Patents by Inventor Keiji Kashimoto

Keiji Kashimoto 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: 9278708
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus for generating a PWM signal based on a calculated steering assist command value, PWM-controlling a motor via a motor drive circuit including switching elements, and assist-controlling a steering system that a motor relay is inserted between the motor drive circuit and the motor, includes a steering status detecting section that detects a steering status of a steering wheel, outputs a longtime steering holding signal when detecting that the steering status is a longtime steering holding status, and outputs a normal steering signal when detecting that the steering status is a normal steering status, and a motor current control section that determines a motor current control value for controlling a motor current flowing in the motor relay in accordance with the longtime steering holding signal or the normal steering signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Satoh Kouichi, Keiji Kashimoto, Haruhiko Kamiguchi
  • Publication number: 20160001813
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus for generating a PWM signal based on a calculated steering assist command value, PWM-controlling a motor via a motor drive circuit including switching elements, and assist-controlling a steering system that a motor relay is inserted between the motor drive circuit and the motor, comprises a steering status detecting section that detects a steering status of a steering wheel, outputs a longtime steering holding signal when detecting that the steering status is a longtime steering holding status, and outputs a normal steering signal when detecting that the steering status is a normal steering status, and a motor current control section that determines a motor current control value for controlling a motor current flowing in the motor relay in accordance with the longtime steering holding signal or the normal steering signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2015
    Publication date: January 7, 2016
    Applicant: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Satoh KOUICHI, Keiji KASHIMOTO, Haruhiko KAMIGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20140195119
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus for generating a PWM signal based on a calculated steering assist command value, PWM-controlling a motor via a motor drive circuit including switching elements, and assist-controlling a steering system that a motor relay is inserted between the motor drive circuit and the motor, includes a steering status detecting section that detects a steering status of a steering wheel, outputs a longtime steering holding signal when detecting that the steering status is a longtime steering holding status, and outputs a normal steering signal when detecting that the steering status is a normal steering status, and a motor current control section that determines a motor current control value for controlling a motor current flowing in the motor relay in accordance with the longtime steering holding signal or the normal steering signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2012
    Publication date: July 10, 2014
    Applicant: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Satoh Kouichi, Keiji Kashimoto, Haruhiko Kamiguchi
  • Patent number: 8102138
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus includes a steering column having inserted therein a steering shaft to which steering torque is transmitted, a reduction gear box coupled to the steering shaft, and an electric motor that transmits a steering assisting force to the steering shaft via a reduction mechanism in the reduction gear box. The electric motor and its control unit including a control board mounted with a control circuit, are provided side by side in the reduction gear box. A connection terminal of the electric motor is electrically connected to the control unit directly. This minimizes a connection distance between the control unit and the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Sekine, Atsushi Ooshima, Tetsuya Kodama, Seiichi Kobayashi, Yasuhiro Shimizu, Naoki Hyoudou, Shigeru Endo, Atsushi Horikoshi, Keiji Kashimoto, Tamotsu Oumi, Hideaki Kawada, Shigeo Shinohara, Takeshi Senba, Mitsuo Shimoda
  • Patent number: 7886865
    Abstract: To provide an electric power steering apparatus in which it is possible to reduce a size of the entire structure of a control unit while sufficiently showing a heat radiation effect of heat generating members. The electric power steering apparatus includes a steering column 3 having inserted therein a steering shaft 2 to which steering torque is transmitted, a reduction gear box 4 coupled to the steering shaft 2, and an electric motor 5 that transmits a steering assisting force to the steering shaft 2 via a reduction mechanism in the reduction gear box. In the reduction gear box 4, a motor mounting section 17 for mounting the electric motor 5 is formed at an end face in a direction perpendicular to an axis of the steering shaft 2 and a control-unit mounting section 20 for mounting a control unit 19 for controlling to drive the electric motor 5 is formed near the motor mounting section 17.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Sekine, Atsushi Ooshima, Tetsuya Kodama, Seiichi Kobayashi, Keiji Kashimoto, Hideaki Kawada, Shigeo Shinohara, Takeshi Senba
  • Publication number: 20090295325
    Abstract: To provide an electric power steering apparatus in which it is possible to minimize a connection distance between a control unit and an electric motor and surely prevent electric noise from mixing between the control unit and the electric motor as well as to minimize electric resistance and minimize an electric loss by directly connecting the control unit and connection terminals of the electric motor and a torque sensor. A motor control apparatus includes a steering column 3 having inserted therein a steering shaft 2 to which steering torque is transmitted, a reduction gear box 4 coupled to the steering shaft 2, and an electric motor 5 that transmits a steering assisting force to the steering shaft 2 via a reduction mechanism in the reduction gear box 4.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Sekine, Atsushi Ooshima, Tetsuya Kodama, Seiichi Kobayashi, Yasuhiro Shimizu, Naoki Hyoudou, Shigeru Endo, Atsushi Horikoshi, Keiji Kashimoto, Tamotsu Oumi, Hideaki Kawada, Shigeo Shinohara, Takeshi Senba, Mitsuo Shimoda
  • Publication number: 20090272599
    Abstract: To provide an electric power steering apparatus in which it is possible to reduce a size of the entire structure of a control unit while sufficiently showing a heat radiation effect of heat generating members. The electric power steering apparatus includes a steering column 3 having inserted therein a steering shaft 2 to which steering torque is transmitted, a reduction gear box 4 coupled to the steering shaft 2, and an electric motor 5 that transmits a steering assisting force to the steering shaft 2 via a reduction mechanism in the reduction gear box. In the reduction gear box 4, a motor mounting section 17 for mounting the electric motor 5 is formed at an end face in a direction perpendicular to an axis of the steering shaft 2 and a control-unit mounting section 20 for mounting a control unit 19 for controlling to drive the electric motor 5 is formed near the motor mounting section 17.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2007
    Publication date: November 5, 2009
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Sekine, Atsushi Ooshima, Tetsuya Kodama, Seiichi Kobayashi, Keiji Kashimoto, Hideaki Kawada, Shigeo Shinohara, Takeshi Senba
  • Publication number: 20090183940
    Abstract: To provide an electric power steering apparatus in which ground processing for respective sections requiring a ground can be reduced to necessary minimum to improve assemblability. An electric power steering apparatus includes a steering column 3 having inserted therein a steering shaft 2 to which steering torque is transmitted and an electric motor 5 that transmits a steering assisting force to the steering shaft 2 via a reduction mechanism in a conductive reduction gear box 4. A control unit 19 including boards 23 and 25 mounted with control circuits that control to drive the electric motor is mounted on the reduction gear box 4, a connecting section of the electric motor 5 is electrically connected to the control unit 19 directly, and connection of the reduction gear box 4 and the control unit 19 to a ground is performed via a grounding line 29 disposed between the control unit 19 and a power feeding unit 30.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2007
    Publication date: July 23, 2009
    Applicant: NSK LTD
    Inventors: Takaaki Sekine, Naoki Hyoudou, Keiji Kashimoto
  • Publication number: 20090120712
    Abstract: An electric power steering device which has, on the outer surface of its gear box, the circuit modules of a control device such as a power module, a frame module, and a control module, and which is easily mountable on a vehicle and less affected by heating. The upper half of the gear box (11) is formed in a rectangular parallelepiped box (11b) in which a reduction gear mechanism is assembled. The first flat face (11b1) of the gear box (11) on the outside of the axis of the center shaft of an electric motor (12) as viewed from a worm gear meshing point is formed as a mounting face for the power module (PM), and the second flat face (11b2) of the gear box crossing the first flat face is formed as a mounting face for circuit parts forming the frame module (FM) and the control module (CM).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2006
    Publication date: May 14, 2009
    Inventors: Keiji Kashimoto, Masanori Shingou, Hideaki Kawada, Shigeo Shinohara, Kouichi Satoh