion, the liquid is discharged to the shaping region from the head, and the shaping table is moved in the direction separating from the unit after discharging the liquid to the shaping region is ended and before the first layer forming portion faces the shaping region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Eiji OKAMOTO, Akihiko TSUNOYA
  • Publication number: 20210001547
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped object manufacturing device includes a shaping table, layer forming portions configured to form a powder layer on the shaping table, a head 3 configured to discharge, from a nozzle, a liquid containing a binder to a shaping region of a three-dimensional shaped object in the powder layer, and a control unit configured to control a movement of the head with respect to the shaping table and a drive of the head by applying a voltage, in which the control unit performs control to, after the liquid is discharged to the shaping region, execute a flushing operation of discharging the liquid from the nozzle to a flushing position different from the shaping region, and set an applied voltage during the flushing operation higher than an applied voltage when the liquid is discharged to the shaping region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Eiji OKAMOTO, Akihiko TSUNOYA
  • Publication number: 20210001558
    Abstract: In a three-dimensional shaped object manufacturing device, when a unit is moved in a forward direction, powder is supplied from a first supply portion, a powder layer is formed by a first layer forming portion, a liquid is discharged to a shaping region from a head, and a second layer forming portion is moved in a direction separating from a shaping table before the second layer forming portion faces the shaping region, and when the unit is moved in a backward direction, the powder is supplied from a second supply portion, the powder layer is formed by the second layer forming portion, the liquid is discharged to the shaping region P from the head, and a first layer forming portion is moved in a direction separating from the shaping table before the first layer forming portion faces the shaping region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Eiji OKAMOTO, Akihiko TSUNOYA
  • Publication number: 20200406355
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article production method for producing a three-dimensional shaped article by stacking layers to form a stacked body includes a first layer formation step of forming a first layer on a support by supplying a first composition containing first particles and a binder, a second layer formation step of forming a second layer composed of one layer or a plurality of layers on the first layer by supplying a second composition containing second particles and a binder, and a separation step of separating the second layer from the support through the first layer, wherein after the separation step, a sintering step of sintering the second layer is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Inventors: Masaya ISHIDA, Eiji OKAMOTO, Hiroshi WADA, Toshimitsu HIRAI
  • Patent number: 10814389
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article production method for producing a three-dimensional shaped article by stacking layers to form a stacked body includes a first layer formation step of forming a first layer on a support by supplying a first composition containing first particles and a binder, a second layer formation step of forming a second layer composed of one layer or a plurality of layers on the first layer by supplying a second composition containing second particles and a binder, and a separation step of separating the second layer from the support through the first layer, wherein after the separation step, a sintering step of sintering the second layer is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Ishida, Eiji Okamoto, Hiroshi Wada, Toshimitsu Hirai
  • Patent number: 10773309
    Abstract: A three-dimensional production method for a functional element structure body according to the invention is a three-dimensional production method for a functional element structure body, which includes an electrical functional element section having a terminal and an insulating member provided on the periphery of the functional element section in a state where at least the terminal is exposed to the outside, and includes a layer formation step of forming one layer in a layer forming region by supplying a first flowable composition containing first particles for the functional element section from a first supply section, and supplying a second flowable composition containing second particles for the insulating member from a second supply section, a shaping step of shaping the functional element structure body by repeating the layer formation step, and a solidification step of performing solidification by applying energy to the first particles and the second particles in the layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Ishida, Tomoyuki Kamakura, Eiji Okamoto, Takeshi Miyashita
  • Patent number: 10744710
    Abstract: A three-dimensional modeling apparatus includes a modeling portion that models a three-dimensional object by laminating material layers formed by a material having a fluid property, and executes a first modeling process that forms concave portions, which are adjacent to two or more convex portions and are recessed in comparison with the convex portions in a lamination direction in which material layers are laminated, as a result of forming a plurality of convex portions that project in the lamination direction, a second modeling process that laminates a material layer on the convex portions, and forms a material layer, which is spatially separated from the material layer laminated on the convex portions, inside the concave portions, and a third modeling process that fills the concave portions with a material layer by disposing the material on the material layer inside the concave portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Ishida, Eiji Okamoto, Akihiko Tsunoya
  • Patent number: 10730235
    Abstract: There is provided a paste for use in producing a three-dimensional shaped article, the paste containing a solvent, a binder that is soluble in the solvent, support layer forming first particles, and a material having a decomposition temperature lower than a sintering temperature of the support layer forming first particles, in which the material is contained in a volume of greater than or equal to 20% and less than or equal to 60% with respect to a total volume of the support layer forming first particles and the material being 100%. By using such a paste, a highly accurate three-dimensional shaped article can be produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Eiji Okamoto, Akihiko Tsunoya, Masaya Ishida
  • Patent number: 10696023
    Abstract: A three-dimensional modeling apparatus includes an ejection portion capable of ejecting a fluid material, and a control portion that forms a laminated body in which one layer or more of cross-section bodies are laminated by executing one or more repetitions of a cross-section body formation process. The control portion reduces a total amount of the fluid material to be ejected at a first coordinate, which configures the apex that corresponds to the recess, to be lower than a total amount of the fluid material to be ejected at a second coordinate, which configures a region other than an outline section of the planar shape in a case in which an apex, which corresponds to a recess in a planar shape when the laminated body is viewed from above in a planar manner, is present.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Tsunoya, Masaya Ishida, Eiji Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10611137
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article production method includes a layer formation step of forming a layer by ejecting a composition containing particles and a solvent in a predetermined pattern using a dispenser, a measurement step of determining the height of the layer, and a bonding step of subjecting a stacked body including a plurality of layers to a bonding treatment for bonding the particles, wherein when n represents an arbitrary integer of 1 or more, by selecting driving waveform data for the dispenser when ejecting the composition from a data group including a plurality of pieces of driving waveform data based on the information of the height of the layer in the n-th position (n-th layer) determined in the measurement step, the ejection amount of the composition per unit area onto the n-th layer in the layer formation step of forming the layer in the (n+1)th position ((n+1)th layer) is adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Tsunoya, Eiji Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10596800
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article production method according to the invention includes a step of forming a layer by ejecting a composition containing particles using a dispenser, a step of determining the height of the layer, wherein a stacked body includes a layer which has a first portion corresponding to a portion to become an actual body part of the three-dimensional shaped article to be formed using an actual body part forming composition, and a second portion corresponding to a portion to become a sacrificial part to be formed using a sacrificial part forming composition, the supply amount of the sacrificial part forming composition to be ejected onto the second portion of the n-th layer in the step of forming the (n+1)th layer is adjusted based on the information of the height of the surface of the second portion of the n-th layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Tsunoya, Eiji Okamoto
  • Patent number: 10589501
    Abstract: A three-dimensional modeling apparatus includes an ejection portion capable of ejecting a fluid material, which is a material of an object, and a control portion that forms a laminated body in which one layer or more of cross-section bodies are laminated by executing one or more repetitions of a cross-section body formation process, which forms a cross-section body equivalent to one layer of the object by controlling the ejection portion and ejecting the fluid material. The control portion executes a correction process that ejects the fluid material onto a target correction location, which is at least a portion of an outline section of an upper surface of the laminated body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya Ishida, Toshimitsu Hirai, Eiji Okamoto, Akihiko Tsunoya, Junichi Sano
  • Publication number: 20200081416
    Abstract: A manufacturing device for a three-dimensional shaped object has artificial intelligence to perform machine learning. The manufacturing device includes: an acquisition unit acquiring monitoring data of the three-dimensional shaped object and improvement condition data; a housing unit housing reference data of the monitoring data; a storage unit storing the monitoring data acquired by the acquisition unit; an inference unit classifying the monitoring data acquired by the acquisition unit into normal data and abnormal data, based on the reference data of the monitoring data housed in the housing unit, updating an inference criterion by machine learning, based on the monitoring data stored in the storage unit and classified as the normal data, and inferring what abnormality occurs when an abnormality is generated in updated data of the monitoring data newly acquired by the acquisition unit; and a decision unit deciding the improvement condition according to the abnormality inferred by the inference unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Publication date: March 12, 2020
    Inventors: Akihiko TSUNOYA, Toshimitsu HIRAI, Eiji OKAMOTO
  • Publication number: 20200061702
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article producing composition is provided and contains a plurality of particles, a solvent for dispersing the particles, and nanocellulose.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2018
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Inventors: Masaya ISHIDA, Takeshi MIYASHITA, Eiji OKAMOTO, Akihiko TSUNOYA, Naoko SHIMA, Makoto KATO
  • Publication number: 20200062978
    Abstract: A three-dimensional shaped article producing composition is provided and contains a plurality of particles, a solvent for dispersing the particles, and a binder having a function to temporarily bind the particles to one another in a state where the solvent is removed, wherein a volume-based average particle diameter of the particles is 0.1 ?m or more and less than 50 ?m, and a content ratio of the binder is 1.5 vol % or more and 10 vol % or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2018
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Inventors: Takeshi MIYASHITA, Eiji OKAMOTO, Akihiko TSUNOYA, Naoko SHIMA, Makoto KATO
  • Patent number: 10493655
    Abstract: Provided is a three-dimensional structure manufacturing apparatus which manufactures a three-dimensional structure by repeatedly forming layers by using three-dimensional formation compositions containing three-dimensional formation powders, the apparatus including: a formation unit in which the three-dimensional structure is formed; and a layer formation unit which forms the layers configured with the three-dimensional formation compositions on the formation unit, in which a distance between the formation unit and the layer formation unit is adjusted according to the number of times the layer is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Eiji Okamoto, Junichi Goto
  • Publication number: 20190351576
    Abstract: A ceramic component is provided that is suitable to be placed in high temperature environment. The component includes a first member that is formed of a first material, and a ceramic layer that is bonded to a surface of the first member, which is a side exposed to the high temperature environment and that is formed of a ceramic material having a higher heat resistance than that of the first member. A bonding portion between the first member and the ceramic layer is formed of a composite material having the first material and the ceramic material, and a gradient composition in which an abundance ratio of the first material gradually decreases and an abundance ratio of the ceramic material gradually increases in a direction from the first member to the ceramic layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2017
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Applicant: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaya ISHIDA, Toshimitsu HIRAI, Eiji OKAMOTO
  • Patent number: 10434535
    Abstract: A fluid ejection device is a fluid ejection device adapted to eject a fluent material, including a fluent material chamber supplied with the fluent material, a moving object, which can reciprocate in the fluent material chamber, a nozzle part having a discharge port communicating with the fluent material chamber, and an inner wall on a periphery of the discharge port on which a tip part of the moving object can contact from the fluent material chamber side, and an actuator having contact with a back end part of the moving object to reciprocate the moving object to thereby discharge the fluent material from the discharge port. The actuator has a plurality of solid-state displacement elements connected in series to each other, and one end of one of the plurality of solid-state displacement elements has contact with the back end part of the moving object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Sugai, Eiji Okamoto, Shinichi Nakamura