Patents by Inventor Tetsuya Aoki

Tetsuya Aoki 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: 10193174
    Abstract: A fuel cell internal state detection system includes estimation object state quantity setting unit for setting a suitable estimation object state quantity as an index of an internal state, an impedance value acquisition unit configured to obtain an impedance value of a fuel cell, an impedance usability judging unit configured to judge whether or not the obtained impedance value is usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity, estimation object state quantity calculation unit for calculating the estimation object state quantity set by the estimation object state quantity setting unit on the basis of the obtained impedance value when the impedance value is judged to be usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity by the impedance usability judging unit, and an unusable-scene process execution unit configured to perform an unusable-scene process when the impedance value is judged not to be usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity by the impeda
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshikazu Kotaka, Tetsuya Aoki
  • Publication number: 20190024238
    Abstract: A wet type processing apparatus includes a processing bath for reserving inside the processing liquid and rendering the resin film pass through the processing liquid; a pair of conveyance members arranged on a loading side for the resin film of the processing bath and on a delivery side for resin film of the processing bath at a position higher than a liquid surface of the processing liquid reserved in the processing bath; and a spouting unit arranged between the pair of the conveyance members at a position lower than the conveyance members and formed with a circumferential surface having plural holes for spouting the processing liquid from the circumferential surface to change a direction of the resin film along the circumferential surface in a non-contact manner in the processing liquid according to spouted flows from the holes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2016
    Publication date: January 24, 2019
    Applicants: JCU CORPORATION, CHUO KIKAI CO., LTD
    Inventors: Makoto KOHTOKU, Yaichiro NAKAMARU, Yukio SHINOZAKI, Tetsuya AOKI, Takashi MATSUKURA, Goki HASHIMOTO
  • Patent number: 10177391
    Abstract: A fuel cell system including a fuel cell that receives a supply of an anode gas and a cathode gas and generates power is provided. The fuel cell system includes a water content calculation unit configured to calculate a water content of the fuel cell, an internal impedance calculation unit configured to calculate an internal impedance of the fuel cell, and a starting temperature calculation unit configured to calculate a fuel cell temperature at a start of the system, based on the water content of the fuel cell as of a last time the system was stopped, and the internal impedance of the fuel cell at the start of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Michihiko Matsumoto, Kiyoshi Hoshi, Tetsuya Aoki
  • Patent number: 10164275
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a wetness target value calculating unit configured to calculate a target value of a wet state of the fuel cell; a gas required flow rate calculating unit configured to calculate a cathode gas required flow rate on the basis of a power generation request to the fuel cell; a wetness-control anode gas flow rate calculating unit configured to calculate a wetness-control anode gas circulation flow rate at least on the basis of the wetness target value and the cathode gas required flow rate during a dry control; an anode gas flow rate control unit configured to control an anode gas circulation flow rate on the basis of the wetness-control anode gas circulation flow rate; a wetness-control cathode gas flow rate calculating unit configured to calculate a wetness-control cathode gas flow rate at least on the basis of the wetness target value and a measured value or estimated value of the anode gas circulation flow rate during the dry control; and a cathode gas flow rate control unit config
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Aoki, Takahiro Kaito, Takahiro Fujii
  • Patent number: 10115987
    Abstract: A state detection device for fuel cell includes a supposed high-frequency impedance value setting unit configured to set a supposed high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to an arc region of an impedance curve of the fuel cell, an actually measured high-frequency impedance value calculation unit configured to obtain an actually measured high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to a non-arc region of the impedance curve of the fuel cell, and an ionomer resistance estimation unit configured to estimate a value obtained by subtracting the actually measured high-frequency impedance value from the supposed high-frequency impedance value as an ionomer resistance value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshikazu Kotaka, Tetsuya Aoki
  • Publication number: 20180248208
    Abstract: A control device of fuel cell system includes an anode gas circulation flow rate control unit configured to control the anode gas circulation flow rate on the basis of the wet/dry state of the electrolyte membrane detected by the wet/dry state detecting unit, a priority setting unit configured to set priority levels of a normal manipulation to a plurality of physical quantities manipulated by the wet/dry state control unit, and the anode gas circulation flow rate control unit includes an anode gas circulation flow rate limiting unit configured to limit a change rate per unit time of the anode gas circulation flow rate during a transient operation for changing the wet/dry state of the electrolyte membrane, and a control quantity compensating unit configured to, if the change rate is limited, compensate an insufficiency in a control quantity of the wet/dry state due to the limitation of the anode gas circulation flow rate, the compensation being carried out by manipulating a physical quantity with a lower prior
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya AOKI, Nobuhisa IKEDA, Toshikazu KOTAKA, Daigo IWASAKI
  • Patent number: 10044054
    Abstract: A separator of a fuel cell to be laminated while sandwiching a membrane electrode assembly forming a power generation region includes a source connection point tab for inputting and outputting an alternating current for internal resistance measurement, a sense connection point tab for detecting a potential of the alternating current input and output to and from the source connection point tab and separation portion configured to separate the sense connection point tab from a current path of the alternating current for internal resistance measurement from the source connection point tab to the power generation region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Aoki, Masanobu Sakai, Kei Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 10038207
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell for generating electrical power upon being supplied with anode gas and cathode gas. The fuel cell system includes a wetness control state determination unit that determines whether or not a wetness control of controlling a degree of wetness of an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell is normally executed, a combined capacitance calculation unit that calculates a combined capacitance of the fuel cell, and an anode gas concentration control unit that determines the occurrence of decrease in an anode gas concentration in the fuel cell or executes a control for increasing the anode gas concentration if the combined capacitance of the fuel cell is smaller than a predetermined value when the wetness control is determined to be normally executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Aoki, Michihiko Matsumoto, Youhei Kaneko
  • Patent number: 10020523
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel supply unit that supplies a fuel to electrolyte membrane of fuel cell, an oxidant supply unit that supplies an oxidant to the electrolyte membrane, and an electricity generation control unit that controls electricity generation by the fuel cell by controlling supply of the oxidant by the oxidant supply unit and supply of the fuel by the fuel supply unit. the fuel cell system includes a wet/dry state detection unit configured to detect a wet/dry state of the electrolyte membrane, a flow rate adjustment unit configured to adjust a flow rate of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell by the fuel supply unit; and a temperature adjustment unit configured to adjust a temperature of the oxidant supplied to the fuel cell by the oxidant supply unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuhisa Ikeda, Tetsuya Aoki
  • Publication number: 20180113262
    Abstract: An optical module includes: a housing including an optical port in one of side surfaces opposite each other and an electric port in the other; an optical fiber disposed inside the housing and connected to the optical port; and an optical subassembly disposed inside the housing, optically connected to the optical fiber, and electrically connected to the electric port. The optical fiber is disposed so as to wind around the optical subassembly at least one turns in a plan view.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2017
    Publication date: April 26, 2018
    Inventors: Tetsuya AOKI, Hiroki IRIE, Hiroyoshi ISHII, Toshikazu OHTAKE
  • Patent number: 9917315
    Abstract: A state determination device for a fuel cell for generating power upon receiving the supply of anode gas and cathode gas, comprising: an internal impedance measurement unit configured to measure an internal impedance of the fuel cell on the basis of an alternating-current signal of a predetermined frequency output from the fuel cell; and an anode reaction resistance estimation/calculation unit configured to calculate an estimation value of a reaction resistance of an anode electrode of the fuel cell on the basis of a measurement value of the internal impedance, wherein: the predetermined frequency is selected such that a difference between the estimation value of the reaction resistance of the anode electrode during hydrogen starvation and the estimation value of the reaction resistance of the anode electrode during oxygen starvation is not smaller than a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Aoki
  • Publication number: 20180053952
    Abstract: A state detection device for fuel cell includes a supposed high-frequency impedance value setting unit configured to set a supposed high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to an arc region of an impedance curve of the fuel cell, an actually measured high-frequency impedance value calculation unit configured to obtain an actually measured high-frequency impedance value on the basis of an impedance measurement value belonging to a non-arc region of the impedance curve of the fuel cell, and an ionomer resistance estimation unit configured to estimate a value obtained by subtracting the actually measured high-frequency impedance value from the supposed high-frequency impedance value as an ionomer resistance value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshikazu KOTAKA, Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20180054151
    Abstract: An electric power adjustment system includes a fuel cell connected to a load, and a multi-phase converter connected between the fuel cell and the load. The multi-phase converter is constituted of a plurality of phases and converts an output voltage from the fuel cell by a predetermined required voltage ratio. The electric power adjustment system includes a ripple current characteristic switching unit configured to switch a ripple current characteristic with respect to an input current to the multi-phase converter by changing at least one of a drive phase number and the voltage ratio of the multi-phase converter according to an operation state of the fuel cell and a required electric power of the load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2015
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Michihiko MATSUMOTO, Hideo YOSHIDA, Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20180048003
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel supply unit that supplies a fuel to electrolyte membrane of fuel cell, an oxidant supply unit that supplies an oxidant to the electrolyte membrane, and an electricity generation control unit that controls electricity generation by the fuel cell by controlling supply of the oxidant by the oxidant supply unit and supply of the fuel by the fuel supply unit. the fuel cell system includes a wet/dry state detection unit configured to detect a wet/dry state of the electrolyte membrane, a flow rate adjustment unit configured to adjust a flow rate of the fuel supplied to the fuel cell by the fuel supply unit; and a temperature adjustment unit configured to adjust a temperature of the oxidant supplied to the fuel cell by the oxidant supply unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuhisa IKEDA, Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20180048006
    Abstract: A fuel cell internal state detection system includes estimation object state quantity setting unit for setting a suitable estimation object state quantity as an index of an internal state, an impedance value acquisition unit configured to obtain an impedance value of a fuel cell, an impedance usability judging unit configured to judge whether or not the obtained impedance value is usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity, estimation object state quantity calculation unit for calculating the estimation object state quantity set by the estimation object state quantity setting unit on the basis of the obtained impedance value when the impedance value is judged to be usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity by the impedance usability judging unit, and an unusable-scene process execution unit configured to perform an unusable-scene process when the impedance value is judged not to be usable for the calculation of the estimation object state quantity by the impeda
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.,
    Inventors: Toshikazu KOTAKA, Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20180011266
    Abstract: The invention provides an optical module which is less likely to be damaged, and can be assembled at low cost. The optical module comprises a housing having an electrical signal port for inputting and/or outputting an electrical signal and an optical signal port for inputting and/or outputting an optical signal, a first substrate arranged in the housing so as to connect to the electrical signal port, an optical fiber arranged in the housing so as to connect to the optical signal port, and a second substrate provided with an optical device which connects to the optical fiber to input the optical signal from the optical fiber and output the optical signal to the optical fiber, and arranged in the housing so as to electrically connect to the first substrate, and to be inclined with respect to a base plane of the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2017
    Publication date: January 11, 2018
    Inventors: Koichi OMORI, Hiroki IRIE, Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20170373331
    Abstract: A state detection device for a fuel cell for generating power upon receiving a supply of anode gas and cathode gas, including an impedance acquisition unit configured to acquire a high frequency impedance based on a frequency selected from a high frequency band and a low frequency impedance based on a frequency selected from a low frequency band, the high frequency band including a frequency band which shows responsiveness at least to a state quantity of an anode electrode, the low frequency band including a frequency band which shows responsiveness at least to a state quantity of a cathode electrode, and an internal state quantity estimation unit configured to estimate each of the state quantity of the anode electrode and the state quantity of the cathode electrode by combining the acquired high frequency impedance and low frequency impedance, the state quantity of the anode electrode and the state quantity of the cathode electrode serving as internal states of the fuel cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2014
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya AOKI
  • Patent number: 9817075
    Abstract: An impedance measuring device outputs an alternating current of a prescribed frequency to a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal of the laminated type battery. The impedance measuring device detects an alternating-current potential difference between the positive electrode terminal and an intermediate-point terminal, and an alternating-current potential difference between the negative electrode terminal and the intermediate-point terminal. The impedance measuring device adjusts an amplitude of the alternating current such that the alternating-current potential difference between the positive electrode terminal and the intermediate-point terminal, and the alternating-current potential difference between the negative electrode terminal and the intermediate-point terminal coincide. The impedance measuring device computes an impedance of the laminated type battery on the basis of the alternating current adjusted and the alternating-current potential difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masanobu Sakai, Tetsuya Aoki, Hidetaka Nishimura, Masashi Sato, Michihiko Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20170324104
    Abstract: A state determination device for a fuel cell for generating power upon receiving the supply of anode gas and cathode gas, comprising: an internal impedance measurement unit configured to measure an internal impedance of the fuel cell on the basis of an alternating-current signal of a predetermined frequency output from the fuel cell; and an anode reaction resistance estimation/calculation unit configured to calculate an estimation value of a reaction resistance of an anode electrode of the fuel cell on the basis of a measurement value of the internal impedance, wherein: the predetermined frequency is selected such that a difference between the estimation value of the reaction resistance of the anode electrode during hydrogen starvation and the estimation value of the reaction resistance of the anode electrode during oxygen starvation is not smaller than a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2014
    Publication date: November 9, 2017
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya AOKI
  • Publication number: 20170307692
    Abstract: A state estimation device for a fuel cell for generating power upon receiving the supply of anode gas and cathode gas, comprising: an internal impedance measurement unit configured to measure an internal impedance of the fuel cell on the basis of an alternating-current signal of a predetermined frequency output from the fuel cell; a state quantity preliminary estimation value calculation unit configured to calculate a first preliminary estimation value for a state quantity of an electrode obtained from a real component of a measurement value of the internal impedance and a second preliminary estimation value for the state quantity of the electrode obtained from an imaginary component of the measurement value of the internal impedance; and a state quantity final estimation value determination unit configured to determine a final estimation value of the state quantity of the electrode on the basis of the calculated first and second preliminary estimation values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya AOKI