Patents by Inventor Kunihiko Kotani
Kunihiko Kotani 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).
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Patent number: 10473820Abstract: There is provided a compound containing a mesogenic group, which includes a silicon compound at a low concentration, a polymerizable compound containing the mesogenic group, a mixture and a composition using these compounds, a polymerizable mixture having the polymerizable compound, and a polymer, an optically anisotropic body, and a phase difference film using the polymerizable composition. It is possible to obtain the optically anisotropic body and the phase difference film having satisfactory scratch resistance and adhesion, by using the polymerizable composition composed of the compound containing a mesogenic group, which includes a silicon compound at a low concentration.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 2014Date of Patent: November 12, 2019Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Mika Yamamoto, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Koichi Endou, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Patent number: 10423033Abstract: [Problem] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for developing a large anchoring energy by simple processes. [Solution] There is provided a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal alignment film, comprising: a process (I) of mixing a solvent with a photoresponsive polymer to prepare a photoresponsive polymer solution; a process (II) of coating the photoresponsive polymer solution on a substrate, followed by drying at 50 to 100° C. for 1 to 3 minutes and then drying at 120° C. to 180° C. for 5 to 75 minutes to form a coating film; and a process (III) of adjusting a temperature of the coating film while the coating film is irradiated with a light of 200 to 350 nm to 40° C. to 100° C.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2014Date of Patent: September 24, 2019Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Fumiaki Kodera, Kunihiko Kotani, Kazunori Maruyama, Yutaka Kadomoto, Masanao Takashima, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshitaka Saito
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Patent number: 10351643Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide polymerizable compounds having excellent optical characteristics and suited as materials for optically anisotropic articles, compositions containing the polymerizable compounds, polymers obtained by polymerizing the polymerizable compounds, optically anisotropic articles formed of the polymers, and liquid crystal display devices including the optically anisotropic articles.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2014Date of Patent: July 16, 2019Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshio Aoki, Kunihiko Kotani, Akihiro Koiso, Hidetoshi Nakata
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Patent number: 10196568Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition which produces films being uncolored and having no cissing and good alignment when applied to a substrate, and also provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition produced by the method and an optically anisotropic body using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition. Specifically, the present invention provides a method for producing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, the method comprising a step (I) of preparing a polymerizable solution by mixing at least one polymerizable compound having at least one polymerizable functional group and one or two or more organic solvents and heating and stirring the resultant mixture; and a step (II) of mixing the polymerizable solution with a polymerization initiator, and also provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition produced by the method and an optically anisotropic body using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2014Date of Patent: February 5, 2019Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Koichi Endou, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Mika Yamamoto, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Patent number: 9809668Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a polymerizable compound suitable as a material for optically anisotropic bodies having excellent optical properties, a composition containing the polymerizable compound, a polymer obtained by polymerizing the polymerizable compound, an optically anisotropic body formed of the polymer, and a liquid crystal display device including the optically anisotropic body.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2014Date of Patent: November 7, 2017Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshio Aoki, Kunihiko Kotani, Akihiro Koiso, Hidetoshi Nakata
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Publication number: 20170205669Abstract: The present inventors have made earnest investigations for enhancing the alignment regulation force of the alignment film, and as a result, it has been found that the alignment regulation force can be easily achieved by controlling the yellowness index (YI) of the alignment film to a certain value or more, and thus has been found that the problems can be solved by the following invention. An image display device containing an image display part containing a liquid crystal layer containing a liquid crystal compound regulating a phase or a velocity of transmitted light, and in contact with the liquid crystal layer, a photo alignment layer regulating alignment of liquid crystal molecules contained in the liquid crystal compound, the alignment layer having a yellowness index (YI) of 0.001<YI<100.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 21, 2015Publication date: July 20, 2017Applicant: DIC CorporationInventors: Yoshiyuki Ono, Kunihiko Kotani, Kazunori Maruyama, Hiroshi Hasebe, Masanao Takashima, Shirou Taniguchi, Fumiaki Kodera
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Patent number: 9683174Abstract: [Object] To provide a liquid crystal alignment layer that can easily be formed, to which an anchoring force can be efficiently induced with less polarized light for exposure, and that is effective in controlling the orientation and pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules, and a compound and polymer that can be used for such a liquid crystal alignment layer.Type: GrantFiled: November 27, 2014Date of Patent: June 20, 2017Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Kazunori Maruyama, Fumiaki Kodera, Kunihiko Kotani, Sayaka Nose, Yoshio Aoki, Tetsuo Kusumoto
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Patent number: 9676959Abstract: A polymerizable composition solution that has good storage stability and allows a polymerizable compound in the polymerizable composition to be aligned well with no defects after application to a base and removal of a solvent by a drying process and also an optically anisotropic body that includes the solution and has good alignment without any defects. A solution containing a polymerizable composition and an organic solvent, wherein the polymerizable composition contains 90 mass % or more of a polymerizable compound intramolecularly having a 2-methyl-1,4-phenylene group as represented by general formula (1) and an optically anisotropic body including the solution.Type: GrantFiled: May 23, 2014Date of Patent: June 13, 2017Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Koichi Endou, Mika Yamamoto, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Publication number: 20170037159Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide polymerizable compounds having excellent optical characteristics and suited as materials for optically anisotropic articles, compositions containing the polymerizable compounds, polymers obtained by polymerising the polymerizable compounds, optically anisotropic articles formed of the polymers, and liquid crystal display devices including the optically anisotropic articles.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2014Publication date: February 9, 2017Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshio Aoki, Kunihiko Kotani, Akihiro Koiso, Hidetoshi Nakata
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Publication number: 20170029655Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a polymerizable compound suitable as a material for optically anisotropic bodies having excellent optical properties, a composition containing the polymerizable compound, a polymer obtained by polymerizing the polymerizable compound, an optically anisotropic body formed of the polymer, and a liquid crystal display device including the optically anisotropic body.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2014Publication date: February 2, 2017Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi HASEBE, Yoshio AOKI, Kunihiko KOTANI, Akihiro KOISO, Hidetoshi NAKATA
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Publication number: 20170003418Abstract: There is provided a compound containing a mesogenic group, which includes a silicon compound at a low concentration, a polymerizable compound containing the mesogenic group, a mixture and a composition using these compounds, a polymerizable mixture having the polymerizable compound, and a polymer, an optically anisotropic body, and a phase difference film using the polymerizable composition. It is possible to obtain the optically anisotropic body and the phase difference film having satisfactory scratch resistance and adhesion, by using the polymerizable composition composed of the compound containing a mesogenic group, which includes a silicon compound at a low concentration.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 18, 2014Publication date: January 5, 2017Applicant: DIC CorporationInventors: Mika Yamamoto, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Koichi Endou, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Publication number: 20170002123Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a polymerizable compound suitable as a material for optically anisotropic bodies having excellent optical properties, a composition containing the polymerizable compound, a polymer obtained by polymerizing the polymerizable compound, an optically anisotropic body formed of the polymer, and a liquid crystal display device including the optically anisotropic body.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2014Publication date: January 5, 2017Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshio Aoki, Kunihiko Kotani, Akihiro Koiso, Hidetoshi Nakata
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Publication number: 20160376507Abstract: [Object] To provide a liquid crystal alignment layer that can easily be formed, to which an anchoring force can be efficiently induced with less polarized light for exposure, and that is effective in controlling the orientation and pretilt angle of liquid crystal molecules, and a compound and polymer that can be used for such a liquid crystal alignment layer.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 27, 2014Publication date: December 29, 2016Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroshi Hasebe, Kazunori Maruyama, Fumiaki Kodera, Kunihiko Kotani, Sayaka Nose, Yoshio Aoki, Tetsuo Kusumoto
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Patent number: 9469810Abstract: The present invention relates to a polymerizable composition useful as a liquid crystal device, a display, an optical member, a coloring agent, a security marking, and a laser light emitting member and a thin film obtained from the polymerizable composition. The present invention provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition having excellent solubility into a solvent, exhibiting good adhesion to a base material, and being capable of realizing a thin film having low haze and no variations and, in addition, provides a thin film having excellent appearance by using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition according to the present invention is used and, thereby, a composition and a thin film having low haze and no variations and, at the same time, having excellent adhesion to a base material can be obtained at a low cost.Type: GrantFiled: November 21, 2012Date of Patent: October 18, 2016Assignee: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Hidetoshi Nakata, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hiroshi Hasebe, Kunihiko Kotani, Isa Nishiyama
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Publication number: 20160237351Abstract: The present invention provides a method for producing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition which produces films being uncolored and having no cissinq and good alignment when applied to a substrate, and also provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition produced by the method and an optically anisotropic body using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition. Specifically, the present invention provides a method for producing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition, the method comprising a step (I) of preparing a polymerizable solution by mixing at least, one polymerizable compound having at least one polymerizable functional group and one or two or more organic solvents and heating and stirring the resultant mixture; and a step (II) of mixing the polymerizable solution with a polymerization initiator, and also provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition produced by the method and an optically anisotropic body using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 7, 2014Publication date: August 18, 2016Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Koichi Endou, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Mika Yamamoto, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Publication number: 20160231626Abstract: [Problem] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for developing a large anchoring energy by simple processes. [Solution] There is provided a method for manufacturing a liquid crystal alignment film, comprising: a process (I) of mixing a solvent with a photoresponsive polymer to prepare a photoresponsive polymer solution; a process (II) of coating the photoresponsive polymer solution on a substrate, followed by drying at 50 to 100° C. for 1 to 3 minutes and then drying at 120° C. to 180° C. for 5 to 75 minutes to form a coating film; and a process (III) of adjusting a temperature of the coating film while the coating film is irradiated with a light of 200 to 350 nm to 40° C. to 100° C.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 30, 2014Publication date: August 11, 2016Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Fumiaki Kodera, Kunihiko Kotani, Kazunori Maruyama, Yutaka Kadomoto, Masanao Takashima, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshitaka Saito
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Publication number: 20160122644Abstract: The present invention provides a method of uniformizing output light from a liquid crystal display element and a liquid crystal display element in which output light is uniformized. The method of uniformizing output light of a liquid crystal display element includes: using a composition containing nanoparticles with an average particle diameter of 1 nm to 100 nm as a liquid crystal composition included in a liquid crystal layer in the liquid crystal display element having the liquid crystal layer interposed between a pair of substrates, and uniformizing light output from the liquid crystal display element. The present invention also provides a liquid crystal display element obtained by applying the method of uniformizing output light.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 27, 2015Publication date: May 5, 2016Applicants: TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE FOUNDATION, DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Shunsuke Kobayashi, Yukihide Shiraishi, Naoki Toshima, Mitsuhiro Akimoto, Kenzo Takeishi, Haruyoshi Takatsu, Kunihiko Kotani
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Publication number: 20160115338Abstract: The present invention provides a polymerizable composition solution that has good storage stability and allows a polymerizable compound in the polymerizable composition to be aligned well with no defects after application to a base and removal of a solvent by a drying process and also provides an optically anisotropic body that includes the solution and has good alignment without any defects. The present invention provides a solution containing a polymerizable composition and an organic solvent, wherein the polymerizable composition contains 90 mass % or more of a polymerizable compound intramolecularly having a 2-methyl-1,4-phenylene group as represented by general formula (1) and provides an optically anisotropic body including the solution.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 23, 2014Publication date: April 28, 2016Applicant: DIC CorporationInventors: Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hidetoshi Nakata, Koichi Endou, Mika Yamamoto, Kunihiko Kotani, Hiroshi Hasebe, Yoshiyuki Ono
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Publication number: 20150159087Abstract: Provided are a liquid crystal composition having negative dielectric anisotropy and a liquid crystal display device that uses the liquid crystal composition. The present invention relates to a liquid crystal composition having a negative dielectric anisotropy (??) and useful as an electro-optic liquid crystal display material, and a liquid crystal display device that uses the liquid crystal composition. The liquid crystal composition contains one or more compounds represented by general formula (I) and one or more compounds represented by general formula (II). Since the rate of change in operation voltage versus temperature can be decreased by using the liquid crystal composition of the present invention, the invention is effective for improving the display quality in a low-temperature zone. Thus, the liquid crystal composition is suitable for use in vehicle-mounted displays and mobile appliances that are expected to be used in cold areas and outdoors.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 22, 2013Publication date: June 11, 2015Applicant: DIC CORPORATIONInventors: Haruki Ohishi, Shirou Taniguchi, Kunihiko Kotani, Kazunori Maruyama
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Publication number: 20140256896Abstract: The present invention relates to a polymerizable composition useful as a liquid crystal device, a display, an optical member, a coloring agent, a security marking, and a laser light emitting member and a thin film obtained from the polymerizable composition. The present invention provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition having excellent solubility into a solvent, exhibiting good adhesion to a base material, and being capable of realizing a thin film having low haze and no variations and, in addition, provides a thin film having excellent appearance by using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition according to the present invention is used and, thereby, a composition and a thin film having low haze and no variations and, at the same time, having excellent adhesion to a base material can be obtained at a low cost.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 21, 2012Publication date: September 11, 2014Inventors: Hidetoshi Nakata, Yasuhiro Kuwana, Hiroshi Hasebe, Kunihiko Kotani, Isa Nishiyama