Patents by Inventor Kazuya Hirata

Kazuya Hirata 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: 20160193691
    Abstract: A hexagonal single crystal wafer is produced from a hexagonal single crystal ingot. A separation start point is formed by setting a focal point of a laser beam inside the ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the ingot, which depth corresponds to a thickness of the wafer to be produced. The laser beam is applied to the upper surface of the ingot while relatively moving the focal point and the ingot to thereby form a modified layer parallel to the upper surface of the ingot and form cracks extending from the modified layer along a c-plane, thus forming a separation start point. The wafer is separated by immersing the ingot in water and then applying ultrasonic vibration to the ingot, thereby separating a plate-shaped member having a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the wafer from the ingot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Publication date: July 7, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160158882
    Abstract: A hexagonal single crystal wafer is produced from a hexagonal single crystal ingot. The wafer producing method includes a separation start point forming step of setting the focal point of a laser beam to the inside of the ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the ingot, which depth corresponds to the thickness of the wafer to be produced, and next applying the laser beam to the upper surface of the ingot while relatively moving the focal point and the ingot to thereby form a modified layer parallel to the upper surface of the ingot and cracks extending from the modified layer, thus forming a separation start point. A plate-shaped member having a thickness corresponding to the thickness of the wafer is separated from the ingot at the separation start point after performing the separation start point forming step, thus producing the wafer from the ingot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160158892
    Abstract: A wafer producing method produces a hexagonal single crystal wafer from a hexagonal single crystal ingot. The method includes a separation start point forming step of setting the focal point of a laser beam to the inside of the ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the ingot, which depth corresponds to the thickness of the wafer to be produced, and next applying the laser beam to the upper surface of the ingot while relatively moving the focal point and the ingot to thereby form a modified layer parallel to the upper surface of the ingot and cracks extending from the modified layer, thus forming a separation start point. The separation start point forming step includes an indexing step of relatively moving the focal point in a direction of formation of an off angle to thereby index the focal point by a predetermined index amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2015
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160158883
    Abstract: A wafer producing method for producing a hexagonal single crystal wafer from a hexagonal single crystal ingot is disclosed. The wafer producing method includes a separation start point forming step of forming a modified layer parallel to the upper surface of the ingot and cracks extending from the modified layer to thereby form a separation start point in the ingot. The separation start point forming step includes a first separation start point forming step of setting the focal point of a laser beam at a first depth which is N times (N is an integer not less than 2) the depth corresponding to the thickness of the wafer from the upper surface of the ingot and next applying the laser beam to the ingot to thereby form a first separation start point composed of a first modified layer and first cracks extending therefrom.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2015
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160158881
    Abstract: A wafer producing method for producing a hexagonal single crystal wafer from a hexagonal single crystal ingot includes a separation start point forming step of setting the focal point of a laser beam inside the ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the ingot, which depth corresponds to the thickness of the wafer to be produced, and next applying the laser beam to the upper surface of the ingot while relatively moving the focal point and the ingot to thereby form a modified layer parallel to the upper surface of the ingot and cracks extending from the modified layer, thus forming a separation start point. In the separation start point forming step, the laser beam is applied to the ingot plural times with the focal point of the laser beam set at the modified layer previously formed, thereby separating the cracks from the modified layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2015
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160074960
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is an SiC ingot slicing method including: an initial separation layer formation step for scanning a focal point of a laser beam parallel to an end face of the SiC ingot along a scheduled separation plane, and forming a separation layer at a position at a distance from the end face; a repetition step for sequentially moving, after the initial separation layer formation step, the focal point by the distance equal to the thickness of an SiC plate from the separation layer toward the end face, scanning the focal point parallel to the end face, repeating the formation of the separation layer, and forming the plurality of separation layers; and a separation step for applying an external force to the plurality of separation layers formed by the repetition step, peeling off the SiC plates starting from the separation layers, and acquiring the plurality of SiC plates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2015
    Publication date: March 17, 2016
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Yoko Nishino
  • Publication number: 20160030887
    Abstract: An energy recovery apparatus which is used in a seawater desalination system includes a cylindrical chamber (CH) being installed such that a longitudinal direction of the chamber is placed in a vertical direction, a concentrated seawater port (P1) for supplying and discharging the concentrated seawater, a seawater port (P2) for supplying and discharging the seawater, a flow resistor (23) provided at a concentrated seawater port (P1) side in the chamber (CH), and a flow resistor (23) provided at a seawater port (P2) side in the chamber (CH). The flow resistor (23) provided at the concentrated seawater port (P1) side and the flow resistor (23) provided at the seawater port (P2) side comprise at least one perforated circular plate, and the perforated circular plate has holes formed at an outer circumferential area outside a predetermined diameter of the circular plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Publication date: February 4, 2016
    Inventors: Tamami TAKAHASHI, Masanori GOTO, Akira GOTO, Motohiko NOHMI, Kazuya HIRATA
  • Patent number: 9175687
    Abstract: Provided is a compression apparatus for cooling multiple devices using a single fan with a small amount of electric power. An upper limit temperature, a first gain applied in a case in which a suction adjustment valve is opened, and a second gain applied in a case in which the suction adjustment valve is closed are set in advance for each of multiple temperature detectors provided at different locations of the compression apparatus; and, for each of the multiple temperature detectors, a difference between a detected value and the upper limit temperature is calculated, and a rotation speed of the fan is determined based on the smallest value in the differences, and the first gain or the second gain set for the temperature detector having the smallest difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazuya Hirata
  • Patent number: 9022748
    Abstract: A screw compressor including a driving machine having an output shaft coupled to an input shaft of a compressor main body; a clutch mechanism between the output shaft of the driving machine and the input shaft of the compressor main body; a pressure sensor installed in a discharge channel; and a controller that controls the switching of the clutch mechanism between an engaged state and a disengaged state based on a discharge pressure value detected by the pressure sensor is disclosed. When the discharge pressure value becomes higher than an unload set value that is predetermined, the controller controls the clutch mechanism to be switched to the disengaged state. According to the above screw compressor, power losses are reduced even when the supply of compressed gas is hardly required.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Shoji Yoshimura
  • Publication number: 20130128273
    Abstract: An optical element (20) is formed by bonding the faces of first to fourth triangular prisms (21, 22, 23, 24) that form the apex angle, wherein bonding faces (21a, 22b) of the first and second triangular prisms, bonding faces (22a, 23b) of the second and third triangular prisms, bonding faces (23a, 24b) of the third and fourth triangular prisms, and bonding faces (24a, 21b) of the fourth and first triangular prisms are respectively bonded through an optical thin film. Each optical thin film allows the incident light to pass through, or reflects the incident light, depending on the polarization state. The optical element (20) splits an optical path at a first position of the optical thin film, and combines optical paths at a second position of the optical thin film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Applicants: HAMAMATSU PHOTONICS K.K., SIGMA KOKI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Asami Inoue, Kazuya Hirata, Daisuke Ito, Koshi Haraguchi, Shigeru Sakamoto
  • Publication number: 20130129480
    Abstract: Provided is a compression apparatus for cooling multiple devices using a single fan with a small amount of electric power. An upper limit temperature, a first gain applied in a case in which a suction adjustment valve is opened, and a second gain applied in a case in which the suction adjustment valve is closed are set in advance for each of multiple temperature detectors provided at different locations of the compression apparatus; and, for each of the multiple temperature detectors, a difference between a detected value and the upper limit temperature is calculated, and a rotation speed of the fan is determined based on the smallest value in the differences, and the first gain or the second gain set for the temperature detector having the smallest difference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2012
    Publication date: May 23, 2013
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho ( Kobe Steel, Ltd.)
    Inventor: Kazuya HIRATA
  • Patent number: 8399024
    Abstract: A method of producing water-insoluble anti-cancer drug in the form of particulates, the method including preparing a water-insoluble anti-cancer drug having at least one multiple bond in the structure, and irradiating said water-insoluble anti-cancer drug with a laser beam having a wavelength of a low absorption portion in the vicinity of the foot of an absorption curve on the long wavelength side within the absorption band until said water-insoluble anti-cancer drug is formed into particulates having an average particle diameter of 50 to 200 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2013
    Assignee: Ebara Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kato, Isao Umeda, Kazuo Watanabe, Kazuya Hirata, Akio Ishiguro, Tetsu Go
  • Publication number: 20120156079
    Abstract: A screw compressor including a driving machine having an output shaft coupled to an input shaft of a compressor main body; a clutch mechanism between the output shaft of the driving machine and the input shaft of the compressor main body; a pressure sensor installed in a discharge channel; and a controller that controls the switching of the clutch mechanism between an engaged state and a disengaged state based on a discharge pressure value detected by the pressure sensor is disclosed. When the discharge pressure value becomes higher than an unload set value that is predetermined, the controller controls the clutch mechanism to be switched to the disengaged state. According to the above screw compressor, power losses are reduced even when the supply of compressed gas is hardly required.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2011
    Publication date: June 21, 2012
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho (Kobe Steel, Ltd.)
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Shoji Yoshimura
  • Publication number: 20110059183
    Abstract: A method of producing water-insoluble anti-cancer drug in the form of particulates, the method including preparing a water-insoluble anti-cancer drug having at least one multiple bond in the structure, and irradiating said water-insoluble anti-cancer drug with a laser beam having a wavelength of a low absorption portion in the vicinity of the foot of an absorption curve on the long wavelength side within the absorption band until said water-insoluble anti-cancer drug is formed into particulates having an average particle diameter of 50 to 200 nm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2010
    Publication date: March 10, 2011
    Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki KATO, Isao Umeda, Kazuo Watanabe, Kazuya Hirata, Akio Ishiguro, Tetsu Go
  • Patent number: 7815426
    Abstract: An apparatus for forming ultrafine particles, including: a light source generating a laser beam to be irradiated at an organic substance; at least one microflow channel capable of passing therethrough a suspension containing the organic substance; and a flow device for allowing the suspension containing the organic substance to continuously or intermittently pass through the microflow channel, the organic substance present in the microflow channel being irradiated with the laser beam at least once within a predetermined period, thereby forming ultrafine particles of the organic substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2010
    Assignee: ABsize Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kato, Isao Umeda, Tsuyoshi Asahi, Hiroshi Masuhara, Teruki Sugiyama, Isamu Oh, Sen-ichi Ryo, Kazuya Hirata, Motohiko Nohmi
  • Patent number: 7677596
    Abstract: An apparatus for assisting and guiding deployment of a side airbag through a deployment seam of a seat cover for a vehicle seat having a seat frame includes an airbag assembly connectable to a support portion of the seat back frame, an intensifier pocket having an inboard and outboard panel, and an elongate support rod releasably connectable to the seat back frame of the vehicle seat for closing and anchoring an opening in the pocket. Each panel has a first peripheral portion connected to opposite edges of the deployment seam in the seat cover to be forced open during inflation of the side airbag, second peripheral portions extending inwardly toward the seat back frame where the inboard and outboard panels are connected to one another, and third peripheral portions defining an opening in the pocket of sufficient size to allow the pocket to be positioned over the airbag assembly and support portion of the seat back frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Nissan Technical Center North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Tiago Castro, Kristi Elliot-Rumberger, Kazuya Hirata, Robert Panek
  • Publication number: 20090226608
    Abstract: An apparatus for coating particles with a polymer electrolyte, which includes at least one polymer membrane shell-coating part, the particles being coated with a membrane shell in the at least one polymer membrane shell-coating part by performing a step including contacting the particles having a predetermined charge with the polymer electrolyte having a charge opposite to that of the outer surface of the particles, thereby forming a membrane shell on the surface of the outermost layer of the particles.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: EBARA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kato, Isao Umeda, Kazuya Hirata
  • Publication number: 20080153169
    Abstract: A microchannel chip reaction control system of the present invention is characterized by being provided with a microchannel chip 1 having at least two microfluidic channels 1a and 1b for introducing reagent solutions A and B and a microfluidic reaction channel 1c formed by joining the two microfluidic channels 1a and 1b to each other, analysis means 2 for analyzing a product C obtained from the microfluidic reaction channel 1c, and control means 3 for controlling conditions for the reaction in the microchannel chip 1 on the basis of analysis results obtained from the analysis means 2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Publication date: June 26, 2008
    Inventors: Kazuya Hirata, Masao Shinoda, Motohiko Nohmi, Akira Goto, Kazuyoshi Takeda
  • Publication number: 20080054604
    Abstract: An apparatus for assisting and guiding deployment of a side airbag through a deployment seam of a seat cover for a vehicle seat having a seat frame includes an airbag assembly connectable to a support portion of the seat back frame, an intensifier pocket having an inboard and outboard panel, and an elongate support rod releasably connectable to the seat back frame of the vehicle seat for closing and anchoring an opening in the pocket. Each panel has a first peripheral portion connected to opposite edges of the deployment seam in the seat cover to be forced open during inflation of the side airbag, second peripheral portions extending inwardly toward the seat back frame where the inboard and outboard panels are connected to one another, and third peripheral portions defining an opening in the pocket of sufficient size to allow the pocket to be positioned over the airbag assembly and support portion of the seat back frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2006
    Publication date: March 6, 2008
    Applicant: NISSAN TECHNICAL CENTER NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventors: Tiago Castro, Kristi Elliott-Rumberger, Kazuya Hirata, Robert Panek
  • Publication number: 20070284769
    Abstract: An apparatus for forming ultrafine particles, including: a light source generating a laser beam to be irradiated at an organic substance; at least one microflow channel capable of passing therethrough a suspension containing the organic substance; and a flow device for allowing the suspension containing the organic substance to continuously or intermittently pass through the microflow channel, the organic substance present in the microflow channel being irradiated with the laser beam at least once within a predetermined period, thereby forming ultrafine particles of the organic substance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Publication date: December 13, 2007
    Applicants: EBARA CORPORATION, Osaka University, ABsize Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kato, Isao Umeda, Tsuyoshi Asahi, Hiroshi Masuhara, Teruki Sugiyama, Isamu Oh, Sen-ichi Ryo, Kazuya Hirata, Motohiko Nohmi