Patents by Inventor Kazuo Kotaka

Kazuo Kotaka 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: 8078348
    Abstract: An electric vehicle includes a device which determines, on the basis of the gradient of a road surface, a target acceleration of the vehicle in the case where the operational states of an accelerator (gas) pedal and a brake pedal of the vehicle are an OFF state when the vehicle is traveling on a down-slope road, a device which determines the correction amount of a regenerative torque for bringing the actual acceleration of the vehicle close to the target acceleration, a device which determines a basic target torque of an electric motor, which becomes a regenerative torque when the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal is the OFF state, on the basis of the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal, and a device which determines a target torque by correcting the basic target torque on the basis of at least the aforesaid correction amount. The output torque of the electric motor is controlled to the determined target torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dai Saitoh, Kazunori Watanabe, Kenichiro Kimura, Kazuo Kotaka, Yoshikazu Murakami
  • Patent number: 7994748
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is provide a drive control system of an electric vehicle that can prevent overshoot of the amount of slip. The drive control system of the electric vehicle includes: a motor to drive a driving wheel; a PDU; a number-of-revolution sensor that detects the number of revolutions of the motor; a grip number of revolutions calculating device for calculating the current grip number of revolutions of the motor; a motor power limiting value calculating portion and a conversion portion that determines the limiting torque value of the motor; and a driving torque determining portion that determines the driving torque of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2011
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazunori Watanabe, Dai Saitoh, Hisayoshi Takahashi, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Patent number: 7659018
    Abstract: The present invention provides a highly efficient fuel cell power supply unit, which is constructed by directly connecting a fuel cell with a capacitor. In this power supply unit, a control device of the unit calculates the output voltage V2 of the fuel cell after the variation of electrical load based on the synthetic current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell and the capacitor and the predetermined width of the variation of electrical load ?I, calculates the corresponding current Ifc2?, and then calculates the equilibrium reacting gas supply amount Qa1, and supplies an excess amount of the reacting gas exceeding Qa1 before the variation of electrical load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Yusuke Hasegawa, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20090112386
    Abstract: An electric vehicle includes a device which determines, on the basis of the gradient of a road surface, a target acceleration of the vehicle in the case where the operational states of an accelerator (gas) pedal and a brake pedal of the vehicle are an OFF state when the vehicle is traveling on a down-slope road, a device which determines the correction amount of a regenerative torque for bringing the actual acceleration of the vehicle close to the target acceleration, a device which determines a basic target torque of an electric motor, which becomes a regenerative torque when the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal is the OFF state, on the basis of the operational state of the accelerator (gas) pedal, and a device which determines a target torque by correcting the basic target torque on the basis of at least the aforesaid correction amount. The output torque of the electric motor is controlled to the determined target torque.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2008
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Dai Saitoh, Kazunori Watanabe, Kenichiro Kimura, Kazuo Kotaka, Yoshikazu Murakami
  • Patent number: 7485383
    Abstract: A fuel cell power supply has a fuel cell and a capacitor which are connected parallel to each other, and controls the amount of a reacting gas supplied to the fuel gas based on a target supply current. A capacitor open voltage calculator calculates an open voltage (Vcap_O) of the capacitor from a detected current (Icap) of the capacitor, an output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and an internal resistance (Rcap) of the capacitor. A corrective quantity calculator calculates a corrective quantity (Ifc_AM) for a target supply current (Ifc_REQ) based on the open voltage (Vcap_O) of the capacitor, the output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and the target supply current (Ifc_REQ), so as to prevent an air compressor from operating excessively and also prevent the fuel cell from suffering a gas shortage, depending on current-voltage characteristic data (Icap?Vcap) of the fuel cell and current-voltage characteristic data (Ifc?Vcap) of the capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Kazunori Watanabe, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20080303465
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a drive control system of an electric vehicle that can prevent overshoot of the amount of slip. The drive control system of the electric vehicle includes: a motor to drive a driving wheel; a PDU; a number-of-revolution sensor that detects the number of revolutions of the motor; a grip number of revolutions calculating means 52 for calculating the current grip number of revolutions of the motor; a motor power limiting value calculating portion 53 and a conversion portion 57 that determines the limiting torque value of the motor; and a driving torque determining portion 56 that determines the driving torque of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazunori Watanabe, Dai Saitoh, Hisayoshi Takahashi, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20060105206
    Abstract: A fuel cell power supply has a fuel cell and a capacitor which are connected parallel to each other, and controls the amount of a reacting gas supplied to the fuel gas based on a target supply current. A capacitor open voltage calculator calculates an open voltage (Vcap_O) of the capacitor from a detected current (Icap) of the capacitor, an output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and an internal resistance (Rcap) of the capacitor. A corrective quantity calculator calculates a corrective quantity (Ifc_AM) for a target supply current (Ifc_REQ) based on the open voltage (Vcap_O) of the capacitor, the output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and the target supply current (Ifc_REQ), so as to prevent an air compressor from operating excessively and also prevent the fuel cell from suffering a gas shortage, depending on current-voltage characteristic data (Icap?Vcap) of the fuel cell and current-voltage characteristic data (Ifc?Vcap) of the capacitor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2005
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Kazunori Watanabe, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Patent number: 7005204
    Abstract: A fuel cell power supply has a fuel cell and a capacitor which are connected parallel to each other, and controls the amount of a reacting gas supplied to the fuel gas based on a target supply current. A capacitor open voltage calculator calculates an open voltage of the capacitor from a detected current of the capacitor, an output voltage of the fuel cell, and an internal resistance of the capacitor. A corrective quantity calculator calculates a corrective quantity for a target supply current based on the open voltage of the capacitor, the output voltage of the fuel cell, and the target supply current, so as to prevent an air compressor from operating excessively and also prevent the fuel cell from suffering a gas shortage, depending on current-voltage characteristic data of the fuel cell and current-voltage characteristic data of the capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2006
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Kazunori Watanabe, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Patent number: 6875531
    Abstract: A power supply management control unit 14 has a requested-amount-of-generated-electric-energy calculator 51 for calculating a requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) generated by a fuel cell stack 2 depending on a requested electric energy of an electric motor and an electric load other than the electric motor, an actual-amount-of-generated-electric-energy calculator 52 for calculating an actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s) generated by the fuel cell stack 2 based on a current (Ifc) detected by a fuel cell sensor 30, and a target selector 53 for comparing the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) and the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s) with each other, regarding the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) as a target amount of generated electric energy (Ifc_REQ) for a fuel cell control unit 16 if the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) is equal to or greater than the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s), and regarding the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s)
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2005
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Yusuke Hasegawa, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20020192518
    Abstract: A power supply management control unit 14 has a requested-amount-of-generated-electric-energy calculator 51 for calculating a requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) generated by a fuel cell stack 2 depending on a requested electric energy of an electric motor and an electric load other than the electric motor, an actual-amount-of-generated-electric-energy calculator 52 for calculating an actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s) generated by the fuel cell stack 2 based on a current (Ifc) detected by a fuel cell sensor 30, and a target selector 53 for comparing the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) and the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s) with each other, regarding the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) as a target amount of generated electric energy (Ifc_REQ) for a fuel cell control unit 16 if the requested amount of electric energy (Ifc_CAL) is equal to or greater than the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s), and regarding the actual amount of electric energy (Ifc_s)
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2002
    Publication date: December 19, 2002
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Yusuke Hasegawa, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20020172847
    Abstract: A fuel cell power supply has a fuel cell and a capacitor which are connected parallel to each other, and controls the amount of a reacting gas supplied to the fuel gas based on a target supply current. A capacitor open voltage calculator calculates an open voltage (Vcap_O) of the capacitor from a detected current (Icap) of the capacitor, an output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and an internal resistance (Rcap) of the capacitor. A corrective quantity calculator calculates a corrective quantity (Ifc AM) for a target supply current (Ifc_REQ) based on the open voltage (Vcap O) of the capacitor, the output voltage (Vout) of the fuel cell, and the target supply current (Ifc_REQ), so as to prevent an air compressor from operating excessively and also prevent the fuel cell from suffering a gas shortage, depending on current-voltage characteristic data (Icap−Vcap) of the fuel cell and current-voltage characteristic data (Ifc−Vcap) of the capacitor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2002
    Publication date: November 21, 2002
    Applicant: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Kazunori Watanabe, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Publication number: 20020114986
    Abstract: The present invention provides a highly efficient fuel cell power supply unit, which is constructed by directly connecting a fuel cell with a capacitor. In this power supply unit, a control device of the unit calculates the output voltage V2 of the fuel cell after the variation of electrical load based on the synthetic current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell and the capacitor and the predetermined width of the variation of electrical load &Dgr;I, calculates the corresponding current Ifc2′, and then calculates the equilibrium reacting gas supply amount Qa1, and supplies an excess amount of the reacting gas exceeding Qa1 before the variation of electrical load.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2001
    Publication date: August 22, 2002
    Applicant: HONDA GIKEN KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Aoyagi, Hibiki Saeki, Yusuke Hasegawa, Kazuo Kotaka
  • Patent number: 5785111
    Abstract: An apparatus for precisely and adequately filling each of upper and lower flask bodies with molding sand equipped with upper and lower compressed air jet mechanisms (which fluidize molding sand at side and lower parts in a substantially horizontal part of each of upper and lower blow heads) and upper and lower guide members (which guide molding sand so as to disperse it toward the entire area of end openings of the blow heads after the molding sand in each blow head has first been focused on the blow head's central part) projectingly provided in the upper and lower blow heads, and a blow head for use in such an apparatus. Thus, the molding sand in the upper and lower blow heads is almost entirely fluidized by jetting compressed air from the upper and lower jet mechanisms when molding sand is blow-squeezed into upper and lower flask bodies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: Sintokogio, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahide Noguchi, Kazuo Kotaka