Patents by Inventor Nobuya Nakagawa

Nobuya Nakagawa 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: 11940164
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioning system and a control method of the vehicle air conditioning system which enable detecting leaks of flammable refrigerant without requiring a separate sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD
    Inventors: Takayuki Hagita, Nobuya Nakagawa, Hideto Noyama
  • Publication number: 20230364966
    Abstract: This heat exchanger is equipped with: a first heat exchange unit having a first inlet/outlet unit which has one inlet/outlet port and through which a coolant flows, and also having a plurality of first heat transfer pipes, each of which has one end thereof connected to the first inlet/outlet unit; a header pipe which is connected to the other ends of the plurality of first heat transfer pipes; and a second heat exchange unit having a second inlet/outlet unit which has two or more inlet/outlet ports and through which a coolant flows, and also having a plurality of second heat transfer pipes, each of which has one end thereof connected to the header pipe and the other end thereof connected to the second inlet/outlet unit. The coolant flows from the first heat exchange unit side toward the second heat exchange unit side during heating and flows from the second heat exchange unit side toward the first heat exchange unit side during cooling.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Publication date: November 16, 2023
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Koji NAKADO, Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Hideaki TATENOI
  • Publication number: 20220364762
    Abstract: Provided are a heat exchanger that makes it possible to supply air of an appropriate temperature to a plurality of blowing ports of an air-conditioning unit, an air-conditioning unit that comprises the heat exchanger, and an air conditioner. This air-conditioning unit 10 comprises a heat exchanger 20 that exchanges heat between air and a coolant, a blower 11, and an air outflow part 12. The heat exchanger 20 comprises a plurality of tubes 21 in which the coolant flows, an inlet header 23, an outlet header 24, and a fin 22. The inlet header 23 includes: a low-temperature-side coolant inflow part 231 into which coolant that has a relatively low temperature can flow; and a high-temperature-side coolant inflow part 232 into which coolant that has a relatively high temperature can flow.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Publication date: November 17, 2022
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: TOMOKI HASE, HIDEAKI TATENOI, NOBUYA NAKAGAWA, YASUO KATAYAMA
  • Publication number: 20220221177
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vehicle air conditioning system and a control method of the vehicle air conditioning system which enable detecting leaks of flammable refrigerant without requiring a separate sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2020
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Takayuki HAGITA, Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Hideto NOYAMA
  • Publication number: 20210252943
    Abstract: This air conditioning device for a vehicle comprises: an indoor condenser; an indoor evaporator; a first expansion valve; a second expansion valve; a refrigerant line; an expansion valve control detector; and a controller. The expansion valve control detector is constituted by: only one temperature sensor that detects the temperature of refrigerant in an inter-expansion valve line of the refrigerant line; and only one pressure sensor that detects the pressure of the refrigerant in the inter-expansion valve line. During a cooling operation, the controller issues, to the first expansion valve, an opening command corresponding to a state quantity of the refrigerant that has been detected by the expansion valve control detector, and during a heating operation, the controller issues, to the second expansion valve, an opening command corresponding to a state quantity of the refrigerant that has been detected by the expansion valve control detector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Yasuo KATAYAMA, Soichiro FUJITA
  • Publication number: 20200055370
    Abstract: A control device controlling a vehicular air conditioning system includes a defrosting operation control unit performing a defrosting operation in a refrigerant system when an outflow refrigerant temperature of an outdoor heat exchanger has become equal to or lower than a defrosting condition threshold value, a defrosting operation release instruction unit outputting a defrosting operation release instruction when the outflow refrigerant temperature has become equal to or higher than a defrosting release condition threshold value, and a vehicle information acquisition unit acquiring at least one of a position and a speed of a vehicle in which the vehicular air conditioning system is mounted. The defrosting operation release instruction unit outputs a defrosting operation release instruction even when the outflow refrigerant temperature is lower than the defrosting release condition threshold value in a case at least one of the position and the speed of the vehicle satisfies a predefined condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuo KATAYAMA, Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Tomoki HASE
  • Patent number: 10549601
    Abstract: The present invention is provided with: an evaporator (6) in which a compressed refrigerant is vaporized; an expansion valve expanding the refrigerant before the refrigerant flows into the evaporator (6); refrigerant pipes (26, 27) that connect the evaporator (6) and the expansion valve to each other; and a unit case (3) housing the evaporator (6), the expansion valve, and the refrigerant pipes (26, 27), and including an air flow channel (4) for passing air through the evaporator (6). A refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31) is disposed in the unit case (3), and housing the refrigerant pipes (26, 27). The refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31) is partitioned while being isolated from the housing section for the evaporator (6) and the air flow channel (4). The outer circumferential surfaces of the refrigerant pipes (26, 27) are separated from the inner wall surface of the refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Koji Nakado, Nobuya Nakagawa, Tomohiko Shibata, Hirotsugu Kohigashi
  • Patent number: 10488093
    Abstract: Provided is an air conditioning apparatus that is capable of suppressing increases in volume and cost of the apparatus and performing more suitable overheating protection. An electric compressor is an inverter-integrated electric compressor (10) integrally including a compressor (5), an electric motor (6) that drives the compressor (5), and an inverter (7) including a temperature sensor (11) that detects the temperature in the vicinity of a semiconductor switching device, wherein a controller (3) estimates a discharge temperature of the compressor (5) on the basis of a correlation of respective pressure loading characteristics for the detected temperature of the inverter (7), for the rotational speed of the compressor (5), and for the motive force of the compressor (5) in a refrigerating cycle (2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takayuki Hagita, Takayuki Takashige, Nobuya Nakagawa, Mikihiko Ishii, Takeshi Hirano, Koji Nakano, Masayuki Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 10449833
    Abstract: A heat exchanger and a heat pump system capable of reducing the amount of a refrigerant that accumulates in an outdoor heat exchanger during heating operation, and of decreasing the appropriate amount of refrigerant during heating operation. A vehicle-external heat exchanger is provided with a hollow first header, a hollow second header provided facing the first header, and a plurality of tubes provided between and communicating with the first header and the second header. The first header is provided with a partition plate that divides the interior of the first header. A first opening formed on a partition plate side between the upper end of the first header and the partition plate. When functioning as an evaporator, the refrigerant is supplied from the lower part of the first header or of the second header, and the first opening serves an outflow port for the refrigerant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuhiro Saito, Tomoki Hase, Nobuya Nakagawa, Koji Nakado
  • Patent number: 10137763
    Abstract: A refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger that heats a heat medium which circulates in a heater core of an HVAC unit is provided in a discharge pipe of a cooling refrigerant circuit, a heating bypass circuit that extends to a receiver is connected to a downstream side of the refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger through a switching means, a second circuit having a second decompression means is provided between an outlet of the receiver and a first end of a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit having a solenoid valve is provided between a second end of the vehicle exterior heat exchanger and an intake circuit. In a vehicle air-conditioning system, a heating refrigerant circuit is configured by an electric compressor, a refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger, a switching means, a heating bypass circuit, a receiver, a second circuit, a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuya Nakagawa, Hirotsugu Kohigashi
  • Patent number: 10118462
    Abstract: A heat-pump-type vehicular air-conditioning that includes a cooling refrigerant circuit. The circuit has a base for connecting an onboard condenser provided on the downstream side of an onboard evaporator inside an HVAC unit. The circuit includes a second decompression unit between the outlet side of a receiver and one end side of a vehicle-mounted external heat exchanger. Also included is a second circuit having a solenoid valve opened during heating between the other end side of the vehicle-mounted external heat exchanger and the intake circuit of an electric compressor. The vehicular air-conditioning system being provided with a heating refrigerant circuit in which the electric compressor, a switching unit, the onboard condenser, the receiver, the first circuit, the vehicle-mounted external heat exchanger, and the second circuit are connected in the stated order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Hirotsugu Kohigashi, Nobuya Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 10024575
    Abstract: In a heating-medium heating unit equipped with a first heating-medium circulation box and a second heating-medium circulation box which are in close contact with both surfaces of a PTC heater, in which heating-medium circulation passages are formed in the interior, and which are joined to each other in a liquidtight manner, wherein joining surfaces are sealed with liquid gaskets, the heating-medium circulation passages are provided with joining-surface cooling channels that cool the joining surface which is sealed with a liquid gasket and on which the heat from the PTC heater acts. The joining-surface cooling channels are provided at positions closer to the joining surface than to the PTC heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomoyasu Adachi, Nobuya Nakagawa, Shiro Matsubara, Naoto Kunieda
  • Publication number: 20180178632
    Abstract: An objective of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger and a heat pump system which are capable of reducing the amount of a refrigerant that accumulates in an outdoor heat exchanger during heating operation, and of decreasing the appropriate amount of the refrigerant during heating operation. A vehicle-external heat exchanger is provided with a hollow first header, a hollow second header provided facing the first header, and a plurality of tubes provided between the first header and the second header and communicating with the first header and the second header. The first header is provided with a partition plate that divides the interior of the first header. The first header is provided with a first opening formed on a partition plate side between the upper end of the first header and the partition plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2016
    Publication date: June 28, 2018
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES AUTOMOTIVE THERMAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuhiro SAITO, Tomoki HASE, Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Koji NAKADO
  • Publication number: 20180037085
    Abstract: The present invention is provided with: an evaporator (6) in which a compressed refrigerant is vaporized; an expansion valve expanding the refrigerant before the refrigerant flows into the evaporator (6); refrigerant pipes (26, 27) that connect the evaporator (6) and the expansion valve to each other; and a unit case (3) housing the evaporator (6), the expansion valve, and the refrigerant pipes (26, 27), and including an air flow channel (4) for passing air through the evaporator (6). A refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31) is disposed in the unit case (3), and housing the refrigerant pipes (26, 27). The refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31) is partitioned while being isolated from the housing section for the evaporator (6) and the air flow channel (4). The outer circumferential surfaces of the refrigerant pipes (26, 27) are separated from the inner wall surface of the refrigerant pipe housing chamber (31).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2015
    Publication date: February 8, 2018
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES AUTOMOTIVE THERMAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Koji NAKADO, Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Tomohiko SHIBATA, Hirotsugu KOHIGASHI
  • Patent number: 9884536
    Abstract: A refrigerant cycle (16) for cooling as a prototype is provided with: an internal condenser (8) connected to a discharge circuit of an electric compressor (9) and disposed on a downstream of an internal evaporator (7) of an HVAC unit (2); a first heating circuit (18) connected to a receiver (11) through a switching unit (17) arranged on an inlet side of the external condenser (8); and a second heating circuit (23) connected between an outlet side of the receiver (11) and a suction side of the electric compressor (9) and provided with a second expansion valve (20) and an external evaporator (21). A heat pump cycle (24) for heating is formed by a second heating circuit (23) including the electric compressor (9), the internal condenser (8), the switching unit (17), the first heating circuit (18), the receiver (11), the second expansion valve (20), and the external evaporator (21).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Katayama, Nobuya Nakagawa, Toshihisa Kondou, Masatoshi Morishita
  • Publication number: 20180003424
    Abstract: Provided is an air conditioning apparatus that is capable of suppressing increases in volume and cost of the apparatus and performing more suitable overheating protection. An electric compressor is an inverter-integrated electric compressor (10) integrally including a compressor (5), an electric motor (6) that drives the compressor (5), and an inverter (7) including a temperature sensor (11) that detects the temperature in the vicinity of a semiconductor switching device, wherein a controller (3) estimates a discharge temperature of the compressor (5) on the basis of a correlation of respective pressure loading characteristics for the detected temperature of the inverter (7), for the rotational speed of the compressor (5), and for the motive force of the compressor (5) in a refrigerating cycle (2).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2017
    Publication date: January 4, 2018
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takayuki Hagita, Takayuki Takashige, Nobuya Nakagawa, Mikihiko Ishii, Takeshi Hirano, Koji Nakano, Masayuki Ishikawa
  • Publication number: 20170320378
    Abstract: A refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger that heats a heat medium which circulates in a heater core of an HVAC unit is provided in a discharge pipe of a cooling refrigerant circuit, a heating bypass circuit that extends to a receiver is connected to a downstream side of the refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger through a switching means, a second circuit having a second decompression means is provided between an outlet of the receiver and a first end of a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit having a solenoid valve is provided between a second end of the vehicle exterior heat exchanger and an intake circuit. In a vehicle air-conditioning system, a heating refrigerant circuit is configured by an electric compressor, a refrigerant/heat medium heat exchanger, a switching means, a heating bypass circuit, a receiver, a second circuit, a vehicle exterior heat exchanger, and a third circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Publication date: November 9, 2017
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES AUTOMOTIVE THERMAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Nobuya NAKAGAWA, Hirotsugu KOHIGASHI
  • Patent number: 9791196
    Abstract: Provided is an air conditioning apparatus that is capable of suppressing increases in volume and cost of the apparatus and performing more suitable overheating protection. An electric compressor is an inverter-integrated electric compressor integrally including a compressor, an electric motor that drives the compressor, and an inverter including a temperature sensor that detects the temperature in the vicinity of a semiconductor switching device, wherein a controller estimates a discharge temperature of the compressor on the basis of a correlation of respective pressure loading characteristics for the detected temperature of the inverter, for the rotational speed of the compressor, and for the motive force of the compressor in a refrigerating cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takayuki Hagita, Takayuki Takashige, Nobuya Nakagawa, Mikihiko Ishii, Takeshi Hirano, Koji Nakano, Masayuki Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 9707824
    Abstract: A vehicle heat pump air-conditioning system is provided, which is capable of securing a temperature linearity characteristic during dehumidifying heating, slowing progression of a frost formation on an exterior evaporator during heating, and stably continuing a heating operation while suppressing variations in a blowout temperature. In a cooling refrigeration cycle (14) becoming a base, an interior condenser (8) disposed in a HVAC unit (2) is connected to an exterior condenser (10) in parallel via switching means (15), an exterior evaporator (17) is connected to first decompression means (12) and an interior evaporator (7) in parallel via second decompression means (16), a heating heat pump cycle (18) is configured, the first decompression means (12) and the second decompression means (16) are on-off valve function attached decompression means (12, 16), and the exterior evaporator (17) and the interior evaporator (7) can be simultaneously used during dehumidifying heating and heating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES AUTOMOTIVE THERMAL SYSTEMS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshihisa Kondo, Nobuya Nakagawa, Akira Katayama, Futoru Furuta, Masatoshi Morishita, Shinji Deguchi, Yasuo Ishihara
  • Patent number: 9440514
    Abstract: A vehicle air-conditioning system (1) includes an HVAC unit (2) in which a first refrigerant evaporator (7) and a second refrigerant condenser (8) are disposed in an air channel (6) communicating with a vehicle interior space; and a heat pump cycle (3) in which a refrigerant compressor (9), a refrigerant switching device (10), a first refrigerant condenser (11) that exchanges heat with the outside air, a first expansion valve (14), and a first refrigerant evaporator (7) are connected in sequence and in which the second refrigerant condenser (8) is connected in parallel with the first refrigerant condenser (11) via the refrigerant switching device (10). An exhaust-heat recovery circuit (23) equipped with a second refrigerant evaporator (18) disposed in a ventilation channel (19) from the vehicle interior and a second expansion valve (17) is connected in parallel with the first expansion valve (14) and the first refrigerant evaporator (7) of the heat pump cycle (3).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Toshihisa Kondo, Nobuya Nakagawa, Hideki Suetake, Masatoshi Morishita