Patents by Inventor Naoki Kikuchi

Naoki Kikuchi 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: 11293069
    Abstract: In a method for oxygen-blowing refining of molten iron, an oxygen-containing gas as a main supply gas is supplied from an inlet side of a blowing nozzle for the oxygen-containing gas passing through an outer shell of the top-blowing lance and blown from the blowing nozzle while a control gas is jetted toward inside of the blowing nozzle for at least part of a period of the oxygen-blowing refining from a spout arranged in a side face of the nozzle at a site where the cross-sectional area of the nozzle minimum takes the minimum in the axial direction of the nozzle or a neighborhood thereof so that at least part of the spout exists in each space formed by dividing into two portions by an arbitrary plane passing through a central axis of the nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuhiko Oda, Goro Okuyama, Shota Amano, Kenji Nakase, Yukio Takahashi, Yuta Hino, Naoki Kikuchi, Yuji Miki
  • Publication number: 20210295074
    Abstract: An emotion estimation apparatus includes a recording section that records one or more events that cause a change in an emotion of a person and prediction information for predicting, for each event, an occurrence of the event; an event predicting section that predicts the occurrence of the event, based on detection of the prediction information; and a frequency setting section that sets a frequency with which an estimation of the emotion is performed. If the occurrence of the event is predicted by the event predicting section, the frequency setting section sets the frequency to be higher than in a case where the occurrence of the event is not predicted, and also sets the frequency based on the content of the event.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Kenji OKUMA, Takashi OKADA, Kota SAITO, Seungho CHOI, Yoshikazu MATSUO, Naoki KIKUCHI, Katsuya IKENOBU
  • Patent number: 11124849
    Abstract: When the decarburization refining of molten iron is performed by top-blowing oxygen gas from the top blowing lance, the oscillation of molten iron, a bubble burst, and spitting due to the bubble burst are suppressed. A refining method for a converter includes decarburizing molten iron in the converter with a top blowing lance having Laval nozzles disposed at the lower end thereof by blowing oxygen gas on the surface of the molten iron in the converter through the Laval nozzles, in which one or both of an oxygen feeding rate from the top blowing lance and lance height LH are adjusted in such a manner that an oxygen accumulation index S(F) is 40 or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Assignee: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shota Amano, Yukio Takahashi, Naoki Kikuchi, Yuji Miki
  • Patent number: 11077492
    Abstract: In the continuous steel casting method of the present invention, a gap between strand support rolls with a strand in a rectangular shape interposed therebetween is increased toward a downstream side in a casting direction to thereby bulge the strand having an unsolidified layer thereinside such that the thickness between long-side surfaces of the strand increases within the range of 0.1% or more and 10% or less of the thickness of the strand inside a mold. A portion of the strand in which the solid phase fraction in a central portion of the strand is within the range of 0.2 or more and less than 0.9 satisfies a prescribed total rolling reduction and a prescribed reduction gradient, and a portion of the strand in which the solid phase fraction is within the range of 0.9 or more satisfies a prescribed total rolling reduction and a prescribed reduction gradient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Toishi, Yutaka Awajiya, Norichika Aramaki, Naoki Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 11062159
    Abstract: An emotion estimation apparatus includes a recording section that records one or more events that cause a change in an emotion of a person and prediction information for predicting, for each event, an occurrence of the event; an event predicting section that predicts the occurrence of the event, based on detection of the prediction information; and a frequency setting section that sets a frequency with which an estimation of the emotion is performed. If the occurrence of the event is predicted by the event predicting section, the frequency setting section sets the frequency to be higher than in a case where the occurrence of the event is not predicted, and also sets the frequency based on the content of the event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Okuma, Takashi Okada, Kota Saito, Seungho Choi, Yoshikazu Matsuo, Naoki Kikuchi, Katsuya Ikenobu
  • Publication number: 20210193393
    Abstract: A film capacitor includes: a main body portion including a first metallized film including a first metal film on a first face of a first dielectric film, and a second metallized film including a second metal film on a second face of a second dielectric film; and external electrodes. The first or second dielectric film is located between the first and second metal films. The external electrodes are disposed on main body ends so as to be electrically connected with the first or second metal film. At least one of the first and second metal films includes a first portion which has a film thickness of 20 nm or more and is located in proximity to the main body ends, and the first portion includes a first groove extending in the first direction and being in contact with corresponding one of the main body ends.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2018
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Applicant: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventor: Naoki KIKUCHI
  • Patent number: 10967425
    Abstract: A continuous steel casting method includes producing a strand. The producing of the strand includes pouring molten steel into a mold of a continuous casting machine and withdrawing a solidified shell from the mold, the solidified shell being a solidified portion of the molten steel. The method includes applying a static magnetic field to at least a portion of a region of the strand, the strand being in the continuous casting machine, the region being a region where a solid fraction fs at a thickness-wise middle position of the strand is in a given range, the static magnetic field having a magnetic field strength of greater than or equal to 0.15 T and being in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which the strand is withdrawn, the static magnetic field being applied at an application time ratio of greater than or equal to 10%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoya Odagaki, Norichika Aramaki, Yuji Miki, Naoki Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 10972716
    Abstract: A calibration method calibrates a stereo camera. The calibration method includes: measuring a relative position between the stereo camera and an object that is placed so as to fall within an image capturing area of the stereo camera; acquiring a captured image that is captured by the stereo camera and includes the object; and determining a calibration parameter for calibrating the stereo camera based on the relative position and the captured image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Shin Aoki, Naoki Kikuchi, Kagehiro Nagao, Jun Kishiwada
  • Publication number: 20210071274
    Abstract: Proposed is a method for removing phosphorus from a phosphorus-containing substance which is applicable in an industrial scale so as to effectively reduce phosphorus contained in the phosphorus-containing substance. In this method, the phosphorus-containing substance used as a raw material for metal smelting or metal refining is reacted with a nitrogen-containing gas at a treatment temperature T (° C.) which is lower than a melting temperature (Tm) of the substance, so that phosphorus is removed preferably in the form of phosphorus nitride (PN). In this regard, a nitrogen partial pressure and an oxygen partial pressure in the nitrogen-containing gas are preferably controlled, thereby reducing a load of dephosphorization process, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2018
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Applicant: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Nakase, Yoshie Nakai, Naoki Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20210054479
    Abstract: A manufacturing method includes a first pulverization step of compressively pulverizing a manganese oxide-containing material containing at least manganese, calcium, silicon, iron, and phosphorus, which is used as a raw material, to form a composite in which a compound phase of nCaO.P2O5 is combined with at least one phase of a spinel phase and a calcium ferrite phase, which are ferromagnetic materials, and produce a first pulverized manganese oxide-containing material containing the composite; a first magnetic separation step of separating the first pulverized manganese oxide-containing material produced in the pulverization step into a magnetic substance and a non-magnetic substance under a magnetic force; and a step of recovering the non-magnetic substance separated in the first magnetic separation step as a manganese raw material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Publication date: February 25, 2021
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobuhiko ODA, Yuta HINO, Yuki TAKAKI, Yoshiaki NISHINA, Naoki KIKUCHI
  • Patent number: 10923280
    Abstract: A film capacitor includes a main body portion and external electrodes. The main body portion includes a dielectric film and a metal film that is disposed on one surface of the dielectric film. The metal film has surface roughnesses of S1 and S2 where S1 denotes a surface roughness of the metal film in a first direction, and S2 denotes a surface roughness of the metal film in a second direction. The first direction is perpendicular to the second direction. S1 is greater than S2. The main body portion includes a pair of ends in the first direction thereof. The external electrodes are disposed on the pair of ends in the first direction of the main body portion, respectively. An average value of fractal dimensions of irregularity boundary lines due to wrinkles of the metal film is 1.08 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
    Inventors: Youichi Yamazaki, Naoki Kikuchi, Yoshihiro Nakao
  • Publication number: 20200406342
    Abstract: In the continuous steel casting method of the present invention, a gap between strand support rolls with a strand in a rectangular shape interposed therebetween is increased toward a downstream side in a casting direction to thereby bulge the strand having an unsolidified layer thereinside such that the thickness between long-side surfaces of the strand increases within the range of 0.1% or more and 10% or less of the thickness of the strand inside a mold. A portion of the strand in which the solid phase fraction in a central portion of the strand is within the range of 0.2 or more and less than 0.9 satisfies a prescribed total rolling reduction and a prescribed reduction gradient, and a portion of the strand in which the solid phase fraction is within the range of 0.9 or more satisfies a prescribed total rolling reduction and a prescribed reduction gradient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Keigo Toishi, Yutaka Awajiya, Norichika Aramaki, Naoki Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20200392592
    Abstract: In a method for oxygen-blowing refining of molten iron, an oxygen-containing gas as a main supply gas is supplied from an inlet side of a blowing nozzle for the oxygen-containing gas passing through an outer shell of the top-blowing lance and blown from the blowing nozzle while a control gas is jetted toward inside of the blowing nozzle for at least part of a period of the oxygen-blowing refining from a spout arranged in a side face of the nozzle at a site where the cross-sectional area of the nozzle minimum takes the minimum in the axial direction of the nozzle or a neighborhood thereof so that at least part of the spout exists in each space formed by dividing into two portions by an arbitrary plane passing through a central axis of the nozzle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Publication date: December 17, 2020
    Applicant: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuhiko Oda, Goro Okuyama, Shota Amano, Kenji Nakase, Yukio Takahashi, Yuta Hino, Naoki Kikuchi, Yuji Miki
  • Publication number: 20200385830
    Abstract: When performing dephosphorization treatment of hot metal by adding a refining agent as a lime source and an oxygen source (dephosphorizing agent(s) and a gaseous oxygen source into the hot metal accommodated in a hot metal holding container, the refining agent used is a refining agent having an Ig-loss value of from 4.0% by mass to 35.0% by mass and including 60% by mass or more of quicklime.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2017
    Publication date: December 10, 2020
    Applicant: JFE Steel Corporation
    Inventors: Yusuke Fujii, Yoshie Nakai, Mikihiro Mori, Takahiko Maeda, Naoki Kikuchi, Noritaka Nishiguchi
  • Patent number: 10745771
    Abstract: A molten steel refining method includes throwing a powder to molten steel while heating the powder with a flame formed by combustion of a hydrocarbon gas at the leading end of a top blowing lance. The lance height of the top blowing lance (the distance between the static bath surface of the molten steel and the leading end of the lance) is controlled to 1.0 to 7.0 m, and the dynamic pressure P of a jet flow ejected from the top blowing lance calculated from equation (1) below is controlled to 20.0 kPa or more and 100.0 kPa or less. P=?g× U2/2 . . . (1) wherein P is the dynamic pressure (kPa) of the jet flow at an exit of the top blowing lance, ?g the density (kg/Nm3) of the jet flow, and U the velocity (m/sec) of the jet flow at the exit of the top blowing lance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusuke Fujii, Yoshie Nakai, Naoki Kikuchi, Naoya Shibuta, Shinichi Nagai, Takahiko Maeda, Yuji Miki
  • Patent number: 10701341
    Abstract: A calibration method is for a photographic device that photographs an object through a transparent body. The calibration method includes: acquiring a first photographic image by photographing the object without interposing the transparent body; acquiring a second photographic image by photographing the object through the transparent body; calculating an absolute positional deviation that indicates a deviation in coordinates of an image of the object due to the transparent body based on coordinates of an image of the object on the first photographic image and coordinates of an image of the object on the second photographic image; calculating a correction parameter for calibrating the absolute positional deviation; and storing the correction parameter in the photographic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Kishiwada, Shin Aoki, Naoki Kikuchi, Kagehiro Nagao
  • Publication number: 20200157645
    Abstract: When the decarburization refining of molten iron is performed by top-blowing oxygen gas from the top blowing lance, the oscillation of molten iron, a bubble burst, and spitting due to the bubble burst are suppressed. A refining method for a converter includes decarburizing molten iron in the converter with a top blowing lance having Laval nozzles disposed at the lower end thereof by blowing oxygen gas on the surface of the molten iron in the converter through the Laval nozzles, in which one or both of an oxygen feeding rate from the top blowing lance and lance height LH are adjusted in such a manner that an oxygen accumulation index S(F) is 40 or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2018
    Publication date: May 21, 2020
    Applicant: JFE STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shota AMANO, Yukio TAKAHASHI, Naoki KIKUCHI, Yuji MIKI
  • Patent number: 10650965
    Abstract: A film capacitor includes a main body portion including a dielectric film and a metal film; and external electrodes, and the external electrodes are disposed at a pair of main body ends in a first direction of the main body portion, respectively. The metal film includes a first portion connected to one of the external electrodes which is disposed at one of the main body ends, a second portion disposed at the other main body end, and a third portion disposed between the first portion and the second portion in the first direction, and a film thickness of the third portion is smaller than a film thickness of the second portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventor: Naoki Kikuchi
  • Publication number: 20200134337
    Abstract: An emotion estimation apparatus includes a recording section that records one or more events that cause a change in an emotion of a person and prediction information for predicting, for each event, an occurrence of the event; an event predicting section that predicts the occurrence of the event, based on detection of the prediction information; and a frequency setting section that sets a frequency with which an estimation of the emotion is performed. If the occurrence of the event is predicted by the event predicting section, the frequency setting section sets the frequency to be higher than in a case where the occurrence of the event is not predicted, and also sets the frequency based on the content of the event.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Inventors: Kenji OKUMA, Takashi OKADA, Kota SAITO, Seungho CHOI, Yoshikazu MATSUO, Naoki KIKUCHI, Katsuya IKENOBU
  • Patent number: 10621694
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes: an acquisition unit that acquires a plurality of first images that correspond to a plurality of spatial frequencies on a one-to-one basis; and a generation unit that generates a second image by synthesizing the first images acquired by the acquisition unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoki Kikuchi, Kiichiroh Saitoh