Patents by Inventor Kimihiro Imamura

Kimihiro Imamura 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: 8475958
    Abstract: A nickel hydrogen storage battery is provided which includes an electrode assembly formed by winding spirally a strip-like negative electrode (4) and a strip-like positive electrode with a separator interposed therebetween, the strip-like negative electrode (4) having a mixture layer containing a hydrogen storage alloy disposed on a core material. The electrode assembly is contained in a bottomed cylindrical container such that the negative electrode (4) forms the outermost peripheral portion. A portion corresponding to an outermost peripheral portion (5) of the negative electrode is a thin portion, and the thin portion is bent in advance in the winding direction of the electrode assembly to form an arc shape. In this manner, when the spirally wound electrode assembly is configured, the outermost peripheral portion of the negative electrode is prevented from peeling from the electrode assembly, and thus the insertability into the bottomed cylindrical container is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Okawa, Tsuneyoshi Murakami, Kenichi Aoki, Hiroyuki Usui, Kimihiro Imamura
  • Patent number: 8475876
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste is applied on both sides of a strip of core material as it runs along its lengthwise direction, and the coating thickness of the paste is adjusted as the core material coated with the paste passes through a gap between a pair of scraper tools. Tips provided to the scraper tools scrape off the paste to form a paste-coated portion of a predetermined width. The electrode mixture paste scraped off with the tips is returned through recesses on the upstream side of the tips in the running direction of the core material, so as to prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion. Thus, a method for applying electrode mixture paste is realized that can prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Publication number: 20120207914
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste is applied on both sides of a strip of core material as it runs along its lengthwise direction, and the coating thickness of the paste is adjusted as the core material coated with the paste passes through a gap between a pair of scraper tools. Tips provided to the scraper tools scrape off the paste to form a paste-coated portion of a predetermined width. The electrode mixture paste scraped off with the tips is returned through recesses on the upstream side of the tips in the running direction of the core material, so as to prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion. Thus, a method for applying electrode mixture paste is realized that can prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2012
    Publication date: August 16, 2012
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro IMAMURA, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Publication number: 20120132135
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste is applied on both sides of a strip of core material made of porous metal sheet that is running along its lengthwise direction. The paste-coated core material is pressed with press rollers alternately from opposite sides once or more, after which the paste-coated core material is passed through the gap between a pair of scraper tools to adjust the coating thickness of the paste, while the position of the core material is restricted with comb-shaped projections, so that, even though the projections are distanced from each other sufficiently to allow weld points of the core material to pass through, the coating thickness is precisely regulated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Publication date: May 31, 2012
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Publication number: 20120121980
    Abstract: An alkaline storage battery electrode includes a conductive core member as a current collector. A plurality of through holes are formed in the core member so as to be arranged linearly in parallel with a longitudinal direction of the core member. Each of the through holes has a substantially rectangular shape. The through holes are arranged so as to be shifted in the longitudinal direction of the core member at each of lines of the linearly-arranged through holes. A displacement amount between the through holes of adjacent lines in a width direction is less than a half of a sum of a size of the through hole in the longitudinal direction of the core member and a distance between the adjacent through holes in the longitudinal direction of the core member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Inventor: Kimihiro Imamura
  • Patent number: 8132527
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste (5) is applied on both sides of a strip of core material (1) as it runs along its lengthwise direction, and the coating thickness of the paste (5) is adjusted as the core material (1) coated with the paste (5) passes through a gap between a pair of scraper tools (16a, 16b). Tips (18) provided to the scraper tools (16a, 16b) scrape off the paste (5) to form a paste-coated portion of a predetermined width. The electrode mixture paste (5) scraped off with the tips (18) is returned through recesses (19) on the upstream side of the tips (18) in the running direction of the core material, so as to prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion. Thus, a method for applying electrode mixture paste is realized that can prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion and prevent process failures such as deformation of paste-coated sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Patent number: 8088444
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste (5) is applied on both sides of a strip of core material (1) made of porous metal sheet that is running along its lengthwise direction. The paste-coated core material (1) is pressed with press rollers (15a, 15b) alternately from opposite sides once or more, after which the paste-coated core material (1) is passed through the gap between a pair of scraper tools (16a, 16b) to adjust the coating thickness of the paste (5), while the position of the core material (1) is restricted with comb-shaped projections (17a or 17a, 17b), so that, even though the projections (17a, 17b) are distanced from each other sufficiently to allow weld points of the core material (1) to pass through, the coating thickness is precisely regulated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Patent number: 7886568
    Abstract: In a rolling step of feeding an electrode hoop (1) having electrode mixture layers (3a, 3b) formed on both sides of a band-shaped core (2) made of a metal thin plate to between a pair of mill rolls (8a, 8b) for rolling, the electrode hoop (1) is fed so that side a is wound about one of the mill rolls if the electrode mixture layers (3a, 3b) of the electrode hoop (1) have different average thicknesses, where the side a is one of the electrode mixture layers of the electrode hoop (1) having the smaller average thickness and side b is the other. This realizes a method for rolling an electrode hoop capable of making a rolled flat electrode even if the electrode mixture layers on both sides of the core have respective different thicknesses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Keiji Minamino
  • Publication number: 20090078018
    Abstract: In a rolling step of feeding an electrode hoop (1) having electrode mixture layers (3a, 3b) formed on both sides of a band-shaped core (2) made of a metal thin plate to between a pair of mill rolls (8a, 8b) for rolling, the electrode hoop (1) is fed so that side a is wound about one of the mill rolls if the electrode mixture layers (3a, 3b) of the electrode hoop (1) have different average thicknesses, where the side a is one of the electrode mixture layers of the electrode hoop (1) having the smaller average thickness and side b is the other. This realizes a method for rolling an electrode hoop capable of making a rolled flat electrode even if the electrode mixture layers on both sides of the core have respective different thicknesses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Publication date: March 26, 2009
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Keiji Minamino
  • Publication number: 20090053399
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste (5) is applied on both sides of a strip of core material (1) as it runs along its lengthwise direction, and the coating thickness of the paste (5) is adjusted as the core material (1) coated with the paste (5) passes through a gap between a pair of scraper tools (16a, 16b). Tips (18) provided to the scraper tools (16a, 16b) scrape off the paste (5) to form a paste-coated portion of a predetermined width. The electrode mixture paste (5) scraped off with the tips (18) is returned through recesses (19) on the upstream side of the tips (18) in the running direction of the core material, so as to prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion. Thus, a method for applying electrode mixture paste is realized that can prevent the phenomenon where the coating thickness is increased at both side edges of the paste-coated portion and prevent process failures such as deformation of paste-coated sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Publication date: February 26, 2009
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Publication number: 20090007843
    Abstract: An electrode mixture paste (5) is applied on both sides of a strip of core material (1) made of porous metal sheet that is running along its lengthwise direction. The paste-coated core material (1) is pressed with press rollers (15a, 15b) alternately from opposite sides once or more, after which the paste-coated core material (1) is passed through the gap between a pair of scraper tools (16a, 16b) to adjust the coating thickness of the paste (5), while the position of the core material (1) is restricted with comb-shaped projections (17a or 17a, 17b), so that, even though the projections (17a, 17b) are distanced from each other sufficiently to allow weld points of the core material (1) to pass through, the coating thickness is precisely regulated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2006
    Publication date: January 8, 2009
    Inventors: Kimihiro Imamura, Hiroyuki Usui, Tadakazu Seto
  • Publication number: 20080261105
    Abstract: A nickel hydrogen storage battery is provided which includes an electrode assembly formed by winding spirally a strip-like negative electrode (4) and a strip-like positive electrode with a separator interposed therebetween, the strip-like negative electrode (4) having a mixture layer containing a hydrogen storage alloy disposed on a core material. The electrode assembly is contained in a bottomed cylindrical container such that the negative electrode (4) forms the outermost peripheral portion. A portion corresponding to an outermost peripheral portion (5) of the negative electrode is a thin portion, and the thin portion is bent in advance in the winding direction of the electrode assembly to form an arc shape. In this manner, when the spirally wound electrode assembly is configured, the outermost peripheral portion of the negative electrode is prevented from peeling from the electrode assembly, and thus the insertability into the bottomed cylindrical container is improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2005
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Inventors: Takashi Okawa, Tsuneyoshi Murakami, Kenichi Aoki, Hiroyuki Usui, Kimihiro Imamura
  • Publication number: 20050154196
    Abstract: A process for producing a saccharide having a lowered molecular weight, which comprises irradiating an electron beam to a polysaccharide fraction. Also, a process for producing a saccharide having a weight average molecular weight of n (Da), which comprises irradiating an electron beam to a polysaccharide fraction which has a weight average molecular weight of M (Da) and is in a solid state at a dosage of d (kGy) that satisfies the following equation: n=Mead (wherein M is a number of 5,000 to 70,000; n is an optional positive number; e is the base of natural logarithm; and a is a number of ?0.008 to ?0.004). Furthermore, a process for producing hyaluronic acid having a lowered molecular weight, which comprises irradiating an electron beam to a hyaluronic acid fraction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2004
    Publication date: July 14, 2005
    Inventors: Hiroshi Maeda, Kimihiro Imamura