Patents by Inventor Kuniharu Tanaka
Kuniharu Tanaka 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).
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Publication number: 20160322789Abstract: A connection portion connecting a center electrode and a terminal metal fixture together in a through hole of the insulator includes a resistor and a magnetic substance structure including a magnetic substance and a conductor The connection portion further includes a first conductive sealing portion, a second conductive sealing portion and a third conductive sealing portion. The first conductive sealing portion is disposed on a leading end side of a first member and is in contact therewith. The second conductive sealing portion is disposed between the first member and a second member and is in contact with the first member and the second member. The third conductive sealing portion is disposed on a rear end side of the second member and is in contact therewith.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 25, 2014Publication date: November 3, 2016Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya TAKAOKA, Kazuhiro KUROSAWA, Kuniharu TANAKA, Toshitaka HONDA, Hirokazu KURONO, Haruki YOSHIDA, Hironori UEGAKI
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Patent number: 9385511Abstract: A spark plug including an insulator containing an Al component, in terms of oxides, 89 mass % or more and a Ti component, in terms of oxides, more than 0 mass % and 0.2 mass % or less, characterized in that the insulator is formed of an alumina-based sintered material which contains, in a grain boundary phase present between alumina crystal grains, a first crystal phase containing at least one species selected from among an La component, an Nd component, a Pr component, a Y component, an Er component, a Yb component, and an Lu component, and a second crystal phase containing at least one species of Group 2 element components, an Al component and an Si component.Type: GrantFiled: August 23, 2013Date of Patent: July 5, 2016Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Hiroki Takeuchi, Yutaka Yokoyama, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka, Toshitaka Honda, Hirokazu Kurono, Katsuya Takaoka, Hironori Uegaki
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Patent number: 9373940Abstract: A spark plug having an insulator with a through hole formed therein in a direction of an axis, a center electrode disposed in a front side of the through hole, a metal terminal disposed in a rear side of the through hole, an electrical connection part arranged in the through hole to establish electrical connection between the center electrode and the metal terminal and a metal shell holding therein the insulator. The electrical connection part has a conductor including a conductive material and at least one kind of Fe-containing oxide material. The Fe-containing oxide material contains at least FeO. The conductor satisfies a relationship of 0.06?S1/(S1+S2)?0.46 where, in a cross section taken along the axis, S1 is an area occupied by the conductive material and S2 is an area occupied by the Fe-containing oxide material.Type: GrantFiled: May 8, 2015Date of Patent: June 21, 2016Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya Takaoka, Kazuhiro Kurosawa, Kuniharu Tanaka, Haruki Yoshida, Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda
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Patent number: 9291525Abstract: A gas sensor element and a gas sensor incorporating the gas sensor element. The gas sensor element (100) includes a detection portion (150) including a solid electrolyte body (105) and a pair of electrodes (104) and (106) disposed on the solid electrolyte body; and a porous protection layer (20) covering the detection portion. The porous protection layer includes an inner porous layer (21) and an outer porous layer (23). The inner porous layer has a higher porosity than the outer porous layer. Further, the inner porous layer contains, as main components, ceramic particles (21a), and ceramic fiber filaments (21b), and the amount of the ceramic fiber filaments is 25 to 75 vol % based on the total amount of the ceramic particles and the ceramic fiber filaments taken as 100 vol %.Type: GrantFiled: May 31, 2013Date of Patent: March 22, 2016Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Shigehiro Otsuka, Masaki Onkawa, Toru Iwano, Satoshi Teramoto, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Patent number: 9281662Abstract: A spark plug including an insulator having an axial hole, a center electrode held at one end side and a terminal electrode held at the other end side of the axial hole, an electrical connection portion electrically connecting the center electrode and the terminal electrode inside the axial hole, wherein the electrical connection portion includes a conductor including a ceramic phase and a metal wire having a spiral structure portion, wherein the metal wire has a wire diameter of 0.1 mm or greater and 0.5 mm or smaller, and wherein the spiral structure portion of the metal wire is configured such that an outer diameter thereof is 1.0 mm or greater and 3 mm or smaller, a pitch thereof is 0.3 mm or greater and 1 mm or smaller, and a height thereof is 8 mm or greater and 30 mm or smaller.Type: GrantFiled: May 28, 2015Date of Patent: March 8, 2016Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya Takaoka, Kazuhiro Kurosawa, Kuniharu Tanaka, Haruki Yoshida, Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda
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Patent number: 9234870Abstract: A gas sensor element (100) including a detection portion (150) including a solid electrolyte body (105) and a pair of electrodes (104) and (106) disposed on the solid electrolyte body; and a porous protection layer (20) covering the detection portion. The porous protection layer includes an inner porous layer (21) and an outer porous layer (23); the inner porous layer is higher in porosity than the outer porous layer; the inner porous layer contains, as main components, ceramic particles (21a), and ceramic fiber filaments (21b) which are mainly formed of a ceramic material and which have a mean fiber length of 70 to 200 ?m; and the amount of the ceramic fiber filaments is 25 to 75 vol % on the basis of the total amount of the ceramic particles and the ceramic fiber filaments, the total amount being taken as 100 vol %.Type: GrantFiled: November 20, 2012Date of Patent: January 12, 2016Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Shigehiro Otsuka, Masaki Onkawa, Toru Iwano, Satoshi Teramoto, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Publication number: 20150349498Abstract: A spark plug including an insulator having an axial hole, a center electrode held at one end side and a terminal electrode held at the other end side of the axial hole, an electrical connection portion electrically connecting the center electrode and the terminal electrode inside the axial hole, wherein the electrical connection portion includes a conductor including a ceramic phase and a metal wire having a spiral structure portion, wherein the metal wire has a wire diameter of 0.1 mm or greater and 0.5 mm or smaller, and wherein the spiral structure portion of the metal wire is configured such that an outer diameter thereof is 1.0 mm or greater and 3 mm or smaller, a pitch thereof is 0.3 mm or greater and 1 mm or smaller, and a height thereof is 8 mm or greater and 30 mm or smaller.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 28, 2015Publication date: December 3, 2015Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya TAKAOKA, Kazuhiro KUROSAWA, Kuniharu TANAKA, Haruki YOSHIDA, Hirokazu KURONO, Toshitaka HONDA
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Publication number: 20150325982Abstract: A spark plug having an insulator with a through hole formed therein in a direction of an axis, a center electrode disposed in a front side of the through hole, a metal terminal disposed in a rear side of the through hole, an electrical connection part arranged in the through hole to establish electrical connection between the center electrode and the metal terminal and a metal shell holding therein the insulator. The electrical connection part has a conductor including a conductive material and at least one kind of Fe-containing oxide material. The Fe-containing oxide material contains at least FeO. The conductor satisfies a relationship of 0.06?S1/(S1+S2)?0.46 where, in a cross section taken along the axis, S1 is an area occupied by the conductive material and S2 is an area occupied by the Fe-containing oxide material.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 8, 2015Publication date: November 12, 2015Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya TAKAOKA, Kazuhiro KUROSAWA, Kuniharu TANAKA, Haruki YOSHIDA, Hirokazu KURONO, Toshitaka HONDA
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Patent number: 9160145Abstract: An insulator for spark plug with a main constituent of alumina and containing silicon includes a grain boundary phase positioned between alumina particles. The grain boundary phase contains: a group 2A element; a rare earth element; and at least one kind of zirconium, titanium, chrome, niobium, manganese, and iron (a first element). Assuming that a total amount of the rare earth element is X (mass %), a total amount of the group 2A element is Y (mass %), and a total amount of the first element is Z (mass %), the following are met: 0.40?Y/X?2.00 0.10?Z/X?0.40.Type: GrantFiled: May 8, 2014Date of Patent: October 13, 2015Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya Takaoka, Yutaka Yokoyama, Kengo Fujimura, Hironori Uegaki, Hiroki Takeuchi, Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Publication number: 20150207300Abstract: A spark plug including an insulator containing an Al component, in terms of oxides, 89 mass % or more and a Ti component, in terms of oxides, more than 0 mass % and 0.2 mass % or less, characterized in that the insulator is formed of an alumina-based sintered material which contains, in a grain boundary phase present between alumina crystal grains, a first crystal phase containing at least one species selected from among an La component, an Nd component, a Pr component, a Y component, an Er component, a Yb component, and an Lu component, and a second crystal phase containing at least one species of Group 2 element components, an Al component and an Si component.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 23, 2013Publication date: July 23, 2015Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Hiroki Takeuchi, Yutaka Yokoyama, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka, Toshitaka Honda, Hirokazu Kurono, Katsuya Takaoka, Hironori Uegaki
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Patent number: 9080964Abstract: A gas sensor element (100) includes a laminate of a detection element (300) and a heater (200), and a porous protection layer (20) covering a forward end portion thereof. The laminate has a measuring chamber (107c) into which a gas-to-be-measured is introduced via a diffusion resistor (115). The porous protection layer includes an inner porous layer (21), and an outer porous layer (23). The inner porous layer has a higher porosity than the outer porous layer and the diffusion resistor. As viewed in a plurality of 100 ?m×100 ?m regions a1 to a3 and b1 to b3 on sections of the inner porous layer and the diffusion resistor, respectively, a pore diameter greater than the greatest pore diameter CDIF in the regions of the diffusion resistor exists in each of the regions of the inner porous layer.Type: GrantFiled: October 31, 2012Date of Patent: July 14, 2015Assignee: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Sigehiro Otsuka, Masaki Onkawa, Toru Iwano, Satoshi Teramoto, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Patent number: 8992752Abstract: There is provided a gas sensor element for detecting the concentration of a specific gas component in gas under measurement, which includes a plate-shaped element body and a porous protection layer. The element body has, at one end portion thereof, a gas sensing portion formed with a solid electrolyte substrate and a pair of electrodes. The porous protection layer has a porous structure formed of ceramic particles and surrounds at least the circumference of the one end portion of the element body. In the present invention, the porous protection layer has an inner region, an intermediate region and an outer region laminated together in order of mention from the element body toward the outside. The intermediate region has a porosity lower than those of the inner and outer regions. There is also provided a gas sensor with such a gas sensor element.Type: GrantFiled: February 21, 2012Date of Patent: March 31, 2015Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.Inventors: Masaki Onkawa, Shigehiro Otsuka, Seiji Oya, Satoshi Teramoto, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Patent number: 8889577Abstract: A sintered body containing alumina crystal particles and zirconia crystal particles as main components includes the tetragonal crystal particles as the zirconia crystal particles. The zirconia crystal particles satisfy relations 0%?A?3%, 3%?B?22% and 77%?C?96%,where A, B and C are as defined herein.Type: GrantFiled: July 6, 2012Date of Patent: November 18, 2014Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.Inventors: Jun Moteki, Yusuke Katsu, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka, Yoshihiro Kuroki, Hironobu Kusanagi
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Publication number: 20140336035Abstract: An insulator for spark plug with a main constituent of alumina and containing silicon includes a grain boundary phase positioned between alumina particles. The grain boundary phase contains: a group 2A element; a rare earth element; and at least one kind of zirconium, titanium, chrome, niobium, manganese, and iron (a first element). Assuming that a total amount of the rare earth element is X (mass %), a total amount of the group 2A element is Y (mass %), and a total amount of the first element is Z (mass %), the following are met: 0.40?Y/X?2.00 0.10?Z/X?0.40.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 8, 2014Publication date: November 13, 2014Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Katsuya TAKAOKA, Yutaka YOKOYAMA, Kengo FUJIMURA, Hironori UEGAKI, Hiroki TAKEUCHI, Hirokazu KURONO, Toshitaka HONDA, Kuniharu TANAKA, Takeshi MITSUOKA
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Publication number: 20140291150Abstract: A gas sensor element (100) including a detection portion (150) including a solid electrolyte body (105) and a pair of electrodes (104) and (106) disposed on the solid electrolyte body; and a porous protection layer (20) covering the detection portion. The porous protection layer includes an inner porous layer (21) and an outer porous layer (23); the inner porous layer is higher in porosity than the outer porous layer; the inner porous layer contains, as main components, ceramic particles (21a), and ceramic fiber filaments (21b) which are mainly formed of a ceramic material and which have a mean fiber length of 70 to 200 ?m; and the amount of the ceramic fiber filaments is 25 to 75 vol % on the basis of the total amount of the ceramic particles and the ceramic fiber filaments, the total amount being taken as 100 vol %.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 20, 2012Publication date: October 2, 2014Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO. LTD.Inventors: Shigehiro Otsuka, Masaki Onkawa, Toru Iwano, Satoshi Teramoto, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Publication number: 20140130572Abstract: A gas sensor element and a gas sensor incorporating the gas sensor element. The gas sensor element (100) includes a detection portion (150) including a solid electrolyte body (105) and a pair of electrodes (104) and (106) disposed on the solid electrolyte body; and a porous protection layer (20) covering the detection portion. The porous protection layer includes an inner porous layer (21) and an outer porous layer (23). The inner porous layer has a higher porosity than the outer porous layer. Further, the inner porous layer contains, as main components, ceramic particles (21a), and ceramic fiber filaments (21b), and the amount of the ceramic fiber filaments is 25 to 75 vol % based on the total amount of the ceramic particles and the ceramic fiber filaments taken as 100 vol %.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 31, 2013Publication date: May 15, 2014Inventors: Shigehiro OTSUKA, Masaki ONKAWA, Toru IWANO, Satoshi TERAMOTO, Kuniharu TANAKA, Takeshi MITSUOKA
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Patent number: 8564184Abstract: A spark plug that is equipped with an insulator that has a stem portion on a front end side, a center electrode, and a main metal member that retains the insulator at an engaging projection portion, wherein an inner diameter DIN of the engaging projection portion, the maximum outer diameter dOUT of the stem portion, which faces an inner circumferential surface of the engaging projection portion, its inner diameter dIN, and dielectric constant ? of the insulator satisfy the condition of “(DIN?dOUT)/2?0.40 (mm)”, “(dOUT?dIN)/2?1.65 (mm)”, and “??9.4”.Type: GrantFiled: June 23, 2010Date of Patent: October 22, 2013Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda, Katsuya Takaoka, Hiroki Takeuchi, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka
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Publication number: 20130236259Abstract: A sintered body containing alumina crystal particles and zirconia crystal particles as main components includes the tetragonal crystal particles as the zirconia crystal particles. The zirconia crystal particles satisfy relations 0%?A?3%, 3%?B?22% and 77%?C?96%, where A, B and C are as defined herein.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 6, 2012Publication date: September 12, 2013Applicant: NGK SPARK PLUG CO., LTD.Inventors: Jun Moteki, Yusuke Katsu, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka, Yoshihiro Kuroki, Hironobu Kusanagi
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Patent number: 8390183Abstract: This invention has an object to provide a spark plug exhibiting high withstand voltage characteristics and high strength at high temperature, formed by an alumina-based sintered body prepared with excellent processability and high productivity, and a method for manufacturing the spark plug. This invention relates to a spark plug 1 including an insulator 3, wherein the insulator 3 includes a dense alumina-based sintered body having an average crystal particle diameter of 1.50 ?m or more, and the alumina-based sintered body contains Si, a Group 2 element component containing Ba and a Group 2 element other than those, and a rare earth element component, such that a ratio of a content S of the Si component to a total content of the content S and a content A of the Group 2 element component is 0.60 or more, and a method for manufacturing the spark plug 1 prepared through a grinding-shaping process in which the insulator 3 is ground before burning to shape the same.Type: GrantFiled: March 26, 2009Date of Patent: March 5, 2013Assignee: NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda, Hiroki Takeuchi, Takeshi Mitsuoka, Kuniharu Tanaka, Kazunari Miyata, Katsuya Takaoka
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Publication number: 20120262049Abstract: A spark plug that is equipped with an insulator that has a stem portion on a front end side, a center electrode, and a main metal member that retains the insulator at an engaging projection portion, wherein an inner diameter DIN of the engaging projection portion, the maximum outer diameter dOUT of the stem portion, which faces an inner circumferential surface of the engaging projection portion, its inner diameter dIN, and dielectric constant ? of the insulator satisfy the condition of “(DIN?dOUT)/2?0.40 (mm)”, “(dOUT?dIN)/2?1.65 (mm)”, and “??9.4”.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 23, 2010Publication date: October 18, 2012Inventors: Hirokazu Kurono, Toshitaka Honda, Katsuya Takaoka, Hiroki Takeuchi, Kuniharu Tanaka, Takeshi Mitsuoka