Patents by Inventor Kazuhiro WASHIO

Kazuhiro WASHIO 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).

  • Patent number: 11745290
    Abstract: A metal member-welded structure includes: a Cu member; an Al member; and a welded portion formed by melting and solidifying each of materials of the Cu member and the Al member. The Cu member includes a Cu-based material containing Cu as a main component. The Al member includes an Al-based material containing Al as a main component and a plating layer that covers a side of the Al-based material, the side being close to a surface of the Cu member. The welded portion includes a sea-island structure in a vicinity of the surface of the Cu member. The sea-island structure includes: a plurality of island portions containing pure Al, and a sea portion interposed among the island portions. The sea portion has a eutectic structure having: a phase of an intermetallic compound of Cu and Al; and a phase of pure Al.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignees: Sumitomo Electrical Industries, Ltd., AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd, Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Koki Sugimura, Tetsuya Kuwabara, Kazuhiro Goto, Hiroki Hirai, Tetsuji Tanaka, Junichi Ono, Takuji Otsuka, Kenji Miyamoto, Osamu Nakayama, Kazuaki Hamada, Kazuhiro Washio
  • Publication number: 20230006369
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a crimp terminal in which a core wire is kept from coming loose. The crimp terminal 14 includes a plate-like crimp portion 15 that is to be crimped to a core wire of an electric wire by being deformed so as to wrap around the core wire, and a protruding portion 16 that protrudes from the inner surface of the crimp portion 15. A groove 21 that extends along a direction that intersects the extending direction of the core wire is provided in the protruding portion 16.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2020
    Publication date: January 5, 2023
    Inventors: Naoya NISHIMURA, Taiji MOCHIZUKI, Kenji MIYAMOTO, Kazuhiro WASHIO
  • Publication number: 20210339339
    Abstract: A metal member-welded structure includes: a Cu member; an Al member; and a welded portion formed by melting and solidifying each of materials of the Cu member and the Al member. The Cu member includes a Cu-based material containing Cu as a main component. The Al member includes an Al-based material containing Al as a main component and a plating layer that covers a side of the Al-based material, the side being close to a surface of the Cu member. The welded portion includes a sea-island structure in a vicinity of the surface of the Cu member. The sea-island structure includes: a plurality of island portions containing pure Al, and a sea portion interposed among the island portions. The sea portion has a eutectic structure having: a phase of an intermetallic compound of Cu and Al; and a phase of pure Al.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Publication date: November 4, 2021
    Applicants: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd, Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Koki SUGIMURA, Tetsuya KUWABARA, Kazuhiro GOTO, Hiroki HIRAI, Tetsuji TANAKA, Junichi ONO, Takuji OTSUKA, Kenji MIYAMOTO, Osamu NAKAYAMA, Kazuaki HAMADA, Kazuhiro WASHIO
  • Publication number: 20210135379
    Abstract: Provided is a technique for easily manufacturing a terminal-equipped electrical wire in which a part of a core wire crimping portion is highly compressed. A method of manufacturing the terminal-equipped electrical wire includes the following steps (a) to (c). A step (a) is a step of preparing a terminal fitting including a core wire crimping portion having a bottom portion and a pair of crimping pieces (34, 34) standing upright on the bottom portion, and a partially overlapping portion (37) overlaid, so as to protrude, on the outside of a partial region of the bottom portion of the core wire crimping portion along an extending direction of the bottom portion. A step (b) is a step of accommodating core wire exposed portions (22) of electrical wires in the core wire crimping portion. A step (c) is a step of crimping the core wire crimping portion to the core wire exposed portions (22).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Taiji Mochizuki, Kenji Miyamoto, Kazuhiro Washio, Naoya Nishimura
  • Patent number: 10833468
    Abstract: A method to manufacture an electrical connection assembly includes: preparing a wiring material (10) that has conductors and an insulation coating, and preparing a connector (CN) including terminals (20) each having an outward projecting portion (24) with a conductor connection surface (27a) and an insulating housing (30). The method proceeds by setting solder on the conductor connection surfaces (27a) and then removing the insulation coating covering parts to be connected from surfaces of the conductors by melting or dissolving the insulation coating. The method also electrically connects the conductors of the parts to be connected to the conductor connection surfaces (27a) by the solder by heating the parts of the respective conductors to be connected together with the solder while holding a state where the conductors of the wiring material (10) are arrayed at intervals from each other in an array direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10804622
    Abstract: A method is provided for manufacturing an electrical connection assembly includes preparing a connector (CN) in which each terminal (20) has a conductor connection surface (27a) exposed from an insulating housing (30), bringing parts of conductors and the conductor connection surfaces (27a) corresponding thereto into contact and connecting both while tension is applied to a wiring material (10). The method further includes fixing the wiring material (10) to the insulating housing (30) by bringing the wiring material (10) and the insulating housing (30) into contact with each other at the fixing positions separated in the longitudinal direction of the wiring material (10) from the parts to be connected and solidifying the fixing portions (34) of the insulating housing (30) after melting the fixing portions at the fixing positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Hiroki Hirai, Yasuo Omori, Toshio Shimizu
  • Patent number: 10714860
    Abstract: A joint connector includes shorting members (30), a housing body (HB) having a shorting member accommodating portion (50) for holding the shorting members (30), and a shorting member retainer (70). The shorting member (30) includes a base (32) extending in a shorting direction and shorting-side terminals (34, 36) projecting from this base (32) in a fitting direction. The shorting member retainer (70) is mounted into the housing body (HB) in a mounting/detaching direction intersecting both the shorting direction and the fitting direction. The shorting member retainer (70) includes shorting member constraining portions (74) configured to cross the shorting members (30) in the mounting/detaching direction to restrict movements of the shorting members (30) in the fitting direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Publication number: 20200194907
    Abstract: A harness 1 is provided with a wire 10 including a core 11 constituted by a plurality of strands and an insulation coating 12 coating the core 11, a single-core wire 20 including a body portion 21 and a wire fixing portion 23 extending from the body portion 21 and arranged to cover the core 11, and a splice terminal 30 including a bottom plate portion 31, the core 11 being arranged on the bottom plate portion 31, and a pair of wire barrel portions 32 extending from the bottom plate portion 31 and wound from outside the wire fixing portion 23. According to this configuration, since the wire fixing portion 23 of the single-core wire 20 is interposed between the core 11 and the wire barrel portions 32, it can be avoided that the core 11 protrudes from butting parts of the pair of wire barrel portions 32.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2018
    Publication date: June 18, 2020
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Kenji Miyamoto, Yuji Kawata
  • Patent number: 10651573
    Abstract: An electrical connection assembly includes a connector (CN) and a wiring material with conductors. The connector (CN) includes terminals (20) and an insulating housing (30) having a terminal holding portion (32) for holding the wiring material (10) such that the conductors are connected to the respective terminals (20). Each terminal (20) includes a held portion (22) and an outward projecting portion (24) projecting out from a surface (32a) of the terminal holding portion (32). The outward projecting portion (24) includes a first projecting portion (26) projecting in a first direction and a second projecting portion (27) extending from the first projecting portion (26) in a second direction closer to a direction parallel to the surface of the terminal holding portion (32) than the first direction. An outer surface of the second projecting portion (27) has a conductor connection surface (27a) connectable to the conductor extending in the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10622774
    Abstract: It is aimed to provide a method and a joint connector for shorting a plurality of wires to each other, the method and the joint connector being capable of flexibly coping with the number of the wires. A joint connector includes a plurality of wire-side terminals (20) to be mounted on a plurality of wires (10), a plurality of insulating housings (30) and a shorting member (40). Each wire-side terminal (20) is inserted into a terminal accommodating chamber of the corresponding insulating housing (30). The plurality of insulating housings (30) are united with each other while being arranged in a specific arrangement direction. The shorting member (40) is inserted into each of the united insulating housings (30) and fit to each wire-side terminal (20), whereby the wire-side terminals (20) are electrically connected to each other via the shorting member (40).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10587069
    Abstract: A joint connector includes a connector conductor part and an insulating housing for holding the connector conductor part and wire-side terminals to be connected to the connector conductor part. The insulating housing includes an outer wall (45) enclosing an accommodation space for accommodating wire-side terminals and separation walls dividing the accommodation space into terminal accommodating chambers (41). The separation walls include first separation walls (71) between the terminal accommodating chambers for respectively accommodating the wire-side terminals to be insulated without being shorted to each other and second separation walls (72) interposed between the terminal accommodating chambers for respectively accommodating the wire-side terminals to be shorted to each other. The first and second separation walls (71, 72) are shaped so that outer ends (71a) of the first separation walls (71) and outer ends (72a) of the second separation walls (72) are different in appearance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10566705
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an electrical connection assembly includes a connector preparing step of preparing a connector (CN), in which each of plural terminals (20) has a conductor connection surface (27a) exposed outside an insulating housing (30). A connecting step of connects parts of conductors and the conductor connection surfaces (27a) corresponding thereto while tension is applied to a wiring material (10) by holding the wiring material (10) including the conductors arrayed at intervals from each other in an array direction at holding positions separated from each other in a longitudinal direction of the wiring material. A cutting step sandwiches and cuts the wiring material (10) by two cutting tools (62, 65) at a cutting position between one of the holding positions and the parts to be connected with the wiring material (10) kept held after the completion of the connecting step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori, Toshio Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20200036128
    Abstract: A joint connector includes shorting members (30), a housing body (HB) having a shorting member accommodating portion (50) for holding the shorting members (30), and a shorting member retainer (70). The shorting member (30) includes a base (32) extending in a shorting direction and shorting-side terminals (34, 36) projecting from this base (32) in a fitting direction. The shorting member retainer (70) is mounted into the housing body (HB) in a mounting/detaching direction intersecting both the shorting direction and the fitting direction. The shorting member retainer (70) includes shorting member constraining portions (74) configured to cross the shorting members (30) in the mounting/detaching direction to restrict movements of the shorting members (30) in the fitting direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2016
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10530069
    Abstract: It is aimed to realize miniaturization. A power distribution device (Da) is for supplying power to a plurality of loads (L) and includes an input-side conductive path (10) to be connected to a battery (B) (power supply), a plurality of terminal holders (13) each including an input-side terminal fitting (20) connectable to the input-side conductive path (10), and a plurality of output-side conductive paths (37) configured to connect the input-side terminal fittings (20) and the loads (L). Since the number of the terminal holders (13) to be connected to the input-side conductive path (10) is a minimum necessary number corresponding to the number of the loads (L), miniaturization is possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori, Masaaki Tabata
  • Patent number: 10498048
    Abstract: A wire with terminal (10) includes at least one wire (11) having a core (13) and a terminal (12) connected to the wire (11). The terminal (12) includes a wire barrel (16) to be caulked and crimped to the core (13). At least one end part of the wire barrel (16) in an extension direction of the wire (11) is provided with an enlarged diameter portion (20) enlarged in diameter toward the one end part. At least one recess (24E) is provided at a position corresponding to the enlarged diameter portion (20) and in a region configured to come into contact with the core (13) in a placing surface (23) of the wire barrel (16) where the core (13) is arranged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Kenji Miyamoto, Taiji Mochizuki, Naoya Nishimura, Takanobu Shimada
  • Publication number: 20190305439
    Abstract: A method is provided for manufacturing an electrical connection assembly includes preparing a connector (CN) in which each terminal (20) has a conductor connection surface (27a) exposed from an insulating housing (30), bringing parts of conductors and the conductor connection surfaces (27a) corresponding thereto into contact and connecting both while tension is applied to a wiring material (10). The method further includes fixing the wiring material (10) to the insulating housing (30) by bringing the wiring material (10) and the insulating housing (30) into contact with each other at the fixing positions separated in the longitudinal direction of the wiring material (10) from the parts to be connected and solidifying the fixing portions (34) of the insulating housing (30) after melting the fixing portions at the fixing positions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Hiroki Hirai, Yasuo Omori, Toshio Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20190296451
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an electrical connection assembly includes a connector preparing step of preparing a connector (CN), in which each of plural terminals (20) has a conductor connection surface (27a) exposed outside an insulating housing (30). A connecting step of connects parts of conductors and the conductor connection surfaces (27a) corresponding thereto while tension is applied to a wiring material (10) by holding the wiring material (10) including the conductors arrayed at intervals from each other in an array direction at holding positions separated from each other in a longitudinal direction of the wiring material. A cutting step sandwiches and cuts the wiring material (10) by two cutting tools (62, 65) at a cutting position between one of the holding positions and the parts to be connected with the wiring material (10) kept held after the completion of the connecting step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori, Toshio Shimizu
  • Publication number: 20190252804
    Abstract: An electrical connection assembly includes a connector (CN) and a wiring material with conductors. The connector (CN) includes terminals (20) and an insulating housing (30) having a terminal holding portion (32) for holding the wiring material (10) such that the conductors are connected to the respective terminals (20). Each terminal (20) includes a held portion (22) and an outward projecting portion (24) projecting out from a surface (32a) of the terminal holding portion (32). The outward projecting portion (24) includes a first projecting portion (26) projecting in a first direction and a second projecting portion (27) extending from the first projecting portion (26) in a second direction closer to a direction parallel to the surface of the terminal holding portion (32) than the first direction. An outer surface of the second projecting portion (27) has a conductor connection surface (27a) connectable to the conductor extending in the second direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Publication number: 20190229482
    Abstract: A method to manufacture an electrical connection assembly includes: preparing a wiring material (10) that has conductors and an insulation coating, and preparing a connector (CN) including terminals (20) each having an outward projecting portion (24) with a conductor connection surface (27a) and an insulating housing (30). The method proceeds by setting solder on the conductor connection surfaces (27a) and then removing the insulation coating covering parts to be connected from surfaces of the conductors by melting or dissolving the insulation coating. The method also electrically connects the conductors of the parts to be connected to the conductor connection surfaces (27a) by the solder by heating the parts of the respective conductors to be connected together with the solder while holding a state where the conductors of the wiring material (10) are arrayed at intervals from each other in an array direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2017
    Publication date: July 25, 2019
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori
  • Patent number: 10290966
    Abstract: A joint connector is provided which can suppress the abrasion of contact parts due to relative displacements between wire-side terminals and a shorting member. The joint connector includes a plurality of wire-side terminals (20), a shorting member (30) including a base portion (32) and a plurality of terminal fitting portions (34), and an insulating housing (HG) defining a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers (41) and configured to hold the shorting member (30). The insulating housing (HG) includes a terminal holding housing portion (40) defining the terminal accommodating chambers (41) and configured to respectively lock the wire-side terminals (20) and a shorting member holding housing portion (50) configured to hold the shorting member (30). The both housing portions (40, 50) are so connected while restraining each other as to allow relative displacements between the both within a limited range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignees: AutoNetworks Technologies, Ltd., Sumitomo Wiring Systems, Ltd., Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Washio, Yasuo Omori