Patents by Inventor Shigeki Nakayama
Shigeki Nakayama 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: 20140109767Abstract: A method of removing ash from a wall flow type particulate filter which is arranged in an exhaust passage of an internal combustion engine in which combustion is performed in an excess of oxygen for trapping particulate matter in exhaust gas, using a solid acid which is carried on the particulate filter, renders the state of the particulate filter a state where the exhaust gas which flows into the particulate filter is lowered in concentration of oxygen and the particulate filter is raised in temperature, and then renders the state of the particulate filter a state where the exhaust gas which flows into the particulate filter in an oxidizing atmosphere contains SOx.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 29, 2012Publication date: April 24, 2014Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Hiroshi Otsuki, Shigeki Nakayama, Hiromasa Nishioka, Katsuhiko Oshikawa, Yoshihisa Tsukamoto, Junichi Matsuo, Yuichi Sobue, Daichi Imai, Kou Sugawara
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Patent number: 8706385Abstract: An exhaust gas recirculation device of an internal combustion engine (1) including a low-pressure EGR passage (20), a high-pressure EGR passage (21), a low-pressure EGR valve (23) and a high-pressure EGR valve (24) further includes an air-fuel ratio sensor (12) that is disposed in the exhaust passage (4) upstream of the position of its connection with the low-pressure EGR passage (20). In the case where a predetermined fuel-cut condition is satisfied, an ECU (30) estimates the flow amounts of exhaust gas flowing in the low-pressure EGR passage (20) and the high-pressure EGR passage (21), on the basis of the oxygen concentrations acquired by the air-fuel ratio sensor (12) at timings at which the exhaust gases recirculated into the intake passage (3) via the low-pressure EGR passage (20) and via the high-pressure EGR passage (21) reach the air-fuel ratio sensor (12), respectively.Type: GrantFiled: June 6, 2008Date of Patent: April 22, 2014Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Shigeki Nakayama, Akio Matsunaga, Tomomi Onishi, Akiyuki Iemura
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Publication number: 20130323130Abstract: An exhaust purification system in which when an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas is leaner than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, a silver-alumina-based catalyst device releases adsorbed NO2 at a first set temperature and releases adsorbed NO at a second set temperature which is lower than the first set temperature. When the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is leaner than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio and the silver-alumina-based catalyst device is a third set temperature which is lower than the second set temperature, a temperature rise of the silver-alumina-based catalyst device is suppressed to maintain the silver-alumina-based catalyst device near the third set temperature, and at least part of the NO which is adsorbed at the silver-alumina-based catalyst device is oxidized to NO2 to be adsorbed at the silver-alumina-based catalyst device, then the suppression of the temperature rise of the silver-alumina-based catalyst device is lifted.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 18, 2011Publication date: December 5, 2013Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Junichi Matsuo, Hiromasa Nishioka, Katsuhiko Oshikawa, Yoshihisa Tsukamoto, Hiroshi Otsuki, Shigeki Nakayama
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Publication number: 20130315791Abstract: An exhaust purification system of an internal combustion engine of the present invention comprises a silver-alumina-based catalyst device arranged in the engine exhaust system. When a temperature of the silver-alumina-based catalyst device becomes a second set temperature T2 lower than a first set temperature T1 at which the silver-alumina-based catalyst device releases NO2, and releases NO, the silver-alumina-based catalyst device is heated such that a temperature elevation rate thereof is increased to make the temperature T of the silver-alumina-based catalyst device be a third set temperature T3 between the first set temperature T1 and the second set temperature T2.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 14, 2011Publication date: November 28, 2013Inventors: Yoshihisa Tsukamoto, Hiromasa Nishioka, Katsuhiko Oshikawa, Hiroshi Otsuki, Junichi Matsuo, Shigeki Nakayama
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Publication number: 20130287638Abstract: This exhaust gas purification device for an internal combustion engine is provided with a particulate filter disposed in an engine exhaust system, and a catalytic device disposed downstream of the particulate filter in the engine exhaust system. The catalytic device holds sulfuric acid as a sulfate and releases the product as SO2.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2011Publication date: October 31, 2013Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kou Sugawara, Shigeki Nakayama, Yuichi Sobue, Hiromasa Nishioka, Daichi Imai
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Patent number: 8535460Abstract: A hydrogen storage alloy is provided which has an extremely low Co content, and can maintain the drain (power) performance (especially pulse discharge characteristics), activity (degree of activity), and life performance at high levels. The hydrogen storage alloy is manufactured by weighing and mixing every material for the hydrogen storage alloy so as to provide an alloy composition represented by the general formula MmNiaMnbAlcCod or MmNiaMnbAlcCodFee, and controlling the manufacturing method and manufacturing conditions so that both the a-axis length and the c-axis length of the crystal lattice are in a predetermined range. Although it is sufficient if the a-axis length of the crystal lattice is 499 pm or more and the c-axis length is 405 pm or more, by further specifying the a-axis length and c-axis length depending on the values of ABx, a hydrogen storage alloy having high durability can be provided.Type: GrantFiled: August 6, 2004Date of Patent: September 17, 2013Assignee: Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co., Ltd.Inventors: Daisuke Mukai, Shigeki Nakayama, Kiyotaka Yasuda, Shinya Kagei, Hidetoshi Inoue
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Publication number: 20130219863Abstract: An exhaust gas control apparatus includes: a fuel supply portion that is provided so as to supply fuel to a portion of an exhaust passage, which is upstream of an exhaust gas purification member provided in the exhaust passage; a heating portion that is disposed between the fuel supply portion and the exhaust gas purification member; and a control portion that controls an amount of electric power that is supplied to the heating portion, based on an exhaust gas temperature and an exhaust gas flow rate.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 6, 2011Publication date: August 29, 2013Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shinji Kamoshita, Shigeki Nakayama, Hiromi Hiramatsu, Hiroyuki Murai
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Patent number: 8489309Abstract: In a feedback control system in which a base gain having a constant value or a variable gain is set as a feedback gain in accordance with the state of the system and an input value is calculated based on a function having, as variables, a proportional term and an integral term, the integral term is recalculated when a discriminant value obtained by substituting a base proportional term calculated using the base gain for the proportional term and a normal integral term calculated using the feedback gain for the integral term in the function is larger than an upper limit value. The integral term is recalculated in such a way that a value obtained by substituting the base proportional term for the proportional term and the recalculated integral term for the integral term in the function becomes equal to or smaller than the upper limit value.Type: GrantFiled: May 22, 2008Date of Patent: July 16, 2013Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Shigeki Nakayama
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Patent number: 8453446Abstract: An exhaust gas control system for an internal combustion engine includes a turbocharger that includes a compressor arranged in an intake passage, and a turbine arranged in an exhaust passage; a low-pressure EGR unit that recirculates a portion of exhaust gas back to the internal combustion engine through a low-pressure EGR passage that provides communication between the exhaust passage, at a portion downstream of the turbine, and the intake passage, at a portion upstream of the compressor; a low-pressure EGR valve that is provided in the low-pressure EGR passage, and that changes the flow passage area of the low-pressure EGR passage; and a valve control unit that executes an opening/closing control over the low-pressure EGR valve. When it is determined that the internal combustion engine is under a predetermined low-temperature environment, the low-pressure EGR valve is kept closed while the internal combustion engine is in the fuel-supply cutoff operation mode.Type: GrantFiled: January 23, 2008Date of Patent: June 4, 2013Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Akio Matsunaga, Shigeki Nakayama
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Patent number: 8457905Abstract: A soot discharge amount is calculated by multiplying a “steady discharge amount” by a “transient correction value.” The steady discharge amount is a soot discharge amount in a steady operation state, and is acquired through table search. For each of a plurality of factors which affect the soot discharge amount, a steady value (value obtained through table search) of the factor and a transient value (current value) of the factor are substituted for a characteristic equation which represents a change in the soot discharge amount with the value of the factor, whereby a steady characteristic value and a transient characteristic value are acquired. The “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” is then calculated for each factor. The transient correction value is obtained by multiplying together all values of the “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” obtained for the factors.Type: GrantFiled: May 18, 2009Date of Patent: June 4, 2013Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Shigeki Nakayama
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Patent number: 8353196Abstract: In a gas-mixture-nonuniformity acquisition apparatus for an internal combustion engine, the nonuniformity of fuel concentration within a gas mixture is acquired under the assumption that, in a process in which a cylinder interior gas taken into a combustion chamber of the engine and fuel injected into the combustion chamber mix together to form a gas mixture, a collision reaction repeatedly takes place within the gas mixture in such a manner that, due to collision of two gas volumes having different fuel mass ratios, respective portions of the two gas volumes mix together, and the mixed portions separate from the corresponding gas volumes and form a portion or the entirety of another gas volume having a fuel mass ratio different from those of the two gas volumes.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2008Date of Patent: January 15, 2013Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Taku Ibuki, Shigeki Nakayama, Kazuhisa Inagaki, Matsuei Ueda
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Patent number: 8220443Abstract: An EGR system includes a high-pressure EGR unit and a low-pressure EGR unit. During the steady operation of an internal combustion engine, the high-pressure EGR gas and the low-pressure EGR gas are mixed with each other at a mixture ratio, in which the ratio of the high-pressure EGR gas amount to the entire EGR gas amount is higher than that in a known mixture ratio, and then recirculated back to the internal combustion engine. In the engine speed-up transitional operation period, the opening amount of a high-pressure EGR valve is adjusted to the opening amount that is much smaller than the target opening amount corresponding to the target operation mode. Thus, it is possible to suppress occurrence of the situation where the entire EGR gas amount is excessive in the period in which the low-pressure EGR gas amount does not decrease by a sufficient amount.Type: GrantFiled: January 10, 2008Date of Patent: July 17, 2012Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Hiroki Murata, Masahiro Nagae, Hajime Shimizu, Shigeki Nakayama, Tomomi Onishi
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Patent number: 8196404Abstract: An exhaust gas recirculation system includes a high-pressure EGR unit; a low-pressure EGR unit; a high-pressure EGR valve; a low-pressure EGR valve; and an EGR control unit that adjusts the opening amount of the high-pressure EGR valve to a required value for achieving the target EGR rate based on the characteristics of the exhaust gas in the low-pressure EGR passage before the operation mode is changed, and that maintains the required value during a period from when the operation mode is changed until when the low-pressure EGR gas is changed to the exhaust gas discharged from the internal combustion engine in the post-change operation mode.Type: GrantFiled: November 6, 2007Date of Patent: June 12, 2012Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Shigeki Nakayama, Teruhiko Miyake, Masahiro Nagae, Hajime Shimizu, Isao Matsumoto, Tomoyuki Ono, Hiroki Murata, Akira Yamashita, Hiroyuki Haga
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Patent number: 8108129Abstract: A technique is provided which, in an exhaust gas recirculation apparatus for an internal combustion engine, can calculate a low-pressure EGR rate and a high-pressure EGR rate in an accurate manner, and control the flow rates of both a low pressure EGR passage and a high pressure EGR passage in a closed-loop control manner, thereby to make the temperature of intake air and a supercharging pressure stable and to suppress the deterioration of exhaust emissions as well as the deterioration of power performance.Type: GrantFiled: May 20, 2008Date of Patent: January 31, 2012Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Shigeki Nakayama, Tomomi Onishi, Akio Matsunaga
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Patent number: 8001953Abstract: In an exhaust gas recirculation system for an internal combustion engine, which includes a turbocharger; a high-pressure EGR unit; a low-pressure EGR unit; a high-pressure EGR valve; and a low-pressure EGR valve, first, the opening amount of the high-pressure EGR valve is controlled in a feedback manner, and, then, the opening amount of a low-pressure EGR valve is controlled in a feedback manner in a transitional operation period in which the operation mode of the internal combustion engine is changing. In this way, the intake air amount is promptly adjusted to the target intake air amount without causing hunting.Type: GrantFiled: January 11, 2008Date of Patent: August 23, 2011Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Hiroki Murata, Masahiro Nagae, Hajime Shimizu, Shigeki Nakayama, Tomomi Onishi
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Patent number: 7930922Abstract: A soot generation amount estimation apparatus obtains a generation speed of a precursor of soot (accordingly, the concentration of the precursor) in consideration of formation of the precursor from fuel, thermal decomposition of the formed precursor, and formation of soot from the formed precursor, and estimates a generation speed of soot (accordingly, the concentration of soot (the generation amount of soot)) in consideration of formation of soot from the precursor, which depends on the concentration of the precursor, and oxidation of the formed soot. The apparatus employs a reaction model in which the reaction process in which soot is generated from fuel is divided into two steps; i.e., a reaction process in which a precursor is generated from fuel and a reaction process in which soot is generated from the precursor. Thus, phenomena, such as a “delay in soot generation” in the reaction process in which soot is generated from fuel, can be accurately simulated.Type: GrantFiled: July 13, 2006Date of Patent: April 26, 2011Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Takao Fukuma, Shigeki Nakayama, Yoshiki Takatori, Shuichi Kubo, Satoshi Yamazaki
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Publication number: 20110054762Abstract: A technique is provided which, in an exhaust gas recirculation apparatus for an internal combustion engine, can calculate a low-pressure EGR rate and a high-pressure EGR rate in an accurate manner, and control the flow rates of both a low pressure EGR passage and a high pressure EGR passage in a closed-loop control manner, thereby to make the temperature of intake air and a supercharging pressure stable and to suppress the deterioration of exhaust emissions as well as the deterioration of power performance.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 20, 2008Publication date: March 3, 2011Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shigeki Nakayama, Tomomi Onishi, Akio Matsunaga
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Patent number: 7848871Abstract: This apparatus equally divides an injection period TAU into three periods; i.e., front, intermediate, and rear periods, and assumes that first injection (mass Q(1)) corresponding to the “front period” is executed at one time at a fuel injection start timing, second injection (mass Q(2)) corresponding to the “intermediate period” is executed at one time when ? TAU has elapsed after the first injection, and third injection (mass Q(3)) corresponding to the “rear period” is executed at one time when ? TAU has elapsed after the second injection. A first gas mixture based on the first injection, a second gas mixture based on the second injection, and a third gas mixture based on the third injection are individually handled, and the excess air ratio of gas mixture, the state (temperature, etc.) of gas mixture, and the emission generation amounts in gas mixture are estimated for each gas mixture.Type: GrantFiled: March 24, 2006Date of Patent: December 7, 2010Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Shigeki Nakayama
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Publication number: 20100286930Abstract: A soot discharge amount is calculated by multiplying a “steady discharge amount” by a “transient correction value.” The steady discharge amount is a soot discharge amount in a steady operation state, and is acquired through table search. For each of a plurality of factors which affect the soot discharge amount, a steady value (value obtained through table search) of the factor and a transient value (current value) of the factor are substituted for a characteristic equation which represents a change in the soot discharge amount with the value of the factor, whereby a steady characteristic value and a transient characteristic value are acquired. The “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” is then calculated for each factor. The transient correction value is obtained by multiplying together all values of the “ratio between the steady characteristic value and the transient characteristic value” obtained for the factors.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 18, 2009Publication date: November 11, 2010Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomomi Onishi, Shigeki Nakayama
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Publication number: 20100199639Abstract: An exhaust-gas recirculation apparatus for an internal combustion engine has a high-pressure EGR passage (20), a low-pressure EGR passage (21), a high-pressure EGR valve (22), and a low-pressure EGR valve (24) and performs open-loop control to the low-pressure EGR valve (24). The flow rate (Ghpl) of EGR gas flowing in the high-pressure EGR passage (20) and the flow rate (Glpl) of EGR gas flowing in the low-pressure EGR gas (21) are estimated based on the oxygen concentration (O2s) in the gas at the portion of the intake passage (3) downstream of the portion to which exhaust gas is delivered from the high-pressure EGR passage (2), the flow rate (Gdpf) of the gas passing through an exhaust-gas purifying catalyst unit (11) provided in the exhaust passage between the exhaust-gas inlets of the high-pressure EGR passage (20) and the low-pressure EGR passage (21), the flow rate (Gafm) of fresh air, and the fuel amount (Q) supplied to the cylinders (2) of the internal combustion engine per unit time.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 16, 2008Publication date: August 12, 2010Inventors: Akio Matsunaga, Shigeki Nakayama, Tomomi Onishi, Akiyuki Iemura