Patents by Inventor Hiroki Iwai

Hiroki Iwai 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: 8174171
    Abstract: An exemplary tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece has at least a pair of vibrating arms extending from one end of a base portion in a certain longitudinal direction (e.g., Y-direction). Supporting arms extend from respective side edges of the base, outboard of the vibrating arms in the certain direction. The supporting arms have respective mounting regions near their distal tips. Each supporting arm progressively narrows from its proximal end, coupled to the respective side edge of the base, to its respective mounting region. The progressive narrowing can be via one or more constrictions along the length of the supporting arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Patent number: 8120234
    Abstract: Piezoelectric frames are disclosed that include a tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating portion having a pair of vibrating arms extending from a base portion in a first direction (Y-direction). The vibrating arms have a first width W1. A respective excitation electrode is formed on each vibrating arm. Supporting arms extend from the base portion in the first direction, outboard of respective vibrating arms. The supporting arms have a second width W2. A respective connecting arm extends from each supporting arm in a second direction that crosses the first direction. An outer frame connects to the connecting arms, has a side extending in the first direction with a third width W3, and has another side extending in the second direction with a fourth width W4. The second width W2 is 1.4 times smaller than the first width W1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2012
    Assignee: Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Patent number: 8110966
    Abstract: Piezoelectric frames are disclosed that include a tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece. The vibrating piece has at least a pair of vibrating arms that extend in a longitudinal direction (e.g., Y-direction) from a first end edge of a piezoelectric base, and at least one excitation electrode on the pair of vibrating arms. Respective supporting arms extend in the longitudinal direction, outboard of each vibrating arm. The vibrating piece is surrounded by and attached to a frame portion also made of piezoelectric material. A pair of connecting portions connects the supporting arms to the frame portion. The connecting portions extend from respective supporting arms to the frame portion in a direction that intersects the longitudinal direction. The connecting portions are connected to the frame portion at designated locations that are more than 50% of the designated length of the vibrating piece from the second end edge of the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Patent number: 8110965
    Abstract: An exemplary piezoelectric vibrating device has a lid plate, a chip plate including a tuning-fork type vibrating piece surrounded by an outer frame, and a package base arranged where the chip plate is sandwiched between the lid plate and package base, and the three layers are bonded together. The tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece is connected to the outer frame by supporting arms. A base-movement buffer having a predetermined height in the X-direction extends from the inner edge surface of the outer frame toward a side edge of the base. The base-movement buffer has a height in the X-direction that is proportional to the length from the base-movement buffer to a point at which the tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece is coupled to the outer frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Iwai, Yu Iwai, Hiroshi Uehara
  • Publication number: 20110241495
    Abstract: Piezoelectric vibrating pieces are disclosed that include a base, a pair of vibrating arms, and a pair of supporting arms. The base is fabricated of piezoelectric material. The vibrating arms extend straight from the base in a designated longitudinal direction and having a first thickness. A respective supporting arm extends straight from the base and outboard of each vibrating arm in the designated longitudinal direction. Each supporting arm includes at least a respective second region that has second thickness different from the first thickness.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2011
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20110221311
    Abstract: An exemplary tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece has a rectangular base having upper and lower main surfaces and a pair of vibrating arms extending longitudinally from the base. The vibrating arms also have the upper and lower main surfaces. Each main surface of each vibrating arm defines a respective vibrating-arm groove extending longitudinally into the base. Each main surface of the base has at least one respective step-side surface situated outboard, in an X-axis direction, of each vibrating-arm groove. Each step-side surface is parallel with the respective vibrating-arm groove. A first electrode is situated on the vibrating-arm grooves of the first vibrating arm and on the at least one respective step-side surface on each main surface. A second electrode is situated on the vibrating-arm grooves of the second vibrating arm and on the at least one respective step-side surface on each main surface. The first and second electrodes are energized with different electrical polarities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2011
    Publication date: September 15, 2011
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20110215773
    Abstract: The vehicle generator includes an armature winding, a switching section constituted as a bridge circuit including a plurality of pairs of an upper arm and a lower arm to rectify phase voltages of the armature winding, each of the upper and lower arms being constituted of a switching element parallel-connected with a diode, and a control section for controlling on/off timings of the switching elements. The control section is configured to perform switching operation to switch the switching section between a first operation state where each upper arm is turned off when the phase voltage is higher than a voltage of a vehicle battery, and a second operation state where each upper arm is turned off after the phase voltages becomes lower than the battery voltage, and configured to delay off timings of the switching elements stepwise when the switching section is in the second operation state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2011
    Publication date: September 8, 2011
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Patent number: 7982374
    Abstract: Piezoelectric vibrating pieces are disclosed made of a piezoelectric material to be mounted in a package. A representative piece includes a base formed of a piezoelectric material, having first and second ends, extending between the ends in a length direction, and having a designated width. The piece includes at least a pair of vibrating arms extending in the length direction from one end of the base, and a pair of supporting arms extending partially in a width direction from between the first and second ends of the base. The supporting arms further extend in the length direction outboard of the base and vibrating arms, and include an adhesive region at the tips of the supporting arms. The adhesive regions are used for mounting the piece to a package. Whereas the tips of the supporting arms do not extend beyond the tips of the vibrating arms, the axial length of supporting arms is greater than the length of the vibrating arms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: Nihon Kempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Yoshimatsu, Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20110156529
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a surface mounted resonator that improves impact resistance by the shape of a mounting terminal provided on an outside bottom face of a stacked resonator. A surface mounted crystal resonator is provided with a plurality of mounting terminals electrically connected to a hermetically sealed crystal piece at both ends of an outside bottom face having a rectangular shape long in the lengthwise direction, the mounting terminals having the same external dimensions with a total dimension of the mounting terminals in a lengthwise direction of the outside bottom face being 70% or more [but less than 100%] of a dimension in the lengthwise direction of the outside bottom face. Respective facing sides of the mounting terminals facing each other in a central area of the outside bottom face are formed curved in a convex shape such that a curvature thereof decreases gradually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Applicant: NIHON DEMPA KOGYO CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20100164328
    Abstract: Piezoelectric frames are disclosed that include a tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece. The vibrating piece has at least a pair of vibrating arms that extend in a longitudinal direction (e.g., Y-direction) from a first end edge of a piezoelectric base, and at least one excitation electrode on the pair of vibrating arms. Respective supporting arms extend in the longitudinal direction, outboard of each vibrating arm. The vibrating piece is surrounded by and attached to a frame portion also made of piezoelectric material. A pair of connecting portions connects the supporting arms to the frame portion. The connecting portions extend from respective supporting arms to the frame portion in a direction that intersects the longitudinal direction. The connecting portions are connected to the frame portion at designated locations that are more than 50% of the designated length of the vibrating piece from the second end edge of the base.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20100156237
    Abstract: A tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece (20) is comprised of a base portion (23) comprising a piezoelectric material, a pair of vibrating arms (21) extends parallel from the base portion with a first thickness, a excitation electrode film (33, 34) formed on the vibrating arms, a pair of tuning portions (28) formed at the distal ends of the vibrating arms (21) with a second thickness which is less than the first thickness; and a metal film (18) formed on at least one surface o the tuning portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Applicant: Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryoichi ICHIKAWA, Hiroki IWAI, Yoshiaki AMANO
  • Publication number: 20100156246
    Abstract: Piezoelectric frames are disclosed that include a tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating portion having a pair of vibrating arms extending from a base portion in a first direction (Y-direction). The vibrating arms have a first width W1. A respective excitation electrode is formed on each vibrating arm. Supporting arms extend from the base portion in the first direction, outboard of respective vibrating arms. The supporting arms have a second width W2. A respective connecting arm extends from each supporting arm in a second direction that crosses the first direction. An outer frame connects to the connecting arms, has a side extending in the first direction with a third width W3, and has another side extending in the second direction with a fourth width W4. The second width W2 is 1.4 times smaller than the first width W1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20100079036
    Abstract: An exemplary tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece has at least a pair of vibrating arms extending from one end of a base portion in a certain longitudinal direction (e.g., Y-direction). Supporting arms extend from respective side edges of the base, outboard of the vibrating arms in the certain direction. The supporting arms have respective mounting regions near their distal tips. Each supporting arm progressively narrows from its proximal end, coupled to the respective side edge of the base, to its respective mounting region. The progressive narrowing can be via one or more constrictions along the length of the supporting arm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2009
    Publication date: April 1, 2010
    Inventor: Hiroki Iwai
  • Publication number: 20100079040
    Abstract: An exemplary piezoelectric vibrating device has a lid plate, a chip plate including a tuning-fork type vibrating piece surrounded by an outer frame, and a package base arranged where the chip plate is sandwiched between the lid plate and package base, and the three layers are bonded together. The tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece is connected to the outer frame by supporting arms. A base-movement buffer having a predetermined height in the X-direction extends from the inner edge surface of the outer frame toward a side edge of the base. The base-movement buffer has a height in the X-direction that is proportional to the length from the base-movement buffer to a point at which the tuning-fork type piezoelectric vibrating piece is coupled to the outer frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2009
    Publication date: April 1, 2010
    Inventors: Hiroki IWAI, Yu IWAI, Hiroshi UEHARA
  • Publication number: 20090167118
    Abstract: Piezoelectric vibrating pieces are disclosed made of a piezoelectric material to be mounted in a package. A representative piece includes a base formed of a piezoelectric material, having first and second ends, extending between the ends in a length direction, and having a designated width. The piece includes at least a pair of vibrating arms extending in the length direction from one end of the base, and a pair of supporting arms extending partially in a width direction from between the first and second ends of the base. The supporting arms further extend in the length direction outboard of the base and vibrating arms, and include an adhesive region at the tips of the supporting arms. The adhesive regions are used for mounting the piece to a package. Whereas the tips of the supporting arms do not extend beyond the tips of the vibrating arms, the axial length of supporting arms is greater than the length of the vibrating arms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2008
    Publication date: July 2, 2009
    Inventors: Masahiro Yoshimatsu, Hiroki Iwai