Patents by Inventor Koichi NISHIBATA

Koichi NISHIBATA 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: 11424670
    Abstract: A drive device performs switching of at least one switch configuring an electrical power converter. The drive device includes a control section that generates a drive signal for the switch and transmits the drive signal, and at least one drive circuit that receives the transmitted drive signal. The control section generates speed adjustment information for adjusting a switching speed of the switch and transmits the speed adjustment information to the drive circuit. The drive circuit includes a speed calculation section that receives the transmitted speed adjustment information and calculates command switching speed information of the switch based on the received speed adjustment information, and a drive section that performs switching of the switch based on the received drive signal and the calculated command switching speed information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Nishibata
  • Patent number: 11387766
    Abstract: A control circuit for an electric power converter includes an abnormality determiner, a voltage determiner and an abnormality-handling controller. The abnormality determiner determines whether an abnormality has occurred in at least one of the electric power converter and a multi-phase rotating electric machine. The voltage determiner determines whether a line-to-line voltage between phase windings of the rotating electric machine is higher than a voltage of a DC power source. The abnormality-handling controller performs, when it is determined by the abnormality determiner that an abnormality has occurred and it is determined by the voltage determiner that the line-to-line voltage is higher than the voltage of the DC power source, an all-phase short circuit control of turning on all of switches of one of an upper-arm switch group and a lower-arm switch group and turning off all of switches of the other of the upper-arm switch group and the lower-arm switch group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Nishibata
  • Publication number: 20210184557
    Abstract: A drive device performs switching of at least one switch configuring an electrical power converter. The drive device includes a control section that generates a drive signal for the switch and transmits the drive signal, and at least one drive circuit that receives the transmitted drive signal. The control section generates speed adjustment information for adjusting a switching speed of the switch and transmits the speed adjustment information to the drive circuit. The drive circuit includes a speed calculation section that receives the transmitted speed adjustment information and calculates command switching speed information of the switch based on the received speed adjustment information, and a drive section that performs switching of the switch based on the received drive signal and the calculated command switching speed information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2021
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi NISHIBATA
  • Publication number: 20190341871
    Abstract: A control circuit for an electric power converter includes an abnormality determiner, a voltage determiner and an abnormality-handling controller. The abnormality determiner determines whether an abnormality has occurred in at least one of the electric power converter and a multi-phase rotating electric machine. The voltage determiner determines whether a line-to-line voltage between phase windings of the rotating electric machine is higher than a voltage of a DC power source. The abnormality-handling controller performs, when it is determined by the abnormality determiner that an abnormality has occurred and it is determined by the voltage determiner that the line-to-line voltage is higher than the voltage of the DC power source, an all-phase short circuit control of turning on all of switches of one of an upper-arm switch group and a lower-arm switch group and turning off all of switches of the other of the upper-arm switch group and the lower-arm switch group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi NISHIBATA
  • Patent number: 10374509
    Abstract: In a control circuit for controlling a power converter that includes a switch, a power supply circuit outputs electrical power, and a command generator generates a switching command that controls switching operations of the switch, based on the electrical power output from the power supply circuit. A failure mode determiner executes a determination of whether which of failure modes has occurred in the power supply circuit, and outputs a result of the determination. A switch controller selectively executes, based on the result of the determination, a first switch control task and a second switch control task. The first switch control task forcibly shuts down the switch independently of the switching command, and the second switch control task enables the switching operations of the switch to be continuously controlled based on the switching command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koichi Nishibata, Yusuke Shindo, Tomohisa Ose, Junichi Fukuta, Yasuhiro Terao, Eiichiro Shigehara, Keisuke Hata
  • Publication number: 20190157969
    Abstract: In a control circuit for controlling a power converter that includes a switch, a power supply circuit outputs electrical power, and a command generator generates a switching command that controls switching operations of the switch, based on the electrical power output from the power supply circuit. A failure mode determiner executes a determination of whether which of failure modes has occurred in the power supply circuit, and outputs a result of the determination. A switch controller selectively executes, based on the result of the determination, a first switch control task and a second switch control task. The first switch control task forcibly shuts down the switch independently of the switching command, and the second switch control task enables the switching operations of the switch to be continuously controlled based on the switching command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2018
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicants: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koichi NISHIBATA, Yusuke SHINDO, Tomohisa OSE, Junichi FUKUTA, Yasuhiro TERAO, Eiichiro SHIGEHARA, Keisuke HATA
  • Patent number: 9742324
    Abstract: In an integrated circuit formed into a single chip, a drive signal generating unit generates drive signals for switching elements of a power conversion circuit. A monitoring unit monitors a microcomputer that calculates generation information that is information used to generate the drive signals, and determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the microcomputer. An angle converting unit converts an output signal of an angle sensor to rotation angle information of a rotating electric machine. A drive signal generating unit generates the drive signals for controlling driving of the rotating electric machine based on the generation information and the rotation angle information when the monitoring unit determines that an abnormality has not occurred in the microcomputer, and generates the drive signals based on the rotation angle information, without using the generation information, when the monitoring unit determines that an abnormality has occurred in the microcomputer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Junichi Fukuta, Koichi Nishibata, Hiroya Tsuji, Yusuke Shindo, Shinichiro Nakata, Yasutaka Senda
  • Patent number: 9716452
    Abstract: An ECU has a function of calculating a rotation angle, which is used for torque control, based on amplitude-modulated signals SIN and COS outputted from an angle sensor and a synchronous detection signal. Frequency components generated at the time of switching operation of switching elements of an inverter connected to a motor-generator is included in an output voltage of the inverter. The ECU has a function of shifting frequencies of the frequency components and an excitation frequency of an excitation signal from each other so that noise having the frequencies of the frequency components are not superimposed on the amplitude-modulated signals SIN and COS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koichi Nishibata, Junichi Fukuta, Yusuke Shindo
  • Publication number: 20160301336
    Abstract: An ECU has a function of calculating a rotation angle, which is used for torque control, based on amplitude-modulated signals SIN and COS outputted from an angle sensor and a synchronous detection signal. Frequency components generated at the time of switching operation of switching elements of an inverter connected to a motor-generator is included in an output voltage of the inverter. The ECU has a function of shifting frequencies of the frequency components and an excitation frequency of an excitation signal from each other so that noise having the frequencies of the frequency components are not superimposed on the amplitude-modulated signals SIN and COS.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2016
    Publication date: October 13, 2016
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koichi NISHIBATA, Junichi FUKUTA, Yusuke SHINDO
  • Publication number: 20160233800
    Abstract: In an integrated circuit formed into a single chip, a drive signal generating unit generates drive signals for switching elements of a power conversion circuit. A monitoring unit monitors a microcomputer that calculates generation information that is information used to generate the drive signals, and determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the microcomputer. An angle converting unit converts an output signal of an angle sensor to rotation angle information of a rotating electric machine. A drive signal generating unit generates the drive signals for controlling driving of the rotating electric machine based on the generation information and the rotation angle information when the monitoring unit determines that an abnormality has not occurred in the microcomputer, and generates the drive signals based on the rotation angle information, without using the generation information, when the monitoring unit determines that an abnormality has occurred in the microcomputer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Junichi FUKUTA, Koichi NISHIBATA, Hiroya TSUJI, Yusuke SHINDO, Shinichiro NAKATA, Yasutaka SENDA
  • Patent number: 9413278
    Abstract: A control device for a rotating electrical machine is provided that is capable of suppressing reduction in controllability of torque attributed to harmonic currents. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a designated torque value Trq* designated by a hybrid vehicle electronic control unit (HVECU) is corrected by a compensation amount ?Trq calculated using a harmonic voltage Vh, the designated torque value Trq*, and an electric angular velocity ? as inputs. An operating signal generating section generates an operating signal g¥# using a designated norm value Vn set based on the corrected torque designated value Trq* and a phase ? serving as a manipulated variable for performing feedback control of an estimated torque to the designated torque value Trq*, and outputs the generated operating signal g¥# to a power supply circuit of a motor generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koichi Nishibata, Hiroya Tsuji, Hajime Uematsu
  • Patent number: 9325274
    Abstract: In an apparatus for controlling a variable of a rotary machine based on an AC voltage supplied to the rotary machine via a switching element of a power converter, a generator generates a drive signal including an on-off pattern of the switching element. A driver drives, based on the on-off pattern of the drive signal, the switching element. A parameter monitor monitors a parameter indicative of change of a harmonic current flowing in the rotary machine based on a harmonic voltage included in the AC voltage. A limiter limits, based on the parameter monitored by the parameter detector, generation of the drive signal by the generator to limit an increase of a level of the harmonic current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Koichi Nishibata
  • Publication number: 20150015171
    Abstract: In an apparatus for controlling a variable of a rotary machine based on an AC voltage supplied to the rotary machine via a switching element of a power converter, a generator generates a drive signal including an on-off pattern of the switching element. A driver drives, based on the on-off pattern of the drive signal, the switching element. A parameter monitor monitors a parameter indicative of change of a harmonic current flowing in the rotary machine based on a harmonic voltage included in the AC voltage. A limiter limits, based on the parameter monitored by the parameter detector, generation of the drive signal by the generator to limit an increase of a level of the harmonic current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Publication date: January 15, 2015
    Inventor: Koichi NISHIBATA
  • Patent number: 8884567
    Abstract: In a system for controlling a rotary machine, a circuit outputs an AC voltage to be applied to a rotary machine. A storage stores therein measurement-error information indicative of a measurement error of the measuring unit. A torque-feedback adjuster manipulates a phase of the output voltage of the circuit based on the rotational angle of the rotary machine measured by a measuring unit and the measurement-error information to adjust a torque of the rotary machine to a request torque. The phase is obtained from information fed back from the rotary machine. An abnormality determiner determines whether there is an abnormality to disable using accurate measurement-error information. A limiter limits adjustment of the torque of the rotary machine to the request torque by the torque-feedback adjuster when it is determined that there is an abnormality to disable using accurate measurement-error information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Tomohiro Senkou, Hiroshi Inamura, Koichi Nishibata
  • Publication number: 20140001991
    Abstract: A control device for a rotating electrical machine is provided that is capable of suppressing reduction in controllability of torque attributed to harmonic currents. According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a designated torque value Trq* designated by a hybrid vehicle electronic control unit (HVECU) is corrected by a compensation amount ?Trq calculated using a harmonic voltage Vh, the designated torque value Trq*, and an electric angular velocity ? as inputs. An operating signal generating section generates an operating signal g¥# using a designated norm value Vn set based on the corrected torque designated value Trq* and a phase ? serving as a manipulated variable for performing feedback control of an estimated torque to the designated torque value Trq*, and outputs the generated operating signal g¥# to a power supply circuit of a motor generator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2013
    Publication date: January 2, 2014
    Inventors: Koichi NISHIBATA, Hiroya TSUJI, Hajime UEMATSU
  • Publication number: 20120139460
    Abstract: In a system for controlling a rotary machine, a circuit outputs an AC voltage to be applied to a rotary machine. A storage stores therein measurement-error information indicative of a measurement error of the measuring unit. A torque-feedback adjuster manipulates a phase of the output voltage of the circuit based on the rotational angle of the rotary machine measured by a measuring unit and the measurement-error information to adjust a torque of the rotary machine to a request torque. The phase is obtained from information fed back from the rotary machine. An abnormality determiner determines whether there is an abnormality to disable using accurate measurement-error information. A limiter limits adjustment of the torque of the rotary machine to the request torque by the torque-feedback adjuster when it is determined that there is an abnormality to disable using accurate measurement-error information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Publication date: June 7, 2012
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohiro SENKOU, Hiroshi INAMURA, Koichi NISHIBATA