Patents by Inventor Yoshiaki Kobayashi

Yoshiaki Kobayashi 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: 20190323136
    Abstract: A surface-treated material (10) according to the present invention comprises an electroconductive substrate (1) and a surface treatment film (2) formed of at least one or more layers of metal layers (3 and 4) which are formed on the electroconductive substrate (1), wherein among the at least one or more layers of metal layers (3 and 4), the lowermost metal layer (3) which is directly formed on the electroconductive substrate (1) comprises a plurality of metal-buried portions (3a) that are scattered in the electroconductive substrate (1), branch from a surface of the electroconductive substrate (1) and widely extend toward the inside thereof, and as a vertical cross section of the surface-treated material (10) is viewed, in which at least one of the metal-buried portions (3a) exists in the electroconductive substrate (1), an average value of an area ratio of the metal-buried portion (3a) occupying the predetermined observation region of the electroconductive substrate (1) is in a range of 5% or more and 50% or
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2017
    Publication date: October 24, 2019
    Applicant: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI, Miho YAMAUCHI
  • Publication number: 20190169764
    Abstract: A surface-treated material of the present disclosure has a conductive substrate, and a surface treatment film which includes at least one layer of metal layers and is formed on the conductive substrate. The surface treatment film is a plating film. The surface treatment film is formed on a whole surface or a part of the conductive substrate through a zinc-containing layer that contains zinc as a main component and has a thickness of 50 nm or less, or is formed on the conductive substrate without through the zinc-containing layer. The surface-treated material has a ratio of a contact area to a test area of 85% or more as measured according to a tape test method defined in JIS H 8504: 1999.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Applicant: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Miho YAMAUCHI, Shuichi KITAGAWA, Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20180356804
    Abstract: Provided is a management system associated with a manufacturing line including one or more facilities. Each of the facilities is configured to process each workpiece according to order information. The management system includes: a collecting means for collecting event information about a process that takes place in each of the facilities; a classifying means for classifying, on the basis of a generation source and content of each piece of event information, the event information collected by the collecting means, into sets of event information generated due to the same workpiece; a generation means for generating data which represents process circumstances for each workpiece on the basis of the event information belonging to each of the sets classified by the classifying means; and a visualizing means for visualizing process progression circumstances for each workpiece processed according to the order information, on the basis of the data generated by the generating means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2016
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Applicant: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru OKA, Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI, Tatsuya HIROTA, Naohiro AKIYAMA
  • Patent number: 9944048
    Abstract: Provided are a laser-bonded component and a production method for same that ensure sufficient bonding strength using little laser energy and which cause little increase in surrounding temperature. A nickel layer, being a surface layer, is formed having sufficient thickness on the upper surface of a copper plate that is uppermost amongst at least two superposed copper plates, a laser is irradiated from above the nickel layer, a re-solidification section formed by fusing and alloying the copper in the copper plates and the nickel in the nickel layer is formed through to inside the bottommost copper plate, and the copper plates are bonded together. The re-solidification section having high breaking strength is formed by the alloying of the nickel and the copper. As a result, the copper plates can be bonded with a small welding surface area and little laser energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yukio Nishikawa, Tomomi Tanaka, Toshiki Itoi, Yoshiaki Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20170076834
    Abstract: An electrical contact material (10) having: a conductive substrate (1) formed from copper or a copper alloy; a first intermediate layer (2) provided on the conductive substrate (1); a second intermediate layer (3) provided on the first intermediate layer (2); and an outermost layer (4) formed from tin or a tin alloy and provided on the second intermediate layer (3), wherein the first intermediate layer (2) is constructed as one layer of grains extending from the conductive substrate (1) side to the second intermediate layer (3) side, and wherein, in the first intermediate layer (2), the density of grain boundaries (5b) extending in a direction in which the angle formed by the grain boundary in interest and the interface between the conductive substrate and the first intermediate layer is 45° or greater, is 4 ?m/?m2 or less; a method of producing the same; and a terminal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Applicants: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD., FURUKAWA AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS INC.
    Inventors: Yoshikazu OKUNO, Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI, Tatsuya NAKATSUGAWA, Kengo MITOSE, Akira TACHIBANA, Shingo KAWATA
  • Patent number: 8728629
    Abstract: A connector terminal, fabricated from a metallic material for connector which material has a tin or tin alloy layer, formed on a copper or copper alloy base material, wherein the thickness of the tin or tin alloy layer at a contact site on the surface of the terminal is smaller than the thickness of the tin or tin alloy layer in the areas other than the contact site, and a copper-tin alloy layer is formed as an under layer of the tin or tin alloy layer at the contact site; and a connector terminal, fabricated from a metallic material for connector which material has a copper or copper alloy base material, wherein a copper-tin alloy layer is formed in a spot shape at a contact site on the surface of the terminal, and a tin or tin alloy layer is formed in the remaining areas on the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: The Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuichi Kitagawa, Kengo Mitose, Yoshiaki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8637164
    Abstract: A silver-coated composite material for movable contact parts, which has: an underlying layer composed of any one of nickel, cobalt, a nickel alloy, and a cobalt alloy at least provided on a part of the surface of a stainless steel substrate; an intermediate layer composed of copper or a copper alloy provided thereon; and a silver or silver alloy layer provided thereon as an outermost layer, wherein a thickness of the intermediate layer is 0.05 to 0.3 ?m, and wherein an average grain size of the silver or silver alloy provided as the outermost layer is 0.5 to 5.0 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Satoru Zama, Satoshi Suzuki, Masato Ohno
  • Publication number: 20130230761
    Abstract: A battery module is provided in which a gap at a bonding section between a positive electrode bus bar and a negative electrode bus bar is less likely to be formed in a bonding process, and stress-induced strain is less likely to be caused at the bonding section after the positive electrode bus bar is bonded to the negative electrode bus bar. The battery module includes a plurality of cells 100 arranged with a same polarity oriented in a same direction, a positive electrode bus bar 200 by which positive electrode terminals of the cells 100 are electrically connected to each other in parallel, and a negative electrode bus bar 300 by which negative electrode terminals are electrically connected to each other in parallel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Oose Okutani, Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Shinichi Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 8507119
    Abstract: A battery block includes a metal case including a side surface and a bottom surface, and a plurality of cells accommodated in the metal case, wherein each cell includes a first electrode and a second electrode which is electrically insulated from the first electrode, and also serves as a cell case of the cell, the plurality of cells are aligned with the first electrodes being in a same direction, the first electrodes of the plurality of cells are connected to a connector arranged to face an opening of the metal case, the second electrodes of the plurality of cells are connected to the bottom surface of the metal case, the height of the side surface of the metal case is substantially the same as the height of the cells, and the opening of the metal case is almost completely covered with the connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiki Itoi, Shinya Geshi, Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Takashi Nakagawa
  • Publication number: 20130171467
    Abstract: Provided are a laser-bonded component and a production method for same that ensure sufficient bonding strength using little laser energy and which cause little increase in surrounding temperature. A nickel layer, being a surface layer, is formed having sufficient thickness on the upper surface of a copper plate that is uppermost amongst at least two superposed copper plates, a laser is irradiated from above the nickel layer, a re-solidification section formed by fusing and alloying the copper in the copper plates and the nickel in the nickel layer is formed through to inside the bottommost copper plate, and the copper plates are bonded together. The re-solidification section having high breaking strength is formed by the alloying of the nickel and the copper. As a result, the copper plates can be bonded with a small welding surface area and little laser energy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2012
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yukio Nishikawa, Tomomi Tanaka, Toshiki Itoi, Yoshiaki Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20130157115
    Abstract: An assembled battery includes unit batteries and a connecting member. Each of the unit batteries includes negative and positive electrode terminals. The connecting member has thin portions, and a thick portion that is a rest other than the thin portions. The thin portions are welded to the respective positive electrode terminals or the respective negative electrode terminals. When the connecting member is connected to the positive electrode terminals of the unit batteries, an area of each of the thin portions is equal to or more than an area of the connecting surface of each of the positive electrode terminals. When the connecting member is connected to the negative electrode terminals, an area of each of the thin portions is equal to or more than an area of the connecting surface of each of the negative electrode terminals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2011
    Publication date: June 20, 2013
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Shinya Geshi
  • Patent number: 8338926
    Abstract: A lead frame for optical semiconductor devices in which a layer 2 composed of silver or a silver alloy is formed on an electrically-conductive substrate 1, having: a surface layer 4 composed of a metal or alloy thereof excellent in corrosion resistance as an outermost layer, wherein a concentration of a metallic component excellent in corrosion resistance of the surface layer is 50% by mass or more at the uppermost portion of the surface layer, and wherein a solid-solution layer 3 of silver and a metallic material which is a main component of the surface layer is formed between the surface layer and the layer composed of silver or a silver alloy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Kazuhiro Koseki, Shin Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20120301745
    Abstract: A silver-coated composite material for movable contact parts, which has: an underlying layer composed of any one of nickel, cobalt, a nickel alloy, and a cobalt alloy at least provided on a part of the surface of a stainless steel substrate; an intermediate layer composed of copper or a copper alloy provided thereon; and a silver or silver alloy layer provided thereon as an outermost layer, wherein a thickness of the intermediate layer is 0.05 to 0.3 ?m, and wherein an average grain size of the silver or silver alloy provided as the outermost layer is 0.5 to 5.0 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Publication date: November 29, 2012
    Inventors: Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI, Satoru Zama, Satoshi Suzuki, Masato Ohno
  • Patent number: 8283032
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an electrical contact material having a surface layer made of a noble metal or an alloy having the noble metal as its main component, a method for manufacturing the same and an electrical contact using the same. Recently, electrical contact materials having excellent abrasion resistance are used for sliding electrical contacts such as a connector terminal of an automobile harness, a contact switch mounted in a cellular phone and terminals of a memory card. Although there have been known ones having an organic coating film composed of either aliphatic amine or mercaptan or a mixture of the both provided on the electrical contact material described above as the electrical contact materials having excellent abrasion resistance, they have had problems that even though they are effective with a low load of 0.5 N or below, abrasion accelerates when the load exceeds 0.5 N and sliding characteristics drop under a high-temperature environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshiaki Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20120231309
    Abstract: A battery block includes a metal case including a side surface and a bottom surface, and a plurality of cells accommodated in the metal case, wherein each cell includes a first electrode and a second electrode which is electrically insulated from the first electrode, and also serves as a cell case of the cell, the plurality of cells are aligned with the first electrodes being in a same direction, the first electrodes of the plurality of cells are connected to a connector arranged to face an opening of the metal case, the second electrodes of the plurality of cells are connected to the bottom surface of the metal case, the height of the side surface of the metal case is substantially the same as the height of the cells, and the opening of the metal case is almost completely covered with the connector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2011
    Publication date: September 13, 2012
    Inventors: Toshiki Itoi, Shinya Geshi, Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Takashi Nakagawa
  • Publication number: 20120168810
    Abstract: A lead frame for an optical semiconductor device, having: a layer 2 composed of silver or a silver alloy formed on an electrically-conductive substrate 1; a metal oxide layer 3 of a metal other than silver as an outer layer of the layer composed of silver or a silver alloy, wherein the metal oxide layer 3 is colorless and transparent or silver gray in color, and has a thickness thereof from 0.001 to 0.2 ?m; a method of producing the same; and an optical semiconductor device utilizing the same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Applicant: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Kazuhiro Koseki, Shin Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20120168800
    Abstract: A lead frame for an optical semiconductor device, having a reflection layer (2) composed of silver or a silver alloy formed on an outermost surface of an electrically-conductive substrate (1), in which a thickness of the reflection layer is from 0.2 to 5.0 ?m, and in which an intensity ratio of a (200) plane is 20% or more to the total count number when the silver or the silver alloy of the reflection layer is measured by an X-ray diffraction method; a method of producing the same; and an optical semiconductor device utilizing the same.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2010
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Applicant: FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Shin Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 8148041
    Abstract: An objective is to provide a carrier exhibiting stable charge providing ability in which sufficient charge can be provided to toner having a small particle diameter, and no image contamination such as fog caused by toner scattering via lack of electrification is generated. Another objective is to provide a carrier capable of maintaining a charging level of no interference for image formation even under the image forming condition at which a charging level for printing a number of prints continuously is difficult to be maintained. Disclosed is a carrier comprising a core particle made of ferrite possessing Mg and coated thereon, a resin, wherein the core particle has a ratio of the number of irregular-shaped core particles of at most 5%, based on the total number of core particles, and a surface of the core particle has grains having a maximum grain diameter of 2-5 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Makoto Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Yoshiyasu Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20120073944
    Abstract: A switch integrated type housing includes a housing body, a switch button sheet, a conductor and a cover sheet. The housing body is provided with a plurality of concave sections on an outer surface of the housing body. The switch button sheet is provided on the outer surface to cover the plurality of concave sections. The conductor has a dome shape downwardly projecting and is provided in each of the plurality of concave sections to contact the switch button sheet. The cover sheet is provided between the switch button sheet and the outer surface of the housing body in a portion of the outer surface of the housing body other than the plurality of concave sections and to cover a lower surface of the conductor in each of the plurality of concave sections.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2011
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Applicant: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiaki KOBAYASHI, Takaaki YOSHIHIRO, Nobuhiro MIKAMI
  • Patent number: RE44405
    Abstract: A switch integrated type housing includes a housing body, a switch button sheet, a conductor and a cover sheet. The housing body is provided with a plurality of concave sections on an outer surface of the housing body. The switch button sheet is provided on the outer surface to cover the plurality of concave sections. The conductor has a dome shape downwardly projecting and is provided in each of the plurality of concave sections to contact the switch button sheet. The cover sheet is provided between the switch button sheet and the outer surface of the housing body in a portion of the outer surface of the housing body other than the plurality of concave sections and to cover a lower surface of the conductor in each of the plurality of concave sections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Kobayashi, Takaaki Yoshihiro, Nobuhiro Mikami