Patents by Inventor Michiro Aoki

Michiro Aoki 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: 20210045195
    Abstract: An infrared radiation device includes a body including a heat generating part and first and second metamaterial structures that are capable of radiating infrared rays having a peak wavelength of a non-Planck distribution upon receipt of thermal energy from the heat generating part. The first metamaterial structure is disposed on a first surface side of the heat generating part, and the second metamaterial structure is disposed on a second surface side opposite to the first surface side of the heat generating part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2020
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Applicants: NGK Insulators, Ltd., National University Corporation Hokkaido University, Niigata University
    Inventors: Michiro AOKI, Yoshio KONDO, Tsuyoshi TOTANI, Atsushi SAKURAI
  • Patent number: 10822292
    Abstract: A method for producing a reaction product, with which the reaction product is obtained from a starting material through a particular organic synthesis reaction, the method includes (a) a step of setting a target wavelength to a peak wavelength of a reaction region involved in the organic synthesis reaction in an infrared absorption spectrum of the starting material; (b) a step of preparing an infrared heater that emits an infrared ray having a peak at the target wavelength from a structure constituted by a metal pattern, a dielectric layer, and a metal substrate stacked in this order from an outer side toward an inner side; and (c) a step of obtaining the reaction product by allowing the organic synthesis reaction to proceed while the infrared ray having a peak at the target wavelength is being applied to the starting material from the infrared heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kousuke Niwa, Yoshio Kondo, Hiroaki Isobe, Michiro Aoki
  • Publication number: 20200122112
    Abstract: An infrared processing device includes an infrared heater including a heating body and a metamaterial structure capable of, when thermal energy is input from the heating body, radiating infrared rays which have a maximum peak of a non-Planck distribution and whose maximum peak has a peak wavelength of 2 ?m or more and 7 ?m or less; an inner tube that surrounds the infrared heater, contains at least one of a fluorine-based material having a C—F bond and calcium fluoride, and transmits infrared rays of the peak wavelength; and an outer tube that surrounds the inner tube and forms, between the inner tube and the outer tube, an object channel through which a processing object is allowed to flow.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventor: Michiro AOKI
  • Publication number: 20200033056
    Abstract: An infrared radiation device includes a radiation portion including a heating portion and a metamaterial structure capable of emitting infrared radiation having a peak wavelength of a non-Planck distribution from a radiation surface when thermal energy is supplied from the heating portion; a reflecting portion that surrounds the radiation portion and reflects the infrared radiation emitted from the metamaterial structure; and an emitting portion having an incident surface on which the infrared radiation reflected by the reflecting portion is incident and an emission surface through which infrared radiation incident on the incident surface is emitted to outside, the emission surface having an area less than an area of the radiation surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Publication date: January 30, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventor: Michiro AOKI
  • Publication number: 20190246457
    Abstract: An infrared heater includes a heater body and a casing. The heater body includes a heating element and a metamaterial structure capable of emitting infrared radiation having a peak wavelength of a non-Planck distribution when thermal energy is supplied from the heating element. The casing has an interior space in which the heater body is disposed and whose pressure is reducible. In addition, the casing includes an infrared radiation transmitting portion capable of transmitting the infrared radiation emitted by the metamaterial structure to an outside of the casing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicants: NGK INSULATORS, LTD., National University Corporation Hokkaido University, National University Corporation Niigata University
    Inventors: Michiro AOKI, Yoshio Kondo, Tsuyoshi Totani, Atsushi Sakurai
  • Publication number: 20190152881
    Abstract: A method for producing a reaction product, with which the reaction product is obtained from a starting material through a particular organic synthesis reaction, the method includes (a) a step of setting a target wavelength to a peak wavelength of a reaction region involved in the organic synthesis reaction in an infrared absorption spectrum of the starting material; (b) a step of preparing an infrared heater that emits an infrared ray having a peak at the target wavelength from a structure constituted by a metal pattern, a dielectric layer, and a metal substrate stacked in this order from an outer side toward an inner side; and (c) a step of obtaining the reaction product by allowing the organic synthesis reaction to proceed while the infrared ray having a peak at the target wavelength is being applied to the starting material from the infrared heater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2019
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Kousuke NIWA, Yoshio KONDO, Hiroaki ISOBE, Michiro AOKI
  • Patent number: 9188386
    Abstract: A method of drying a coating film formed on a surface of a PET film includes radiating an infrared ray having a dominant wavelength of 3.5 ?m or less from an infrared heater onto a PET film on whose surface the coating film containing water or an organic solvent having an absorption spectrum of 3.5 ?m or less has been formed, where the infrared heater has a structure such that an outer circumference of a filament is covered with a protection tube, and a partition wall for forming a flow passageway of a cooling fluid that restrains rise in temperature of a heater surface is provided in a space surrounding this protection tube, and bringing cooling air into contact with the surface of the PET film/coating film has been formed, so as to dry the PET film at a temperature lower than a glass transition point of the PET film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuuki Fujita, Yoshio Kondo, Michiro Aoki
  • Patent number: 8983280
    Abstract: A coated film drying furnace for drying a coated film inside a furnace body by conveying the coated film therein, the coated film having an absorption spectrum for electromagnetic waves of 3.5 ?m or less and having hydrogen bonds, such as an electrode coated film for lithium ion battery. Infrared heaters provided inside a furnace body have outer circumferences of filaments concentrically covered by tubes that function as a low pass filter, and have a structure in which a fluid flow passage is formed between the plurality of tubes. Due to this, a temperature rise in the furnace is controlled so as to prevent explosion of an organic solvent vapor, and the coated film is efficiently heated and dried by intensively radiating near infrared rays of 3.5 ?m or less that have superior ability to cut off the intermolecular hydrogen bonds onto a work.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuuki Fujita, Yoshio Kondo, Michiro Aoki
  • Publication number: 20120328272
    Abstract: A coated film drying furnace for drying a coated film inside a furnace body by conveying the coated film therein, the coated film having an absorption spectrum for electromagnetic waves of 3.5 ?m or less and having hydrogen bonds, such as an electrode coated film for lithium ion battery. Infrared heaters provided inside a furnace body have outer circumferences of filaments concentrically covered by tubes that function as a low pass filter, and have a structure in which a fluid flow passage is formed at 16 between the plurality of tubes. Due to this, a temperature rise in the furnace is controlled so as to prevent explosion of an organic solvent vapor, and the coated film is efficiently heated and dried by intensively radiating near infrared rays of 3.5 ?m or less that have superior ability to cut off the intermolecular hydrogen bonds onto a work.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2012
    Publication date: December 27, 2012
    Applicant: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuuki Fujita, Yoshio Kondo, Michiro Aoki
  • Publication number: 20080304941
    Abstract: The present invention intends to provide a baking apparatus for PDP capable of realizing an improvement in productivity while minimizing an increase in a factory space. In a baking furnace 2 for performing heat treatment while conveying substrates 4, conveying means 6 of multiple stages for conveying substrates are provided. The conveying means 6 adjacent in an up and down direction are divided with heat insulating partitions 7 provided between them so as to form a multi-stage furnace, and heating means 9 are provided appropriately to the heat insulating partitions 7. In each furnace of the multi-stage furnace, a heating area, a keeping area and a cooling area are formed in order in the traveling direction of the conveying means, whereby baking of plasma display panels is performed in multiple stages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2004
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Inventors: Makoto Morita, Masanori Suzuki, Hiroyasu Tuji, Michiro Aoki, Hirohito Adachi
  • Publication number: 20060246390
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a carrying mechanism usable for successively carrying a plurality of articles to be heated in a heat treating furnace for heat treating the articles. The carrying mechanism of the present invention has wire materials 5 provided to be moved relative to the heat treating furnace and carries the articles 10 by placing the articles 10 on the wire materials 5 and moving the wire materials 5.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2004
    Publication date: November 2, 2006
    Inventors: Michiro Aoki, Yoshio Kondo, Toshio Itou
  • Patent number: 6998578
    Abstract: A baking system for a plasma display panel which comprises a clean room 1 and a baking furnace having an upper passage 11 for conveying a plasma display panel glass substrate 5 during baking from an inlet 15 of the furnace 3, and a lower passage 13 for conveying the baked substrate 5 in the upper passage 11 towards an outlet of the furnace 3, both of the inlet and the outlet being provided at the same end of the furnace 3, characterized in that only the inlet 15 and the outlet 17 are connected to a clean room 1, while keeping a body thereof outside the clean room 1. Also, there is disclosed a layout method for such a baking system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignees: NGK Insulators, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Tsuji, Makoto Morita, Masanori Suzuki, Hihuo Noiri, Michiro Aoki, Takahiro Takeda
  • Publication number: 20030232562
    Abstract: A baking system for a plasma display panel which comprises a clean room 1 and a baking furnace having an upper passage 11 for conveying a plasma display panel glass substrate 5 during baking from an inlet 15 of the furnace 3, and a lower passage 13 for conveying the baked substrate 5 in the upper passage 11 towards an outlet of the furnace 3, both of the inlet and the outlet being provided at the same end of the furnace 3, characterized in that only the inlet 15 and the outlet 17 are connected to a clean room 1, while keeping a body thereof outside the clean room 1. Also, there is disclosed a layout method for such a baking system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Publication date: December 18, 2003
    Applicants: NGK Insulators, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Tsuji, Makoto Morita, Masanori Suzuki, Hihuo Noiri, Michiro Aoki, Takahiro Takeda
  • Patent number: 5065009
    Abstract: A method for detecting roller breakdowns in a roller hearth kiln is provided, wherein: a light shielder is provided at the follower end of each roller in said roller hearth kiln, and two sets of light transmitters and two sets of light receivers are provided on two straight lines between which the axis of rotation of each shielder is positioned, whereby whenever light rays transmitted from said two sets of light transmitters to said two sets of light receivers are not periodically put on and off, at least one of said rollers is taken as breaking down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 12, 1991
    Inventor: Michiro Aoki