Patents by Inventor Etsuji Yamamoto

Etsuji Yamamoto 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: 4833408
    Abstract: In an NMR imaging method of distinguishing two chemical shifts of unclear spins and obtaining respective spin distribution images, 180.degree. RF. pulses are applied twice to generate two spin echoes after spins of an object for inspection have been exicted. In the second echo among them, a pulse time-interval is so set that the time difference between the Hahn echo and the gradient echo may provide two chemical shifts with a phase difference of 2n.pi.. On the basis of information representing the distribution of a static magnetic field included in an image obtained from the second pulse, an image obtained from the first echo is compensated. By using the compensated image, spin distribution images with two chemical shifts distinguished are obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 1988
    Date of Patent: May 23, 1989
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Takashi Onodera
  • Patent number: 4825163
    Abstract: A quadrature probe for nuclear magnetic resonance includes two sets of coils which are combined with an angle of 90.degree. therebetween. Four pieces of outer conductors and two pieces of ring-shaped inner conductors are capacitively coupled to each other through an insulator or an air gap. In the outer conductor(s) in at least one of a set of outer conductors disposed at positions symmetrical with respect to each other so as to form a first coil and a set of outer conductors disposed at positions symmetrical with respect to each other so as to form a second coil, a conductor member(s) for adjustment is attached in parallel to the arm portion(s) in that outer conductor(s) of that set. Alternatively, the arm portion(s) itself in that set is slidably attached to the wing portions in that set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 1988
    Date of Patent: April 25, 1989
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masao Yabusaki, Etsuji Yamamoto, Yoshiki Murakami, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4803190
    Abstract: In the production of a Mo-Bi-Na composite oxide catalyst by the process comprising incorporating compounds as respective element sources into a composite and subjecting the composite to heating treatment in an aqueous system, bismuth oxide and/or bismuth subcarbonate are/is used as a Bi source copmpound and at least a part of the heat treatment is conducted at a temperature of 450.degree. to 600.degree. C. The activity of the catalyst is significantly improved by introducing Bi in the form of the specified water insoluble compound into the catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1987
    Date of Patent: February 7, 1989
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company Limited
    Inventors: Kohei Sarumaru, Etsuji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 4791369
    Abstract: A method of finding error distribution in the static magnetic field and distribution of deviations from straight lines in the gradient magnetic fields of an NMR imaging apparatus which employs the applied spin-warp method. A phantom whose shape has been known is measured in the read-out gradient magnetic fields having different polarities to obtain two spin density distribution images. The two images are then compared with the shape of said phantom to measure the distortion distributions of the images. Error in the static magnetic field and deviations of the gradient magnetic fields from the straight lines are analyzed from the distortion distributions. From the thus obtained error distribution, furthermore, distortion induced in imaging the object is estimated, and the distortion contained in the image that is reconstructed from the spin density of the object by the spin-warp method is corrected using the thus estimated value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 13, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4777443
    Abstract: Disclosed in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) based inspection apparatus using an SQUID flux meter for detecting a small NMR signal, in which a receiving coil for receiving the NMR signal from an object is connected to a mixer, which mixes a reference high-frequency signal with the NMR signal so that the NMR signal is reduced to a low-frequency signal having a differential component of frequencies of both signals, and the low-frequency signal is applied to the input coil of the SQUID flux meter so that it is converted into a voltage signal. The mixer circuit includes Schottky diodes operative at a liquid helium temperature or Josephson junctions, and the portions of apparatus from the reception coil up to the SQUID flux meter are operated in a superconductive state at a liquid helium temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 11, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masao Yabusaki, Etsuji Yamamoto, Takashi Onodera, Yukiko Ogura, Hideaki Nakane, Shigeru Matsui, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4760339
    Abstract: An NMR imaging method is disclosed in which an object is measured in accordance with a pulse sequence capable of expressing a difference between two of a plurality of chemical shifts by a phase difference in a signal, that is, a pulse sequence 90.degree.-.tau..sub.a -180.degree.-.tau..sub.b -spin echo (where .tau..sub.a .noteq..tau..sub.b) to obtain spin distribution data, a histogram with respect to the phase of the spin distribution data is formed to regard a phase corresponding to that one of a plurality of peaks of the histogram which exists at one end of the histogram, as a position-independent offset phase which is contained in the spin distribution data and is peculiar to an NMR imaging apparatus, and the spin distribution data is corrected using the offset value thus obtained, to extract spin density distribution data for each of the chemical shifts from the corrected spin distribution data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1986
    Date of Patent: July 26, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Koichi Sano, Hidemi Shiono, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4748412
    Abstract: An Alderman high-frequency coil used for generating or detecting a high-frequency magnetic field in an NMR apparatus comprises two ring-shaped inner conductors aligned coaxially with a spacing being made therebetween and two outer conductors disposed to surround the inner conductors. The outer conductors are each split along the current path to form a 4-piece outer conductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1987
    Date of Patent: May 31, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Takashi Onodera, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4740749
    Abstract: In an imaging method called spin warp method in which a measuring sequence inclusive of nuclear spin excitation, application of phase-encoding gradient field, and measurement of NMR signals under the application of read-out gradient field, is repeated while changing the phase-encoding amount, and a data train thus obtained is subjected to the two-dimensional inverse Fourier transformation to reconstruct a magnetization distribution image of an object, wherein an NMR imaging method is characterized in that measurement of NMR signals is repeated a plural number of times for a particular phase-encoding amount only among many phase-encoding amounts, a plurality of NMR signals thus obtained are added up together and are averaged, and the data obtained by the addition and averaging is subjected to the two-dimensional inverse Fourier transformation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 1987
    Date of Patent: April 26, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4739265
    Abstract: A method for providing spin density distribution images of an object, discriminated with respect to plural chemical shifts. This method is performed by repeating a measurement sequence in a spin warp imaging method, of the spin data plural times, with a time difference .DELTA..tau. between a time interval .tau..sub.1 from spin excitation to a 180.degree. RF pulse and a time interval .tau..sub.2 from the 180.degree. RF pulse to a peak of a spin echo, altering .DELTA..tau. in the ways corresponding the number of chemical shifts to be discriminated from one another, subjecting the respective spin data to two-dimensional Fourier transform to provide plural sets of spin data for respective coordinates in a spatial domain, and solving simultaneous equations of the sets of spin data to provide spin densities corresponding to the respective chemical shifts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 1986
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1988
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Kensuke Sekihara, Hidemi Shiono, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4732884
    Abstract: In the production of a Mo-Bi-Na composite oxide catalyst by the process comprising incorporating compounds as respective element sources into a composite and subjecting the composite to heat treatment, a bismuth subcarbonate in which at least a part of required Na has been solid-dissolved is used as a Bi source compound. The activity of the catalyst is significantly improved by introducing Bi and Na in the form of the specified water insoluble compound into the catalyst.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 1987
    Date of Patent: March 22, 1988
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company Limited
    Inventors: Kohei Sarumaru, Etsuji Yamamoto, Teruo Saito
  • Patent number: 4716369
    Abstract: The present invention is an imaging method using three-dimensional NMR to which an echo-planar method is applied. After excitation of nuclear spins, the gradient magnetic field Gx for phase-encoding is applied and there is repeated a sequence of measuring and obtaining an echo train of spin-echoes with a constant gradient magnetic field Gx and a periodically-inverted gradient magnetic field Gy, as varying the amount of encoding, so as to obtain the three-dimensional imaging by the Fourier-conversion. Moreover, after the selective excitation of spins within an X-Y surface, a 180.degree. radio frequency pulse is applied. As varying the time difference .tau..sub..epsilon. between the interval from the excitation until the application of the 180.degree. radio frequency pulse and the interval from the application thereof until a peak of a first echo of an echo train, three-dimensional imaging is carried out with a chemical shift axis as one axis by repeating the sequence and accomplishing Fourier-conversion with .
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 29, 1987
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kensuke Sekihara, Shigeru Matsui, Hideki Kohno, Etsuji Yamamoto, Hidemi Shiono
  • Patent number: 4701709
    Abstract: An NMR imaging method for measuring a magnetization distribution of an article under test, particularly the magnetization distribution including a longitudinal relaxation effect, by a Fourier imaging method with identification of polarity of the magnetization distribution.A homogeneous phantom is measured by the Fourier imaging method and image-reconstructed so that a reference image data which reflects a phase rotation inherent to an NMR imaging apparatus is obtained. Then, a magnetization distribution of an article under test is obtained in a similar measurement and image reconstruction sequence, and products of the reference image data and the image data of the article under test are stored as the signs to represent the polarity of magnetization of the article under test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 1985
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1987
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Hideki Kohno, Ryuzaburo Takeda
  • Patent number: 4683433
    Abstract: An NMR imaging apparatus and method for detecting a nuclear spin resonance signal from an object, which is placed in a magnetic field, to produce images of the object. At an instant when the spins come into phase after the signal detection by a first spin excitation, RF magnetic field pulses are applied for rotating the direction of the spin to that opposite to the initial state. After that, the spin excitation and the signal direction of second time are conducted to measure the data which are different in the effect of the relaxation time from the first measurements. By repeating these sequences, it is possible to produce a plurality of images such as an intensity image or a relaxation time enhanced image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 1984
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1987
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Hideki Kohno, Masao Kuroda, Shigeru Matsui, Hidemi Shiono
  • Patent number: 4672318
    Abstract: A method of measuring a static magnetic field distribution in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) inspection system which comprises magnetic field generator for producing a static magnetic field, inclination or gradient magnetic fields and a high-frequency magnetic field, a signal detector for sensing nuclear magnetic resonance signals from an inspection sample, a computer for processing output signals from the signal detector and an output device for providing a computational result of the computer, wherein a time interval t.sub.1 from the center of a 90.degree.-pulse high-frequency magnetic field to the center of a 180.degree.-pulse high-frequency magnetic field is made different by a time difference t.sub.0 from a time interval t.sub.2 from the center of the 180.degree.-pulse high-frequency magnetic field to a peak of a spin echo, so that static magnetic field distribution is calculated based on the computer output which corresponds to the difference of the two time intervals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 1985
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1987
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kensuke Sekihara, Etsuji Yamamoto, Shigeru Matsui, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4625170
    Abstract: An NMR imaging method and apparatus of the type in which a 180-degree RF pulse is applied to generate a spin echo after the selective excitation of a spin by a 90-degree RF pulse. A dummy gradient field, which has the same direction and intensity as those of a gradient field to be applied when the spin echo is observed, is applied between said 90-degree RF pulse and said 180-degree RF pulse so that the instant of starting the application of the gradient field for signal observation is advanced to the extent corresponding to said dummy gradient field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 25, 1986
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Shigeru Matsui, Masuo Kuroda, Hideki Kohno
  • Patent number: 4604370
    Abstract: A process for regenerating a Mo.Bi-based multi-oxide catalyst the catalytic performance of which has deteriorated as a result of its use in vapor-phase catalytic oxidation of propylene or isobutene to prepare acrolein or methacrolein, respectively, which process comprises: heating the deteriorated Mo.Bi-based multi-oxide catalyst in an atmosphere consisting essentially of air at a temperature of 380.degree. C. to 540.degree. C., so as to attain at least partial restoration of the catalytic performance thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 1985
    Date of Patent: August 5, 1986
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Petrochemical Company, Limited
    Inventors: Kohei Sarumaru, Takeshi Shibano, Yoichi Ishii, Etsuji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 4558425
    Abstract: In an imaging apparatus using nuclear magnetic resonance which includes apparatus for generating a static magnetic field, a linear gradient magnetic field and a radio frequency magnetic field, respectively, signal detection device for detecting the nuclear magnetic resonant signal from an object to be inspected, a computer for calculating from the detection signal an image and output device for displaying the result of calculation by the computer, the improvement wherein the size of the object to be inspected is detected by use of ultrasonic wave or light beams and a signal indicative of the detected size of the object is applied to the linear gradient magnetic field generation apparatus so as to control the intensity of the linear gradient magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1982
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1985
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Kensuke Sekihara, Hideki Kohno, Shinji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 4472683
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus using nuclear magnetic resonance is disclosed in which both an image corresponding to the projection of a nuclear spin distribution in a to-be-inspected object on a two-dimensional plane and a display mark indicating a desired measuring position are displayed on a display face of a display device such as a CRT display, the display mark is freely moved on the display face to be set at a desired position on the display face, and magnetic field generating means for generating a static magnetic field, linear gradient field, or radio frequency magnetic field is controlled on the basis of the desired position of the display mark to obtain an image of that cross section of the object which is located at a position indicated by the display mark.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1982
    Date of Patent: September 18, 1984
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kensuke Sekihara, Etsuji Yamamoto, Hideki Kohno, Shinji Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 4458172
    Abstract: An ultrasonic probe includes a resonator made of a piezoelectric ceramic material which is obtained by subjecting a ceramic composition containing 44.7 to 46.3 mol % of PbO, 50.9 to 51.7 mol % of TiO.sub.2, 1.8 to 2.7 mol % of Sm.sub.2 O.sub.3 and 0.5 to 1.0 mol % of MnO.sub.2 to poling treatment in such a manner that the ceramic composition is applied with an electric field of 60 to 80 kV/cm at a temperature of 130.degree. to 160.degree. C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 1982
    Date of Patent: July 3, 1984
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takeuchi, Yukio Ito, Etsuji Yamamoto, Shigeru Jyomura, Sakichi Ashida
  • Patent number: 4437136
    Abstract: An electromagnet having a current detecting device for detecting the current flowing through an electromagnet exciting coil, the output of which is utilized to control the power supplied to the coil to stabilize the current flowing through the coil; the electromagnet further including a separate power supply to supply current to the current detecting device which supplies current to the current detecting device when the electromagnet is not on working.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 13, 1984
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Etsuji Yamamoto, Kensuke Sekihara, Hideki Kohno