Patents by Inventor Minoru Matsuo

Minoru Matsuo 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: 8701424
    Abstract: A turbo chiller that allows for temperature adjustment even when a target heat load is low is provided. A turbo chiller (11) is equipped with a chiller-side control unit that controls an operation so that a coolant outlet temperature is equal to a desired value. When a target heat load is lower than or equal to a predetermined value, the chiller-side control unit outputs a target coolant flow rate, which satisfies the target heat load, of the coolant on the basis of a current coolant inlet temperature, which is a current temperature of the coolant flowing into an evaporator, and a target coolant outlet temperature, which is a coolant outlet temperature to be targeted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20130274948
    Abstract: The need for manual adjustment of a number-of-devices controller when a system is installed or when a new heat source device is added is eliminated, and operation with a high coefficient of performance is possible even when the temperature of a heat-source medium changes. A heat source system (1) includes a plurality of heat source devices (3) that are used as hot-water heat pumps and are connected in parallel with each other, heat-source-device controllers (9) provided for the respective heat source devices (3), and a number-of-devices controller (10) that allocates a hot-water load corresponding to a demand hot-water load to each heat source device (3).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Matsuo, Satoshi Nikaido, Masaharu Nitta
  • Patent number: 8541089
    Abstract: A base element for a fixing belt are provided. The base element includes a sheet which is made of a heat resistant resin and has opposite end portions joined in an endless state. A conductive film layer of a thickness of 3 to 15 ?m is provided over two third or more area of an inner surface of the endless belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Katabami, Minoru Matsuo, Shigenobu Fukui
  • Publication number: 20130238258
    Abstract: A required-circulated-refrigerant flow-rate calculating portion provided in a chilled-water flow-rate estimation calculation portion calculates an evaporator exchanged heat quantity exchanged between a refrigerant and chilled water at an evaporator based on a planned chilled-water-flow-rate value and a measured value of the temperature of the chilled water flowing in the evaporator, and calculates an evaporator-refrigerant flow rate based on that evaporator exchanged heat quantity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2012
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Matsuo, Kenji Ueda, Toshihiko Niinomi, Hitoi Ono
  • Publication number: 20130180272
    Abstract: The degree-of-opening of an expansion valve is set to an appropriate degree-of-opening regardless of the load and external conditions for a heat-source unit. In a turbo refrigerator including a compressor that compresses a refrigerant; a condenser that condenses a compressed refrigerant by means of cooling water; an evaporator that evaporates a condensed refrigerant and also performs heat exchange between this refrigerant and cold water; and an expansion valve that causes a liquid-phase refrigerant retained in the condenser to expand, a expansion-valve control device (40) controls a degree-of-opening of the expansion valve (18).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2012
    Publication date: July 18, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hitoi Ono, Kenji Ueda, Noriyuki Matsukura, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20130174601
    Abstract: A flow rate of a heat transfer medium is computed without a flow meter. In a control apparatus (30), a storing portion (36) stores an aerodynamic characteristic map indicating a line causing a rotating stall and lines showing a sonic velocity in a refrigerant sucked in by a compressor (12) on a map displaying a variable ? reflecting a suction volume of the compressor (12) and a variable ? reflecting a head of the compressor (12); a estimation portion of chilled water flow rate (30b) computes the variable ?, derives the variable ? according to the variable ? from the map, computes a heat amount exchanged between the refrigerant and the chilled water in an evaporator (24) based on the suction volume of the compressor (12) according to the computed variable ?, and computes the flow rate of the chilled water based on the heat amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2012
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Matsuo, Kenji Ueda, Toshihiko Niinomi, Hitoi Ono
  • Publication number: 20130098084
    Abstract: A chiller control apparatus increases or decreases chillers in order to efficiently operate an entire chiller system. When the number of chillers increases, an insufficient load value calculation unit calculates an insufficient amount of a load for a required load. Then, using a COP obtained according to an operating environment of the chiller, a chiller-to-be-operated selection unit selects, from among stopped chillers, a chiller having the highest COP when operated with an insufficient amount of a load, as the chiller to be subjected to stage increase. Further, when the number of chillers decreases, an operation pattern extraction unit extracts operation patterns that are combinations of chillers to be operated according to the required load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2011
    Publication date: April 25, 2013
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Matsuo, Kenji Ueda, Satoshi Nikaido
  • Publication number: 20120280052
    Abstract: A hot-water heat pump that is capable of reducing installation costs and installation space and also reducing the heating time of a hot-water route, and a method of controlling the same are provided. The hot-water heat pump (1) is provided with a hot-water-heat-pump main unit (2) that includes a thermal output heat exchanger that absorbs heat from a heat-source route and outputs heat; hot-water route (5 and 6) that receive heat outputted from the thermal output heat exchanger; a three-way valve (4) provided in the outlet-side hot-water route (6); and a controller that controls the hot-water-heat-pump main unit (2) and the three-way valve (4), wherein the controller controls the size of openings of the three-way valve (4) so that a portion of the outlet-side hot-water route (6) leading out of the thermal output heat exchanger is guided to an upstream side of the thermal output heat exchanger.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2011
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Makoto Kishi, Minoru Matsuo, Seiichi Okuda, Masaharu Nitta, Tatsuru Nagai
  • Patent number: 8245525
    Abstract: A heat source apparatus in which a control device of the heat source apparatus can ascertain a stoppage of an inverter device and in which a stable operating time of the heat source apparatus can be extended is provided. The heat source apparatus includes an electric compressor that is driven by an inverter device and that compresses a refrigerant, the inverter device having a protective function that performs stoppage for device protection on the basis of a predetermined calculation by an inverter control portion, and a control device that controls cold output and/or heat output. The control device includes an inverter-protective-function estimating unit that estimates a calculation result of the protective function of the inverter control portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20120174609
    Abstract: Upon newly installing a system or installing an additional heat source apparatuses, manual adjustment of a number-of-units control device should be eliminated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2010
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Minoru Matsuo, Kenji Ueda
  • Publication number: 20120053898
    Abstract: Enhanced accuracy in performance evaluation of a centrifugal chiller is achieved. Provided is a performance evaluation device for a centrifugal chiller, which includes an input unit that receives operating data of the centrifugal chiller; a data classifying unit that acquires evaluated data to be subjected to performance evaluation from the operating data received by the input unit and classifies the evaluated data into multiple groups on the basis of a preset classifying condition; a smoothing unit that smoothes the evaluated data, for each of the groups classified by the data classifying unit, by using a predetermined calculation method set in advance so as to obtain an evaluated value; and an evaluation unit that performs performance evaluation for each group by using the evaluated value obtained by the smoothing unit and a reference evaluation value that is set in advance or calculated using the operating data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2011
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshie Togano, Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20120029889
    Abstract: Design COP is iteratively computed. Provided is a centrifugal chiller performance evaluation system including a data acquisition section for acquiring operating data from a centrifugal chiller as input data; a storage section storing a design COP estimation formula obtained by adding correction values corresponding to losses occurring in an actual environment to a computational formula for ideal actual-machine COP expressed using COP characteristics of a reverse Carnot cycle; and a computing section for estimating a design COP at a current operating point using the operating data acquired by the data acquisition section and the design COP estimation formula stored in the storage section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshie Togano, Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20110167843
    Abstract: A heating-medium flow rate is obtained with sufficient accuracy even if an inexpensive flow rate sensor is used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 6, 2011
    Publication date: July 14, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20100180629
    Abstract: A turbo chiller that allows for temperature adjustment even when a target heat load is low is provided. A turbo chiller (11) is equipped with a chiller-side control unit that controls an operation so that a coolant outlet temperature is equal to a desired value. When a target heat load is lower than or equal to a predetermined value, the chiller-side control unit outputs a target coolant flow rate, which satisfies the target heat load, of the coolant on the basis of a current coolant inlet temperature, which is a current temperature of the coolant flowing into an evaporator, and a target coolant outlet temperature, which is a coolant outlet temperature to be targeted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2008
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Ueda, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20100031683
    Abstract: A heat source apparatus in which a control device of the heat source apparatus can ascertain a stoppage of an inverter device and in which a stable operating time of the heat source apparatus can be extended is provided. The heat source apparatus includes an electric compressor that is driven by an inverter device and that compresses a refrigerant, the inverter device having a protective function that performs stoppage for device protection on the basis of a predetermined calculation by an inverter control portion, and a control device that controls cold output and/or heat output. The control device includes an inverter-protective-function estimating unit that estimates a calculation result of the protective function of the inverter control portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2007
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji UEDA, Minoru MATSUO
  • Publication number: 20090301113
    Abstract: A turbo chiller that can run continuously even with a low load, for example, less than 10% load, is provided. In a turbo chiller having a low-load mode for repeatedly controlling stopping and starting of the turbo chiller when a coolant inlet temperature measured by a coolant inlet temperature sensor is equal to or lower than a first temperature forming a temperature difference with respect to the coolant outlet temperature, a stop limit mode for stopping the turbo chiller when the coolant inlet temperature or the coolant outlet temperature is equal to or lower than a second temperature below the first temperature is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Publication date: December 10, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Kenji Ueda, Kazuma Taito, Minoru Matsuo
  • Publication number: 20080308962
    Abstract: A method for making an intermediate transfer belt includes transferring a mixture of a solution of a thermosetting resin and a particulate electroconductive material into a centrifugal mold; rotating the centrifugal mold to form a film attached to an inner periphery thereof; thermally imidizing the film to have an imidization ratio not greater than 98%; and drawing the film to entirely harden the film and to form the intermediate transfer belt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2008
    Publication date: December 18, 2008
    Inventors: Yuuji Natori, Minoru Matsuo
  • Patent number: 7458253
    Abstract: In a method for evaluating a fixing member to fix a toner having a surface layer, a hardness test is carried out by applying a pressure deformation from the surface side of the fixing member, and when a deformation of the surface layer by the pressure deformation is within an elastic range, the fixing member is regarded as a standard product.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Aze, Kyoichi Ashikawa, Kohji Kamiya, Minoru Matsuo, Takayuki Yoshii, Nozomu Takahata
  • Patent number: 7424256
    Abstract: An intermediate transfer belt and an image forming apparatus including the belt may include a drawn component not greater than 98% of which is imidized. The intermediate transfer belt may be used in an electrophotographic image forming process in which a toner image of each color formed on plurality of image bearing members is overlappingly transferred to the intermediate transfer belt to form a multi-colored image thereon. The multi-colored image is transferred to a transfer material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
    Inventors: Yuuji Natori, Minoru Matsuo
  • Patent number: 7354617
    Abstract: A method for evaluating a fixing belt includes forming a fixing belt which includes a substrate, an elastic layer laminated on the substrate, and a mold releasing layer laminated on the elastic layer. A universal hardness test for the fixing belt is performed. The fixing belt is judged as an acceptable product if a creep value CHU is included within a range of 0.40?CHU ?3.50 (%) when the universal hardness test is performed for the fixing belt and when the creep value CHU, which is measured from the side of the mold releasing layer, is defined by the following formula: CHU=(h2-hl)/hlĂ—100 (%) where h1 is a pushed depth when a test load reaches a predetermined value which is kept for a predetermined period of time, and h2 is a pushed depth when a predetermined period of time is elapsed after the test load is removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kohji Kamiya, Kyoichi Ashikawa, Norihiko Aze, Minoru Matsuo, Nozomu Takahata