Patents by Inventor Kazuhiro Kawasaki

Kazuhiro Kawasaki 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: 20210368589
    Abstract: An induction heating system includes induction heating apparatuses, each including a high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency current transformer and a heating coil, a high-frequency input switch connected to the high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency input switch connected to the low-frequency current transformer, a first power source to output a high-frequency electric power and a low frequency electric power, a second power source, a first power source output switch connectable to the first power source, a second power source output switch connectable to the second power source, and a switch controller. Each induction heating apparatus includes a heater controller to send a signal to the switching controller to turn on one of the first power source output switch and the second power source output switch, to turn off the other, and to switch on or off each of the high-frequency input switch and the low-frequency input switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2021
    Publication date: November 25, 2021
    Inventors: Tetsuya Ono, Masato Sugimoto, Yutaka Kiyosawa, Toshihiro Aiba, Kazutomi Oka, Kunihiro Kobayashi, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 10487387
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide, as a simple method, a surface nitriding treatment method of a titanium material, forming a hardened nitrided layer excellent in abrasion resistance on the surface of a titanium material in a shorter time. In order to achieve the object, the present invention adopts a surface nitriding treatment method of a titanium material, wherein a hardened nitrided layer is formed on the surface of the titanium material, by blowing nitrogen gas at a flow rate of 10 L/min or more to the surface of the titanium material while the titanium material is being heated to 800° C. to 1000° C. in an inert gas atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignees: KEIO UNIVERSITY, NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Komotori, Shumpei Ota, Kengo Fukazawa, Yoshitaka Misaka, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 10458775
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided to measure a depth of a hardened layer formed at a surface layer of a quenched workpiece. The apparatus includes an exciting coil configured to generate a magnetic flux to magnetize the workpiece and a detecting coil configured to detect the magnetic flux generated by the exciting coil. The exciting coil has a U-shaped excitation core portion and an excitation coil portion wound on the excitation core portion. The excitation core portion is arranged such that distal ends of magnetic poles of the excitation core portion face the workpiece. The detecting coil has a detection core portion and a detection coil wound on the detection core portion. The detection core portion is arranged between the magnetic poles of the excitation core portion and along a surface of the workpiece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignees: NETUREN CO., LTD., OITA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Misaka, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Kenta Sakurai, Yuji Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20190218635
    Abstract: Object of the present invention is to provide a welding method prevented the fracture at the spot welding zone by recovering the strength of a spot welding zone, namely, the ductility and the toughness in the spot welding zone, and a weld structure manufactured by the method. In the welding method, a spot welding zone provided with a weld nugget is formed by conducting spot welding on the heat treated steel sheets in a stack; the spot welding zone is tempering treated by the high-frequency electrical current application to make the weld nugget have a hardness of 150% or less of the hardness of the heat treated steel sheets, and the heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget is made to have a hardness of 30% to 90% of the hardness at the weld nugget before the tempering treatment by the high-frequency electrical current application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Applicant: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira TERAJIMA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI, Fumiaki IKUTA, Yasuyuki KOYATA, Yoshitaka MISAKA
  • Patent number: 10301692
    Abstract: Object of the present invention is to provide a welding method prevented the fracture at the spot welding zone by recovering the strength of a spot welding zone, namely, the ductility and the toughness in the spot welding zone, and a weld structure manufactured by the method. In the welding method, a spot welding zone provided with a weld nugget 13a is formed by conducting spot welding on the heat treated steel sheets in a stack; the spot welding zone is tempering treated by the high-frequency electrical current application to make the weld nugget have a hardness of 150% or less of the hardness of the heat treated steel sheets, and the heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget is made to have a hardness of 30% to 90% of the hardness at the weld nugget before the tempering treatment by the high-frequency electrical current application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Terajima, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Fumiaki Ikuta, Yasuyuki Koyata, Yoshitaka Misaka
  • Publication number: 20190099829
    Abstract: A method for spot-welding metallic materials includes: sandwiching the metallic materials with a pair of electrodes; a pre-heating step for pre-heating a region different from a given region which should be welded by applying electric power having a high frequency to the pair of electrodes; and a welding step for spot-welding a given region of the metallic materials by applying electric power for welding to the pair of electrodes. The heating time in the pre-heating step and that in the welding step are independently controlled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Publication date: April 4, 2019
    Applicants: NETUREN CO., LTD., NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE
    Inventors: Takahiko KANAI, Munehisa HATTA, Fumiaki IKUTA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI, Eizaburo NAKANISHI, Tsuyoshi YOSHIDA, Kotobu NAGAI, Masao HAYAKAWA, Takehiko ITAGAKI
  • Patent number: 10189112
    Abstract: A welding equipment for metallic materials capable of performing heat treatment such as tempering based on partial heating in spot welding is provided. The welding equipment sandwiches metallic materials with a pair of electrodes, and heats different regions of the metallic materials by energization, with the pair of electrodes maintained at the same position with respect to the metallic materials. The welding equipment includes a first heating means connected to the pair of electrodes for heating and welding the internal region of the circle defined by projecting the cross-sectional area of the axis of the electrodes on the metallic materials by applying power having a low first frequency, a second heating means for heating a ring-shaped region along the circle by applying power having a second frequency that is higher than the first frequency, and an energization control unit for independently controlling the first and the second heating means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignees: NETUREN CO., LTD., NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE
    Inventors: Takahiko Kanai, Munehisa Hatta, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Eizaburo Nakanishi, Tsuyoshi Yoshida, Kotobu Nagai, Masao Hayakawa, Takehiko Itagaki
  • Publication number: 20190021140
    Abstract: An induction heating system includes induction heating apparatuses, each including a high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency current transformer and a heating coil, a high-frequency input switch connected to the high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency input switch connected to the low-frequency current transformer, a first power source to output a high-frequency electric power and a low frequency electric power, a second power source, a first power source output switch connectable to the first power source, a second power source output switch connectable to the second power source, and a switch controller. Each induction heating apparatus includes a heater controller to send a signal to the switching controller to turn on one of the first power source output switch and the second power source output switch, to turn off the other, and to switch on or off each of the high-frequency input switch and the low-frequency input switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Publication date: January 17, 2019
    Inventors: Tetsuya ONO, Masato SUGIMOTO, Yutaka KIYOSAWA, Toshihiro AIBA, Kazutomi OKA, Kunihiro KOBAYASHI, Fumiaki IKUTA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI
  • Patent number: 10159117
    Abstract: An induction heating system includes induction heating apparatuses, each including a high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency current transformer and a heating coil, a high-frequency input switch connected to the high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency input switch connected to the low-frequency current transformer, a first power source to output a high-frequency electric power and a low frequency electric power, a second power source, a first power source output switch connectable to the first power source, a second power source output switch connectable to the second power source, and a switch controller. Each induction heating apparatus includes a heater controller to send a signal to the switching controller to turn on one of the first power source output switch and the second power source output switch, to turn off the other, and to switch on or off each of the high-frequency input switch and the low-frequency input switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2018
    Assignee: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuya Ono, Masato Sugimoto, Yutaka Kiyosawa, Toshihiro Aiba, Kazutomi Oka, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Publication number: 20180155816
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide, as a simple method, a surface nitriding treatment method of a titanium material, forming a hardened nitrided layer excellent in abrasion resistance on the surface of a titanium material in a shorter time. In order to achieve the object, the present invention adopts a surface nitriding treatment method of a titanium material, wherein a hardened nitrided layer is formed on the surface of the titanium material, by blowing nitrogen gas at a flow rate of 10 L/min or more to the surface of the titanium material while the titanium material is being heated to 800° C. to 1000° C. in an inert gas atmosphere.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Applicants: Keio University, Neturen Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jun KOMOTORI, Shumpei OTA, Kengo FUKAZAWA, Yoshitaka MISAKA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI
  • Publication number: 20180051975
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided to measure a depth of a hardened layer formed at a surface layer of a quenched workpiece. The apparatus includes an exciting coil configured to generate a magnetic flux to magnetize the workpiece and a detecting coil configured to detect the magnetic flux generated by the exciting coil. The exciting coil has a U-shaped excitation core portion and an excitation coil portion wound on the excitation core portion. The excitation core portion is arranged such that distal ends of magnetic poles of the excitation core portion face the workpiece. The detecting coil has a detection core portion and a detection coil wound on the detection core portion. The detection core portion is arranged between the magnetic poles of the excitation core portion and along a surface of the workpiece.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Applicants: NETUREN CO., LTD., OITA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Yoshitaka MISAKA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI, Kenta SAKURAI, Yuji GOTOH
  • Publication number: 20160368080
    Abstract: Provided are: a welded structural member whose spot-welded part has both strength and ductility, and whose rupture strength proven by a rupture test such as a cross tensile test is high; and a method for welding such a structural member. The welded part 3 of the welded structural member 1 made of the above steel plates bonded by overlapping their faces and forming the welded part 3 by spot welding includes: a molten and solidified part 4; and a heat-affected zone 5 surrounding the molten and solidified part 4. The hardness on the welded surface increases to harder than the hardness of the steel plates 2 (base material) along a direction from a region outside the heat-affected zone 5 toward the heat-affected zone 5.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2014
    Publication date: December 22, 2016
    Applicant: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Munehisa Hatta, Takahiko Kanai, Kazutomi Oka, Atsushi Ito, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 9498840
    Abstract: A welding structural part 1 is manufactured by overlapping the surfaces of steel sheets 2, and forming a weld zone by spot welding. The weld zone 3 includes: a weld nugget 4; and a heat affected zone 5 surrounding the weld nugget 4, wherein the hardness in the weld zone increases along an exterior region 6 of the heat affected zone 5 toward the heat affected zone 5, and then decreases along the heat affected zone 5 toward the central region of the weld nugget 4. In the boundary region between the weld nugget 4 and the heat affected zone 5, the weld nugget 4 may have a convex portion 4A bulging into the heat affected zone 5 along the overlapped portion. The steel sheets 2 contain carbon in 0.15 mass % or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignees: NETUREN CO., LTD., NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE
    Inventors: Takahiko Kanai, Munehisa Hatta, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Eizaburou Nakanishi, Masayuki Miyake, Kotobu Nagai, Masao Hayakawa, Takehiko Itagaki
  • Patent number: 9304108
    Abstract: A quenching depth measuring method is used for measuring the quenching depth in a workpiece and includes the steps of: magnetizing the workpiece by disposing, in the vicinity of the workpiece, a magnetizer equipped with an exciting coil; detecting, through a detection coil, an induced magnetic field generated by the magnetization; measuring the induced magnetic field as the output voltage of the detection coil; and specifying the thickness of the quenched hardened layer of the workpiece on the basis of known electromagnetic characteristic information of an unquenched material and a fully-quenched material and an output voltage value measured by the detection coil, the unquenched material being made of the same material as the constituent material of the workpiece and being a material on which a quenching process is not performed, the fully-quenched material being a material on which the quenching process is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2016
    Assignees: NETUREN CO., LTD., NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION OITA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Yuji Gotoh, Noriyoshi Takaoka, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Yoshitaka Misaka
  • Publication number: 20160076117
    Abstract: Object of the present invention is to provide a welding method prevented the fracture at the spot welding zone by recovering the strength of a spot welding zone, namely, the ductility and the toughness in the spot welding zone, and a weld structure manufactured by the method. In the welding method, a spot welding zone provided with a weld nugget 13a is formed by conducting spot welding on the heat treated steel sheets in a stack; the spot welding zone is tempering treated by the high-frequency electrical current application to make the weld nugget have a hardness of 150% or less of the hardness of the heat treated steel sheets, and the heat affected zone surrounding the weld nugget is made to have a hardness of 30% to 90% of the hardness at the weld nugget before the tempering treatment by the high-frequency electrical current application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2015
    Publication date: March 17, 2016
    Applicant: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira TERAJIMA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI, Fumiaki IKUTA, Yasuyuki KOYATA, Yoshitaka MISAKA
  • Publication number: 20150306696
    Abstract: A welding equipment for metallic materials capable of performing heat treatment such as tempering based on partial heating in spot welding is provided. The welding equipment sandwiches metallic materials with a pair of electrodes, and heats different regions of the metallic materials by energization, with the pair of electrodes maintained at the same position with respect to the metallic materials. The welding equipment includes a first heating means connected to the pair of electrodes for heating and welding the internal region of the circle defined by projecting the cross-sectional area of the axis of the electrodes on the metallic materials by applying power having a low first frequency, a second heating means for heating a ring-shaped region along the circle by applying power having a second frequency that is higher than the first frequency, and an energization control unit for independently controlling the first and the second heating means.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2015
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicants: NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE, NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takahiko KANAI, Munehisa HATTA, Fumiaki IKUTA, Kazuhiro KAWASAKI, Eizaburo NAKANISHI, Tsuyoshi YOSHIDA, Kotobu NAGAI, Masao HAYAKAWA, Takehiko ITAGAKI
  • Publication number: 20150237680
    Abstract: An induction heating system includes induction heating apparatuses, each including a high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency current transformer and a heating coil, a high-frequency input switch connected to the high-frequency current transformer, a low-frequency input switch connected to the low-frequency current transformer, a first power source to output a high-frequency electric power and a low frequency electric power, a second power source, a first power source output switch connectable to the first power source, a second power source output switch connectable to the second power source, and a switch controller. Each induction heating apparatus includes a heater controller to send a signal to the switching controller to turn on one of the first power source output switch and the second power source output switch, to turn off the other, and to switch on or off each of the high-frequency input switch and the low-frequency input switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Publication date: August 20, 2015
    Inventors: Tetsuya Ono, Masato Sugimoto, Yutaka Kiyosawa, Toshihiro Aiba, Kazutomi Oka, Kunihiro Kobayashi, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 9079266
    Abstract: A welding equipment for metallic materials capable of performing heat treatment such as tempering based on partial heating in spot welding is provided. The welding equipment 1 sandwiches metallic materials 9 with a pair of electrodes 4, 4, and heats different regions of the metallic materials 9 by energization, with the pair of electrodes 4, 4 maintained at the same position with respect to the metallic materials 9. The welding equipment includes a first heating means 6 connected to the pair of electrodes 4, 4 for heating and welding the internal region of the circle defined by projecting the cross-sectional area of the axis of the electrodes on the metallic materials by applying power having a low first frequency, a second heating means 8 for heating a ring-shaped region along the circle by applying power having a second frequency that is higher than the first frequency, and an energization control unit 10 for independently controlling the first and the second heating means 6, 8.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignees: NETUREN CO., LTD., NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERIALS SCIENCE
    Inventors: Takahiko Kanai, Munehisa Hatta, Fumiaki Ikuta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Eizaburo Nakanishi, Tsuyoshi Yoshida, Kotobu Nagai, Masao Hayakawa, Takehiko Itagaki
  • Patent number: 8932416
    Abstract: A high-strength die-quenched part 1 is formed by heating a high-strength steel sheet 11 up to an austenite region, hot stamping and cooling inside a mold, and its microstructure has the martensite wherein carbide particles 2 are finely dispersed over an entire region including prior-austenite grain boundaries. It is desirable that the prior-austenite grain size in the microstructure of the high-strength steel sheet, which is a base material, be 10 ?m or smaller. The high-strength die-quenched part has high-strength and high-ductility thanks to its martensite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., National Institute for Materials Science, Neturen Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Eizaburou Nakanishi, Masayuki Miyake, Kotobu Nagai, Masao Hayakawa, Takehito Itagaki, Takahiko Kanai, Munehisa Hatta, Kazuhiro Kawasaki
  • Publication number: 20130300405
    Abstract: A quenching depth measuring method is used for measuring the quenching depth in a workpiece and includes the steps of: magnetizing the workpiece by disposing, in the vicinity of the workpiece, a magnetizer equipped with an exciting coil; detecting, through a detection coil, an induced magnetic field generated by the magnetization; measuring the induced magnetic field as the output voltage of the detection coil; and specifying the thickness of the quenched hardened layer of the workpiece on the basis of known electromagnetic characteristic information of an unquenched material and a fully-quenched material and an output voltage value measured by the detection coil, the unquenched material being made of the same material as the constituent material of the workpiece and being a material on which a quenching process is not performed, the fully-quenched material being a material on which the quenching process is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2011
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Applicant: NETUREN CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuji Gotoh, Noriyoshi Takaoka, Kazuhiro Kawasaki, Yoshitaka Misaka