Patents by Inventor Mitsuhiro Nada

Mitsuhiro Nada 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: 9768631
    Abstract: A voltage control method for a fuel cell may include: interrupting electrical connection between the fuel cell and a load in a low load state; supplying oxygen to the fuel cell in accordance with a preset condition during the electrical connection is interrupted; detecting an OCV of the fuel cell after oxygen is supplied to the fuel cell in accordance with the preset condition; reducing an amount of oxygen supplied to the fuel cell when the OCV is higher than a target voltage by a first value or larger; increasing the amount of oxygen when the OCV is lower than the target voltage by a second value or larger; and keeping the amount of oxygen when the OCV is lower than a sum of the target voltage and the first value and higher than a value obtained by subtracting the second value from the target voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidhosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomio Yamanaka, Mitsuhiro Nada, Hiroyuki Suzuki
  • Patent number: 9758169
    Abstract: A vehicle comprises a fuel cell that is configured to receive supply of a fuel gas and generate electric power and a motor that is configured to be driven with the electric power generated by the fuel cell. The vehicle selectively sets a drive mode of the vehicle in an accelerator-off state between an ordinary mode and a deceleration enhanced mode that decelerates the vehicle with higher deceleration force than deceleration force in the ordinary mode. The vehicle performs regenerative control of the motor in the ordinary mode or performs deceleration control of generating the deceleration force in the deceleration enhanced mode, in order to decelerate the vehicle in the set drive mode. When an accelerator stroke based on a driver's depression of an accelerator becomes higher than a cancellation threshold in the drive mode set to the deceleration enhanced mode, the vehicle changes the drive mode from the deceleration enhanced mode to the ordinary mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Umayahara, Mitsuhiro Nada, Takuya Nakagami
  • Patent number: 9692068
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell; a coolant path connected to the fuel cell and allowing a coolant that cools the fuel cell to flow therethrough; a temperature detection unit configured to detect a temperature of the coolant in the coolant path; a temperature correction unit configured to calculate a temperature correction value by correcting the temperature of the coolant detected by the temperature detection unit; and a lower limit voltage control unit configured to control a lower limit voltage of the fuel cell based on the temperature correction value, wherein the temperature correction unit calculates the temperature correction value based on a following equation: T filt = T filt ? _ ? old + T - T filt ? _ ? old ? where Tfilt represents the temperature correction value, Tfilt_old represents a last temperature correction value, T represents the temperature of the coolant, and ? represents a coefficient, and the coefficient when the temperature of the coolant is less than a
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yohei Okamoto, Yutaka Tano, Mitsuhiro Nada, Tomohiko Kaneko
  • Patent number: 9606139
    Abstract: A shock detection system with a vehicle at rest includes a parking mechanism for locking rotation of a drive shaft which rotates a wheel of the vehicle, a revolution sensor for detecting a revolution speed of the drive shaft, and a shock detector for detecting a shock to the vehicle based on a magnitude and a frequency of variation in detection values of the revolution speed of the drive shaft detected by the revolution sensor in a state where the rotation of the drive shaft is locked by the parking mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryosuke Oya, Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Patent number: 9593634
    Abstract: In a diesel engine, an inside of a cylinder is divided into intra-cavity and extra-cavity regions. Ideal heat release rate waveform models, each formed of an isosceles triangle in which each oblique line gradient is a reaction rate, an area is a reaction amount and a base length is a reaction period with a reaction start temperature as a base point, are generated respectively for a vaporization reaction, low-temperature oxidation reaction, thermal decomposition reaction and high-temperature oxidation reaction of injected fuel for each region. An ideal heat release rate waveform of the reaction modes is generated by smoothing the ideal heat release rate waveform models through filtering and combining the ideal heat release rate waveforms, and is compared with an actual heat release rate waveform obtained from a detected in-cylinder pressure. A reaction mode having a deviation larger than or equal to a predetermined amount is diagnosed as being abnormal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Publication number: 20170069922
    Abstract: There is provided a fuel cell system. The fuel cell system includes a gas pump that is configured to have a rotating body and circulate an exhaust gas discharged from a fuel cell and is provided in a circulation passage configured to connect a discharge passage of the exhaust gas with a fuel gas supply passage. When temperature of the fuel cell is higher than a reference temperature that is a temperature that allows water to be introduced in a supercooled state into the gas pump, the fuel cell system controls the rotation speed of the rotating body of the gas pump to a first rotation speed corresponding to a power generation demand for the fuel cell. When the temperature of the fuel cell is not higher than the reference temperature, the fuel cell system controls the rotation speed of the rotating body of the gas pump to a second rotation speed that is lower than the first rotation speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Publication date: March 9, 2017
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomio YAMANAKA, Mitsuhiro NADA, Yoshiaki NAGANUMA, Masashi TOIDA
  • Publication number: 20160380282
    Abstract: An object is to perform a purge at an appropriate timing. There is provided a fuel cell system mounted on a vehicle. The fuel cell system comprises a gas supplier that is configured to supply a purge gas into a fuel cell; and a controller that is configured to control the gas supplier and perform a purge with the purge as at a stop time of the vehicle. The controller obtains an ambient temperature in a driving state of the vehicle a plurality of times. In a case where an ambient temperature obtained last time among the ambient temperatures obtained in the driving state is lower than a predetermined reference value, the controller performs the purge with enhancing a purging capacity, compared with a case where the ambient temperature obtained last time is higher than the predetermined reference value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi MARUO, Takashi YAMADA, Hiroyuki IMANISHI, Mitsuhiro NADA
  • Publication number: 20160380287
    Abstract: An object is to provide a technique of reducing a potential failure to start a fuel cell system due to a temperature decrease in a vehicle with the fuel cell system mounted thereon. There is provided a vehicle that comprises a fuel cell system, a battery, a motor, and a determiner configured to determine that the fuel cell system has a frozen part when temperature measured by a temperature measurement unit is equal to or lower than a predetermined first temperature and at least one of conditions (1) to (3) is satisfied: (1) no purging process is performed after a change from an on state of the vehicle to an off state of the vehicle; (2) ambient temperature decreases to or below a predetermined second temperature in the off state of the vehicle and no purging process is performed; and (3) an inclination of the vehicle is equal to or greater than a predetermined inclination at a time of change from the off state of the vehicle to the on state of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomohiko KANEKO, Yohei OKAMOTO, Kazuo YAMAMOTO, Tomohiro OGAWA, Masashi TOIDA, Mitsuhiro NADA, Tomio YAMANAKA
  • Publication number: 20160380286
    Abstract: A fuel cell system, comprising: a compressor that is placed in a supply flow path arranged to supply a cathode gas to a fuel cell; a first motor-operated valve that is placed between the fuel cell and the compressor in the supply flow path; a first stepping motor that is provided in the first motor-operated valve; a second motor-operated valve that is placed in a discharge flow path arranged to discharge the cathode gas from the fuel cell; a second stepping motor that is provided in the second motor-operated valve; and a controller that is configured to control power generation by the fuel cell and to input drive pulses into the first stepping motor and the second stepping motor, so as to open the first motor-operated valve and the second motor-operated valve at a start of the fuel cell and close the first motor-operated valve and the second motor-operated valve at a stop of the fuel cell, wherein the first stepping motor is driven by input of the drive pulse to generate a torque to open and close the first m
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomio YAMANAKA, Masashi TOIDA, Yoshiaki NAGANUMA, Mitsuhiro NADA
  • Publication number: 20160315338
    Abstract: There is provided a method of controlling a fuel cell system comprising a fuel cell, a tank that is configured to store a fuel gas filled through a filler port of fuel gas provided in an outer plate of a vehicle, and a main stop valve that is configured to change over between opening and closing to open and close a fuel passage arranged from the tank to the fuel cell. The method comprises controlling the main stop valve to change over from opening to closing in response to detection of an operation for gas filling to fill the fuel gas into the tank, when a control accompanied with opening of the main stop valve is performed during a stop of the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2016
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro NADA, Yutaka TANO
  • Publication number: 20160311340
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to distinguish the situation of filling a reactive gas from the other situations and perform a control for the purpose of protecting a filling port and a nozzle from being damaged. There is provided a fuel cell system mounted on a vehicle. The fuel cell system comprises a reservoir that is configured to store a reactive gas which is to be supplied to a fuel cell; a connecting portion that is configured to connect a supply portion for supplying the reactive gas with a filling port for filling the reactive gas into the reservoir; a cover portion that is configured to cover the connecting portion; an open-close sensor that is configured to detect open/closed position of the cover portion; a recorder that is configured to record a travel history which indicates the fact that the vehicle moves; and a controller that is configured to control the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro NADA
  • Publication number: 20160311341
    Abstract: A vehicle which includes a fuel cell, a receptacle, a lid, and a fixing pin, and which stores a detection of the open state during a period from a time point of a latest end of operation of the vehicle to a time point of input acceptance of a start-up instruction. If a detection of an open state has been stored in a memory at a time point of input acceptance of a start-up instruction, then the vehicle executes a retry operation of temporarily moving the fixing pin of the fixed position to the released position and thereafter moving the fixing pin again to the fixed position during an operating period of the vehicle from the time point of input acceptance of the start-up instruction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2016
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro NADA
  • Patent number: 9428182
    Abstract: An object is to allow for the move of a vehicle even in the event of an abnormality in a lid sensor. A control method of a vehicle with a fuel cell mounted thereon comprises: (a) if a signal of a lid sensor that is configured to detect opening and closing of a lid door for a gas filler port of the vehicle indicates that the lid door is open, then prohibiting move of the vehicle; and (b) if it is judged that the lid sensor has a defect or if a predetermined special operation is performed, then eliminating prohibition of the move of the vehicle despite that the signal of the lid sensor indicates that the lid door is open.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeto Kajiwara, Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Patent number: 9371795
    Abstract: During high-load operation of an engine, fuel for initial slow-burning combustion and premixed combustion is injected into a combustion chamber by continuous fuel injection, then fuel injection is paused, and fuel for diffusion combustion is injected after a predetermined interval has elapsed. Also, the fuel injection amount in the continuous fuel injection is set higher than the fuel injection amount for diffusion combustion. A spray autointerference cooling effect is achieved by the continuous fuel injection, thus promoting ignition delay so as to increase the proportion of premixed combustion, thereby suppressing the production of smoke. This enables high-volume EGR to be performed, thus enabling reducing the amount of NOx produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Publication number: 20160141681
    Abstract: A fuel cell system installed in a vehicle includes a fuel cell that supplies power to a motor that drives the vehicle, a pump that supplies oxygen to the fuel cell, an accelerator position detector that detects an accelerator depression amount of the vehicle, and a controller that calculates required generated power of the fuel cell and required driving power of the pump, based on the accelerator depression amount. When a preset condition of causing a sharp drop in the calculated required generated power is satisfied, the controller calculates the required driving power in such a mariner that a drop rate of the required driving power becomes higher than a drop rate of the calculated required generated power, sets a lower limit to the calculated required driving power, and drives the pump in accordance with the lower limit when the required driving power is lower than the lower limit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuji Kakeno, Kenji Umayahara, Mitsuhiro Nada
  • Publication number: 20160137097
    Abstract: A fuel cell system to be installed on a vehicle includes a fuel cell, a secondary battery, an SOC detector that detects a temperature and a state of charge of the secondary battery, an accelerator position detector that detects an accelerator depressed amount, and a controller that controls power to be generated by the fuel cell. The controller includes: a required generation power calculator that calculates required generation power based on the accelerator depressed amount and the temperature and the state of charge of the secondary battery; and a maximum required power calculator that calculates maximum required power based on the accelerator depressed amount and the temperature and the state of charge of the secondary battery. The maximum required power includes allowable charging power correlated with a maximum value of charging power.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuji KAKENO, Mitsuhiro NADA, Kenji UMAYAHARA, Yusuke NISHIDA
  • Publication number: 20160137096
    Abstract: In a vehicle including a fuel cell system, an electronic control unit is configured to perform first processing in which a rotation speed of an air pump is controlled based on a torque command value and a rotation speed command value, and to perform, in the first processing, at least one of second processing in which the torque command value is set to be larger than the calculated torque command value when at least one of values of an accelerator position, required electric power, and the rotation speed command value or a change rate thereof is increased by a prescribed first value or more, and third processing in which the torque command value is set to be smaller than the calculated torque command value when at least one of the values or the change rate thereof is decreased by a prescribed second value or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kohei ODA, Kenji UMAYAHARA, Yuji KAKENO, Mitsuhiro NADA
  • Publication number: 20160141645
    Abstract: A fuel cell system comprises: a fuel cell; a cooling system circuit including a cooling liquid supply path configured to supply a cooling liquid to the fuel cell, a radiator configured to cool down the cooling liquid, a radiator fan, and a cooling liquid pump provided in the cooling liquid supply path to feed the cooling liquid to the fuel cell; a controller; and a speedometer configured to obtain a speed of the fuel cell vehicle, wherein the controller is capable of performing a first cooling control that sets an upper limit value of driving amount of the radiator fan according to the speed of the fuel cell vehicle and regulates a flow rate of the cooling liquid pump or the driving amount of the radiator fan under the upper limit value of the driving amount of the radiator, so as to cool down the fuel cell.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi YAMADA, Mitsuhiro NADA, Tsuyoshi MARUO
  • Publication number: 20160141689
    Abstract: A fuel cell system comprising: a power generation controller that controls a value subject to control, which is a value exhibiting a power generating state by a fuel cell and is a value that is affected by alternating current applied to the fuel cell, to approach a target value; a dead zone setter that sets a dead zone with the target value as a reference; and, a stopper that stops the control by the power generation controller when the value subject to control is contained in the dead zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yohei OKAMOTO, Yutaka TANO, Mitsuhiro NADA, Tomohiko KANEKO
  • Publication number: 20160141673
    Abstract: A fuel cell system mounted in a vehicle includes a fuel cell supplying electric power to a motor driving the vehicle, a pump supplying oxygen to the fuel cell, an accelerator position detection unit detecting an accelerator depression amount of the vehicle, and a control unit calculating electric power required to be generated by the fuel cell and electric power required for driving of the pump based on the accelerator depression amount and controlling the pump based on the electric power required for the driving, in which the control unit calculates the electric power required for the driving such that a rate of increase in the electric power required for the driving exceeds a rate of increase in the electric power required to be generated when the calculated electric power required to be generated increases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Publication date: May 19, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuji KAKENO, Mitsuhiro Nada, Kenji Umayahara, Yutaka Tano