Patents by Inventor Eisuke Wadahara

Eisuke Wadahara 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: 10249886
    Abstract: A fuel cell gas diffusion layer includes: a porous carbon fiber base substrate containing discontinuous carbon fibers bonded to each other with carbide, and a porous layer containing at least carbonaceous particles, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a porous layer (A) with a mean thickness t1 of 10 to 55 ?m deposited on one surface A thereof, the porous carbon fiber base substrate being impregnated with porous layer (J) at least part of which is exposed at an opposite surface B, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having internal pores with a cross-sectional area accounting for 5% to 40% of the total cross section in a through-plane direction, at least porous layer (A) and porous layer (J) both having a void percentage of 50% to 85%, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a thickness of 60 to 300 ?m, and the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a bulk density of 0.20 to 0.45 g/cm3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Yasutaka Okano, Koichi Antoku, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Patent number: 9238336
    Abstract: A process for producing a sheet-shaped prepreg includes: a fiber bundle introduction step in which tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are disposed in a multilayer arrangement in the thickness direction and introduced into a die to which a molten thermoplastic resin has been supplied; a fiber bundle thickness reduction step in which each of the tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles is widened by means of spreading to reduce the thickness; a resin impregnation step in which the tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are impregnated with the molten resin in the die; and a lamination step in which the plurality of resin-impregnated tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are laminated in the die.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Soichi Ishibashi, Kazuaki Funada, Shinya Takeuchi, Tamotsu Suzuki, Rinako Eto, Masayoshi Morihara, Takeru Sasaki, Eisuke Wadahara, Yasumoto Noguchi
  • Publication number: 20150372332
    Abstract: A fuel cell gas diffusion layer includes: a porous carbon fiber base substrate containing discontinuous carbon fibers bonded to each other with carbide, and a porous layer containing at least carbonaceous particles, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a porous layer (A) with a mean thickness t1 of 10 to 55 ?m deposited on one surface A thereof, the porous carbon fiber base substrate being impregnated with porous layer (J) at least part of which is exposed at an opposite surface B, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having internal pores with a cross-sectional area accounting for 5% to 40% of the total cross section in a through-plane direction, at least porous layer (A) and porous layer (J) both having a void percentage of 50% to 85%, the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a thickness of 60 to 300 ?m, and the porous carbon fiber base substrate having a bulk density of 0.20 to 0.45 g/cm3.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Publication date: December 24, 2015
    Inventors: Yasutaka Okano, Koichi Antoku, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Patent number: 8906494
    Abstract: A composite prepreg base includes a raw prepreg base comprising a fiber sheet including discontinuous reinforcing fibers arranged in one direction and having a fiber length of 1-300 mm and a matrix resin infiltrated into the fiber sheet; and an additional resin layer formed on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base. The composite prepreg base is produced by a process including (i) the step of preparing the raw prepreg base and (ii) the step of forming an additional resin layer on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base prepared. A layered base includes two or more sheets of the composite prepreg base which have been superposed so that the additional resin layer is present on at least one surface; and a fiber-reinforced plastic formed by heating and pressing the layered base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2014
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Eisuke Wadahara, Masahiro Yamanouchi, Ichiro Taketa, Akihiko Kitano
  • Patent number: 8758874
    Abstract: A laminated base material includes a lamination and integration of prepreg base materials each of which includes many reinforcing fibers arranged substantially in one direction and a matrix resin adhered to the reinforcing fibers, wherein at least one of the laminated prepreg base materials is formed with a prepreg base material having, throughout its whole surface, many incisions each extending in a direction crossing the reinforcing fibers, substantially all of the reinforcing fibers divided by incisions, and wherein a length L of each of reinforcing fiber segments formed by the incisions is 10 to 100 mm, a thickness H of the prepreg base material is 30 to 300 ?m, and a fiber volume content Vf of the reinforcing fibers is 45 to 65% and arranging directions of the reinforcing fibers between one and another laminated prepreg base materials have at least two directions different each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2014
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Ichiro Taketa, Narumichi Sato, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Publication number: 20140154472
    Abstract: A thermoplastic resin prepreg includes: a constituent element (I): 20-60 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin (A) having a linear or branched polymer structure; a constituent element (II): 2-10 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin (B) which is unevenly distributed to a surface site and has a melting point lower than that of the thermoplastic resin (A); and a constituent element (III): 30-78 parts by weight of reinforcing fibers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2012
    Publication date: June 5, 2014
    Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Rinako Eto, Eisuke Wadahara, Takeru Sasaki, Masayoshi Morihara, Syunsuke Horiuchi
  • Publication number: 20130236686
    Abstract: The structural warp knit sheet provided by this invention is a warp knit sheet for spars or stringers which comprises: a warp knit structure constituted of chain-stitch structures configured of ground knitting yarns; longitudinal insertion yarns that have been inserted in the longitudinal direction into the warp knit structure, the longitudinal insertion yarns being continuous carbon fiber yarns; and transverse insertion yarns that have been inserted in directions along which the transverse insertion yarns shuttle between the adjacent chain-stitch structures, the chain-stitch structures having been united by means of the transverse insertion yarns. The longitudinal insertion yarns are carbon fiber yarns which each is composed of 12,000-50,000 filaments and has a tensile strength of 4 GPa or higher, a tensile modulus of 220-450 GPa, and a drape value of 4-22.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2011
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Ikuo Horibe, Eisuke Wadahara, Masahiro Yamanouchi, Tomoyuki Shinoda
  • Publication number: 20130192434
    Abstract: A method of producing a carbon fiber aggregate cutting an edge material of a carbon fiber base material composed of carbon fibers to obtain a cut piece, and forming the cut piece into a web and/or into a nonwoven fabric to obtain a carbon fiber aggregate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC
    Inventors: Takafumi Hashimoto, Hiroki Ninomiya, Eisuke Wadahara, Masaaki Yamasaki
  • Publication number: 20130106014
    Abstract: A process for producing a sheet-shaped prepreg includes: a fiber bundle introduction step in which tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are disposed in a multilayer arrangement in the thickness direction and introduced into a die to which a molten thermoplastic resin has been supplied; a fiber bundle thickness reduction step in which each of the tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles is widened by means of spreading to reduce the thickness; a resin impregnation step in which the tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are impregnated with the molten resin in the die; and a lamination step in which the plurality of resin-impregnated tape-shaped reinforcing fiber bundles are laminated in the die.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2011
    Publication date: May 2, 2013
    Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.
    Inventors: Soichi Ishibashi, Kazuaki Funada, Shinya Takeuchi, Tamotsu Suzuki, Rinako Eto, Masayoshi Morihara, Takeru Sasaki, Eisuke Wadahara, Yasumoto Noguchi
  • Patent number: 8361265
    Abstract: A composite prepreg base which includes a raw prepreg base comprising a fiber sheet comprising discontinuous reinforcing fibers arranged in one direction and having a fiber length of 1-300 mm and a matrix resin infiltrated into the fiber sheet; and an additional resin layer formed on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base. The composite prepreg base is produced by a process including (i) the step of preparing the raw prepreg base and (ii) the step of forming an additional resin layer on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base prepared. Also provided are: a layered base including two or more sheets of the composite prepreg base which have been superposed so that the additional resin layer is present on at least one surface; and a fiber-reinforced plastic formed by heating and pressing the layered base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Eisuke Wadahara, Masahiro Yamanouchi, Ichiro Taketa, Akihiko Kitano
  • Patent number: 8354156
    Abstract: A prepreg base material includes reinforcing fibers arranged substantially in one direction and a matrix resin between the reinforcing fibers, wherein the prepreg base material has substantially throughout its entire surface incisions, each incision extending in a direction substantially crossing the reinforcing fibers, wherein substantially all of the reinforcing fibers are divided by the incisions, a length (L) of each of reinforcing fiber segments formed by the incisions is in the range of 10 to 100 mm, a thickness H of the prepreg base material is in the range of 30 to 300 ?m, and a fiber volume content by Vf of the reinforcing fibers is in the range of 45 to 65%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2013
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Ichiro Taketa, Narumichi Sato, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Patent number: 8329280
    Abstract: A chopped fiber bundle includes a large number of unidirectionally arranged reinforced fibers. The length of each of the reinforced fibers is in the range of 5 to 100 mm. The chopped fiber bundle has a transition segment in which the number of the reinforced fibers increases toward the central part of the chopped fiber bundle in the aligned direction of the reinforced fibers with both ends in the aligned of the reinforced fibers in the chopped fiber bundle being a starting point. The level of a change in total sectional area of the large number of reinforced fibers is not more than 0.05 mm2 per mm in the aligned direction of the reinforced fibers over the whole area in the longitudinal direction of the chopped fiber bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Ichiro Taketa, Eisuke Wadahara, Narumichi Sato
  • Patent number: 8192662
    Abstract: A preform, formed with a plurality of reinforcing fiber substrates stacked to each other and each made of at least reinforcing fiber yarns, has a resin material, whose main component is a thermoplastic resin, interlaminated between the layers of the reinforcing fiber substrates in the preform, and has through holes extending through a plurality of the reinforcing fiber substrates in the thickness direction of the preform; an FRP molded using this preform; and processes for producing these. By improving the impregnability in the thickness direction of the preform, an FRP excellent both in various mechanical properties and in matrix resin impregnation and stabler in quality can be produced with high productivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Nobuo Asahara, Hiroshi Odani, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Patent number: 8101262
    Abstract: A fiber-reinforced plate-like plastic having a plate and a protrusion rising on the plate, wherein the plate and the protrusion each contain a laminated structure composed of plural reinforcing fiber sheets which each include many fibers of 10 to 100 mm in fiber length arranged in a fixed direction and at least two of the layers constituting the laminated structure are different in the direction of arrangement of reinforcing fibers and wherein at least part of the reinforcing fibers extend continuously from the plate to the protrusion and at least one of the layers constituting the laminated structure of the protrusion has a shape similar to the shape of the protrusion; and a process for the production of fiber-reinforced plastic which includes cutting a unidirectional prepreg sheet composed of many reinforcing fibers arranged in a fixed direction and a matrix resin into prepreg base material sheets with the above fiber length, laminating the prepreg base material sheets with the directions of arrangement of
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Masahiro Yamanouchi, Ichiro Taketa, Eisuke Wadahara, Akihiko Kitano
  • Patent number: 7857013
    Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a method for producing a carbon fiber woven fabric in which the length of each warp yarn made of a carbon fiber strand is uniform, weft yarns are straightly arranged without waviness, and that is excellent in quality can be obtained with high productivity (production speed), and is characterized that a method for producing a carbon fiber woven fabric using an air jet loom in which heald in a shedding motion has an angle of repose in a range of 0 to 50° when weaving a uni-directional carbon fiber woven fabric woven with a carbon fiber strand having a fineness of 400 to 6,000 tex as the warp yarn and an auxiliary fiber having a fineness of ? or less of the carbon fiber strand as the weft yarn.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Eisuke Wadahara, Ikuo Horibe, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kyoko Miyamoto, legal representative, Kenichi Takezawa, Kuniyoshi Kurihara, Kazuhiro Ohno
  • Patent number: 7779870
    Abstract: A method for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention is a method for producing a reinforcing fiber 1 for weaving the reinforcing fiber as at least a warp 2. The yarn width of at least the warp 2 constituting the woven fabric is widened in the direction of the weft 3 by reciprocating cylindrical bodies 4 in the direction of the warp 2 of the woven fabric while rolling the cylindrical bodies 4 in a pressurization state to the woven fabric 1 A apparatus for producing a reinforcing fiber woven fabric of the invention comprising: a guide roller 5 which comes into contact with the surface of a reinforcing woven fabric continuously passing through at a predetermined winding angle and rotates; a plurality of cylindrical bodies 4 rotatably supported on the woven fabric which comes into contact with the surface of the guide roller 5; and driving parts 6 to 10 for reciprocating the cylindrical bodies in the direction of the warp 2 of the woven fabric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2010
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Homma, Akira Nishimura, Ikuo Horibe, Eisuke Wadahara
  • Publication number: 20100178495
    Abstract: A chopped fiber bundle includes a large number of unidirectionally arranged reinforced fibers. The length of each of the reinforced fibers is in the range of 5 to 100 mm. The chopped fiber bundle has a transition segment in which the number of the reinforced fibers increases toward the central part of the chopped fiber bundle in the aligned direction of the reinforced fibers with both ends in the aligned of the reinforced fibers in the chopped fiber bundle being a starting point. The level of a change in total sectional area of the large number of reinforced fibers is not more than 0.05 mm2 per mm in the aligned direction of the reinforced fibers over the whole area in the longitudinal direction of the chopped fiber bundle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 23, 2008
    Publication date: July 15, 2010
    Applicant: TORAY INDUSTRIES, INC.
    Inventors: Ichiro Taketa, Eisuke Wadahara, Narumichi Sato
  • Publication number: 20100092770
    Abstract: A composite prepreg base which includes a raw prepreg base comprising a fiber sheet comprising discontinuous reinforcing fibers arranged in one direction and having a fiber length of 1-300 mm and a matrix resin infiltrated into the fiber sheet; and an additional resin layer formed on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base. The composite prepreg base is produced by a process including (i) the step of preparing the raw prepreg base and (ii) the step of forming an additional resin layer on at least one surface of the raw prepreg base prepared. Also provided are: a layered base including two or more sheets of the composite prepreg base which have been superposed so that the additional resin layer is present on at least one surface; and a fiber-rein-forced plastic formed by heating and pressing the layered base.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2007
    Publication date: April 15, 2010
    Inventors: Eisuke Wadahara, Masahiro Yamanouchi, Ichiro Taketa, Akihiko Kitano
  • Publication number: 20100032049
    Abstract: The present invention has an object of providing a method for producing a carbon fiber woven fabric in which the length of each warp yarn made of a carbon fiber strand is uniform, weft yarns are straightly arranged without waviness, and that is excellent in quality can be obtained with high productivity (production speed), and is characterized that a method for producing a carbon fiber woven fabric using an air jet loom in which heald in a shedding motion has an angle of repose in a range of 0 to 50° when weaving a uni-directional carbon fiber woven fabric woven with a carbon fiber strand having a fineness of 400 to 6,000 tex as the warp yarn and an auxiliary fiber having a fineness of ? or less of the carbon fiber strand as the weft yarn.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2007
    Publication date: February 11, 2010
    Applicant: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Eisuke Wadahara, Ikuo Horibe, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kenichi Takezawa, Kuniyoshi Kurihara, Kazuhiro Ohno
  • Publication number: 20100028616
    Abstract: A fiber-reinforced plate-like plastic having a plate and a protrusion rising on the plate, wherein the plate and the protrusion each contain a laminated structure composed of plural reinforcing fiber sheets which each include many fibers of 10 to 100 mm in fiber length arranged in a fixed direction and at least two of the layers constituting the laminated structure are different in the direction of arrangement of reinforcing fibers and wherein at least part of the reinforcing fibers extend continuously from the plate to the protrusion and at least one of the layers constituting the laminated structure of the protrusion has a shape similar to the shape of the protrusion; and a process for the production of fiber-reinforced plastic which includes cutting a unidirectional prepreg sheet composed of many reinforcing fibers arranged in a fixed direction and a matrix resin into prepreg base material sheets with the above fiber length, laminating the prepreg base material sheets with the directions of arrangement of
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2007
    Publication date: February 4, 2010
    Inventors: Masahiro Yamanouchi, Ichiro Taketa, Eisuke Wadahara, Akihiko Kitano