Patents by Inventor Masahiro Kimata

Masahiro Kimata 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: 10298162
    Abstract: Disclosed is a brushless-motor drive apparatus provided with: a current detecting means (6) for detecting currents flowing through armature windings (9) during periods when switching elements (5H, 5L) of a drive circuit are ON; a calculation processing means for comparing a target current value and the detected current value, and calculating voltage command values to be applied to the armature windings (9); and a PWM driving means (4) for controlling the ON/OFF of the switching elements on the basis of the voltage command values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Chiaki Fujimoto, Masahiro Kimata
  • Publication number: 20130026960
    Abstract: Disclosed is a brushless-motor drive apparatus provided with: a current detecting means (6) for detecting currents flowing through armature windings (9) during periods when switching elements (5H, 5L) of a drive circuit are ON; a calculation processing means for comparing a target current value and the detected current value, and calculating voltage command values to be applied to the armature windings (9); and a PWM driving means (4) for controlling the ON/OFF of the switching elements on the basis of the voltage command values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Chiaki Fujimoto, Masahiro Kimata
  • Patent number: 8363420
    Abstract: The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink arranged in the housing, semiconductor switching elements mounted on the heat sink and having terminals, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink and having an electronic circuit formed thereon including a control circuit for controlling the semiconductor switching elements, and a plurality of conductive plates electrically connecting the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements to each other. The individual conductive plates are arranged along a lead-out direction in which the individual terminals of the semiconductor switching elements lead out, so that they are bonded to the individual terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 8339801
    Abstract: Provided is an electric power steering apparatus which allows a reduction in apparatus size as well as in noise. A controller (20) includes: a metal board (22), on which a bridge circuit including a plurality of semiconductor switching elements (Q1 to Q6) for switching a current of an electric motor (1) is mounted; capacitors (31) for absorbing a ripple of the current; a control board (29), on which a microcomputer (33) for generating a drive signal for controlling the bridge circuit is mounted; and a connection member formed by insert molding high-current conductive plates (24 and 25), through which a high current flows, and signal conductive plates (26), to/from which a low-current signal is input/output, with a frame (23a) made of an insulating resin provided in proximity to an outer periphery of the metal board (22), in which the capacitors (31) are arranged in a row along an end surface of one side of the metal board (22) and are electrically connected to the high-current conductive plates (24).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 8232752
    Abstract: An electric motor control apparatus that can quickly and accurately locate a short-circuit fault point. The electric motor control apparatus includes: a current controller determining respective phase voltage commands according to currents flowing in respective phases of an electric motor and a torque current command; a switching element drive circuit instructing, based on the respective phase voltage commands, an inverter to perform a switching operation; the inverter receiving a switching operation signal to drive the electric motor; current detectors disposed in series with the switching elements in the respective phases of the inverter; and a short-circuit point locating mechanism storing a test pattern indicative of a predetermined combination for turning on the switching elements of the inverter, and locating a short-circuit fault point based on the test pattern and current detection values in the respective phases detected by the current detectors in response to the test pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Kazumichi Tsutsumi, Chiaki Fujimoto, Noriyuki Inoue
  • Patent number: 7990093
    Abstract: A control apparatus for a multiphase AC electric motor having an inverter includes a current control including an abnormal-state current controller; an abnormal-state detector that detects an abnormal state of any of a wire of an electric motor, a wire of an inverter, and a wire connecting the electric motor to the inverter as an abnormal phase; and an abnormal phase disconnect. The abnormal phase disconnect disconnects one or more of phases detected to be in an abnormal-state and the abnormal-state current controller generates an abnormal state voltage command in accordance with detection of an abnormal state, and uses phases other than the disconnected phases of the inverter to control individual currents of the phases, with the abnormal-state voltage command used as a multiphase voltage command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Kazumichi Tsutsumi, Chiaki Fujimoto, Noriyuki Inoue
  • Publication number: 20100295498
    Abstract: Provided is an electric power steering apparatus which allows a reduction in apparatus size as well as in noise. A controller (20) includes: a metal board (22), on which a bridge circuit including a plurality of semiconductor switching elements (Q1 to Q6) for switching a current of an electric motor (1) is mounted; capacitors (31) for absorbing a ripple of the current; a control board (29), on which a microcomputer (33) for generating a drive signal for controlling the bridge circuit is mounted; and a connection member formed by insert molding high-current conductive plates (24 and 25), through which a high current flows, and signal conductive plates (26), to/from which a low-current signal is input/output, with a frame (23a) made of an insulating resin provided in proximity to an outer periphery of the metal board (22), in which the capacitors (31) are arranged in a row along an end surface of one side of the metal board (22) and are electrically connected to the high-current conductive plates (24).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2008
    Publication date: November 25, 2010
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 7828112
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus in which, when an abnormality is generated in an electric power steering apparatus, an assist is reduced smaller than normal when a steering burden is estimated to be small; and the assist can be increased to normal and the steering burden can be sufficiently reduced when the steering burden is estimated to be large. When an abnormality is detected, an assist command is set smaller than at a normal time when there is no abnormality in a first range where the steering burden estimated by the steering burden estimation unit is small; the assist command is increased to that at a normal time in a second range where the steering burden estimated by the steering burden estimation unit is larger than the first range; and an assist torque of a motor is controlled in response to the assist command at the abnormal time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2010
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Noriyuki Inoue, Chiaki Fujimoto, Takayuki Kifuku, Masahiro Kimata, Kazumichi Tsutsumi
  • Patent number: 7791888
    Abstract: An electronic control apparatus can be reduced in size and cost by eliminating certain parts such as a power board, etc. The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink attached to one end of the housing, semiconductor switching elements mounted on the heat sink, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink, and a plurality of conductive plates electrically connecting the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements. The heat sink is composed of a heat sink main body, and an anodized aluminum film formed at least on a surface of the heat sink main body at a side at which the power device is mounted thereon, and the heat sink main body has outer peripheral end faces arranged in opposition to inner wall surfaces of an opening portion of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2010
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 7751193
    Abstract: An electronic control apparatus can be reduced in size and cost by eliminating certain component parts such as a power board, etc. The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink, semiconductor switching elements having terminals and mounted on the heat sink, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink, conductive plates connecting between the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements, and a cover receiving the semiconductor switching elements and the circuit board in cooperation with the heat sink. The conductive plates have the press-fit terminal portions press-fitted into the through holes in the circuit board, and the individual conductive plates are arranged along a lead-out direction in which the individual terminals of the semiconductor switching elements lead out, and are bonded to the individual terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Publication number: 20100060222
    Abstract: An electric motor control apparatus that can quickly and accurately locate a short-circuit fault point. The electric motor control apparatus includes: a current controller determining respective phase voltage commands according to currents flowing in respective phases of an electric motor and a torque current command; a switching element drive circuit instructing, based on the respective phase voltage commands, an inverter to perform a switching operation; the inverter receiving a switching operation signal to drive the electric motor; current detectors disposed in series with the switching elements in the respective phases of the inverter; and a short-circuit point locating mechanism storing a test pattern indicative of a predetermined combination for turning on the switching elements of the inverter, and locating a short-circuit fault point based on the test pattern and current detection values in the respective phases detected by the current detectors in response to the test pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Publication date: March 11, 2010
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Kazumichi Tsutsumi, Chiaki Fujimoto, Noriyuki Inoue
  • Publication number: 20090084616
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus in which, when an abnormality is generated in an electric power steering apparatus, an assist is reduced smaller than normal when a steering burden is estimated to be small; and the assist can be increased to normal and the steering burden can be sufficiently reduced when the steering burden is estimated to be large. When an abnormality is detected, an assist command is set smaller than at a normal time when there is no abnormality in a first range where the steering burden estimated by the steering burden estimation unit is small; the assist command is increased to that at a normal time in a second range where the steering burden estimated by the steering burden estimation unit is larger than the first range; and an assist torque of a motor is controlled in response to the assist command at the abnormal time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2007
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Noriyuki Inoue, Chiaki Fujimoto, Takayuki Kifuku, Masahiro Kimata, Kazumichi Tsutsumi
  • Publication number: 20090021207
    Abstract: A control apparatus for a multiphase AC electric motor having an inverter includes a current control including an abnormal-state current controller; an abnormal-state detector that detects an abnormal state of any of a wire of an electric motor, a wire of an inverter, and a wire connecting the electric motor to the inverter as an abnormal phase; and an abnormal phase disconnect. The abnormal phase disconnect disconnects one or more of phases detected to be in an abnormal-state and the abnormal-state current controller generates an abnormal state voltage command in accordance with detection of an abnormal state, and uses phases other than the disconnected phases of the inverter to control individual currents of the phases, with the abnormal-state voltage command used as a multiphase voltage command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2006
    Publication date: January 22, 2009
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Kazumichi Tsutsumi, Chiaki Fujimoto, Noriyuki Inoue
  • Patent number: 7459879
    Abstract: A control apparatus for an electric motor, in which a current controller giving multiphase voltage commands to a drive circuit for an inverter includes a normal-mode current controller for use in a normal mode, an abnormal-mode current controller for use in an abnormal mode, and an abnormality decision device. In a case of an abnormality occurring to one phase of an electric motor or the inverter, the controller is altered, and the abnormal-mode multiphase voltage commands which are generated by the abnormal-mode current controller are set as the multiphase voltage commands for the inverter drive circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Isao Kezobo, Masahiro Kimata, Kazumichi Tsutsumi, Chiaki Fujimoto, Kouji Fukusumi, Noriyuki Inoue
  • Patent number: 7426122
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling a power converter including a voltage-vector control unit that determines, based on voltage instruction value for the power converter, a voltage vector output from a power converter in one control cycle of pulse width modulation control and times for outputting of the voltage vector, a voltage-vector adjusting unit that adjusts the time of outputting of the voltage vector so that time of outputting of a zero-voltage vector is larger than a fixed time or zero, and a firing-pulse generating unit that generates a signal for turning on and off a semiconductor switching element included in the power converter, based on the time of outputting of the voltage vector adjusted by the voltage-vector adjusting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2008
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiro Kimata, Toshiyuki Kaitani, Akira Imanaka
  • Patent number: 7423391
    Abstract: A power conversion portion (10) and a connection portion (20) converting power between a fuel cell (FC) and a battery (BAT) corresponding to dc power supply and a motor generator (MG) corresponding to an ac machine, are configured of a matrix converter. For a power flow pattern requiring that the dc power supply provide high voltage, a switch (SCd) in the connection portion (20) operates in response to a control signal received from a control device (30) to electrically connect a power supply line (LC) to a power supply line (Ld) to connect the fuel cell (FC) and the battery (BAT) in series.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hichirosai Oyobe, Tetsuhiro Ishikawa, Tsuyoshi Yano, Masahiro Kimata, Gourab Majumdar, Yoshiharu Yu
  • Publication number: 20080158823
    Abstract: An electronic control apparatus can be reduced in size and cost by eliminating certain parts such as a power board, etc. The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink attached to one end of the housing, semiconductor switching elements 2 mounted on the heat sink, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink, and a plurality of conductive plates electrically connecting the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements. The heat sink is composed of a heat sink main body, and an anodized aluminum film formed at least on a surface of the heat sink main body at a side at which the power device is mounted thereon, and the heat sink main body has outer peripheral end faces arranged in opposition to inner wall surfaces of an opening portion of the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2007
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Publication number: 20080158830
    Abstract: An electronic control apparatus can be reduced in size and cost by eliminating certain component parts such as a power board, etc. The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink, semiconductor switching elements having terminals and mounted on the heat sink, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink, conductive plates connecting between the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements, and a cover receiving the semiconductor switching elements and the circuit board in cooperation with the heat sink. The conductive plates have the press-fit terminal portions press-fitted into the through holes in the circuit board, and the individual conductive plates are arranged along a lead-out direction in which the individual terminals of the semiconductor switching elements lead out, and are bonded to the individual terminals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2007
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsutomu TOMINAGA, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Publication number: 20080157680
    Abstract: An electronic control apparatus can be reduced in size and cost, and also improved in the reliability of electrical connection by eliminating certain parts such as a power board, etc. The apparatus includes a housing, a heat sink arranged in the housing, semiconductor switching elements mounted on the heat sink and having terminals, a circuit board arranged in opposition to the heat sink and having an electronic circuit formed thereon including a control circuit for controlling the semiconductor switching elements, and a plurality of conductive plates electrically connecting the circuit board and the semiconductor switching elements to each other. The individual conductive plates are arranged along a lead-out direction in which the individual terminals of the semiconductor switching elements lead out, so that they are bonded to the individual terminals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2007
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tominaga, Masahiro Kimata, Takayuki Kifuku, Shuzo Akiyama, Tadayuki Fujimoto
  • Publication number: 20080024078
    Abstract: A power conversion portion (10) and a connection portion (20) converting power between a fuel cell (FC) and a battery (BAT) corresponding to dc power supply and a motor generator (MG) corresponding to an ac machine, are configured of a matrix converter. For a power flow pattern requiring that the dc power supply provide high voltage, a switch (SCd) in the connection portion (20) operates in response to a control signal received from a control device (30) to electrically connect a power supply line (LC) to a power supply line (Ld) to connect the fuel cell (FC) and the battery (BAT) in series.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 18, 2005
    Publication date: January 31, 2008
    Applicants: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hichirosai Oyobe, Tetsuhiro Ishikawa, Tsuyoshi Yano, Masahiro Kimata, Gourab Majumdar, Yoshiharu Yu