Patents by Inventor Yuji Kikuchi

Yuji Kikuchi 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: 8689924
    Abstract: An air-bag device in which a deployed air-bag has a complete deployment portion positioned on the longitudinally central side and having a substantially constant diameter and incomplete deployment portions positioned on longitudinally opposite end sides and having a diameter that gradually decreases in going toward a blocking member, the incomplete deployment portion has high rigidity compared with the complete deployment portion and is difficult to deform when there is a collision with a pedestrian, thus degrading the impact absorption performance, but disposing the plurality of vent holes in the incomplete deployment portion at a fixed pitch in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction of the air-bag enables the rigidity of the incomplete deployment portion to be lowered and the impact absorption performance to be enhanced, thereby giving uniform impact absorption performance over the entire longitudinal length of the air-bag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Fumiharu Ochiai, Yuji Kikuchi, Koji Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8550493
    Abstract: An airbag (18) made of metal is disposed between an edge portion (12a) of a windshield (12) of a vehicle and an outer panel (16), projecting toward an outside of a vehicle body beyond the edge portion (12a), of a front pillar (15). Thus, it is possible to install the airbag device without making large design changes to the existing structure of the vehicle body, and to prevent the external appearance from being deteriorated by the installation of the airbag device. Further, once the airbag (18) made of metal is deployed, the airbag does not shrink. Thus, it is possible not only to reduce the weight and costs by employing an inflator (19) with a smaller volume, but also to cause the airbag to exert a stable shock absorbing capability irrespective of the difference in the timing of the collision of a pedestrian. Further, a part of the airbag (18) is a garnish part (18a) forming an outer surface of the vehicle body in cooperation with the outer panel (16).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Fumiharu Ochiai, Yuji Kikuchi, Koji Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8500178
    Abstract: Disclosed is a bumper structure equipped with an inner plate (42) in a hollow section (41) formed by a bumper beam (15) and a safety plate (16). The safety plate (16) comprises a top plate (35), a bottom plate (36), and a load input plate (37) connecting both. The inner plate (42) comprises a mounted section (46) that is mounted to the bumper beam (15), a leg section (48) that continues from the mounted section (46) and extends downward, a back support section (51) that continues from the leg section (48) and is approximately parallel to the top plate (35), and a load input flange (52) that continues from the back support section (51).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takumi Tsuyuzaki, Manabu Ishizono, Takashi Chirifu, Iwao Imaizumi, Yuji Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20130048405
    Abstract: An air-bag device in which a deployed air-bag has a complete deployment portion positioned on the longitudinally central side and having a substantially constant diameter and incomplete deployment portions positioned on longitudinally opposite end sides and having a diameter that gradually decreases in going toward a blocking member, the incomplete deployment portion has high rigidity compared with the complete deployment portion and is difficult to deform when there is a collision with a pedestrian, thus degrading the impact absorption performance, but disposing the plurality of vent holes in the incomplete deployment portion at a fixed pitch in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction of the air-bag enables the rigidity of the incomplete deployment portion to be lowered and the impact absorption performance to be enhanced, thereby giving uniform impact absorption performance over the entire longitudinal length of the air-bag.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2011
    Publication date: February 28, 2013
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Fumiharu Ochiai, Yuji Kikuchi, Koji Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20120306221
    Abstract: Disclosed is a bumper structure equipped with an inner plate (42) in a hollow section (41) formed by a bumper beam (15) and a safety plate (16). The safety plate (16) comprises a top plate (35), a bottom plate (36), and a load input plate (37) connecting both. The inner plate (42) comprises a mounted section (46) that is mounted to the bumper beam (15), a leg section (48) that continues from the mounted section (46) and extends downward, a back support section (51) that continues from the leg section (48) and is approximately parallel to the top plate (35), and a load input flange (52) that continues from the back support section (51).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2010
    Publication date: December 6, 2012
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takumi Tsuyuzaki, Manabu Ishizono, Takashi Chirifu, Iwao Imaizumi, Yuji Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20120241240
    Abstract: An airbag (18) made of metal is disposed between an edge portion (12a) of a windshield (12) of a vehicle and an outer panel (16), projecting toward an outside of a vehicle body beyond the edge portion (12a), of a front pillar (15). Thus, it is possible to install the airbag device without making large design changes to the existing structure of the vehicle body, and to prevent the external appearance from being deteriorated by the installation of the airbag device. Further, once the airbag (18) made of metal is deployed, the airbag does not shrink. Thus, it is possible not only to reduce the weight and costs by employing an inflator (19) with a smaller volume, but also to cause the airbag to exert a stable shock absorbing capability irrespective of the difference in the timing of the collision of a pedestrian. Further, a part of the airbag (18) is a garnish part (18a) forming an outer surface of the vehicle body in cooperation with the outer panel (16).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2010
    Publication date: September 27, 2012
    Applicant: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Fumiharu Ochiai, Yuji Kikuchi, Koji Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8186472
    Abstract: A pedestrian protection airbag device is provided in which an airbag (34) having a closed cross section is formed by inflating and deploying a front outer panel (16) and a front inner panel (18) of a front pillar (15) by means of high pressure gas generated by an inflator (26). This enables the head of a pedestrian to be protected from an impact due to collision with the front pillar (15). Furthermore, since impact absorption performance is exhibited by plastic deformation of the deployed airbag (34), as long as deployment of the airbag (34) is completed before restraining the pedestrian, it is unnecessary to subsequently control the internal pressure of the airbag (34), and it becomes possible for an effective impact absorption performance to always be exhibited regardless of the vehicle speed at the time of collision or the physique of the pedestrian while simplifying the specification of the inflator (26) and reducing the cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi, Koichi Kamiji
  • Publication number: 20100252351
    Abstract: A pedestrian protection airbag device is provided in which an airbag (34) having a closed cross section is formed by inflating and deploying a front outer panel (16) and a front inner panel (18) of a front pillar (15) by means of high pressure gas generated by an inflator (26). This enables the head of a pedestrian to be protected from an impact due to collision with the front pillar (15). Furthermore, since impact absorption performance is exhibited by plastic deformation of the deployed airbag (34), as long as deployment of the airbag (34) is completed before restraining the pedestrian, it is unnecessary to subsequently control the internal pressure of the airbag (34), and it becomes possible for an effective impact absorption performance to always be exhibited regardless of the vehicle speed at the time of collision or the physique of the pedestrian while simplifying the specification of the inflator (26) and reducing the cost.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 7, 2010
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi, Koichi Kamiji
  • Patent number: 7669884
    Abstract: An air bag device includes a retainer having an opening, a lid for covering the opening of the retainer, an air bag accommodated in the retainer, at least one hinge member connecting the retainer and the lid, and at least one guide plate having a hook-shaped or J-shaped cross section to define a recess. The hinge member is bent at its mid portion along the recess of the guide plate, and one end portion of the hinge member is fixed to a reverse surface of the lid at one side thereof and the other end portion of the hinge member is fixed to the guide plate and sandwiched between the guide plate and the retainer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Kikuchi, Yutaka Okamoto, Kazutada Sasaki, Tadanori Masuda
  • Patent number: 7625719
    Abstract: A method of using a microsample treatment apparatus and an apparatus for detecting chemotaxis of cells and separating chemotactic cells includes a number of wells that are connected to each other via a part having resistance to fluids. The wells are each provided with tubes for injecting/sucking a sample and, if necessary, tubes for relieving pressure changes at the injection/suction. The tubes have a space in common at the top ends thereof in which a liquid can be held.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: ECI, Inc.
    Inventors: Shiro Kanegasaki, Yuji Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 7592995
    Abstract: An emphasis converter 52 compares the image data of the current vertical period with the image data of the previous vertical period and controls the input image data to a liquid crystal display panel 4 based on the emphasis conversion parameters stored in tables of ROMs 3a to 3c so as to achieve accelerated drive. A microcomputer 38 is able to realize stable control of selecting emphasis conversion parameters by adding hysteresis to the detected temperature from a thermistor 37 even when the detected temperature fluctuates up and down crossing the temperature threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Michiyuki Sugino, Yuji Kikuchi, Toshihiko Osada, Takashi Yoshii, Makoto Shiomi
  • Patent number: 7584988
    Abstract: A collision object protection device inflates and expands an air bag on a vehicle as soon as a collision of a collision object with the vehicle is detected or predicted. The collision object protection device includes: the air bag having a main body portion that expands along a lower part of a front windshield glass of the vehicle, a pair of pillar portions that expand along front pillars of the vehicle, and a pair of pillar base portions that connect the main body portion and the pair of pillar portions; and at least one inflator for supplying a gas to the main body portion of the air bag. A partition wall having one or more openings is arranged inside the air bag respectively at a boundary between the main body portion and the pillar base portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20090092841
    Abstract: A laminated glass for a vehicle window, comprises a plurality of glass sheets and an interlayer interposed between adjacent glass sheets to bond the adjacent glass sheets, wherein the interlayer satisfies the following conditions: 1) when a specimen of dumbbell No. 7 prescribed in JIS K6251 is employed to conduct a high speed tensile test at 23° C. and at 1 m/sec, a load for an extension of 15 mm is 10 N or below; or when a specimen of dumbbell No. 7 prescribed in JIS K6251 is employed to conduct a high speed tensile test at 23° C. and at 1 m/sec, an extension amount, which is obtained when work required for extension is 0.3 J, is 30 mm or above; and 2) when the interlayer is sandwiched between two glass sheets having a thickness of 2 mm to form a laminated glass having dimensions of 100 mm×300 mm, and when the laminated glass is left for 300 hrs under an atmosphere of 80° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2008
    Publication date: April 9, 2009
    Applicants: Asahi Glass Company, Limited, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi, Akihiko Kuribayashi, Jirou Nishihama, Kuniko Nagai, Yuuji Masaki
  • Patent number: 7511772
    Abstract: When a video signal type detecting section detects a video signal of PAL/SECAM (50 Hz) video signal, the input image data is subjected to enhancing conversion with a degree lower than the degree of enhancing conversion in the case of NTSC (60 Hz). With this, the response speed of liquid crystal is improved and an image noise on account of excessive enhancement is eliminated, so that the deterioration in image quality is prevented. As a result, the enhancing conversion with respect to the input image data is performed in such a manner as to compensate the optical characteristics of the liquid crystal display panel, and an image noise on account of excessive enhancing conversion with respect to PAL/SECAM (50 Hz) image data, and hence high-quality image display is realized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2009
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Fujine, Toshihiko Osada, Yuji Kikuchi, Takashi Yoshii
  • Patent number: 7432110
    Abstract: A microchannel array according to the present invention includes a first substrate 1, and a second substrate 11 bonded to the first substrate 1. Two sets, that is, a set of a first through-hole 9, a first recess 7, and a first groove 8 and a set of a second through-hole 4, a second recess 2, and a second groove 3 are formed on the first substrate 1. The different sets are separated by a partition 5. A cell differentation/proliferation speed after micro-injection can be increased by using such microchannel array.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignees: National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Kuraray Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Kikuchi, Mitsutoshi Nakajima, Taiji Nishi, Motohiro Fukuda
  • Patent number: 7397457
    Abstract: An edge detecting circuit detects whether a particular pixel belongs to an edge by determining whether the differential value of the pixel from the neighboring pixel is equal to or greater than a threshold. Based on the detection result, an emphasis converter stops OS drive when the image of a pixel area is regarded as an edge image in accordance with the detected result of the edge detecting circuit and implements OS drive when the image of a pixel area is not regarded as an edge image. In this way, the edge detecting circuit detects edge portions of the input video, whereby OS drive in the emphasis converter can be controlled so as to be turned on and off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Michiyuki Sugino, Yuji Kikuchi, Toshihiko Osada, Takashi Yoshii, Makoto Shiomi
  • Patent number: 7357212
    Abstract: In a pedestrian protection airbag system, an airbag module extending in the lateral direction of a vehicle body is disposed between a rear edge of a hood and a front edge of a cowl top, thereby mounting the airbag module without affecting the intake of air into a vehicle compartment or the positioning of wipers; and the left and right ends of the airbag module are supported by upper parts of left and right front wheel damper housings, whereby the damper housings obtain a high rigidity to reliably bear a reaction force during deployment of an airbag without particularly enhancing the rigidity of the cowl top. Thus, it is possible to rigidly support the airbag module in the pedestrian protection airbag system while minimizing the influence on the shape or structure of the cowl top.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2008
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sakae Sasaki, Ken Nakane, Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20070276972
    Abstract: A microchannel array according to the present invention includes a first substrate 1, and a second substrate 11 bonded to the first substrate 1. Two sets, that is, a set of a first through-hole 9, a first recess 7, and a first groove 8 and a set of a second through-hole 4, a second recess 2, and a second groove 3 are formed on the first substrate 1. The different sets are separated by a partition 5. A cell differentation/proliferation speed after micro-injection can be increased by using such microchannel array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2005
    Publication date: November 29, 2007
    Applicants: National Agriculture & Food Research Organization, Kuraray Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Kikuchi, Mitsutoshi Nakajima, Taiji Nishi, Motohiro Fukuda
  • Publication number: 20070262569
    Abstract: An air bag device includes a retainer having an opening, a lid for covering the opening of the retainer, an air bag accommodated in the retainer, at least one hinge member connecting the retainer and the lid, and at least one guide plate having a hook-shaped or J-shaped cross section to define a recess. The hinge member is bent at its mid portion along the recess of the guide plate, and one end portion of the hinge member is fixed to a reverse surface of the lid at one side thereof and the other end portion of the hinge member is fixed to the guide plate and sandwiched between the guide plate and the retainer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2007
    Publication date: November 15, 2007
    Applicant: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Kikuchi, Yutaka Okamoto, Kazutada Sasaki, Tadanori Masuda
  • Patent number: 7287618
    Abstract: A collision object protection assembly inflates and expands an air bag on a vehicle if a collision with the vehicle is detected or predicted. The collision object protection assembly includes a retainer positioned in a space between a bonnet hood and a front window glass of the vehicle and accommodating the air bag, and a cowl top arranged around the retainer to close the space between the bonnet hood and the front window glass. The retainer has an upper opening to be covered by a lid member. The lid member is a separate member from the cowl top.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Okamoto, Yuji Kikuchi, Kazutada Sasaki, Ken Nakane