Patents by Inventor Hiromasa Sakai
Hiromasa Sakai 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).
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Patent number: 8980490Abstract: A fuel cell system of the present invention includes: a fuel cell supplied with fuel gas and oxidizing gas to generate electricity; a fuel gas supply unit supplying the fuel gas to the fuel cell; an oxidizing gas supply unit supplying the oxidizing gas to the fuel cell; an aftercooler cooling the oxidizing gas supplied to the fuel cell by heat exchange with a coolant; an oxidizing gas temperature detector detecting temperature of the oxidizing gas; and a coolant circulation controller starting circulation of the coolant when the detected temperature of the oxidizing gas exceeds a predetermined value. The predetermined value is set to a value of not higher than a minimum electricity generation temperature of the fuel cell, and a circulation timing and flow rate of the coolant for the aftercooler are controlled such that the supplied oxidizing gas does not become cold. This enables the fuel cell to generate electricity at cold start-up.Type: GrantFiled: August 1, 2014Date of Patent: March 17, 2015Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Ikuhiro Taniguchi, Hiromasa Sakai, Kotaro Akashi, Nobutaka Takahashi
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Publication number: 20140342259Abstract: A fuel cell system of the present invention includes: a fuel cell supplied with fuel gas and oxidizing gas to generate electricity; a fuel gas supply unit supplying the fuel gas to the fuel cell; an oxidizing gas supply unit supplying the oxidizing gas to the fuel cell; an aftercooler cooling the oxidizing gas supplied to the fuel cell by heat exchange with a coolant; an oxidizing gas temperature detector detecting temperature of the oxidizing gas; and a coolant circulation controller starting circulation of the coolant when the detected temperature of the oxidizing gas exceeds a predetermined value. The predetermined value is set to a value of not higher than a minimum electricity generation temperature of the fuel cell, and a circulation timing and flow rate of the coolant for the aftercooler are controlled such that the supplied oxidizing gas does not become cold. This enables the fuel cell to generate electricity at cold start-up.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2014Publication date: November 20, 2014Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.Inventors: Ikuhiro TANIGUCHI, Hiromasa SAKAI, Kotaro AKASHI, Nobutaka TAKAHASHI
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Patent number: 8822092Abstract: A fuel cell system of the present invention includes: a fuel cell (1) supplied with fuel gas and oxidizing gas to generate electricity; a fuel gas supply unit supplying the fuel gas to the fuel cell (1); an oxidizing gas supply unit supplying the oxidizing gas to the fuel cell (1); an aftercooler (7) cooling the oxidizing gas supplied to the fuel cell (1) by heat exchange with a coolant; an oxidizing gas temperature detector (16, 17) detecting temperature of the oxidizing gas; and a coolant circulation controller (21a) starting circulation of the coolant when the detected temperature of the oxidizing gas exceeds a predetermined value. The predetermined value is set to a value of not higher than a minimum electricity generation temperature of the fuel cell (1), and a circulation timing and flow rate of the coolant for the aftercooler (7) are controlled such that the supplied oxidizing gas does not become cold. This enables the fuel cell (1) to generate electricity at cold start-up.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2005Date of Patent: September 2, 2014Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Ikuhiro Taniguchi, Hiromasa Sakai, Kotaro Akashi, Nobutaka Takahashi
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Patent number: 8034497Abstract: A control device for a vehicular fuel cell system is provided with a warm-up output control section operative, when a fuel cell system is started up under a low temperature condition and in case that a fuel cell stack of the fuel cell system is warmed up, causing the fuel cell stack to generate electric power to allow predetermined warm-up electric power to be taken out, and a run permission section operative, during a period wherein the warm-up electric power is drawn by the warm-up output control section, to determine whether the fuel cell stack assumes a predetermined warm-up condition on the basis of one of a voltage value and an electric current value of the fuel cell stack. When a determination is made that the fuel cell stack assumes the predetermined warm-up condition, the run permission section provides a vehicle with run permission.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2004Date of Patent: October 11, 2011Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Publication number: 20100035095Abstract: A fuel cell system of the present invention includes: a fuel cell (1) supplied with fuel gas and oxidizing gas to generate electricity; a fuel gas supply unit supplying the fuel gas to the fuel cell (1); an oxidizing gas supply unit supplying the oxidizing gas to the fuel cell (1); an aftercooler (7) cooling the oxidizing gas supplied to the fuel cell (1) by heat exchange with a coolant; an oxidizing gas temperature detector (16, 17) detecting temperature of the oxidizing gas; and a coolant circulation controller (21a) starting circulation of the coolant when the detected temperature of the oxidizing gas exceeds a predetermined value. The predetermined value is set to a value of not higher than a minimum electricity generation temperature of the fuel cell (1), and a circulation timing and flow rate of the coolant for the aftercooler (7) are controlled such that the supplied oxidizing gas does not become cold. This enables the fuel cell (1) to generate electricity at cold start-up.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 22, 2005Publication date: February 11, 2010Inventors: Ikuhiro Taniguchi, Hiromasa Sakai, Kotaro Akashi, Nobutaka Takahashi
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Patent number: 7455920Abstract: The fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell (1) that has an electrolyte membrane and generates power by using a fuel gas and an oxidizing agent gas; a storage device (51) for water that humidifies the fuel cell; and a controller (100). The controller (100) judges whether the fuel cell (1) can be humidified by using the water of the storage device (51), and limits the operating temperature of the fuel cell (1) to below a limit temperature that is lower than during normal operation in a case where it is judged that the fuel cell (1) cannot be humidified.Type: GrantFiled: December 1, 2003Date of Patent: November 25, 2008Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Patent number: 7427451Abstract: A fuel cell system has a fuel cell (1) performing power generation as a result of reactions in supplied gases, a humidifying device (34) for humidifying at least one supplied gas by using water from water tank (31), and a coolant temperature regulation device (21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 51) for regulating the temperature of the coolant flowing within the fuel cell (1) in order to control the temperature of the fuel cell (1), and a defrosting device (61). The defrosting device (61) melts ice in the water tank (31) during a startup operation of the fuel cell system by applying heat contained in the coolant to the ice. Here, the coolant has an increased temperature as a result of waste heat produced during power generation inside the fuel cell (1).Type: GrantFiled: October 10, 2003Date of Patent: September 23, 2008Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Publication number: 20070122668Abstract: A fuel cell system including: a fuel gas supply start command unit (101) for commanding start of a fuel gas supply to a fuel cell (1); a voltage detector (21) for detecting a fuel cell voltage; a control unit (103) for performing a deterioration preventing control for the fuel cell (1) based on the fuel cell voltage (CV) and a start command from the fuel gas supply start command unit (101); and another control unit (104) for controlling fuel gas feed rate according to the start command and the deterioration preventing control. The deterioration preventing control is performed at start-up of the fuel cell system. The fuel gas supply is started according to the start command, and after the deterioration preventing control is started, the fuel gas feed rate is increased.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 15, 2004Publication date: May 31, 2007Applicant: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.Inventors: Keisuke Suzuki, Shinichi Makino, Hiromasa Sakai, Ikuhiro Taniguchi
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Publication number: 20060234094Abstract: A control device (10) for a vehicular fuel cell system (S) is provided with a warm-up output control section (8) operative, when a fuel cell system is started up under a low temperature condition and in case that a fuel cell stack of the fuel cell system is warmed up, causing the fuel cell stack to generate electric power to allow predetermined warm-up electric power to be taken out, and a run permission section (7) operative, during a period wherein the warm-up electric power is taken out by the warm-up output control section, to discriminate whether the fuel cell stack assumes a predetermined warm-up condition on the basis of one of a voltage value and an electric current value of the fuel cell stack. And, when discrimination is made that the fuel cell stack assumes the predetermined warm-up condition, the run permission section provides a vehicle with run permission.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 27, 2004Publication date: October 19, 2006Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Publication number: 20060083967Abstract: A fuel cell system has a fuel cell (1) performing power generation as a result of reactions in supplied gases, a humidifying device (34) for humidifying at least one supplied gas by using water from water tank (31), and a coolant temperature regulation device (21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 51) for regulating the temperature of the coolant flowing within the fuel cell (1) in order to control the temperature of the fuel cell (1), and a defrosting device (61). The defrosting device (61) melts ice in the water tank (31) during a startup operation of the fuel cell system by applying heat contained in the coolant to the ice. Here, the coolant has an increased temperature as a result of waste heat produced during power generation inside the fuel cell (1).Type: ApplicationFiled: October 10, 2003Publication date: April 20, 2006Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Publication number: 20060035120Abstract: The fuel cell system comprises a fuel cell (1) that has an electrolyte membrane and generates power by using a fuel gas and an oxidizing agent gas; a storage device (51) for water that humidifies the fuel cell; and a controller (100). The controller (100) judges whether the fuel cell (1) can be humidified by using the water of the storage device (51), and limits the operating temperature of the fuel cell (1) to below a limit temperature that is lower than during normal operation in a case where it is judged that the fuel cell (1) cannot be humidified.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 1, 2003Publication date: February 16, 2006Inventor: Hiromasa Sakai
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Publication number: 20040028970Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell (29) supplied with gas including hydrogen and gas including oxygen, a humidifying mechanism (73, 31) humidifying either one of the gas including the hydrogen and the gas including the oxygen or both of such gases using water from a water tank (19), a water collection mechanism (73, 31) collecting water from the fuel cell to return the water collected with the water collection mechanism to the water tank, an atmospheric temperature sensor (69) sensing an atmospheric temperature, and a controller (57) performing a high temperature control to increase an exhaust including steam to be expelled outside the fuel cell system when the atmospheric temperature sensed by the atmospheric temperature sensor exceeds a given temperature.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 27, 2003Publication date: February 12, 2004Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Yasukazu Iwasaki
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Patent number: 6659901Abstract: A three-way clutch unit (9) comprising a forward clutch (91), second clutch (92) and forward one way clutch (93) which sets a power recirculation mode, a high clutch (10) which sets a direct mode, and a mode change-over valve (175) which supplies an oil pressure to one of the high clutch (10) and second clutch (92), are provided.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2001Date of Patent: December 9, 2003Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Toshikazu Oshidari
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Patent number: 6612965Abstract: When an engine control unit (70) controls an engine rotation speed Ne to an idle rotation speed, and a select range is changed over from a non-travel range to a travel range, a speed change control unit (80) commands an increase of engine torque supplied to the engine control unit (70), and increases the transmission torque of a continuously variable transmission (2) according to the increase amount of the engine torque.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2001Date of Patent: September 2, 2003Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Masayuki Yasuoka, Hiromasa Sakai
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Patent number: 6569051Abstract: An infinite Speed ratio continuously variable transmission comprises a power recirculation mode clutch (9) and direct mode clutch (10). At least one of the power recirculation mode clutch (9) and direct mode clutch (10) comprises an electromagnetic two-way clutch. The electromagnetic two-way clutch maintains the engaged state during excitation and can transmit drive force from both the drive side and non-drive side. On the other hand, when there is a change-over from the energized state to the non-energized state, a one-way clutch state is obtained wherein drive force is permitted only in the transmission direction of drive force in the instant of the change-over to non-excitation. When a drive force is input in the reverse direction to the drive force transmitted in the one-way clutch state, the one-way clutch state is disengaged, and the disengaged state of the clutch is maintained until subsequent re-excitation.Type: GrantFiled: January 5, 2001Date of Patent: May 27, 2003Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiroyuki Hirano, Kazuhiro Yamada, Yasushi Narita, Tatsuya Nagato, Hiromasa Sakai, Motoharu Nishio, Hiroaki Kuramoto, Hirofumi Shimizu, Masaki Nakano, Eio Sagara, Masayoshi Kimura
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Patent number: 6569052Abstract: In an infinitely variable transmission, a continuously variable transmission (2) outputs the rotation of an input shaft (1) at an arbitrary speed ratio, and a fixed speed ratio transmission (3) outputs the rotation of the input shaft (1) at a fixed speed ratio. A planetary gear set (5) varies the rotation direction and speed of the output shaft (6) according to the difference of the output rotation speed of the fixed speed ratio transmission (2) and the output rotation speed of the continuously variable transmission (2). A sensor (81) which detects the rotation speed of the input shaft (1) and a sensor (82) which detects the output rotation speed of the continuously variable transmission (2) are provided, and a microprocessor (80) precisely calculates the rotation direction and rotation speed of the output shaft (6) from these rotation speeds.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 2001Date of Patent: May 27, 2003Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Motoharu Nishio, Hiroaki Kuramoto, Shinichiro Joe
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Patent number: 6436001Abstract: In an infinite speed ratio transmission, a rotation of an input shaft (1) is input both to a continuously variable transmission (2) and a fixed speed ratio transmission (3). A CVT output shaft (4) of the toroidal continuously variable transmission (2) is joined to a sun gear (5A) of a planetary gear set (5), an output shaft (3C) of the fixed speed ratio transmission (3) is joined to a planet carrier (5B) of the planetary gear set (5), and a vehicle is driven under the output of a ring gear (5C) of the planetary gear set (5). A controller of the infinite speed ratio transmission comprises an actuator (30) which varies an amount of torque transmitted between the input shaft (1) and the CVT output shaft (4). A microprocessor (80) controls the actuator (30) so that a torque in the opposite direction to the vehicle travel direction shown by a selection range of a selector lever (86) is not transmitted by the continuously variable transmission (2).Type: GrantFiled: July 21, 2000Date of Patent: August 20, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Toshikazu Oshidarai
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Patent number: 6409625Abstract: A toroidal continuously variable transmission (1) comprises power rollers (18C, 18D, 20C, 20D) which transmit a torque between input disks (18A, 20A) and output disks (20A, 20B), and trunnions (104, 105, 114, 115) which drive the power rollers (18C, 18D, 20C, 20D) in a perpendicular direction to a rotation shaft (16A) according to a differential pressure between a first oil chamber (101) and a second oil chamber (102). When the second oil chamber (102) is at higher pressure than the first oil chamber (101), the toroidal continuously variable transmission (1) causes a downshift, and when the first oil chamber (101) is at higher pressure than the second oil chamber (102), the toroidal continuously variable transmission (1) causes an upshift. The first oil chamber (101) is connected to a first passage (176) and the second oil chamber (102) is connected to a second passage (177). A speed ratio control valve (70, 70A) controls a direction and a flowrate of the first passage (176) and the second passage (177).Type: GrantFiled: November 9, 2000Date of Patent: June 25, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Motoharu Nishio
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Publication number: 20020037786Abstract: An infinite speed ratio continuously variable transmission comprises a power recirculation mode clutch (9) and direct mode clutch (10). At least one of the power recirculation mode clutch (9) and direct mode clutch (10) comprises an electromagnetic two-way clutch. The electromagnetic two-way clutch maintains the engaged state during excitation and can transmit drive force from both the drive side and non-drive side. On the other hand, when there is a change-over from the energized state to the non-energized state, a one-way clutch state is obtained wherein drive force is permitted only in the transmission direction of drive force in the instant of the change-over to non-excitation. When a drive force is input in the reverse direction to the drive force transmitted in the one-way clutch state, the one-way clutch state is disengaged, and the disengaged state of the clutch is maintained until subsequent re-excitation.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 5, 2001Publication date: March 28, 2002Inventors: Hiroyuki Hirano, Kazuhiro Yamada, Yasushi Narita, Tatsuya Nagato, Hiromasa Sakai, Motoharu Nishio, Hiroaki Kuramoto, Hirofumi Shimizu, Masaki Nakano, Eio Sagara, Masayoshi Kimura
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Patent number: 6358179Abstract: An output shaft (4) of a continuously variable transmission (2) is joined to a sun gear (5A) of a planetary gear mechanism (5), and joined to a final output shaft (6) via a direct mode clutch (10). An output shaft (3C) of a fixed speed ratio transmission (3) is joined to a planet carrier (5B) of the planetary gear mechanism (5) via a power recirculation mode clutch (9). Oil pressure supply to the direct mode clutch (10) and power recirculation mode clutch (9) is controlled by a controller (80) via a mode fixing valve (160). A cam (280) which moves in synchronism with a trunnion (23) of the continuously variable transmission (2) locks the mode fixing valve (160) in a position which shuts off oil supply to one of the clutches (9), (10) when the speed ratio of a continuously variable transmission (2) is smaller than a predetermined value lcC, and releases the lock when the speed ratio of the continuously variable transmission (2) is larger than the predetermined value lcC.Type: GrantFiled: June 1, 2000Date of Patent: March 19, 2002Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Hiromasa Sakai, Toshikazu Oshidari, Hiroyuki Hirano