Patents by Inventor Hiroshi NATE

Hiroshi NATE 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: 10601230
    Abstract: An electric power supply system for a vehicle includes a first battery, a second battery connected in parallel with the first battery, a voltage sensor configured to detect a voltage value of the second battery, a current sensor configured to detect a current value of the second battery, an electronic control unit configured to make a voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to a predetermined voltage waveform, and calculate internal resistance of the second battery using the voltage value and the current value of the second battery respectively detected by the voltage sensor and the current sensor while the electronic control unit is making the voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to the predetermined voltage waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao Horitake, Hiroshi Nate, Yasuharu Terada
  • Publication number: 20190044344
    Abstract: An electric power supply system for a vehicle includes a first battery, a second battery connected in parallel with the first battery, a voltage sensor configured to detect a voltage value of the second battery, a current sensor configured to detect a current value of the second battery, an electronic control unit configured to make a voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to a predetermined voltage waveform, and calculate internal resistance of the second battery using the voltage value and the current value of the second battery respectively detected by the voltage sensor and the current sensor while the electronic control unit is making the voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to the predetermined voltage waveform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Publication date: February 7, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao Horitake, Hiroshi Nate, Yasuharu Terada
  • Patent number: 10155491
    Abstract: An electric power supply device includes first and second batteries respectively supplying electric power to a plurality of load instruments mounted on a vehicle, an electric power generator capable of charging the first battery and the second battery by regenerative electric power generation, and control means for controlling the electric power generator so that a charging electric power amount of at least one of the first battery and the second battery based on the regenerative electric power generation is suppressed in a case where at least one of a high-load instrument and a backup target instrument is present among the plurality of load instruments and the electric power generator is performing the regenerative electric power generation during the deceleration of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeaki Suzuki, Michihiro Miyashita, Kazuhito Eshima, Hiroshi Nate, Sunao Horitake
  • Patent number: 10135264
    Abstract: An electric power supply system for a vehicle includes a first battery, a second battery connected in parallel with the first battery, a voltage sensor configured to detect a voltage value of the second battery, a current sensor configured to detect a current value of the second battery, an electronic control unit configured to make a voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to a predetermined voltage waveform, and calculate internal resistance of the second battery using the voltage value and the current value of the second battery respectively detected by the voltage sensor and the current sensor while the electronic control unit is making the voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to the predetermined voltage waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao Horitake, Hiroshi Nate, Yasuharu Terada
  • Patent number: 9815376
    Abstract: A power supply apparatus includes a first battery, a second battery, and an ECU configured to determine whether the following conditions i), ii), and iii) are satisfied: i) a degree of deterioration of the second battery is lower than a first threshold; ii) a state-of-charge of the second battery is lower than a second threshold; and iii) the state-of-charge is equal to or higher than a third threshold. The second threshold is higher by a prescribed value than a lowest allowable value of the state-of-charge at which the second battery can function as a backup power supply. The third threshold corresponds to the lowest allowable value. When determining that the conditions i), ii) and iii) are all satisfied, the ECU executes single-battery-using control in which regeneration control using the regenerative electric power is executed with use of the first battery and the second battery is not used for regeneration control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao Horitake, Yasuharu Terada, Hiroshi Nate, Takeaki Suzuki, Michihiro Miyashita, Kazuhito Eshima
  • Publication number: 20170264104
    Abstract: An electric power supply system for a vehicle includes a first battery, a second battery connected in parallel with the first battery, a voltage sensor configured to detect a voltage value of the second battery, a current sensor configured to detect a current value of the second battery, an electronic control unit configured to make a voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to a predetermined voltage waveform, and calculate internal resistance of the second battery using the voltage value and the current value of the second battery respectively detected by the voltage sensor and the current sensor while the electronic control unit is making the voltage of the alternator fluctuate according to the predetermined voltage waveform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Publication date: September 14, 2017
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao HORITAKE, Hiroshi NATE, Yasuharu TERADA
  • Patent number: 9718369
    Abstract: An electric power supply device includes a first battery electrically connected to each of a plurality of load instruments mounted on a vehicle and supplying electric power to each of the load instruments, a second battery electrically connected to the first battery and each of the load instruments via a switch and capable of supplying electric power to each of the load instruments, and an electronic control unit (ECU) configured to cut off electrical connection between the second battery and each of the load instruments by turning OFF the switch under a condition that when a high-load instrument included in the load instruments is not in operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroshi Nate
  • Publication number: 20160185240
    Abstract: A power supply apparatus includes a first battery, a second battery, and an ECU configured to determine whether the following conditions i), ii), and iii) are satisfied: i) a degree of deterioration of the second battery is lower than a first threshold; ii) a state-of-charge of the second battery is lower than a second threshold; and iii) the state-of-charge is equal to or higher than a third threshold. The second threshold is higher by a prescribed value than a lowest allowable value of the state-of-charge at which the second battery can function as a backup power supply. The third threshold corresponds to the lowest allowable value. When determining that the conditions i), ii) and iii) are all satisfied, the ECU executes single-battery-using control in which regeneration control using the regenerative electric power is executed with use of the first battery and the second battery is not used for regeneration control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Sunao HORITAKE, Yasuharu TERADA, Hiroshi NATE, Takeaki SUZUKI, Michihiro MIYASHITA, Kazuhito ESHIMA
  • Publication number: 20160167534
    Abstract: A charging apparatus is mounted on a vehicle having a plurality of batteries and a power generating device. The charging apparatus is provided with a controller (i) configured to obtain power accumulation ratios of the plurality of batteries, (ii) configured to determine whether or not each of obtained power accumulation ratios is in an appropriate range corresponding to each of the plurality of batteries, and (iii) configured to control the power generating device so that generated voltage of the power generating device is in an overlap range, if it is determined that power accumulation ratio of one battery of the plurality of batteries is greater than an upper limit of the appropriate range of the one of battery and if the power generating device performs the power regeneration upon deceleration of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Publication date: June 16, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeaki SUZUKI, Michihiro MIYASHITA, Kazuhito ESHIMA, Hiroshi NATE, Sunao HORITAKE
  • Publication number: 20160059722
    Abstract: An electric power supply device includes a first battery electrically connected to each of a plurality of load instruments mounted on a vehicle and supplying electric power to each of the load instruments, a second battery electrically connected to the first battery and each of the load instruments via a switch and capable of supplying electric power to each of the load instruments, and an ECU configured to cut off electrical connection between the second battery and each of the load instruments by turning OFF the switch on the condition that a high-load instrument as one of the load instruments is not in operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hiroshi NATE
  • Publication number: 20160039370
    Abstract: An electric power supply device includes first and second batteries respectively supplying electric power to a plurality of load instruments mounted on a vehicle, an electric power generator capable of charging the first battery and the second battery by regenerative electric power generation, and control means for controlling the electric power generator so that a charging electric power amount of at least one of the first battery and the second battery based on the regenerative electric power generation is suppressed in a case where at least one of a high-load instrument and a backup target instrument is present among the plurality of load instruments and the electric power generator is performing the regenerative electric power generation during the deceleration of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2015
    Publication date: February 11, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeaki SUZUKI, Michihiro MIYASHITA, Kazuhito ESHIMA, Hiroshi NATE, Sunao HORITAKE