Patents by Inventor Mikihito TOKUDI
Mikihito TOKUDI 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: 11530833Abstract: An environmental control system for a building space including heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) equipment that operates to control a temperature of the building space. The system includes lighting equipment that operates to control a luminosity and affect a heat load disturbance for the building space. The system includes an environmental controller including a processing circuit configured to predict the heat load disturbance based on potential operating states of the lighting equipment over a time period. The heat load disturbance affects the temperature of the building space. The processing circuit is configured to generate control decisions for the HVAC and lighting equipment based on the predicted heat load disturbance and subject to constraints on the temperature and luminosity of the building space. The processing circuit is configured to operate the HVAC and lighting equipment based on the control decisions.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 2019Date of Patent: December 20, 2022Assignee: Johnson Controls Tyco IP Holdings LLPInventors: Mikihito Tokudi, Serdar Suindykov, Mohammad N. Elbsat
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Patent number: 11231185Abstract: An air conditioner provided which has: a main refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, a first expansion valve, and a utilization side heat exchanger and configured such that refrigerant flows in the main refrigerant circuit; a sub refrigerant circuit including a cooling member configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the cooling member and configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the sub refrigerant circuit; and a heat generator to be cooled by the cooling member, wherein a pipe in which part of refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows is connected to the cooling member of the sub refrigerant circuit.Type: GrantFiled: April 1, 2019Date of Patent: January 25, 2022Assignee: HITACHI-JOHNSON CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONING, INC.Inventors: Mikihito Tokudi, Gen Yasuda, Takanori Isogawa, Kazuhiro Tsuchihashi, Hiroyuki Ogisu
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Patent number: 11204181Abstract: An air conditioner provided which has: a main refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, a first expansion valve, and a utilization side heat exchanger and configured such that refrigerant flows in the main refrigerant circuit; a sub refrigerant circuit including a cooling member configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the cooling member and configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the sub refrigerant circuit; and a heat generator to be cooled by the cooling member, wherein a pipe in which part of refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows is connected to the cooling member of the sub refrigerant circuit.Type: GrantFiled: April 1, 2019Date of Patent: December 21, 2021Assignee: HITACHI-JOHNSON CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONING, INC.Inventors: Mikihito Tokudi, Gen Yasuda, Takanori Isogawa, Kazuhiro Tsuchihashi, Hiroyuki Ogisu
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Publication number: 20210190355Abstract: An environmental control system for a building space including heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) equipment that operates to control a temperature of the building space. The system includes lighting equipment that operates to control a luminosity and affect a heat load disturbance for the building space. The system includes an environmental controller including a processing circuit configured to predict the heat load disturbance based on potential operating states of the lighting equipment over a time period. The heat load disturbance affects the temperature of the building space. The processing circuit is configured to generate control decisions for the HVAC and lighting equipment based on the predicted heat load disturbance and subject to constraints on the temperature and luminosity of the building space. The processing circuit is configured to operate the HVAC and lighting equipment based on the control decisions.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 18, 2019Publication date: June 24, 2021Applicant: Johnson Controls Technology CompanyInventors: MIKIHITO TOKUDI, SERDAR SUINDYKOV, MOHAMMAD N. ELBSAT
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Patent number: 10907902Abstract: A heat exchanger includes: a gas-side port connected to piping for a gaseous refrigerant; a liquid-side port connected to piping for a liquid refrigerant; a refrigerant path that links the gas-side port to the liquid-side port; at least four heat exchange part regions that perform heat exchange between air and the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant path; and a branching and merging part that branches and merges the refrigerant path to connect the heat exchange part regions in series between the gas-side port and the liquid-side port through the refrigerant path. The heat exchange part regions are connected to each other through the branching and merging part so as to allow the number of refrigerant paths provided in the heat exchange part region near the gas-side port to be greater than the number of refrigerant paths provided in the heat exchange part region near the liquid-side port.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 2015Date of Patent: February 2, 2021Assignee: HITACHI-JOHNSON CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONING, INC.Inventors: Mikihito Tokudi, Koji Naito, Kazumoto Urata, Kenji Matsumura, Kazuhiko Tani, Masayoshi Murofushi, Takumi Kamiaka
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Patent number: 10670311Abstract: The present invention provides a heat exchanger having a heat exchanging portion HE including a plurality of paths through which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of columns of fin plate that exchange heat between the refrigerant and air, wherein, in a case where the heat exchanging portion functions as a condenser, the refrigerant is flown from a header into the heat exchanging portion HE via the plurality of paths, every two paths of the plurality of paths merge into one single path by branching/merging pipes after the refrigerant has flown through one fin plate, before the refrigerant flows through the other fin plate so as to flow out of the heat exchanging portion HE, wherein a difference in height between the highest path and the lowest path in a vertical direction is set equal to or less than half of a height of the heat exchanging portion HE.Type: GrantFiled: May 26, 2016Date of Patent: June 2, 2020Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.Inventors: Kenji Matsumura, Kazumoto Urata, Koji Naito, Mikihito Tokudi
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Patent number: 10386871Abstract: The air conditioner has a configuration such that, in an air-warming operation: the average refrigerant exit temperature, which is obtained by averaging the temperature of the refrigerant exits of indoor heat exchangers 7 in a plurality of indoor units 10, as detected by heat-exchanger-refrigerant-exit temperature probes 34 in the indoor units 10, is determined; the temperature difference between the average refrigerant exit temperature and the refrigerant exit temperatures of the indoor heat exchangers 7 of each of the indoor units 10 is determined; and the degree to which indoor expansion valves 9 of the indoor units 10 are open is controlled such that the determined temperature difference falls within a predetermined temperature difference range.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2016Date of Patent: August 20, 2019Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.Inventors: Mikihito Tokudi, Kazuhiko Tani, Yoshiyuki Akiyama, Masami Inaba, Takafumi Ota
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Publication number: 20190226691Abstract: An air conditioner provided which has: a main refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, a first expansion valve, and a utilization side heat exchanger and configured such that refrigerant flows in the main refrigerant circuit; a sub refrigerant circuit including a cooling member configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the cooling member and configured such that refrigerant branched from the main refrigerant circuit flows in the sub refrigerant circuit; and a heat generator to be cooled by the cooling member, wherein a pipe in which part of refrigerant discharged from the compressor flows is connected to the cooling member of the sub refrigerant circuit.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 1, 2019Publication date: July 25, 2019Inventors: Mikihito TOKUDI, Gen YASUDA, Takanori ISOGAWA, Kazuhiro TSUCHIHASHI, Hiroyuki OGISU
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Patent number: 10222108Abstract: The air conditioner has: an outdoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the air and a refrigerant flowing in the interior of this heat exchanger; an outdoor fan that blows air into the outdoor heat exchanger; an outdoor fan motor that rotationally drives the outdoor fan; an outdoor fan inverter that supplies a desired current to the outdoor fan motor; a current detector that detects the current flowing in the outdoor fan motor; and a control unit that controls the outdoor fan inverter such that the rotational frequency of the outdoor fan motor reaches a target rotational frequency. The control unit starts a defrosting operation of the outdoor heat exchanger on the basis of a detection value from the current detector during the heating operation.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2014Date of Patent: March 5, 2019Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.Inventors: Koji Naito, Kazumoto Urata, Kazuhiko Tani, Hiroaki Kaneko, Mikihito Tokudi, Rei Kasahara
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Publication number: 20180259265Abstract: A heat exchanger includes: a gas-side port connected to piping for a gaseous refrigerant; a liquid-side port connected to piping for a liquid refrigerant; a refrigerant path that links the gas-side port to the liquid-side port; at least four heat exchange part regions that perform heat exchange between air and the refrigerant flowing through the refrigerant path; and a branching and merging part that branches and merges the refrigerant path to connect the heat exchange part regions in series between the gas-side port and the liquid-side port through the refrigerant path.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 10, 2015Publication date: September 13, 2018Inventors: Mikihito TOKUDI, Koji NAITO, Kazumoto URATA, Kenji MATSUMURA, Kazuhiko TANI, Masayoshi MUROFUSHI, Takumi KAMIAKA
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Publication number: 20180095483Abstract: The air conditioner has a configuration such that, in an air-warming operation: the average refrigerant exit temperature, which is obtained by averaging the temperature of the refrigerant exits of indoor heat exchangers 7 in a plurality of indoor units 10, as detected by heat-exchanger-refrigerant-exit temperature probes 34 in the indoor units 10, is determined; the temperature difference between the average refrigerant exit temperature and the refrigerant exit temperatures of the indoor heat exchangers 7 of each of the indoor units 10 is determined; and the degree to which indoor expansion valves 9 of the indoor units 10 are open is controlled such that the determined temperature difference falls within a predetermined temperature difference range.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 29, 2016Publication date: April 5, 2018Inventors: Mikihito TOKUDI, Kazuhiko TANI, Yoshiyuki AKIYAMA, Masami INABA, Takafumi OTA
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Publication number: 20170010031Abstract: The air conditioner has: an outdoor heat exchanger that exchanges heat between the air and a refrigerant flowing in the interior of this heat exchanger; an outdoor fan that blows air into the outdoor heat exchanger; an outdoor fan motor that rotationally drives the outdoor fan; an outdoor fan inverter that supplies a desired current to the outdoor fan motor; a current detector that detects the current flowing in the outdoor fan motor; and a control unit that controls the outdoor fan inverter such that the rotational frequency of the outdoor fan motor reaches a target rotational frequency. The control unit starts a defrosting operation of the outdoor heat exchanger on the basis of a detection value from the current detector during the heating operation.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2014Publication date: January 12, 2017Inventors: Koji NAITO, Kazumoto URATA, Kazuhiko TANI, Hiroaki KANEKO, Mikihito TOKUDI, Rei KASAHARA
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Publication number: 20160348951Abstract: The present invention provides a heat exchanger having a heat exchanging portion HE including a plurality of paths through which a refrigerant flows and a plurality of columns of fin plate that exchange heat between the refrigerant and air, wherein, in a case where the heat exchanging portion functions as a condenser, the refrigerant is flown from a header into the heat exchanging portion HE via the plurality of paths, every two paths of the plurality of paths merge into one single path by branching/merging pipes after the refrigerant has flown through one fin plate, before the refrigerant flows through the other fin plate so as to flow out of the heat exchanging portion HE, wherein a difference in height between the highest path and the lowest path in a vertical direction is set equal to or less than half of a height of the heat exchanging portion HE.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 26, 2016Publication date: December 1, 2016Inventors: Kenji MATSUMURA, Kazumoto URATA, Koji NAITO, Mikihito TOKUDI