Patents by Inventor Osamu Morimoto

Osamu Morimoto 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: 9897359
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigeration cycle that includes one or more intermediate heat exchangers, exchanging heat between a heat source side refrigerant and a heat medium different from the heat source side refrigerant, a heat medium circuit that includes at least one pump configured to circulate the heat medium for heat exchange by the intermediate heat exchanger, a use side heat exchanger configured to exchange heat between the heat medium and air in an air-conditioning target space, and flow switching valves configured to switch between passing the heated heat medium through the use side heat exchanger and passing the cooled heat medium through the use side heat exchanger and in which the pump, the use side heat exchanger, and the flow switching valves are connected by pipes, and a controller configured to calculate an actual temperature efficiency ratio based on a temperature at a heat medium inlet of the heat exchanger in the heat medium circuit and determine whether a flow rate of the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Osamu Morimoto, Daisuke Shimamoto, Koji Azuma, Takayoshi Honda
  • Patent number: 9857115
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus is provided to which, even when a heat medium leaks from a heat medium circuit for some reason and air enters the heat medium circuit, the heat medium circuit can be automatically refilled with the heat medium before a pump is heated and damaged. When it is determined that a rotational speed of a pump is higher than an upper rotational speed limit, the controller determines that the heat medium is leaking from the heat medium circuit and performs a heat-medium-introducing and air-purging control process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayoshi Honda, Osamu Morimoto, Daisuke Shimamoto, Koji Azuma
  • Patent number: 9829210
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit formed by connecting, with pipes, a compressor, a first refrigerant flow switching device, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, an expansion device, and a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers. A heat medium circuit is formed by connecting, with pipes, a plurality of pumps configured to pressurize and circulate the heat medium subjected to heat exchange in the plurality of intermediate heat exchangers, a plurality of use-side heat exchangers each configured to exchange heat between the heat medium and air in an air-conditioned space, and a heat-medium flow switching/control device configured to switch which of the heat medium is to be allowed to flow into and out of each of the use-side heat exchangers; and a controller configured to perform processing for controlling the switching performed by the heat-medium flow switching/control device, in accordance with a capacity of each of the use-side heat exchangers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Motomura, Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Hirofumi Koge, Osamu Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9829224
    Abstract: A refrigerant circuit is configured by connecting, by pipes, a compressor that compresses a heat-source-side refrigerant, a first refrigerant flow switching device, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, an expansion device, and one or more intermediate heat exchangers that exchange heat between a heat-source-side refrigerant and a heat medium that is different from the heat-source-side refrigerant. A controller performs control of pumps to drive the pumps at a specific pump capacity or higher to circulate the heat medium at a time when a heat recovery defrosting operation for causing the heat-source-side refrigerant that has been heated by the heat medium in the intermediate heat exchangers to flow into the heat-source-side heat exchanger for defrosting purposes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Morimoto, Daisuke Shimamoto, Koji Azuma, Takayoshi Honda
  • Patent number: 9797608
    Abstract: In an air-conditioning apparatus including a plurality of indoor units connected to a heat medium converter and a plurality of remote controllers respectively provided for the indoor units, the remote controllers each include a temperature sensor that detect a temperature of a corresponding space to be air-conditioned, and are each configured to communicate with a heat medium converter controller of the heat medium converter and an indoor unit controller of the corresponding indoor unit, transmit an instruction to start and stop an operation and data related to rotation speed of an indoor air-sending device to the corresponding indoor unit controller, and transmit the instruction to start and stop the operation, and a target temperature and a temperature detected by the temperature sensor or a difference therebetween, to the heat medium converter controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Shimamoto, Yuji Motomura, Osamu Morimoto, Takayoshi Honda, Tatsuo Ono, Koji Nishioka
  • Patent number: 9791180
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a temperature sensor for detecting a temperature of the heat medium sent from each of the intermediate heat exchangers to each of the use-side heat exchangers, and a temperature of the heat medium that has exited each of the use-side heat exchangers, an opening degree controller for regulating a flow rate of the heat medium through each of the heat medium flow control devices, and a computing unit for computing a usage capacity of each of the indoor units from a rotation speed of the pump, an opening degree of each of the heat medium flow control devices, temperatures detected by the temperature sensors, and power consumption of each of the indoor units, and proportionally dividing the power consumption for a common portion among each of the indoor units based on the computed usage capacity and the power consumption of the common portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Shimamoto, Osamu Morimoto, Takayoshi Honda, Koji Azuma, Koji Nishioka
  • Patent number: 9766000
    Abstract: A valve body in each of heat medium flow switching devices has an open portion. When the length from a connection between a first passage pipe and a third passage pipe to a connection between a second passage pipe and the third passage pipe is defined as a casing passage width, a valve body passage width of the open portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to the axis of the valve body is smaller than the casing passage width.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2017
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takayoshi Honda, Daisuke Shimamoto, Osamu Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9746193
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, an expansion device, and a refrigerant flow path in at least one intermediate heat exchanger are connected by a refrigerant pipe, and a heat medium circuit in which a pump, a use-side heat exchanger, and a heat-medium flow path in the at least one intermediate heat exchanger are connected by a heat-medium conveying pipe, the heat medium circuit being configured to cause a heat medium to circulate therethrough. The at least one intermediate heat exchanger comprises a plurality of intermediate heat exchangers. The plurality of intermediate heat exchangers are operative in a heating only operation mode, a cooling only operation mode, and a cooling and heating mixed operation mode in which some of the intermediate heat exchangers serve as the condenser and others of the intermediate heat exchangers serve as the evaporator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Motomura, Daisuke Shimamoto, Takayoshi Honda, Osamu Morimoto, Koji Nishioka, Tatsuo Ono
  • Publication number: 20170234582
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a refrigeration cycle circulating refrigerant and connecting a compressor, a heat-source-side heat exchanger, one or more of load-side expansion devices, and one or more of load-side heat exchangers by refrigerant pipes, a bypass having one end connected to a discharge side of the compressor of the refrigeration cycle and the other end connected to a suction side of the compressor of the refrigeration cycle to bypass a portion of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor, a first expansion device depressurizing the refrigerant flowing through the bypass, an auxiliary heat exchanger cooling the refrigerant depressurized at the first expansion device, a second expansion device controlling a flow rate of the refrigerant flowing from the auxiliary heat exchanger to the suction side of the compressor, and a controller controlling an opening degree of the second expansion device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2014
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Inventors: Takeshi HATOMURA, Osamu MORIMOTO, Katsuhiro ISHIMURA, Shinichi WAKAMOTO, Soshi IKEDA
  • Publication number: 20170234576
    Abstract: An air-conditioning and hot water supplying composite system includes a heat source unit and a heat source-side heat exchanger, an indoor heat source unit, a hot water supply unit connected to the heat source unit and including a hot water supply-side heat exchanger and a hot water supply-side expansion device, and a controller that controls the heat source unit. The controller includes a mode switching unit that switches a control mode of the air-conditioning and hot water supplying composite system between a hot water supply control mode, a hot water supply preheating mode, and a condensing temperature control unit. The condensing temperature control unit determines the target condensing temperature according to a temperature of a heat medium subjected to heat exchange by the hot water supply unit, in the hot water supply control mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2014
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Inventors: Tomokazu KAWAGOE, Hirofumi KOGE, Osamu MORIMOTO
  • Patent number: 9719691
    Abstract: When indoor units are performing a cooling operation, an air-conditioning apparatus controls four flow passage switching valves, for example a first solenoid valve, a second solenoid valve, a third solenoid valve, and a fourth solenoid valve, so that a number of intermediate heat exchangers operating as evaporators is greater than in a cooling main operation. During the cooling main operation, a target value for suction pressure or evaporating temperature at a compressor is set equal to or lower than that in a case in which the indoor units are performing the cooling operation, and a frequency of the compressor and a capacity of a heat-source-side heat exchanger are controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi Takenaka, Shinichi Wakamoto, Osamu Morimoto, Daisuke Shimamoto
  • Publication number: 20170198946
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus, including an outdoor unit including a compressor and an outdoor heat exchanger, a plurality of indoor units each including an indoor heat exchanger, and a relay unit configured to distribute refrigerant supplied from the outdoor unit to the plurality of indoor units, the relay unit including a first branch unit in which liquid-side pipes connected to the plurality of indoor units join together, and a refrigerant shutoff valve, which is configured to control bidirectional flow of the refrigerant, and is provided to the first branch unit, the number of the refrigerant shut off valve being smaller than a number of the plurality of indoor units.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Publication date: July 13, 2017
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Naofumi TAKENAKA, Shinichi WAKAMOTO, Yuji MOTOMURA, Osamu MORIMOTO, Hirofumi KOGE, Koji YAMASHITA
  • Publication number: 20170198945
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a heat medium system configured to control a flow rate of the heat medium supplied to the heat source unit side heat exchanger that exchanges heat between refrigerant and the heat medium, the heat medium system having at least one system of a heat medium conveyor, a heat medium flow rate adjuster, and a heat medium flow rate control device. In the air-conditioning apparatus, the operation of each of use-side heat exchangers is changed to a cooling operation or a heating operation in accordance with a control command, and a cooling and heating concurrent operation is performed. The refrigerant is caused to flow through the heat source unit side heat exchanger in accordance with the ratio of the total cooling capacity of the use-side heat exchangers to the total heating capacity of the use-side heat exchangers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Publication date: July 13, 2017
    Inventors: Koji AZUMA, Hirofumi KOGE, Osamu MORIMOTO, Kensaku HATANAKA, Kazuyoshi SHINOZAKI
  • Patent number: 9683768
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes a compressor, an indoor heat exchanger configured to function as a condenser or an evaporator, indoor heat exchanges each configured to function as a condenser or an evaporator, a plurality of expansion valves each provided for a corresponding one of the indoor heat exchangers each configured to adjust a flow rate of a refrigerant that flows through the corresponding indoor heat exchanger, and a controller configured to control an operation capacity of the compressor and opening degrees of a plurality of expansion devices. When increasing heat exchange performance of the indoor heat exchanger, the controller increases the operation capacity of the compressor and controls the opening degree of the expansion valve corresponding to the indoor heat exchanger to decrease the flow rate of the refrigerant that flows through the indoor heat exchanger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Keisuke Takayama, Osamu Morimoto, Daisuke Shimamoto, So Nomoto, Kosuke Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9677790
    Abstract: A multi-room air-conditioning apparatus includes an outdoor unit, a relay unit connected to an outdoor unit by first and second connection pipes, and a plurality of indoor units connected to the relay unit. The outdoor unit includes a second gas-liquid separating device provided on the suction side of the compressor. The suction side of the compressor and the second gas-liquid separating device are connected to each other by a gas-side outlet pipe and a liquid-side outlet pipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Mizuo Sakai, Soshi Ikeda, Hiroaki Nakamune, Susumu Yoshimura, Naofumi Takenaka, Hiroki Okazawa, Keisuke Hokazono, Osamu Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9644906
    Abstract: A method for selecting a heat medium in installing an air-conditioning system includes: determining power required for use side heat exchangers corresponding to a plurality of air-conditioned spaces; calculating a total refrigerant amount required when a refrigerant is circulated through all the use side heat exchangers having the determined power; calculating a refrigerant concentration when the total refrigerant amount leaks to each air-conditioned space using the refrigerant, for each air-conditioned space; determining the refrigerant concentration for each air-conditioned space exceeds a predetermined limit concentration; when any air-conditioned space exceeds the limit concentration, selecting, as a nontoxic medium, the circulation heat medium of the use side heat exchanger installed in one of the air-conditioned spaces; and calculating a total refrigerant amount required when the refrigerant is circulated through all other use side heat exchangers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Daisuke Shimamoto, Osamu Morimoto, Takayoshi Honda, Koji Azuma, Koji Nishioka
  • Patent number: 9639008
    Abstract: A lithography apparatus includes a measuring station that includes a first measuring device configured to measure a height of a substrate holder, and a second measuring device configured to measure a height of a surface of a substrate held by the holder, and a patterning station that includes a third measuring device configured to measure a height of the holder, and patterns the substrate held by the holder based on an output of the second measuring device. The patterning station includes a fourth measuring device configured to measure a height of a surface of a substrate held by the holder. The lithography apparatus includes a controller configured to obtain a correction value for an output obtained from at least one of the first and third measuring devices based on outputs of the second and fourth measuring devices with respect to a substrate held by the holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichiro Morikuni, Yoshinori Ohsaki, Osamu Morimoto
  • Patent number: 9638430
    Abstract: In an air-conditioning apparatus, when a plurality of pumps are all operating and a heat exchange amount in use-side heat exchangers is equal to or lower than a lower limit of a thermal capacity that can be conveyed in a heat medium circuit B, before at least one of the plurality of pumps is stopped, a refrigerant flow path in the intermediate heat exchanger connected to the pump that is to be stopped is closed. Then, the at least one of the plurality of pumps is stopped, and the thermal capacity required in at least one of the use-side heat exchangers in the rest of the plurality of pumps is conveyed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2017
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yuji Motomura, Daisuke Shimamoto, Takayoshi Honda, Osamu Morimoto, Koji Nishioka, Tatsuo Ono
  • Publication number: 20170097177
    Abstract: An air-conditioning apparatus includes at least one system including a heat-medium conveying device, a heat-medium flow regulator, and a heat-medium flow control device, as a heat medium system capable of regulating a flow rate of a heat medium supplied to a heat source device-side heat exchanger exchanging heat between refrigerant and the heat medium. The air-conditioning apparatus switches each of a plurality of use-side heat exchangers to a cooling operation or a heating operation in accordance with a control command to perform a cooling and heating simultaneous operation. The refrigerant is caused to flow through the heat source device-side heat exchanger depending on a ratio of a total cooling capacity and a total heating capacity of the plurality of use-side heat exchangers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Publication date: April 6, 2017
    Inventors: Koji AZUMA, Hirofumi KOGE, Osamu MORIMOTO, Kensaku HATANAKA, Kazuyoshi SHINOZAKI
  • Publication number: 20170082332
    Abstract: In an air-conditioning apparatus in which air sucked into a casing of an outdoor unit by a fan is discharged from an upper portion of the casing, each of liquid header portions is configured to be connected with each of heat transfer tubes of a plurality of divided regions formed by dividing the outdoor heat exchangers in an up and down direction. Further, a shunt is configured to supply two-phase refrigerant, in which quality is adjusted by a gas-liquid separator, to each of the liquid header portions. To each of the liquid header portions, the shunt supplies the two-phase refrigerant of the amount corresponding to the air quantity of the divided region connected to each of the liquid header portions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2015
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoji ONAKA, Takashi MATSUMOTO, Hiroyuki OKANO, Eito SAITO, Hirofumi KOGE, Osamu MORIMOTO, Hiroki MURAKAMI, Hiroaki NAKAMUNE