Patents by Inventor Kazuhiro Odahara

Kazuhiro Odahara 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: 11181088
    Abstract: An internal-combustion engine starting device includes a switch section, a motor section, a transmission mechanism section, and a pinion gear section, wherein the transmission mechanism section is configured of a planetary gear train including a pinion which is connected to the rotating shaft of the motor section, a plurality of planetary gears to which the rotation of the pinion is transmitted, and an internal gear which receives the rotation of the planetary gears; and of a machine casing in which is housed the planetary gear train, and wherein elastic bodies are each fitted between a protruding portion formed on the outer peripheral surface of the internal gear and a recessed portion in which to receive the protruding portion, and clearances are formed between the internal gear and the machine casing via the elastic bodies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Junji Kida, Kazuhiro Odahara
  • Patent number: 11098687
    Abstract: There is provided an engine starting device, including: a motor generator coupled to a crankshaft of an engine; and a starter including a pinion provided in a detachable manner from a ring gear provided on the crankshaft, and configured to mesh with the ring gear when the engine is started, wherein the engine is cranked through simultaneous cranking by both of the motor generator and the starter when a condition set in advance is satisfied, and wherein, in the simultaneous cranking, the starter starts rotating after the motor generator starts rotating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naohito Kaneda, Naoki Imamura, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara
  • Publication number: 20200248665
    Abstract: An internal-combustion engine starting device includes a switch section, a motor section, a transmission mechanism section, and a pinion gear section, wherein the transmission mechanism section is configured of a planetary gear train including a pinion which is connected to the rotating shaft of the motor section, a plurality of planetary gears to which the rotation of the pinion is transmitted, and an internal gear which receives the rotation of the planetary gears; and of a machine casing in which is housed the planetary gear train, and wherein elastic bodies are each fitted between a protruding portion formed on the outer peripheral surface of the internal gear and a recessed portion in which to receive the protruding portion, and clearances are formed between the internal gear and the machine casing via the elastic bodies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Junji KIDA, Kazuhiro ODAHARA
  • Publication number: 20200200137
    Abstract: There is provided an engine starting device, including: a motor generator coupled to a crankshaft of an engine; and a starter including a pinion provided in a detachable manner from a ring gear provided on the crankshaft, and configured to mesh with the ring gear when the engine is started, wherein the engine is cranked through simultaneous cranking by both of the motor generator and the starter when a condition set in advance is satisfied, and wherein, in the simultaneous cranking, the starter starts rotating after the motor generator starts rotating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2018
    Publication date: June 25, 2020
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naohito KANEDA, Naoki IMAMURA, Koichiro KAMEI, Kazuhiro ODAHARA
  • Patent number: 10247161
    Abstract: Provided is a motor generator, which is always connected to an engine via a belt, and is configured to carry out start control of the engine and power generation control, the motor generator having a two-output power transmission mechanism including: a belt driving mechanism, which is configured to drive the engine through the belt; and a gear driving mechanism, which includes a pinion gear to be coupled to a ring gear on the engine side in accordance with an external instruction, and is configured to drive the engine by the pinion gear being coupled to the ring gear, in which an output of the belt driving mechanism and an output of the gear driving mechanism are arranged at positions opposing each other in an axial direction of a rotor of the motor generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke Mizuno, Hiroaki Kitano, Koichiro Kamei, Kensuke Kato, Kazuhiro Odahara, Naohito Kaneda
  • Patent number: 10240572
    Abstract: The rotation speed and the crank position of an engine in an engine stopping process are detected; then, in the case where when the detected crank position is at an intermediate point between the top dead center of any one of the cylinders and the top dead center of the cylinder following said one of the cylinders, it is determined that the engine rotation speed is within a predetermined range, drive of the starter is prohibited for a predetermined time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Koichiro Kamei, Daisuke Mizuno, Hiroaki Kitano, Naohito Kaneda, Kazuhiro Odahara
  • Patent number: 10184443
    Abstract: Since a pinion gear unit which rotates according to the rotation of an output rotation shaft driven by the motor unit, a pushing mechanism which moves the pinion gear unit towards an engagement location of the pinion gear and an engine starting gear, and a bracket which includes a bracket main body unit which supports the motor unit and the pushing mechanism and a nose unit which extends from the bracket main body unit to a side opposite to the motor unit and rotatably bears a tip portion of the output rotation shaft on a side opposite to the motor unit, and which is attached to an engine side are included, a first stopper unit which restricts the movement of the rotation member to the direction of the engine starting gear is provided on the output rotation shaft, a second stopper unit which restricts the movement of the pinion gears to the direction of the engine starting gear by pushing and biasing of the elastic member is provided on the rotation member, and positioning the first stopper unit is positioned
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Abe, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Naohito Kaneda, Daisuke Mizuno
  • Patent number: 10082120
    Abstract: Provided is a device for automatically stopping an engine when an automatic stop condition is satisfied and restarting the engine thereafter when a restart condition is satisfied, the device including: a ring gear (12) to be coupled to a crankshaft of the engine; a starter motor (14) for starting the engine; a pinion gear (16) for transmitting rotation of the starter motor to the ring gear; pinion-gear moving means (17) for moving the pinion gear by energization to bring the pinion gear into meshing engagement with the ring gear; and starter control means (11) for controlling a voltage to be applied to the pinion-gear moving means so as to fall within a predetermined range when the pinion gear and the ring gear are brought into meshing engagement by moving the pinion gear by the pinion-gear moving means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kitano, Daisuke Mizuno, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara
  • Publication number: 20180230957
    Abstract: The rotation speed and the crank position of an engine in an engine stopping process are detected; then, in the case where when the detected crank position is at an intermediate point between the top death center of any one of the cylinders and the top death center of the cylinder following said one of the cylinders, it is determined that the engine rotation speed is within a predetermined range, drive of the starter is prohibited for a predetermined time period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2014
    Publication date: August 16, 2018
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Koichiro KAMEI, Daisuke MIZUNO, Hiroaki KITANO, Naohito KANEDA, Kazuhiro ODAHARA
  • Publication number: 20180135583
    Abstract: Provided is a motor generator, which is always connected to an engine via a belt, and is configured to carry out start control of the engine and power generation control, the motor generator having a two-output power transmission mechanism including: a belt driving mechanism, which is configured to drive the engine through the belt; and a gear driving mechanism, which includes a pinion gear to be coupled to a ring gear on the engine side in accordance with an external instruction, and is configured to drive the engine by the pinion gear being coupled to the ring gear, in which an output of the belt driving mechanism and an output of the gear driving mechanism are arranged at positions opposing each other in an axial direction of a rotor of the motor generator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 11, 2016
    Publication date: May 17, 2018
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Daisuke MIZUNO, Hiroaki KITANO, Koichire KAMEI, Kensuke KATO, Kazuhiro ODAHARA, Naohito KANEDA
  • Patent number: 9726138
    Abstract: The engine starter includes a pinion-mobile component which is linked to an output shaft by a helical spline and can be slid in a shaft direction, in a state where the pinion-mobile component includes; an overrunning clutch which is idled when the pinion gear, which is engaged to the ring gear, is driven by the engine via the ring gear so as to be rotated at a rotational speed which is higher than a rotational speed of the output shaft; and a breaking mechanism in which the overrunning clutch breaks a transmission of a torque, which is generated in accordance with a rotation of the motor and is transmitted to the ring gear, when a value of the torque is a predetermined condition value with respect to a direction where the torque is transmitted to the ring gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Sasaki, Daisuke Mizuno, Hiroaki Kitano, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Takenobu Matsubara
  • Patent number: 9670892
    Abstract: An engine startup device is provided having a helical-spline-engaging part where an output shaft (5) and a moving body (3) are coupled with each other, wherein a notch (37b, 38b) is formed on a power-transmitting-side tooth surface (37a, 38a) of at least either one of the output shaft and the moving body, and an angle formed by the notch with respect to a shaft direction is made smaller than the lead angle of a helical spline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Abe, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara
  • Patent number: 9518550
    Abstract: Since a pinion gear unit which rotates according to the rotation of an output rotation shaft driven by the motor unit, a pushing mechanism which moves the pinion gear unit towards an engagement location of the pinion gear and an engine starting gear, and a bracket which includes a bracket main body unit which supports the motor unit and the pushing mechanism and a nose unit which extends from the bracket main body unit to a side opposite to the motor unit and rotatably bears a tip portion of the output rotation shaft on a side opposite to the motor unit, and which is attached to an engine side are included, a first stopper unit which restricts the movement of the rotation member to the direction of the engine starting gear is provided on the output rotation shaft, a second stopper unit which restricts the movement of the pinion gears to the direction of the engine starting gear by pushing and biasing of the elastic member is provided on the rotation member, and positioning the first stopper unit is positioned
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masami Abe, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Naohito Kaneda, Daisuke Mizuno
  • Patent number: 9512812
    Abstract: It is possible to obtain an engine starting device in which, at the time of initial engagement of a first pinion gear and an engine starting gear, in a case where the first pinion gear collides with the engine starting gear, the first pinion gear is inclined with respect to the second pinion gear, a void having a predetermined size for expanding the inclined state is formed between a surface of an end surface portion of the first pinion gear on the side of an end surface portion of the second pinion gear, and a surface of an end surface portion of the second pinion gear on the side of the end surface portion of the first pinion gear, even in a case where any one of the rotation speed of the engine starting gear and the rotation speed of the pinion gear is larger than the other, rotation synchronization of the engine starting gear and the pinion gear and phase focusing of the teeth between the engine starting gear and the pinion gear is further rapidly and further reliably performed at the time when the engine
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Odahara, Koichiro Kamei, Daisuke Mizuno, Masami Abe, Naohito Kaneda
  • Patent number: 9334845
    Abstract: The engine starting device includes a pinion unit which is spline-coupled to an output shaft side of a starter motor to slide in an axial direction, the pinion unit including a one-way clutch which spins for rotation in the same direction as that of rotation of the engine, and a pushing mechanism for moving the pinion unit to a position in which the pinion unit comes into meshing engagement with a ring gear. A pinion gear of the pinion unit is movable in the axial direction as a single body, and includes a chamfered portion having a curved surface along a tooth surface on a non-torque transmitting surface side and a large length in the axial direction, the chamfered portion being provided to a ring-gear side distal end portion of the tooth surface on the non-torque transmitting surface side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Mizuno, Akihiko Imagi, Hiroaki Kitano, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Masami Abe
  • Patent number: 9255561
    Abstract: The engine starting device includes a starter motor, a pinion portion, a pushing mechanism for pushing a pinion gear of the pinion portion to a position at which the pinion gear comes into meshing engagement with a ring gear, and an integrated switch for operating a motor-energization switch to pull a plunger after the pinion gear is pushed, by configuring a switch for actuating the pushing mechanism and turning ON/OFF an energization current to the starter motor by a single plunger coil. When a restart request is issued after an engine stop is requested and therefore the integrated switch is placed in an ON state, operation timing of the pushing mechanism and coil-operation timing of the plunger coil are set so that the starter motor avoids operating until the pinion gear comes into contact or meshing engagement with the ring gear.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Mizuno, Haruhiko Shimoji, Koichiro Kamei, Masami Abe, Kazuhiro Odahara, Hiroaki Kitano
  • Patent number: 9249770
    Abstract: The engine starter includes: a starter motor; a pinion unit (30) for sliding in an axial direction on an output shaft of the starter motor; and a ring gear (100) which meshes with a pinion pushed out by a push-out mechanism (60) and receives a transmission of a rotational force of the starter motor to thereby start an engine, and the pinion portion (30) includes a pinion gear divided in the axial direction into two pinion gears which are a first pinion gear (35) having a protruded shape for synchronization, for first colliding with the ring gear upon start of meshing with the ring gear, and a second pinion gear (34) for serving to transmit the rotational force after the meshing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Mizuno, Haruhiko Shimoji, Koichiro Kamei, Masami Abe, Kazuhiro Odahara, Masahiko Kurishige, Hiroaki Kitano, Yuhei Tsukahara, Masahiro Iezawa
  • Patent number: 9243599
    Abstract: Provided is an engine starting device enabling the meshing engagement of a pinion gear and a ring gear to be quickly and quietly achieved in an automatic idle-stop system while an engine is rotating by inertia. The engine starting device includes: a ring gear connected to a crankshaft of an engine; a starter motor for starting the engine; a pinion gear for transmitting rotation of the starter motor to the ring gear; pinion-gear moving portion for moving the pinion gear so as to achieve meshing engagement with the ring gear; and starter control portion for executing any one of a plurality of control modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kitano, Masahiko Kurishige, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Naohito Kaneda
  • Patent number: 9175657
    Abstract: A pinion gear unit includes a rotation member rotating according to the rotation of a output shaft. A first pinion gear fit to the rotation member through a first serration unit rotates with, and also moves with the rotation member if the pinion gear unit moves towards an engagement location with an engine starting gear. A second pinion gear is fit to the rotation member adjacent to the first pinion gear through a second serration unit, rotates with and moves with the rotation member if the pinion gear unit further moves towards the engagement location, and engages with the starting gear later than the first pinion gear, where the first pinion gear engages with the engine starting gear. Fitting is performed by the first and second serration units so that phases of teeth of the first and second pinion gears in a circumferential direction correspond with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naohito Kaneda, Daisuke Mizuno, Koichiro Kamei, Kazuhiro Odahara, Masami Abe
  • Patent number: 9163604
    Abstract: Engine starting device, including: a crank signal generation unit (13); and an engine control unit (10) for identifying a predetermined crank position of a crankshaft, and starting the engine, in which the engine control unit estimates, in a course of stopping the engine when a stop condition for the engine is established, based on an engine rpm at the identified predetermined crank position, whether or not the engine rotates backward before reaching the predetermined crank position for a next time, and after estimating that the engine rotates backward, sets an inhibition range which is prescribed from a starter drive inhibition start timing to a starter drive inhibition reset timing, and a permission range which is other than the inhibition range, and when the restart condition is established during rotation of the engine, inhibits restart in the inhibition range and carries out the restart in the permission range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Odahara, Koichiro Kamei, Masami Abe