Patents by Inventor Noriyuki Maekawa

Noriyuki Maekawa 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).

  • Publication number: 20070194152
    Abstract: An injector used for an internal combustion engine includes a valve needle which closes a fuel passage by being contacted on a valve seat and opens the fuel passage by separating from the valve seat, a coil and a magnetic core which are provided as a drive means of the valve needle, an anchor held in a relatively displaceable state with respect to the valve needle, a first biasing means biasing the valve needle in a direction opposite to a direction of a drive force, a second biasing means biasing the anchor in the direction of the drive force with a set load smaller than that of the first biasing means, and a restricting means restricting relative displacement of the anchor with respect to the valve needle in the direction of the drive force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2007
    Publication date: August 23, 2007
    Applicant: Hitachi. Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoyuki Abe, Masahiko Hayatani, Atsushi Sekine, Yasuo Namaizawa, Tohru Ishikawa, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20070080239
    Abstract: A heating time period is decreased by that a valve body including a hollow valve shaft is arranged in a slidable manner in a cylindrical part of a casing on which a nozzle body with a valve seat is mounted at a front end thereof, a fuel is introduced from a fuel outlet port opening on a shaft wall of the valve shaft into a fuel path formed by the valve shaft and the cylindrical part, the fuel is heated to be injected from the nozzle body by a heater arranged at an outside of the fuel path of the cylindrical part, and a sleeve is mounted in the fuel path so that a large diameter part thereof closes the fuel path at an upper area of the fuel outlet port, while a fuel inlet port is formed on a small diameter part of the sleeve to introduce the fuel into the fuel path, so that the fuel path is narrowed to decrease an amount of the fuel to be heated by the heater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2006
    Publication date: April 12, 2007
    Applicant: Hitachi, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihito Yasukawa, Noriyuki Maekawa, Motoyuki Abe, Nobuaki Sekiya, Masahiro Soma
  • Publication number: 20070075166
    Abstract: A fuel-injection valve includes a fuel-injection hole, a valve element and a valve seat for opening and closing the fuel-injection hole, a force-applying member for applying force to the valve element in a direction of motion of the valve element, and a drive unit for applying force to the valve element in the direction opposite to that of the force applied by the force-applying member; wherein a secondary oscillation system, which interacts with a primary oscillation system including the valve element and the force-applying member, is added to the primary oscillation system, and the phase angle of force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system is also staggered from that of force applied to the primary oscillation system, which is other than the force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system, whereby the bouncing of the valve element during opening and closing of the valve is reduced, which in turn makes it possible to achieve very acc
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2006
    Publication date: April 5, 2007
    Inventors: Masahiro Tsuchiya, Tosuke Hirata, Yoshio Okamoto, Tohru Ishikawa, Noriyuki Maekawa, Yoshiyuki Tanabe, Atsushi Sekine, Yuzo Kadomukai, Makoto Yamakado, Motoyuki Abe
  • Patent number: 7163162
    Abstract: A fuel-injection valve includes a fuel-injection hole, a valve element and a valve seat for opening and closing the fuel-injection hole, a force-applying member for applying force to the valve element in a direction of motion of the valve element, and a drive unit for applying force to the valve element in the direction opposite to that of the force applied by the force-applying member; wherein a secondary oscillation system, which interacts with a primary oscillation system including the valve element and the force-applying member, is added to the primary oscillation system, and the phase angle of force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system is also staggered from that of force applied to the primary oscillation system, which is other than the force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system, whereby the bouncing of the valve element during opening and closing of the valve is reduced, which in turn makes it possible to achieve very acc
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Tsuchiya, Tosuke Hirata, Yoshio Okamoto, Tohru Ishikawa, Noriyuki Maekawa, Yoshiyuki Tanabe, Atsushi Sekine, Yuzo Kadomukai, Makoto Yamakado, Motoyuki Abe
  • Publication number: 20070007363
    Abstract: A valve seat is provided upstream from said fuel nozzle orifice. A first valve rod opens and closes the fuel nozzle orifice with axial movements relative to the valve seat. A spring exerts the first valve rod away from the valve seat. A stopper restricts a lift amount of the first valve rod lifted with a force of the spring. A solenoid produces a magnetic field. A magnetostrictive element extends when current passes through the solenoid and shrinks when no current passes through said solenoid, and having a hysteresis in an axial deformation amount on extending and in an axial deformation amount on shrinking. A second valve rod presses the first valve rod onto the valve seat against the force of the spring when the solenoid is not energized, and for allows the first valve rod to move away from the valve seat with exertions of an extension of the magnetostrictive element and the force of said spring when said solenoid is energized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2006
    Publication date: January 11, 2007
    Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masanori Mifuji, Noriyuki Maekawa, Tohru Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 7095599
    Abstract: When voltage changes occur in the battery used as a power supply in a fuel injection system, the amount of fuel injection also changes and the required amount of fuel injected cannot be obtained. To eliminate this problem, a fuel injector system is provided which has a fuel injection valve with at least one coil, a power supply, a power supply voltage detector, and a control unit for controlling the fuel injection valve. The control unit sets a reference value of a power supply voltages, and the above-mentioned fuel injection valve is controlled so as to obtain the required ampere-turns by reducing the resultant inductance of the coil when a power supply voltage detection value is less than the above-mentioned reference value, and the resultant inductance of the coil is increased when the power voltage detection value is greater than the reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2006
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Noriyuki Maekawa, Motoyuki Abe, Makoto Yamakado, Toru Ishikawa, Kooji Shibata
  • Publication number: 20060180122
    Abstract: Information storage element 102 and transmitter-receiver 103 are molded in resin connector part 101 of fuel injection valve 100 which projects outside of the engine by molding. The precise control of an injection amount is enabled by using directly the characteristic of injection amount stored in information storage element 102, and obtaining the width of the injection command pulse corresponding to the injection amount instruction value. Thereby, the minimum injection amount which is the minimum value of the fuel supply amount which can be controlled is reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2005
    Publication date: August 17, 2006
    Applicant: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Noriyuki Maekawa, Motoyuki Abe, Kenichiro Tokuo, Takehiko Kowatari, Tohru Ishikawa, Toshiyuki Innami, Kazuhiko Hanawa, Satoshi Shimada
  • Patent number: 7082922
    Abstract: In order to provide a fuel injection method of an internal combustion engine having higher combustion stability which can direct a part of concentrated fuel spray toward an ignition plug according to a fuel injection atmosphere, a fuel injection valve thereof, and an internal combustion engine, the present invention provides a fuel injection method of an internal combustion engine for injecting fuel so as to generate a part of high spray concentration and a part of low spray concentration on the cross section of spray by giving swirling force to fuel from an injection hole at the front end of a fuel injection valve, comprising the step of setting a reference indicating the position of a axis of the fuel injection valve indicating the injection direction of the part of high spray concentration in the rotational direction when fuel is injected into an atmosphere under the atmospheric pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2006
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Car Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoyuki Abe, Noriyuki Maekawa, Takuya Shiraishi, Hiroshi Fujii, Mamoru Fujieda, Toru Ishikawa, Yoshiyuki Tanabe
  • Patent number: 7021569
    Abstract: A fuel swirler positioned upstream of an injection orifice is disposed at the tip of a nozzle body in a fuel injector, in which the fixed core and the nozzle body are coupled to each other via a non-magnetic cylindrical seal ring press-fitted and welded to the outer circumference of one end on the nozzle body side of the fixed core and the inner circumference of one end of the nozzle body. The inner circumference of the fuel swirler and the inner circumference of the seal ring function serve as a guide for slidably guiding a stroke movement of the needle. The fuel swirler is held between the receiving surface of the nozzle body and the orifice plate, thus defining an annular fuel passage between the outer circumference of the fuel swirler and the inner circumference of the nozzle body, so that fuel flows into a passage groove formed at the lower end surface of the fuel swirler via the annular fuel passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2006
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Car Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kiyotaka Ogura, Atsushi Sekine, Eiichi Kubota, Masafumi Nakano, Keiichi Uraki, Noriyuki Maekawa, Mizuho Yokoyama, Yoshiyuki Tanabe, Hiromasa Kubo, Tooru Ishikawa
  • Publication number: 20060027217
    Abstract: The heating injector in which the fuel is heated within a short time when starting and the size of a fuel atomized particle is very small h as casing 10 for a fuel injection valve which supplies fuel to an engine, orifice member 50 with an orifice through which fuel passes, plunger 20 which carries out switching action of orifice, swirl chip 30 which contacts the orifice member and the casing at a plurality of positions, and forms a fuel passage blocked by a plurality of narrow portions and a fuel heating space channel where entrance side was blocked by the narrow portion in the downstream side, and a heater which is arranged between fuel passage forming member and casing and supported by either of the fuel passage forming member or the casing in a plurality of parts in the fuel passage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2005
    Publication date: February 9, 2006
    Inventors: Yoshihito Yasukawa, Noriyuki Maekawa, Takehiko Kowatari, Yoshio Okamoto
  • Patent number: 6908050
    Abstract: A press-machined fuel induction pipe 40, a hollow tubular type of fixed core 1 with a flange at its upper end, and a nozzle holder 18 that was press-machined into a slender tubular shape and has an orifice plate equipped with a valve seat at the lower end of the nozzle holder, are connected by welding. The upper inner surface of nozzle holder 18 and the outer surface of fixed core 1 are welded after being press-fit. A movable core 14 and a valve body 16 are connected to the welded assembly via a point 15 having a spring function. On the outer surface of nozzle holder 18 is provided an electromagnetic coil 2, the outside of which is provided with a tubular yoke 4 whose upper end is connected by welding to the flange 1a of fixed core 1 and whose lower end is press-fit on the outer surface of nozzle holder 18.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2005
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Car Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Sekine, Kiyotaka Ogura, Ryuya Ando, Makoto Yamakado, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20050109311
    Abstract: In order to provide a fuel injection method of an internal combustion engine having higher combustion stability which can direct a part of concentrated fuel spray toward an ignition plug according to a fuel injection atmosphere, a fuel injection valve thereof, and an internal combustion engine, the present invention provides a fuel injection method of an internal combustion engine for injecting fuel so as to generate a part of high spray concentration and a part of low spray concentration on the cross section of spray by giving swirling force to fuel from an injection hole at the front end of a fuel injection valve, comprising the step of setting a reference indicating the position of a axis of the fuel injection valve indicating the injection direction of the part of high spray concentration in the rotational direction when fuel is injected into an atmosphere under the atmospheric pressure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2004
    Publication date: May 26, 2005
    Applicants: HITACHI, LTD., HITACHI CAR ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Motoyuki Abe, Noriyuki Maekawa, Takuya Shiraishi, Hiroshi Fujii, Mamoru Fujieda, Toru Ishikawa, Yoshiyuki Tanabe
  • Publication number: 20050073795
    Abstract: When voltage changes occur in the battery used as a power supply in a fuel injection system, the amount of fuel injection also changes and the required amount of fuel injected cannot be obtained. To eliminate this problem, a fuel injector system is provided which has a fuel injection valve with at least one coil, a power supply, a power supply voltage detector, and a control unit for controlling the fuel injection valve. The control unit sets a reference value of a power supply voltages, and the above-mentioned fuel injection valve is controlled so as to obtain the required ampere-turns by reducing the resultant inductance of the coil when a power supply voltage detection value is less than the above-mentioned reference value, and the resultant inductance of the coil is increased when the power voltage detection value is greater than the reference value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2004
    Publication date: April 7, 2005
    Inventors: Noriyuki Maekawa, Motoyuki Abe, Makoto Yamakado, Toru Ishikawa, Kooji Shibata
  • Patent number: 6783109
    Abstract: An electromagnetic fuel injection valve comprises a movable unit having a valve element, an electromagnetic coil, and a magnetic circuit for magnetically attracting the movable unit toward a valve opening side through energization of the electromagnetic coil. The magnetic circuit is composed of a hollow, cylindrical stationary core, which defines a fuel passage extending axially through an injection valve body, a hollow seal ring made of a nonmagnetic or a feeble magnetic material, a hollow nozzle housing, and a movable core constituting a part of the movable unit. The stationary core and the nozzle housing are joined together through the seal ring. This electromagnetic fuel injection valve has improved responsibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2004
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Car Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kiyotaka Ogura, Atsushi Sekine, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Patent number: 6766789
    Abstract: An injector driving control apparatus operates with minimum power consumption, while ensuring linearity (proportionality between the current supply duration and fuel injection volume of the injector) in a wide fuel pressure range. A coil current feedback circuit is provided for controlling the current feedback duration according to the fuel pressure after applying the current at a boost voltage. This enables optimal control of the injector, and, hence, an improvement in the fuel injection volume characteristics (linearity) and a reduction in the heat generated in the injector driving control circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2004
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Yamakado, Noriyuki Maekawa, Kiyotaka Ogura, Kazutaka Hino, Tohru Ishikawa
  • Publication number: 20040135014
    Abstract: A press-machined fuel induction pipe 40, a hollow tubular type of fixed core 1 with a flange at its upper end, and a nozzle holder 18 that was press-machined into a slender tubular shape and has an orifice plate equipped with a valve seat at the lower end of the nozzle holder, are connected by welding. The upper inner surface of nozzle holder 18 and the outer surface of fixed core 1 are welded after being press-fit. A movable core 14 and a valve body 16 are connected to the welded assembly via a point 15 having a spring function. On the outer surface of nozzle holder 18 is provided an electromagnetic coil 2, the outside of which is provided with a tubular yoke 4 whose upper end is connected by welding to the flange 1a of fixed core 1 and whose lower end is press-fit on the outer surface of nozzle holder 18.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2004
    Publication date: July 15, 2004
    Applicants: HITACHI, LTD., HITACHI CAR ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Atsushi Sekine, Kiyotaka Ogura, Ryuya Ando, Makoto Yamakado, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Patent number: 6695233
    Abstract: A press-machined fuel induction pipe 40, a hollow tubular type of fixed core 1 with a flange at its upper end, and a nozzle holder 18 that was press-machined into a slender tubular shape and has an orifice plate equipped with a valve seat at the lower end of the nozzle holder, are connected by welding. The upper inner surface of nozzle holder 18 and the outer surface of fixed core 1 are welded after being press-fit. A movable core 14 and a valve body 16 are connected to the welded assembly via a point 15 having a spring function. On the outer surface of nozzle holder 18 is provided an electromagnetic coil 2, the outside of which is provided with a tubular yoke 4 whose upper end is connected by welding to the flange 1a of fixed core 1 and whose lower end is press-fit on the outer surface of nozzle holder 18.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2004
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Car Engineering Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Atsushi Sekine, Kiyotaka Ogura, Ryuya Ando, Makoto Yamakado, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Patent number: 6685114
    Abstract: A valve structure which works easily, does not increase production cost, can reduce dispersion in a side gap by restricting eccentricity and incline of a valve body and can maintain highly accurate injection. An electromagnetic fuel injection valve is required which is easy to manufacture even in a narrow valve structure. A guide portion is provided having one end fixed to an injection valve main body for guiding the valve member. A nozzle guide body constituting a magnetic passage portion to surround a magnetic member connected and fixed to one end of the valve member by the same material is provided. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce dispersion of a side gap constituting the magnetic passage, and it is also possible to stabilize an axial motion of the valve member, whereby high injection accuracy is maintained and an inexpensive injection valve is obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2004
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshio Okamoto, Yuzo Kadomukai, Makoto Yamakado, Noriyuki Maekawa, Tohru Ishikawa, Ayumu Miyajima, Kiyoshi Amou
  • Publication number: 20030151014
    Abstract: An electromagnetic fuel injection valve comprises a movable unit having a valve element, an electromagnetic coil, and a magnetic circuit for magnetically attracting the movable unit toward a valve opening side through energization of the electromagnetic coil. The magnetic circuit is composed of a hollow, cylindrical stationary core, which defines a fuel passage extending axially through an injection valve body, a hollow seal ring made of a nonmagnetic or a feeble magnetic material, a hollow nozzle housing, and a movable core constituting a part of the movable unit. The stationary core and the nozzle housing are joined together through the seal ring. This electromagnetic fuel injection valve has improved responsibility.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Kiyotaka Ogura, Atsushi Sekine, Noriyuki Maekawa
  • Publication number: 20030111563
    Abstract: A fuel-injection valve includes a fuel-injection hole, a valve element, a valve seat, a force-applying member applying force to the valve element in a direction of motion of the valve element, and a drive unit applying force to the valve element in an opposite direction of the force applied by the force-applying member. A secondary oscillation system is provided which interacts with a primary oscillation system including the valve element and the force-applying member. The phase angle of force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system is staggered from that of force applied to the primary oscillation system, which is other than the force applied to the primary oscillation system by the secondary oscillation system. Thus, bouncing of the valve element during opening and closing of the valve is reduced to achieve very accurate fuel-injection control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Publication date: June 19, 2003
    Inventors: Masahiro Tsuchiya, Tosuke Hirata, Yoshio Okamoto, Tohru Ishikawa, Noriyuki Maekawa, Yoshiyuki Tanabe, Atsushi Sekine, Yuzo Kadomukai, Makoto Yamakado, Motoyuki Abe