Patents by Inventor Masatomo Yoshihara

Masatomo Yoshihara 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: 11401885
    Abstract: An engine unit includes an engine including a cylinder injection valve that sprays fuel into a combustion chamber and an ignition plug that is able to ignite fuel sprayed from the cylinder injection valve. When expansion stroke injection drive of performing final fuel injection from the cylinder injection valve in an expansion stroke and igniting the fuel using the ignition plug in synchronization with the fuel injection in the expansion stroke is performed, upper and lower limits of an ignition timing are guarded such that the ignition timing is in a predetermined range centered on a final fuel injection start timing at a final determination timing of the ignition timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masatomo Yoshihara, Taejin Yoon, Naoki Hayashima, Masanao Idogawa, Takahiro Uchida
  • Patent number: 11313314
    Abstract: A control apparatus of an internal combustion engine is provided. The internal combustion engine includes a port injection valve that injects fuel into an intake-air port, and a cylinder injection valve that injects fuel into a cylinder. The control apparatus includes an electronic control unit that controls the port injection valve and the cylinder injection valve such that when returning from a fuel cut, a value of a port increase amount correction, which is a fuel increase amount correction in which a fuel amount is decreased with a lapse of time during a port injection, differs from a value of a cylinder increase amount correction, which is a fuel increase amount correction in which a fuel amount is decreased with a lapse of time during a cylinder injection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiromitsu Seo, Masatomo Yoshihara, Masanao Idogawa, Takahiro Uchida, Motohiro Sugimoto
  • Publication number: 20220018305
    Abstract: An engine unit includes an engine including a cylinder injection valve that sprays fuel into a combustion chamber and an ignition plug that is able to ignite fuel sprayed from the cylinder injection valve. When expansion stroke injection drive of performing final fuel injection from the cylinder injection valve in an expansion stroke and igniting the fuel using the ignition plug in synchronization with the fuel injection in the expansion stroke is performed, upper and lower limits of an ignition timing are guarded such that the ignition timing is in a predetermined range centered on a final fuel injection start timing at a final determination timing of the ignition timing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2021
    Publication date: January 20, 2022
    Inventors: Masatomo YOSHIHARA, Taejin YOON, Naoki HAYASHIMA, Masanao IDOGAWA, Takahiro UCHIDA
  • Publication number: 20210404409
    Abstract: A control apparatus of an internal combustion engine is provided. The internal combustion engine includes a port injection valve that injects fuel into an intake-air port, and a cylinder injection valve that injects fuel into a cylinder. The control apparatus includes an electronic control unit that controls the port injection valve and the cylinder injection valve such that when returning from a fuel cut, a value of a port increase amount correction, which is a fuel increase amount correction in which a fuel amount is decreased with a lapse of time during a port injection, differs from a value of a cylinder increase amount correction, which is a fuel increase amount correction in which a fuel amount is decreased with a lapse of time during a cylinder injection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Inventors: Hiromitsu SEO, Masatomo YOSHIHARA, Masanao IDOGAWA, Takahiro UCHIDA, Motohiro SUGIMOTO
  • Patent number: 10837387
    Abstract: An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki Hayashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Murakami
  • Patent number: 10683821
    Abstract: An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki Hayashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Murakami
  • Publication number: 20190178222
    Abstract: An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki HAYASHIMA, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Murakami
  • Publication number: 20190178221
    Abstract: An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki HAYASHIMA, Masatomo YOSHIHARA, Koji MURAKAMI
  • Publication number: 20180230959
    Abstract: An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Publication date: August 16, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoki Hayashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Koji Murakami
  • Patent number: 9031767
    Abstract: An electronic control device is applied to an internal combustion engine including an engine driving pump, circulates lubricant by use of a driving force of the internal combustion engine, and reduces that driving load of the pump which works on the internal combustion engine, by executing a low-pressure control to limit a circulation amount of the lubricant when demand for the lubricant is small. Further, when a predetermined automatic stop condition is established, an engine operation is stopped automatically, and when a predetermined restart condition is established during the automatic stop, the internal combustion engine is restarted. Further, the execution of the low-pressure control is prohibited at the time of starting the internal combustion engine along with an operation of an ignition switch, but the execution of the low-pressure control is allowed at the time of restarting the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatomo Yoshihara, Shoichi Kuwayama
  • Patent number: 9005082
    Abstract: An ECU increases an engine rotation speed when the ECU determines that an inclination angle of an uphill is larger than or equal to a predetermined value, an accelerator is off and a vehicle speed in a direction opposite to a travelling direction of a vehicle, indicated by a specified range, is increasing. Subsequently, the ECU acquires an engine stall predicted vehicle speed, and calculates a predetermined value used in an immediate engine stall determination condition from a current rate of increase per unit time of a turbine rotation speed. Then, the ECU determines that immediate engine stall determination is affirmative when a rotation speed difference between the engine rotation speed and the turbine rotation speed becomes smaller than the predetermined value, and executes engine stall prevention control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Okamura, Takao Nishimura, Masatomo Yoshihara, Fumikazu Satou
  • Publication number: 20140287873
    Abstract: An ECU increases an engine rotation speed when the ECU determines that an inclination angle of an uphill is larger than or equal to a predetermined value, an accelerator is off and a vehicle speed in a direction opposite to a travelling direction of a vehicle, indicated by a specified range, is increasing. Subsequently, the ECU acquires an engine stall predicted vehicle speed, and calculates a predetermined value used in an immediate engine stall determination condition from a current rate of increase per unit time of a turbine rotation speed. Then, the ECU determines that immediate engine stall determination is affirmative when a rotation speed difference between the engine rotation speed and the turbine rotation speed becomes smaller than the predetermined value, and executes engine stall prevention control.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Publication date: September 25, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koji Okamura, Takao Nishimura, Masatomo Yoshihara, Fumikazu Satou
  • Publication number: 20140244140
    Abstract: An electronic control device is applied to an internal combustion engine including an engine driving pump, circulates lubricant by use of a driving force of the internal combustion engine, and reduces that driving load of the pump which works on the internal combustion engine, by executing a low-pressure control to limit a circulation amount of the lubricant when demand for the lubricant is small. Further, when a predetermined automatic stop condition is established, an engine operation is stopped automatically, and when a predetermined restart condition is established during the automatic stop, the internal combustion engine is restarted. Further, the execution of the low-pressure control is prohibited at the time of starting the internal combustion engine along with an operation of an ignition switch, but the execution of the low-pressure control is allowed at the time of restarting the internal combustion engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2011
    Publication date: August 28, 2014
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masatomo Yoshihara, Shoichi Kuwayama
  • Patent number: 8676478
    Abstract: Target rotation speed at a reference point set at TDC slightly preceding a target stop position of engine rotation is set. A target trajectory of an engine rotation behavior extending since an engine rotation stop behavior starts until the target rotation speed at the reference point is reached is calculated based on the target rotation speed at the reference point and an engine friction. Torque of an alternator is controlled to conform the engine rotation behavior to the target trajectory during the engine rotation stop behavior. Generation of the torque of the alternator stops at a position preceding the reference point by a predetermined crank angle. Therefore, the torque of the alternator is controlled such that an energy deviation between the target trajectory and the engine rotation behavior becomes zero at the position preceding the reference point by the predetermined crank angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Nakai, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kouji Okamura
  • Patent number: 8302462
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes operations including: extracting vibration intensities of a plurality of frequency bands from vibration detected by a knock sensor, multiplying the extracted vibration intensity of each frequency band by a weight coefficient and adding the results in correspondence with crank angles to calculate integrated values of every five degrees; calculating a coefficient of correlation based on a result of comparison between a vibration waveform of a frequency band and a knock waveform model prepared in advance; calculating a knock intensity; determining occurrence of knocking in accordance with the calculated coefficient of correlation and the knock intensity; and determining no occurrence of knocking in accordance with the calculated coefficient of correlation and the knock intensity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Norihito Hanai, Yasuhiro Yamasako, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 8205489
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including: detecting a magnitude of vibration of an engine; detecting a vibration waveform of the engine based on the magnitude; calculating a correlation coefficient, in the case where the engine speed is smaller than a threshold value, using the sum of values each determined by subtracting a positive reference value from a magnitude of a knock waveform model, as an area of the knock waveform model and, calculating the correlation coefficient, in the case where the engine speed is not smaller than the threshold value, using the area of the whole knock waveform model; and determining whether or not knocking has occurred using the correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient is calculated by dividing by the area the sum of differences that are each the difference between the magnitude on the vibration waveform and the magnitude on the knock waveform model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Norihito Hanai, Yasuhiro Yamasako, Yuichi Takemura
  • Patent number: 8042381
    Abstract: A knocking judgement method for an internal combustion engine, in which an engine ECU executes a program judging whether or not such ones of integrated values calculated by integrating the output of a knock sensor at every five degrees of a crank angle are larger than a tentative knock judgement value, in vibrations of a fourth frequency band containing the resonance frequency of the engine, tentatively judging that a knocking has occurred, in case the integrated value larger than the tentative knock judgement value is a predetermined number or more, and judging that no knocking has occurred, in case the integrated value larger than the tentative knock judgement value is not more than the predetermined number.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Patent number: 8020429
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program including calculating a correlation coefficient by dividing the sum of respective absolute values, which are each a difference between a magnitude in an engine vibration waveform and a magnitude in a knock waveform model for every crank angle, by an area corresponding to magnitudes equal to or larger than a positive reference value in the knock waveform model, and determining whether or not knocking has occurred based on the correlation coefficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Rihito Kaneko, Kenji Kasashima, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Norihito Hanai, Yasuhiro Yamasako, Yuuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Patent number: 8005607
    Abstract: An engine ECU executes a program that includes: calculating a median value and a standard deviation based on a calculated value based on the detected vibration of the engine; and subtracting a product of the standard deviation and a coefficient from the median value to calculate a magnitude of mechanical vibration specific to the engine. Knocking determination is carried out by comparing a knock magnitude calculated by dividing the magnitude value of the peak magnitude of the detected vibration of the engine by the magnitude of mechanical vibration specific to the engine with a predetermined determination value. Based on the knocking determination result, ignition timing of the engine is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Kasashima, Rihito Kaneko, Koji Aso, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe
  • Patent number: 8000884
    Abstract: A device and associated method for controlling ignition timing of an internal combustion engine are provided. By comparing a determination value and knock magnitude, determination of knocking is made, and ignition timing is advanced or retarded. The device includes an operation unit that sets a correction amount of the determination value to a value corresponding to a degree of change of the determination value over time. The operation unit calculates, at a first timing, a first value related to an average value of the determination values; and calculates, at a second timing later than the first timing, a second value related to the average value of the determination values. The degree of change of the determination value is calculated as a difference between the first value and the second value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Denso Corporation, Nippon Soken, Inc.
    Inventors: Koji Aso, Kenji Kasashima, Rihito Kaneko, Masatomo Yoshihara, Kenji Senda, Yuichi Takemura, Shuhei Oe