Patents by Inventor Kenji Shibata

Kenji Shibata 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: 20180287460
    Abstract: An engine generator, including a general-purpose engine, a generator unit driven by the engine to generate electric power and capable of operating as an engine starter motor during engine starting, a case housing the engine and the generator unit, a battery detachably attached to the case, an inverter unit connected to the generator unit, and a power supply circuit interconnecting the battery attached to the case and the inverter unit and supplying power of the battery through the inverter unit to the generator unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Kenji Shibata, Wataru Matsuyama, Minoru Maedako
  • Publication number: 20180283294
    Abstract: An engine generator, including a general purpose engine, an engine speed of the engine being variably controlled, a generator unit having a three-phase winding and driven by the engine to generate power, an inverter unit converting AC output from the generator unit to AC of a predetermined frequency to output to a load, a connection switching unit switching a connection configuration of the winding to one of a wye-connection and a delta-connection, a load detection unit detecting a size of the load, and a connection switching control unit controlling the connection switching unit to switch the connection configuration to the wye-connection when the size of the load is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, and to switch the connection configuration to the delta-connection when the size of the load is higher than the predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Wataru Matsuyama, Kenji Shibata, Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Minoru Maedako
  • Publication number: 20180287393
    Abstract: A power generator system, including a remaining fuel detector detecting a remaining fuel amount of each of the first generator and the second generator, an operable time calculator calculating a remaining operable time of the each of the first generator and the second generator based on the remaining fuel amount detected by the remaining fuel detector, and a signal output unit outputting a control signal for adjusting outputs of the first generator and second generator to an actuator so that the remaining operable time of the first generator and the remaining operable time of the second generator calculated by the operable time calculator is equalized while keeping a total power of the first generator and the second generator constant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Minoru Maedako, Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Kenji Shibata, Wataru Matsuyama
  • Publication number: 20180287394
    Abstract: A generator system, including first and second generators each having an inverter circuit outputting AC, a connection circuit connecting the generators through a power line, a master-slave determining unit determining one of the generators as a master generator, and to determine other of the generators as a slave generator, a data acquiring unit acquiring an output data of the master generator, and a synchronization controlling unit controlling switching operation of the inverter circuit of the slave generator based on the output data of the master generator to synchronize an output data of the slave generator with the output data of the master generator, wherein the master-slave determining unit determines one of the generators that starts earlier as the master generator, and when the generators start simultaneously, to determine one of the generators as the master generator in accordance with a predefined rule.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Kenji Shibata, Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Wataru Matsuyama, Minoru Maedako
  • Publication number: 20180287392
    Abstract: A power generator system, including a first generator and a second generator, a detector detecting a power of the first generator, a determinator determining whether a parallel operation of the first generator and the second generator is necessary based on a detection value detected by the detector when the first generator is operating and the second generator remains unstarted, a power supply unit supplying a starting power to the second generator to start the second generator when it is determined that the parallel operation is necessary, and a generator controller controlling operation of the second generator so as to operate synchronously in parallel with the first generator after the second generator is started.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Minoru Maedako, Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Kenji Shibata, Wataru Matsuyama
  • Publication number: 20180287391
    Abstract: A generator system, including first and second generators, a connection circuit connecting output lines of the first and second generators to each other and connecting neutral lines of the first and second generators to the ground, a switch command unit outputting commands to switch a connection mode of the first and second generators between parallel and series connection modes, a circuit switch switching a connection mode of the connection circuit in response to the commands, a data acquiring unit acquiring a waveform data of the first generator when the second generator is operated after the first generator is operated, and a control unit controlling the second generator to synchronize frequency and phase of waveforms of the first and second generators in the parallel connection mode and controlling the second generator to synchronize frequency and shift phase by 180 degree in the series connection mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Kenji Shibata, Tetsuya Matsuhisa, Wataru Matsuyama, Minoru Maedako
  • Publication number: 20180114896
    Abstract: There is provided a ferroelectric thin-film laminated substrate, including a substrate, and further including a lower electrode layer, a ferroelectric thin-film layer, an upper electrode intermediate layer, and an upper electrode layer being sequentially stacked on the substrate, in which: the lower electrode layer is made of platinum or a platinum alloy; the ferroelectric thin-film layer is made of a sodium potassium niobate (typical chemical formula of (K1-xNax)NbO3, 0.4?x?0.7); the upper electrode layer is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy; the upper electrode intermediate layer is made of a metal that has less oxidizability than titanium and can generate an intermetallic compound with Aluminum; and a part of the upper electrode intermediate layer and a part of the upper electrode layer are alloyed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Publication date: April 26, 2018
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Kazufumi SUENAGA, Hiroyuki ENDO
  • Publication number: 20180108828
    Abstract: There is provided a ferroelectric thin-film laminated substrate, including a substrate, and further including a lower electrode layer, a ferroelectric thin-film layer, an upper electrode adhesive layer, and an upper electrode layer being sequentially stacked on the substrate, in which: the lower electrode layer is made of platinum or a platinum alloy; the ferroelectric thin-film layer is made of a sodium potassium niobate (typical chemical formula of (K1-xNax)NbO3, 0.4?x?0.7); the upper electrode layer is made of gold; the upper electrode adhesive layer is made of a metal that has less oxidizability than titanium and can make a solid solution alloy without generating an intermetallic compound with gold; and a part of the upper electrode adhesive layer and a part of the upper electrode layer are alloyed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Publication date: April 19, 2018
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Masaki NOGUCHI, Kazufumi SUENAGA
  • Publication number: 20180108530
    Abstract: This method for manufacturing a niobate-system ferroelectric thin-film device includes: a lower electrode film formation step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a ferroelectric thin film formation step of forming a niobate-system ferroelectric thin film on the lower electrode film; an etch mask pattern formation step of forming an etch mask in a desired pattern on the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film, the etch mask being an amorphous fluororesin film laminated via a noble metal film; and a ferroelectric thin film etching step of shaping the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film into a desired fine pattern by wet etching using an etchant comprising: a chelating agent; an aqueous alkaline solution containing an aqueous ammonia solution; and an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2016
    Publication date: April 19, 2018
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Kazufumi SUENAGA, Masaki NOGUCHI, Kenji KUROIWA
  • Publication number: 20180082839
    Abstract: This method for manufacturing a ferroelectric thin film device includes: a lower electrode film formation step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a ferroelectric thin film formation step of forming a ferroelectric thin film made of a sodium potassium niobate on the lower electrode film; an upper electrode film formation step of forming an upper electrode film on the ferroelectric thin film; and an upper electrode film etching step of shaping the upper electrode film into a desired micro-pattern by performing a reactive ion etching process on the upper electrode film. The upper electrode film etching step is a step of calculating a rate of change of sodium emission intensity in an ion plasma generated by the reactive ion etching process and determining that the etching process is completed when the rate of change falls below a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Kazufumi SUENAGA
  • Publication number: 20180062068
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a ferroelectric thin film device including: a lower electrode film formation step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a ferroelectric thin film formation step of forming a ferroelectric thin film made of a potassium sodium niobate on the lower electrode film; a ferroelectric thin film etching step of shaping the ferroelectric thin film into a desired micro-pattern by etching; and a thin film laminated substrate cleaning step of cleaning the substrate provided the ferroelectric thin film having a desired micro-pattern as a whole with a predetermined cleaning solution after the ferroelectric thin film etching step. The predetermined cleaning solution is a solution mixture containing hydrofluoric acid and ammonium fluoride, the hydrofluoric acid in the solution mixture having a molarity of 0.5 M or more and less than 5 M.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2016
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Kazufumi SUENAGA
  • Patent number: 9893266
    Abstract: A piezoelectric film element includes a substrate, and a piezoelectric film including an alkali niobate-based perovskite structure expressed in a composition formula (K1-xNax)NbO3 (0.4?x?0.7) formed on the substrate, the piezoelectric film including an etching cross section including a tapered inclined portion which is enlarged toward an outside. The inclined portion includes a slope angle made by a slope connecting an upper surface edge and a bottom surface edge of the piezoelectric film and a bottom surface of the piezoelectric film, and the slope angle is not greater than 70°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2018
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumimasa Horikiri, Kenji Shibata, Kazufumi Suenaga, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Akira Nomoto
  • Patent number: 9882546
    Abstract: An alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric thin film element includes a substrate, a lower electrode film on the substrate, a piezoelectric thin film on the lower electrode film, and an upper electrode film on the piezoelectric thin film. The piezoelectric thin film is made of an alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric material represented by the formula (NaxKyLiz)NbO3, where 0?x?1, 0?y?1, 0?z?0.2, and x+y+z=1. The piezoelectric thin film has an element pattern and contains a metal element in a higher concentration near the upper electrode film than near the lower electrode film. The average concentration of the metal element is 5×1017 atoms/cm3 or less in a region within ±15% of the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film from a position corresponding to half the thickness of the piezoelectric thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Kazufumi Suenaga, Kenji Shibata, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Fumimasa Horikiri, Masaki Noguchi
  • Publication number: 20180026176
    Abstract: This method for manufacturing a lead-free niobate-system ferroelectric thin film device includes: a lower electrode film formation step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a ferroelectric thin film formation step of forming a niobate-system ferroelectric thin film on the lower electrode film; an etch mask pattern formation step of forming an etch mask in a desired pattern on the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film; and a ferroelectric thin film etching step of shaping the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film into a desired fine pattern by wet etching using an etchant comprising: a predetermined chelating agent including at least one selected from EDTMP, NTMP, CyDTA, HEDP, GBMP, DTPMP, and citric acid; an aqueous alkaline solution containing an aqueous ammonia solution; and an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2016
    Publication date: January 25, 2018
    Applicants: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED, KANTO KAGAKU KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Kenji SHIBATA, Kazutoshi WATANABE, Kazufumi SUENAGA, Masaki NOGUCHI, Kenji KUROIWA
  • Patent number: 9841066
    Abstract: In a hammer drill, a coil spring that urges a first clutch and a second clutch in directions away from each other is held between a first change plate that engages with the first clutch to be slidable in the axial direction of an intermediate shaft and a second change plate that engages with the second clutch to be slidable in the axial direction of the intermediate shaft. The first change plate is slidably guided by a gear housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: MAKITA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kiyonobu Yoshikane, Kenji Shibata, Yoshitaka Machida
  • Patent number: 9685603
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a niobate-system ferroelectric thin film device, including: a lower electrode film formation step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a niobate-system ferroelectric thin film formation step of forming a niobate-system ferroelectric thin film on the lower electrode film; an etch mask formation step of forming a desired etch mask pattern on the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film; and a ferroelectric thin film etching step of forming a desired fine pattern of the niobate-system ferroelectric thin film by wet etching using an etchant including an aqueous alkaline solution of a chelating agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
    Inventors: Fumimasa Horikiri, Kenji Shibata, Kazufumi Suenaga, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Masaki Noguchi
  • Patent number: 9620703
    Abstract: A piezoelectric thin-film element includes a substrate, a lower electrode layer formed on the substrate, a piezoelectric thin-film layer that is formed on the lower electrode layer and includes potassium sodium niobate having a perovskite structure represented by the composition formula of (K1-xNax)NbO3 (0.4?x?0.7), and an upper electrode layer formed on the piezoelectric thin-film layer. The piezoelectric thin-film layer is formed such that a value of (Ec?+Ec+)/2 is not less than 10.8 kV/cm and a value of (Pr?+Pr+)/2 is not more than ?2.4 ?C/cm2 where Ec? and Ec+ are intersection points of a polarization-electric field hysteresis loop and the x-axis indicating an electric field and Pr? and Pr+ are intersection points of the polarization-electric field hysteresis loop and the y-axis indicating polarization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Kenji Shibata, Masaki Noguchi, Kazufumi Suenaga, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Fumimasa Horikiri
  • Publication number: 20170072532
    Abstract: A grinder includes a motor, a housing, a spindle and a cover. The spindle protrudes downward from the housing, is driven by the motor, and thereby rotates. The cover is provided on the spindle in the circumferential direction and at least partially covers a tool accessory, which is mounted on the spindle. The cover is configured such that at least one part deforms and/or is composed of an elastic material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2016
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Inventors: Takahiro KAWAKAMI, Satoshi NINAGAWA, Kenji SHIBATA, Ryosuke OTANI, Ryo IMUTA
  • Publication number: 20160365504
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric thin film element includes a lower-electrode-film forming step of forming a lower electrode film on a substrate; a piezoelectric-thin-film forming step of forming an alkali-niobate-based piezoelectric thin film on the lower electrode film; an etching-mask-pattern forming step of forming a desired pattern of an etching mask on the piezoelectric thin film; and a piezoelectric-thin-film etching step of dry-etching the piezoelectric thin film into a desired pattern. The etching mask is made of an oxide at least in a layer adjacent to the piezoelectric thin film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Publication date: December 15, 2016
    Inventors: Kazufumi Suenaga, Kenji Shibata, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Fumimasa Horikiri, Masaki Noguchi
  • Publication number: 20160308111
    Abstract: A piezoelectric film element includes a substrate, and a piezoelectric film including an alkali niobate-based perovskite structure expressed in a composition formula (K1-xNax)NbO3 (0.4?x?0.7) formed on the substrate, the piezoelectric film including an etching cross section including a tapered inclined portion which is enlarged toward an outside. The inclined portion includes a slope angle made by a slope connecting an upper surface edge and a bottom surface edge of the piezoelectric film and a bottom surface of the piezoelectric film, and the slope angle is not greater than 70°.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventors: Fumimasa Horikiri, Kenji Shibata, Kazufumi Suenaga, Kazutoshi Watanabe, Akira Nomoto