Patents by Inventor Michio Yoshida

Michio Yoshida 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: 20120190490
    Abstract: A power transmission belt low in cost and preventing work precision from being lowered and life expectancy of a metal press working mold from being decreased and a method of producing such a power transmission belt are provided. The power transmission belt includes endless band-like rings, and a plurality of elements bonded into an annular shape by the endless band-like rings. Each of the elements has both side end surface portions pressed between pulleys in the belt width direction, a rocking edge portion serving as a fulcrum when rocked in the state that the elements are partly wound around the pulleys, and a concave-convex portion engageable in concave-convex engagement with the concave-convex portions of a pair of neighboring elements. Each of the elements is formed with a curved inclination surface between the rocking edge portion and the concave-convex portion to have an inclination angle reduced toward the concave-convex portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2009
    Publication date: July 26, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuro Morino, Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20120115057
    Abstract: A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell and a motor connected to the fuel cell, and also comprising a converter connected between the fuel cell and the motor, the converter adjusting output of the fuel cell to output to the motor, and a controller that controls the fuel cell and the converter. The controller outputs, to the converter, request power or a request voltage based on an operation state of the fuel cell, and the converter selectively performs an output feedback control that performs an adjustment of supply power to be output to the motor such that the output request power is satisfied or a voltage feedback control that performs an adjustment of an output voltage to be output to the motor such that the output request voltage is satisfied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2009
    Publication date: May 10, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20120070756
    Abstract: A fuel cell system is equipped with a fuel cell, a DC/DC converter that is electrically connected to the fuel cell, and a control unit that controls the supply of a fuel gas and an oxidizing gas to the fuel cell and issues a voltage command to and drives the DC/DC converter to perform high potential avoidance control of restraining an output voltage of the fuel cell from exceeding a high potential avoidance voltage lower than an open circuit voltage. The control unit continues to drive the DC/DC converter so as to perform the high potential avoidance control for a predetermined time after stopping supplying the fuel cell with hydrogen and air in response to the inputting of a system operation stop command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2009
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20120021257
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a secondary cell, a voltage transformer, and a control portion. The control portion charges the secondary cell with surplus electric power at the time of starting the fuel cell, and adjusts voltage of the fuel cell between an open-circuit voltage and a high-potential-avoiding voltage in the case where the secondary cell is expected to become overcharged while the output voltage of the fuel cell is decreased from the open-circuit voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage. The foregoing case is at least one of the case where a passage electric power that passes through the voltage transformer exceeds a secondary cell-charging-purpose permitted-to-pass electric power, the case where the input electric power restriction value for the secondary cell is exceeded, and the case where amount of regeneration by the mover that is charged is not restricted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Atsushi Imai, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20120019191
    Abstract: A fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas, and a control portion that controls amount of electricity generation at a time of starting the fuel cell, characterized in that the control portion has voltage drop control means for controlling speed of dropping a starting voltage of the fuel cell from an open-circuit voltage to a high-potential-avoiding voltage according to an initial voltage of the fuel cell and to a pre-determined threshold voltage that is lower than the high-potential-avoiding voltage, when the starting voltage of the fuel cell is dropped from the open-circuit voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 26, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Atsushi Imai, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20120015268
    Abstract: A fuel cell system that includes a fuel cell that generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas, and a control portion that determines whether there is leakage of the fuel gas. The control portion has start means for starting the fuel cell by raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to an operation voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage, and leakage determination means for determining whether there is leakage of the fuel gas before the voltage of the fuel cell reaches the operation voltage when the fuel cell is started.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Kenji Umayahara, Atsushi Imai
  • Publication number: 20120013289
    Abstract: A fuel cell system starts a fuel cell by setting the voltage supplied to a secondary cell from a voltage transformer at an open-circuit voltage of the fuel cell, and raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to the open-circuit voltage, in the case where the secondary cell is expected to be overcharged if the secondary cell receives electric power. In the case where the secondary cell is not expected to be overcharged if the secondary cell receives electric power, the system starts the fuel cell by setting the voltage supplied from the voltage transformer at a high-potential-avoiding voltage that is lower than the open-circuit voltage of the fuel cell at or after the elapse of a predetermined time following the output of a command to close an FC relay, and raising the voltage of the fuel cell from the starting voltage to the high-potential-avoiding voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Atsushi Imai, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20120013183
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a secondary cell; a voltage converter provided between the secondary cell and a load; a fuel cell; an FC relay that turns on and off electrical connection between the fuel cell and the shared electrical path; an electrical-leakage detector that detects electrical leakage in an electrical system; and a control portion that performs determination regarding electrical leakage. The control portion has: start means for starting the fuel cell by raising voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to an operation voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage; and electrical leakage determination means for performing the determination regarding electrical leakage after a predetermined time elapses, when the FC relay is closed while a voltage difference between the voltage of the fuel cell and voltage supplied from the voltage converter to the load is greater than a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Tadaichi Matsumoto, Atsushi Imai, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20120015267
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell that has a plurality of fuel unit cells, and a control portion that controls voltage of the fuel cell. The control portion has: start means for starting the fuel cell by raising the voltage of the fuel cell from a starting voltage to a high-potential-avoiding voltage that is lower than an open-circuit voltage; and command means for further raising the voltage of the fuel cell beyond the high-potential-avoiding voltage if cell voltage of at least one of the plurality of fuel unit cells is lower than or equal to a certain voltage after a certain time elapses after the voltage of the fuel cell is raised to the high-potential-avoiding voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 19, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Atsushi Imai, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20120007545
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell, a secondary cell, and a control portion that controls the amount of electricity generated when the fuel cell is started. A start-time target voltage is set so as to avoid the overcharged state of the secondary cell. A voltage adjustment portion that adjusts the output voltage of the fuel cell between an open-circuit voltage and a high-potential-avoiding voltage adjusts the amount of electricity generated at the time of starting the fuel cell, on the basis of the start-time target voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: January 12, 2012
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Atsushi Imai
  • Patent number: 8084151
    Abstract: When an output voltage of a fuel cell is lowered to carry out a catalyst activation process so as to activate a catalyst during an intermittent operation of the fuel cell, if generated power P1 exceeds allowed battery charge power, while generated power P2 does not exceed the allowed battery charge power, then low speed corresponding to the generated power P2 is selected and the output voltage of the fuel cell is decreased toward a target voltage on the basis of the low speed, which has been selected, thereby restraining sudden generation of surplus power caused by a reduction in the output voltage of the fuel cell. By the control described above, a voltage reduction speed of a fuel cell is determined according to a receiving capability of an object which receives surplus power generated by the fuel cell during the catalyst activation process of the fuel cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Umayahara, Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20110308912
    Abstract: To provide a lubricating device which can be made compact. In a lubricating device 1-1, as a clutch engagement pressure increases, the degree of opening of a flow rate adjusting valve 13 is mechanically increased. Thus, as the clutch engagement pressure increases, the flow rate of an oil sucked from an oil pan 12 to a suction portion 11b of a jet pump 11 is increased. Therefore, as the clutch engagement pressure increases, the flow rate of the oil ejected from an ejection portion 11d of the jet pump 11 is increased. That is, as the clutch engagement pressure increases, the flow rate of the oil for lubricating a lubrication portion 20a of a friction clutch 20 is increased. Accordingly, even if a torque/oil flow rate conversion mechanism, for example, a torque sensor is not used, the flow rate of the oil ejected from the jet pump 11 can be changed only by a flow rate adjusting valve 13. With the configuration, the device can be made compact.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2009
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenta Kimura, Yuji Hattori, Michio Yoshida
  • Patent number: 7918753
    Abstract: A hydraulic control unit (18), for a power transmission system having an oil receiving device (26,37), which controls a power transmitting condition of the power transmission system, and an oil reserving device for feeding the oil to the oil receiving device, wherein the oil reserving device comprises a piston (59) in which a diametrically large portion and a diametrically small portion are arranged integrally and coaxially, a first hydraulic chamber (57) in which the diametrically large portion, and a second hydraulic chamber (58) in which the diametrically small portion are housed liquid-tightly and movably back and forth; and an oil feeding amount control device for feeding the oil of the first hydraulic chamber to the oil receiving device, by raising the oil pressure in the second hydraulic chamber (58) to operate the piston (59).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2011
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akira Murakami, Makoto Funahashi, Shinichi Ito, Toshihiro Aoyama, Michio Yoshida, Ryuji Ibaraki, Takashi Kuwabara, Toshiya Yamashita
  • Publication number: 20110033762
    Abstract: A fuel battery system which can suppress unexpected variation of a target power during execution of a high potential avoidance control operation. The fuel battery system sets a high potential avoidance target voltage value, converts the high potential avoidance target voltage value into a target power value on the basis of the voltage-power property map of a fuel battery, limits the target power value within a range between a predetermined upper limit value and a predetermined lower limit value, and controls the operation of the fuel battery on the basis of the target power value while limiting the output voltage of the fuel battery to a value which is not larger than the high potential avoidance target voltage. This can suppress the unexpected variation of the target power value resulting from the erroneous estimation of output properties caused by the momentary drop of the high potential avoidance target voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2008
    Publication date: February 10, 2011
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20110018491
    Abstract: In order to more rapidly warm up a battery device in a power supply equipped with a fuel cell and a battery device, a fuel-cell-mounted vehicle driving system for driving and controlling a rotating electric machine installed on a vehicle comprises an inverter connected to the rotating electric machine; a power supply circuit having a battery device, a voltage converter, and a fuel cell; and a power supply control device for controlling the power supply circuit. The power supply control device includes an FC output voltage setting module for setting the output voltage of the fuel cell, an OCV avoidance module for, when an FC output voltage is set, avoiding a voltage around an OCV, a battery warm-up control determination module for determining whether the battery device is under warm-up control or not, and an OCV avoidance release module for, when the battery device is under the warm-up control, releasing the OCV avoidance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2009
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Takeshi Maenaka
  • Publication number: 20110016693
    Abstract: To assemble a belt including a plurality of elements and a ring for fastening the element efficiently. A belt assembling apparatus for fastening a plurality of plate-like elements being juxtaposed in a same orientation annularly by a ring includes a load applying mechanism, which applies a load to the ring or to the elements which have already been fastened by the ring during a process of fastening the elements sequentially by the ring, thereby widening a clearance in an array of the elements being fastened by the ring. Therefore, the clearance to which the last piece of the element to be fastened by the ring is inserted can be widened relatively so that the element is allowed to be inserted into the clearance easily.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2009
    Publication date: January 27, 2011
    Applicant: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Daisuke Kobayashi, Shinya Kuwabara
  • Publication number: 20110014536
    Abstract: The invention prevents a fuel cell from going into a high-voltage state upon activation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2009
    Publication date: January 20, 2011
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Michio Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20100316921
    Abstract: A fuel cell system capable of providing a suitable power distribution is provided. A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell that generates electric power through an electrochemical reaction between a fuel gas and an oxidant gas; a motor that can be driven upon the supply of electric power and can generate regenerative power; a power storage unit which can be charged with power generated from the fuel cell and regenerative power of the motor and can discharge charge power to the motor; an auxiliary apparatus used for operating at least the fuel cell; and a control unit that controls a power distribution between the above components.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2008
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Kenji Umayahara
  • Publication number: 20100279187
    Abstract: There is disclosed a fuel cell system having a motor which can be driven and generate a regenerative power by receiving the supply of a power, wherein an influence on power supply control is decreased.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2008
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Tomoya Ogawa
  • Publication number: 20100280696
    Abstract: Provided is a vehicle skid control device that avoids a skid erroneous judgment in a high revolution range of a motor. The vehicle skid control device detects the number of revolutions of the motor. When the number of revolutions of the motor is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value Nm, the vehicle skid control device prohibits a skid judgment. When the number of revolutions of the motor is smaller than the predetermined threshold value Nm, the vehicle skid control device permits the skid judgment. When the number of revolutions of the motor is equal to or larger than the threshold value Nm, the skid judgment is prohibited. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid the skid erroneous judgment in the high revolution range with the number of revolutions equal to or larger than Nm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2008
    Publication date: November 4, 2010
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Michio Yoshida, Kenji Umayahara, Tomoyuki Nishida