Patents by Inventor Hiroyuki Okano

Hiroyuki Okano 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).

  • Publication number: 20180347868
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat source unit, a plurality of indoor units, and a relay unit. The heat source unit includes a heat-source-side flow control valve connected to a heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass pipe connected in parallel to the heat-source-side heat exchanger, a bypass flow control valve provided in the bypass pipe, and a gas-liquid separating unit configured to, when refrigerant flows out to the high-pressure pipe, mix refrigerant in a liquid state flowing through the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing through the bypass pipe and cause mixed refrigerant to flow out to the high-pressure pipe, and configured to, when refrigerant flows in from the low-pressure pipe, separate the refrigerant flowing in from the low-pressure pipe into refrigerant in a liquid state flowing into the heat-source-side heat exchanger and refrigerant in a gas state flowing into the bypass pipe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki OKANO, Naofumi TAKENAKA
  • Publication number: 20180328639
    Abstract: A refrigeration cycle apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit, through which refrigerant is circulated, including a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, a first expansion device, and a load side heat exchanger, a controller controlling the refrigerant circuit, and a bypass pipe that branches off from a high-pressure pipe extending from the compressor to the first expansion device and that is connected to a low-pressure pipe on a suction side of the compressor. The apparatus further includes a precooling heat exchanger that is provided in the bypass pipe and that cools the refrigerant diverted to the bypass pipe, a second expansion device that is provided in the bypass pipe and that reduces a pressure of the refrigerant cooled by the precooling heat exchanger, and a refrigerant cooler that is provided in the bypass pipe and that cools the controller with the refrigerant reduced in pressure by the second expansion device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Publication date: November 15, 2018
    Inventors: Takanori KOIKE, Osamu MORIMOTO, Kazuyoshi SHINOZAKI, Hiroyuki OKANO
  • Publication number: 20180292096
    Abstract: An outdoor unit of an air-conditioning apparatus including a casing forming an outer shell, a fan inside the casing, configured to suck outside air from an air inlet and exhaust outside air from an air outlet, and a heat exchanger inside the casing. The heat exchanger includes a first heat exchanger main body including plural fins arranged in parallel at an interval and plural flat pipes passing through the plural fins in a direction of parallel arrangement of the plural fins, refrigerant flowing inside the plural flat pipes, and a second heat exchanger main body including plural fins arranged in parallel at an interval and plural circular pipes passing through the plural fins in a direction of parallel arrangement of the plural fins, refrigerant flowing inside the plural circular pipes, the first heat exchanger main body arranged closer to the fan than the second heat exchanger main body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Publication date: October 11, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoji ONAKA, Takashi MATSUMOTO, Naofumi TAKENAKA, Shigeyoshi MATSUI, Hiroyuki OKANO
  • Patent number: 10024700
    Abstract: The present invention is configured to, on the basis of an upstream side parameter having a value that is related to a change rate of an upstream side voltage when a flow rate of measuring target fluid changes, and a downstream side parameter having a value that is related to a change rate of a downstream side voltage when the flow rate of the measuring target fluid changes, calculate a fluid-specific value exhibiting a specific value depending on the thermal conductivity of the fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: HORIBA STEC, CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Shirai, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Publication number: 20180156498
    Abstract: In a refrigerant circuit of an air conditioning device 10, an upper heat source side heat exchanger 2a having a large heat load and a lower heat source side heat exchanger 2b having a small heat load are connected in parallel between an expansion device 15 and a suction side of a compressor 4. Additionally, the refrigerant circuit of the air conditioning device 10 is provided with a branch circuit 9 configured to distribute refrigerant to each of the upper heat source side heat exchanger 2a and the lower heat source side heat exchanger 2b, and the branch circuit 9 is configured to supply the upper heat source side heat exchanger 2a with refrigerant of lower quality than that of the refrigerant supplied to the lower heat source side heat exchanger 2b.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2015
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsibishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi MATSUMOTO, Yoji ONAKA, Hiroyuki OKANO
  • Publication number: 20180150088
    Abstract: In a flow path forming structure, axial runout of a shaft relative to a central axis generated when the shaft is inserted into the flow path is suppressed. This structure includes a flow path along which a fluid passes, and a shaft body that is inserted into the flow path. An upstream side of the shaft body and an inner circumferential surface of the flow path have a plurality of contact positions at different phases, and a downstream side of the shaft body and an inner circumferential surface of the flow path have a plurality of contact positions at different phases. The fluid flows through gaps between the shaft body and the inner circumferential surface. The contact positions on one of the upstream and downstream sides are at different phases from all of the contact positions on the other one of the upstream and downstream sides.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2017
    Publication date: May 31, 2018
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okano, Atsushi Ieki
  • Patent number: 9915454
    Abstract: An outdoor heat exchanger includes a fan configured to adjust a heat transfer coefficient ao of the outside of a heat transfer tube through which a refrigerant flows, a bypass passage and flow rate control valve configured to adjust a heat transfer coefficient ?i of the inside of the heat transfer tube through which the refrigerant flows, and an on-off valve configured to adjust a heat transfer area A where the refrigerant exchanges heat with a heat medium. A controller controls the heat transfer coefficient ?o of the outside of the heat transfer tube, the heat transfer coefficient ?i of the inside thereof, and the heat transfer area A to control a heat exchange amount of the outdoor heat exchanger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tadashi Ariyama, Kosuke Tanaka, Hirofumi Koge, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Patent number: 9719708
    Abstract: In a heating main operation mode in which a load to be processed by the heating operation is dominant during cooling and heating mixed operation, an air-conditioning apparatus closes an opening and closing valve, and adjust the opening degree of an expansion device in accordance with the evaporating temperature of a load-side unit requesting cooling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okano, Hirofumi Koge
  • Publication number: 20170167912
    Abstract: In order to reduce a flow rate error over the entire range of a sensor output value even when the relationship between the sensor output value and a flow rate value is poor in linearity, a flow rate sensor correction device includes: a sensitivity setting part adapted to set a sensitivity coefficient on the basis of an initial value and a sensitivity correction value and adjust the sensitivity of the flow rate sensor; a function calculation part adapted to calculate a corrected flow rate characteristic function on the basis of a function correction value, which is determined on the basis of the flow rate value , and a standard flow rate characteristic function; and a function modification part adapted to make a function storage part store, as a flow rate characteristic function, a final flow rate characteristic function based on the corrected flow rate characteristic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Okano
  • Publication number: 20170082332
    Abstract: In an air-conditioning apparatus in which air sucked into a casing of an outdoor unit by a fan is discharged from an upper portion of the casing, each of liquid header portions is configured to be connected with each of heat transfer tubes of a plurality of divided regions formed by dividing the outdoor heat exchangers in an up and down direction. Further, a shunt is configured to supply two-phase refrigerant, in which quality is adjusted by a gas-liquid separator, to each of the liquid header portions. To each of the liquid header portions, the shunt supplies the two-phase refrigerant of the amount corresponding to the air quantity of the divided region connected to each of the liquid header portions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoji ONAKA, Takashi MATSUMOTO, Hiroyuki OKANO, Eito SAITO, Hirofumi KOGE, Osamu MORIMOTO, Hiroki MURAKAMI, Hiroaki NAKAMUNE
  • Publication number: 20160320100
    Abstract: A heat source side unit connected to load side units by pipes and constituting a refrigerant circuit, includes a compressor that compresses refrigerant and discharges the refrigerant, a heat source side heat exchanger that serves as an evaporator or a radiator, a gas-liquid separator that separates inflow refrigerant into liquid refrigerant and gas refrigerant, a liquid refrigerant outlet from which the liquid refrigerant flows out being connected to a connecting pipe at a refrigerant inflow side in a case where the heat source side heat exchanger serves as the evaporator, a sixth connecting pipe that connects a gas refrigerant outlet of the gas-liquid separator from which the gas refrigerant flows out to a pipe at a refrigerant outflow side in a case where the heat source side heat exchanger serves as the evaporator, and an expansion device that controls passage of refrigerant in the sixth connecting pipe.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2014
    Publication date: November 3, 2016
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki OKANO
  • Publication number: 20160131512
    Abstract: A thermal flow meter is provided that can accurately correct zero point and span errors, which change depending on an ambient temperature, independently of a fluid type. The thermal flow meter includes: a flow path through which measuring target fluid flows; an upstream side electrical resistive element provided on the upstream side of the flow path; a downstream side electrical resistive element provided on the downstream side of the flow path; and a flow rate calculation part that calculates a flow rate of the measuring target fluid on the basis of an upstream side voltage that is a voltage applied to the upstream side electrical resistive element, a downstream side voltage that is a voltage applied to the downstream side electrical resistive element, and the thermal conductivity of the measuring target fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Takashi Shirai, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Publication number: 20160131511
    Abstract: The present invention is configured to, on the basis of an upstream side parameter having a value that is related to a change rate of an upstream side voltage when a flow rate of measuring target fluid changes, and a downstream side parameter having a value that is related to a change rate of a downstream side voltage when the flow rate of the measuring target fluid changes, calculate a fluid-specific value exhibiting a specific value depending on the thermal conductivity of the fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Takashi Shirai, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Publication number: 20150292777
    Abstract: A target condensing temperature and a target evaporating temperature are changed in accordance with a load of each load side unit obtained by using load detection means, and an operating frequency of a compressor and a rotation speed of a fan are controlled such that a condensing temperature obtained by using temperature detection means coincides with the target condensing temperature and an evaporating temperature obtained by using the temperature detection means coincides with the target evaporating temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2012
    Publication date: October 15, 2015
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki OKANO
  • Publication number: 20150211776
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat-source-unit-side heat exchanger, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers, and a relay unit provided between the heat-source-unit-side heat exchanger and the plurality of use-side heat exchangers. The relay unit is configured to switch part of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers to a cooling operation side to switch part of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers to a heating operation side, and simultaneously performs a cooling and heating simultaneous operation by switching each of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers to the cooling operation side or the heating operation side in accordance with a control instruction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2012
    Publication date: July 30, 2015
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hirofumi Koge, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Patent number: 9091578
    Abstract: A thermal flow rate sensor is provided which includes a main flow path through which a fluid flows, and a sensor flow path that branches off from the main flow path so as to cause the fluid to flow in a split flow and that is provided with a flow rate detecting mechanism configured to detect a flow rate of the fluid. The flow rate detecting mechanism includes an upstream-side coil and a downstream-side coil, each configured by using a heat-generating resistance wire wound around a sensor flow pipe forming the sensor flow path. A peak position of a temperature distribution generated in the sensor flow path by the upstream-side coil and the downstream-side coil is positioned on the upstream-side coil side relative to the middle position between the upstream-side coil and the downstream-side coil on the sensor flow path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: HORIBA STEC, Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okano, Takashi Shirai
  • Publication number: 20150176879
    Abstract: In a heating main operation mode in which a load to be processed by the heating operation is dominant during cooling and heating mixed operation, an air-conditioning apparatus closes an opening and closing valve, and adjust the opening degree of an expansion device in accordance with the evaporating temperature of a load-side unit requesting cooling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Okano, Hirofumi Koge
  • Publication number: 20150040597
    Abstract: An outdoor heat exchanger includes tube-outside heat transfer coefficient adjusting means configured to adjust a heat transfer coefficient ?o of the outside of a heat transfer tube through which a refrigerant flows, tube-inside heat transfer coefficient adjusting means configured to adjust a heat transfer coefficient ?i of the inside of the heat transfer tube through which the refrigerant flows, and heat transfer area adjusting means configured to adjust a heat transfer area A where the refrigerant exchanges heat with a heat medium. A controller controls the heat transfer coefficient ?o of the outside of the heat transfer tube, the heat transfer coefficient ?i of the inside thereof, and the heat transfer area A to control a heat exchange amount of the outdoor heat exchanger.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Publication date: February 12, 2015
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tadashi Ariyama, Kosuke Tanaka, Hirofumi Koge, Hiroyuki Okano
  • Patent number: 7574281
    Abstract: A method and system for determining an array sequence of processing operations to maximize the efficiency of steel plate processing. Between two processing operations, a first sequence constraint based on a first attribute of each processing operation and a second sequence constraint based on a second attribute of each processing operation are defined. A system selects, as a cluster, at least one of processing operations having a common attribute value of the first attribute, and arranged in a sequence satisfying the second sequence constraint. The system regards the first sequence constraint as a sequence constraint between a plurality of clusters, and arranges the plurality of clusters in a sequence maximizing the efficiency of processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Hama, Hiroyuki Okano, Takayuki Yoshizumi
  • Patent number: 7567852
    Abstract: A method and system for determining an array sequence of processing operations to maximize the efficiency of steel plate processing. Between two processing operations, a first sequence constraint based on a first attribute of each processing operation and a second sequence constraint based on a second attribute of each processing operation are defined. A system selects, as a cluster, at least one of processing operations having a common attribute value of the first attribute, and arranged in a sequence satisfying the second sequence constraint. The system regards the first sequence constraint as a sequence constraint between a plurality of clusters, and arranges the plurality of clusters in a sequence maximizing the efficiency of processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Hama, Hiroyuki Okano, Takayuki Yoshizumi