Patents by Inventor Katsuhiko Yokohama

Katsuhiko Yokohama 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: 20160223194
    Abstract: Provided is a burner that includes: a tubular first outer cylinder (20); a diffuser (21) disposed inside the first outer cylinder (20) and having an inner circumferential surface, a diameter of which gradually increases in a first direction; a first gas nozzle (22) configured to feed a first gas to a radial outer region of the diffuser (21) in the first direction; a second gas nozzle (23) disposed adjacent to the first gas nozzle (22) in a circumferential direction of the first outer cylinder (20) and configured to feed a second gas to the radial outer region of the diffuser (21) in the first direction; and an ignition torch (24) configured to ignite at least one of the second gas and the first gas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 17, 2014
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Tsutomu Hamada, Kenji Atarashiya, Akiyasu Okamoto, Hiroaki Uchimura, Kenji Takeno
  • Patent number: 9388348
    Abstract: A gasification apparatus that is capable of appropriately controlling a differential pressure variation between the interior of a pressure vessel and the interior of a gasification furnace, and of simplifying a structure, by providing: a pressure vessel which forms a hollow shape; a gasification furnace which forms a hollow shape, and which is positioned inside the pressure vessel with a space section therebetween; a heat exchanger positioned at the upper section of the gasification furnace; a gas nozzle which supplies seal gas to the lower section of the space section; a char-receiving section provided above the heat exchanger in the space section; a pressure equalizer of which one end communicates with the interior of the gasification furnace, and the other end opens into the char-receiving section; and a gas flow channel which passes vertically through a side section of the char-receiving section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Osamu Shinada, Masashi Kitada
  • Patent number: 9388349
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a char feeding hopper body that feeds separated char toward a coal gasifier; a char communicating tube that communicates with a bottom portion of the char feeding hopper body and extends in a vertical axis direction; fluid gas feeding means that is provided at a bottom portion side of the char feeding hopper body and feeds fluid gas to an inside thereof; a radiation source section that emits ?-rays toward an inside of the char communicating tube in which a level of the char reaches a level H2 which is the same level as a level H1 of the char in the char feeding hopper as a result of feeding of the fluid gas; and a ?-ray detector that is provided along a vertical axis direction of the char communicating tube and detects the emitted ?-rays.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshinori Koyama, Yasunari Shibata, Osamu Shinada, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Taketoshi Sakae, Koji Nishimura, Naoto Nakayama
  • Patent number: 9366435
    Abstract: An ignition torch that can easily be inspected regardless of the state inside a gasification furnace. The ignition torch (10) extends from an outside of a gasification furnace (1) to an inside of the gasification furnace (1) so as to receive feed of fuel and combustion air from one end positioned outside of the gasification furnace (1) and to feed flames to the other end positioned in the inside of the gasification furnace (1). An opening/closing valve (24) is provided downstream in a fuel flow direction from an ignition section (22) provided at the outside of the gasification furnace (1). A flame-holding section (28) is provided on the other end of the ignition torch (10). Supporting fuel is supplied to the flame-holding section (28).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuo Soda, Takashi Yamamoto, Katsuhiko Yokohama
  • Patent number: 9239164
    Abstract: A slag monitoring device 100 for a coal gasifier includes a slag hole camera 11 that observes a slag hole 3 from which molten slag flows out, a water surface camera 12 that observes a situation in which the slag flowing out from the slag hole 3 falls onto a water surface 5H of cooling water 5, a falling sound sensor 13 that observes a sound of the slag falling onto the water surface 5H, and a processing device 20 that determines a solidification and adhesion position of the slag based on an opening area of the slag hole 3 observed by the slag hole camera 11 and falling lines and falling positions of the slag observed by the water surface camera.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2016
    Assignees: MITSUBISHI HITACHI POWER SYSTEMS, LTD., HOKKAIDO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INCORPORATED, TOHOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., THE TOKYO ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, INCORPORATED, CHUBU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., HOKURIKU ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY, THE KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., THE CHUGOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., SHIKOKU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., KYUSHU ELECTRIC POWER CO., INC., ELECTRIC POWER DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD., CENTRAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY, JOBAN JOINT POWER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masami Iida, Yoshinori Koyama, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Naoki Suganuma, Mutsuaki Taguchi
  • Publication number: 20150345788
    Abstract: A combustion burner and a pressurized gasification furnace provided with: a burner main body (41) capable of blowing a fuel gas in which fuel and air are mixed; and an ignition torch (42) that is provided inside the burner main body (41) and propagates a flame from the base end part of the torch, with the flame being discharged from the tip end part. By arranging the tip end part (42a) of the ignition torch (42) at the base-end side with respect to the tip end part (41a) of the burner main body (41), the thermal load at the tip end part of the ignition torch during ignition is reduced, and thus the durability can be improved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2013
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki MIYATA, Yasuo SODA, Katsuhiko YOKOHAMA, Shinya HAMASAKI, Keisuke MATSUO
  • Publication number: 20150240176
    Abstract: A gasification apparatus that is capable of appropriately controlling a differential pressure variation between the interior of a pressure vessel and the interior of a gasification furnace, and of simplifying a structure, by providing: a pressure vessel which forms a hollow shape; a gasification furnace which forms a hollow shape, and which is positioned inside the pressure vessel with a space section therebetween; a heat exchanger positioned at the upper section of the gasification furnace; a gas nozzle which supplies seal gas to the lower section of the space section; a char-receiving section provided above the heat exchanger in the space section; a pressure equalizer of which one end communicates with the interior of the gasification furnace, and the other end opens into the char-receiving section; and a gas flow channel which passes vertically through a side section of the char-receiving section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 9, 2013
    Publication date: August 27, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Osamu Shinada, Masashi Kitada
  • Publication number: 20150175890
    Abstract: A rotary kiln-type coal dry-distillation device that: rotatably supports an inner tube inside an outer tube; supplies heating gas to the interior of the outer tube; moves dried coal from one end side of the inner tube to the other end side, and agitates and dry-distills the dried coal under heat by supplying the dried coal from the one end side of the inner tube to the interior, and rotating the inner tube; sends out dry-distilled coal and dry-distilled gas from the other end side of the inner tube; and has provided therein a pulverized coal supply device that supplies pulverized coal having a particle diameter of no more than 100 ?m to the interior of the inner tube, such that the volume of the pulverized coal is 1-10 wt % relative to the amount of dry-distilled coal sent from the other end side of the inner tube.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2013
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Keiichi Nakagawa, Setsuo Omoto, Fumiaki Sato, Katsuhiko Yokohama
  • Publication number: 20150144843
    Abstract: Provided is a coal gasifier enabling a reduction in size of a shift reactor by generating hydrogen-rich gasified coal gas. In a coal gasifier (G) generating gasified coal gas by a gasification reaction proceeding in a furnace fed with a gasifiable raw material, such as coal, and a gasifying agent, at least one of water and steam is fed to the furnace as a material accelerating a hydrogen-generating reaction that proceeds simultaneously with the gasification reaction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2015
    Publication date: May 28, 2015
    Inventors: Takashi YAMAMOTO, Katsuhiko YOKOHAMA, Yoshinori KOYAMA, Katsuhiro OTA, Hiromi ISHII
  • Patent number: 8997665
    Abstract: A leading end located in a two-stage entrained-flow bed coal gasifier has a double-walled structure including an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder, and cooling water for cooling the leading end is supplied through an interior of the inner cylinder to cool the leading end and is then returned to a base end through a space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder. The space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder has a smaller channel area than the interior of the inner cylinder, and a swirling flow along a guide formed on an outer circumferential surface of the inner cylinder and a substantially linear flow in a longitudinal direction of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are applied to the cooling water returned to the base end through the space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2015
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd., Joban Joint Power Co., Ltd., Hokkaido Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc., The Tokyo Electric Power Company, Incorporated, Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc., Hokuriku Electric Power Company, The Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry
    Inventors: Shinya Hamasaki, Toshimi Ohtsuka, Yoshinori Koyama, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Yasunari Shibata, Jun Kasai
  • Publication number: 20150059661
    Abstract: In a gasification apparatus, a gasification furnace (101) having an octagonal hollow cross-sectional shape, a heat exchanger (102) having a quadrangular hollow cross-sectional shape, and a connection portion (103) which connects an upper portion of the gasification furnace (101) to a lower portion of the heat exchanger (102) are provided, thereby simplifying structures and enhancing efficiencies can be achieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2013
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Masashi Kitada, Osamu Shinada, Fumihiro Chuman
  • Publication number: 20140250786
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a char feeding hopper body that feeds separated char toward a coal gasifier; a char communicating tube that communicates with a bottom portion of the char feeding hopper body and extends in a vertical axis direction; fluid gas feeding means that is provided at a bottom portion side of the char feeding hopper body and feeds fluid gas to an inside thereof; a radiation source section that emits ?-rays toward an inside of the char communicating tube in which a level of the char reaches a level H2 which is the same level as a level H1 of the char in the char feeding hopper as a result of feeding of the fluid gas; and a ?-ray detector that is provided along a vertical axis direction of the char communicating tube and detects the emitted ?-rays.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2012
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshinori Koyama, Yasunari Shibata, Osamu Shinada, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Taketoshi Sakae, Koji Nishimura, Naoto Nakayama
  • Publication number: 20140223820
    Abstract: Provided is a gasifier start-up method for a gasifier capable of preventing or inhibiting a temporary occurrence of black smoke when a gasifier is started-up. A gasifier start-up method for a gasifier, in which a gasifying agent and a solid carbonaceous fuel are supplied and gasified, includes a start-up burner igniting step of supplying a start-up fuel and oxygen-containing gas to a start-up burner and igniting the start-up fuel and oxygen-containing gas, under an inert atmosphere in which an inside of the gasifier around the start-up burner is filled with inert gas; and an oxygen-containing-gas supply adjusting step of adjusting the supply of the oxygen-containing gas such that combustion gas obtained after the combustion reaction of the start-up fuel and the oxygen-containing gas becomes the inert gas, which contains little oxygen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2014
    Publication date: August 14, 2014
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Shogo YOSHIDA, Katsuhiko YOKOHAMA, Keisuke MATSUO
  • Patent number: 8551204
    Abstract: A dust collector that collects dust (12) in gas (11) and purifies the gas (11) includes a tube plate (16) being provided in a dust collector frame (13) that separates an interior into a gas introduction chamber (14) and a gas discharge chamber (15), a plurality of dust collection pipes (17) being hung from the tube plate (16) that feeds the gas (11) from outside to inside and removes the dust (12) on a surface thereof, a gas introduction pipe (18) being provided in the gas introduction chamber (14) that includes a gas opening end portion (18a) positioned near the tube plate (16), and supplies the gas (11) to the dust collection pipes (17) in a downflow direction, a diffuser (19) being provided at the opening end portion (18a) of the gas introduction pipe (18), and a gas discharging unit (21) being provided in the gas discharge chamber (15) that discharges purified gas (20).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Yuichiro Kitagawa, Masashi Kitada
  • Publication number: 20130175765
    Abstract: This invention includes a container 2, a rotation shaft 4 penetrating through the container 2, a seal portion 5 provided between the container 2 at a fixed-side and the rotation shaft 4 at a rotation-side, and a foreign material entry prevention unit 7 (a pump 25, a high-pressure water providing line 26, an outlet 27) for preventing fine slag, i.e., foreign material in slag hopper water 8 (muddy water), from entering into the seal portion 5. As a result, with this invention, high-pressure water flowing out of the outlet 27 can prevent fine slag from entering into the seal portion 5.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2011
    Publication date: July 11, 2013
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nomaguchi, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Osamu Shinada, Yoshinori Koyama
  • Publication number: 20130143171
    Abstract: Provided is an ignition torch that can easily be inspected regardless of the state inside a gasification furnace. An ignition torch (10) of the present invention extends from an outside of a gasification furnace (1) to an inside of the gasification furnace (1) so as to receive feed of fuel and combustion air from one end positioned at the outside of the gasification furnace (1) and to feed flames to the other end positioned in the inside of the gasification furnace (1). An opening/closing valve (24) is provided downstream in a fuel flow direction from an ignition section (22) provided at the outside of the gasification furnace (1). A flame-holding section (28) is provided on the other end of the ignition torch (10). Supporting fuel is supplied to the flame-holding section (28).
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2010
    Publication date: June 6, 2013
    Inventors: Yasuo Soda, Takashi Yamamoto, Katsuhiko Yokohama
  • Publication number: 20130112543
    Abstract: Provided is a gasification facility which uses flammable gas as a carrier medium for air-transporting powder fuel, used as a gasification raw material, to a gasification furnace and which can safely release the flammable gas, exhausted from a fuel feed hopper, to the atmosphere. In the gasification facility using flammable gas as a carrier medium for transporting pulverized coal as powder fuel from a pulverized coal feed hopper (7) to a gasification furnace (11), the flammable gas discharged from the pulverized coal feed hopper (7) is subjected to incineration treatment and then released to the atmosphere, so that safe release to the atmosphere can be implemented.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2010
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Inventors: Yasutaka Mizokoshi, Hiromi Ishii, Takashi Iwahashi, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Takashi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8414668
    Abstract: In a coal gasification furnace adapted to feed pulverized coal thereinto by the use of inert carrier gas and gasify the same, any startup burner can be unnecessitated thereby eliminating any startup combustion chamber. Further, even in the use of a startup burner, it is smaller and lighter in weight than conventional startup burners, allowing the startup combustion chamber to be compact and limiting the height of the entirety of the gasification furnace. As a characteristic feature, a pulverized coal fuel supply passageway (23) to a combustor burner (9) is provided at its midstream portion with a startup gas supply passageway (29) for supply of a startup combustible gas (NG1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Hiromi Ishii, Yuichiro Kitagawa
  • Publication number: 20120167543
    Abstract: A slag monitoring device 100 for a coal gasifier includes a slag hole camera 11 that observes a slag hole 3 from which molten slag flows out, a water surface camera 12 that observes a situation in which the slag flowing out from the slag hole 3 falls onto a water surface 5H of cooling water 5, a falling sound sensor 13 that observes a sound of the slag falling onto the water surface 5H, and a processing device 20 that determines a solidification and adhesion position of the slag based on an opening area of the slag hole 3 observed by the slag hole camera 11 and falling lines and falling positions of the slag observed by the water surface camera.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Publication date: July 5, 2012
    Inventors: Masami Iida, Yoshinori Koyama, Katsuhiko Yokohama, Naoki Suganuma, Mutsuaki Taguchi
  • Publication number: 20120117816
    Abstract: A water-containing solid fuel drying apparatus that can efficiently dry with low energy consumption by effectively utilizing sensible heat and latent heat of a heating medium for drying, etc. is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Yokohama, Kenichiro Kosaka, Keigo Matsumoto, Noboru Kawamoto, Yoshiki Yamaguchi, Masaaki Kinoshita, Koji Ohura, Atsushi Tsutsumi, Shozo Kaneko, Kazuhiro Mochizuki, Chihiro Fushimi, Yasuki Kansha