Patents by Inventor Shin Fujitani

Shin Fujitani 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: 7122279
    Abstract: A lithium secondary battery-use electrode and a lithium secondary battery, which are high in discharge capacity and excellent in cycle characteristics, characterized in that a layer consisting of a metal alloying with Li is provided on a substrate consisting of a metal not alloying with Li, and a layer having these metals mixed therein is formed between the above layer and the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2006
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Noriyuki Tamura, Shiori Nakamizo, Daizo Jito, Ryuji Ohshita, Masahisa Fujimoto, Shin Fujitani, Maruo Kamino
  • Publication number: 20060177737
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which a lithium transition metal complex oxide containing at least Ni and Mn as transition metals and having a layered structure is used as a positive active material, the lithium transition metal complex oxide containing at least Ni and Mn as transition metals and having a layered structure further containing zirconium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 5, 2004
    Publication date: August 10, 2006
    Inventors: Shingo Tode, Akira Kinoshita, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Yasufumi Takahashi, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060166096
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery including a negative electrode containing a graphite material as the negative active material, a positive electrode containing lithium cobalt oxide as a main component of the positive active material and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution, the battery being characterized in that the lithium cobalt oxide contains a group IVA element and a group IIA element of the periodic table, the nonaqueous electrolyte solution contains 0.2-1.5% by weight of a sulfonyl-containing compound and preferably further contains 0.5-4% by weight of vinylene carbonate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2005
    Publication date: July 27, 2006
    Inventors: Koji Abe, Kazuhiro Miyoshi, Yasufumi Takahashi, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Akira Kinoshita, Shingo Tode, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060166100
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery which has a positive electrode containing lithium cobalt oxide as a positive active material, a negative electrode containing a graphite material and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing ethylene carbonate as a solvent and which is charged with an end-of-charge voltage of at least 4.3 V. Characteristically, the battery uses, as the positive active material, lithium cobalt oxide obtained by firing a mixture of a lithium salt, tricobalt tetraoxide (Co3O4) and a zirconium compound and having particle surfaces onto which the zirconium compound adheres.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2004
    Publication date: July 27, 2006
    Inventors: Yasufumi Takahashi, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Akira Kinoshita, Shingo Tode, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060159997
    Abstract: There is provided an electrode for a lithium secondary battery where particles, composed of an active material capable of occluding and releasing lithium, are arranged on a current collector, the active material particle being directly bonded to the surface of the current collector in a state where the bottom of the active material particle is imbedded in a concave portion formed on the surface of the current collector. A second particle layer may be provided on a first particle layer comprising the active material particles directly bonded to the surface of the current collector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2005
    Publication date: July 20, 2006
    Inventors: Takuya Sunagawa, Yasuyuki Kusumoto, Shin Fujitani, Kensuke Nakatani, Muneto Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7078126
    Abstract: A method of producing a hydrogen storage alloy, for use in alkaline storage batteries, includes two steps. A first step involves preparing alloy particles having a CaCu5-type crystal structure and the compositional formula MmNixCoyMnzM1?z, wherein M represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu), 3.0?x?5.2, 0?y?1.2, 0.1?z?0.9, and 4.4?x+y+z?5.4. A second step involves immersing the alloy particles in an acid treating solution containing a cobalt compound and a copper compound, each in the amount of 0.1 to 5.0% by weight based on the weight of the alloy particles, and an organic additive to remove oxide films from and to reductively deposit cobalt and copper on a surface of each alloy particle to form a surface region surrounding a bulk region and having a graded composition. When the sum in percentage of numbers of cobalt (Co) atoms and copper (Cu) atoms present in the surface region is given by a and that in the bulk region by b, the relationship a/b?1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2006
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Teruhiko Imoto, Masutaka Ouchi, Yohei Hirota, Kikuko Kato, Nobuyuki Higashiyama, Mamoru Kimoto, Shin Fujitani, Koji Nishio
  • Publication number: 20060127769
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery wherein a material capable of occludeing/discharging lithium is used as a negative electrode material and a lithium-trasition metal composite oxide which contains Ni and Mn as the transition metal and has a layered structure is used as a positive electrode material is characterized in that a lithium-transition metal composite oxide having a BET specific surface area less than 3 m2/g and a pH of 11.0 or less when 5 g of the lithium-transition metal composite oxide is immersed in 50 ml of purified water is used as the positive electrode active material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 15, 2004
    Publication date: June 15, 2006
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Akira Kinoshita, Toyoki Fujihara, Shingo Tode, Yasufumi Takahashi, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060105240
    Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including a positive electrode containing a positive active material, a negative electrode containing a negative active material and a non-aqueous electrolyte, characterized in that lithium transition metal complex oxide A formed by allowing LiCoO2 to contain at least both of Zr and Mg and lithium transition metal complex oxide B having a layered structure and containing at least both of Mn and Ni as transition metals are mixed and used as said positive active material, and vinylene carbonate and divinyl sulfone are contained in said non-aqueous electrolyte.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2005
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Inventors: Akira Kinoshita, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Yasufumi Takahashi, Shingo Tode, Kazuhiro Hasegawa, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060105241
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a positive electrode containing a positive active material, a negative electrode containing a negative active material and a nonaqueous electrolyte, wherein a lithium transition metal complex oxide A formed by allowing LiCoO2 to contain at least both of Zr and Mg and a lithium transition metal complex oxide B having a layered structure and containing at least both of Mn and Ni as transition metals and containing molybdenum (Mo) are mixed and used as said positive active material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2005
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Inventors: Shingo Tode, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Yasufumi Takahashi, Akira Kinoshita, Kazuhiro Hasegawa, Shin Fujitani
  • Patent number: 7045250
    Abstract: In a non-aqueous electrolyte battery provided with a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a non-aqueous electrolyte using an organic solvent, at least one type of ferrite, FeS2, and a transition metal oxide (except for LiCoO2) having crystal structure of space group R3m is used as a positive electrode material for a positive electrode, and a negative electrode material containing lithium is used for a negative electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2006
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Kusumoto, Masahisa Fujimoto, Shin Fujitani, Masahide Miyake
  • Publication number: 20060078795
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery comprising a positive electrode containing a positive electrode active material, a negative electrode containing a negative electrode active material, and a nonaqueous electrolyte is characterized in that the positive electrode active material is composed of a lithium trasition metal oxide having a layer structure and containing Li and Co and further contains a group IVA element and group IIA element of the periodic table.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2004
    Publication date: April 13, 2006
    Inventors: Yasufumi Takahashi, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Akira Kinoshita, Toyoki Fujihara, Shingo Tode, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060035155
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which the decomposition of an electrolyte solution is reduced exhibits high coulombic efficiency and excellent charge and discharge cycle performance, and has high energy density. This nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a negative electrode that is formed by depositing a thin film of active material on a collector by a CVD method, sputtering, evaporation, thermal spraying, or plating, wherein the thin film of the active material can lithiate and delithiate and is divided into columns by cracks formed in the thickness direction, and the bottom of each column is adhered to the collector; a positive electrode that can lithiate and delithiate; and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt in a nonaqueous solvent. The electrolyte solution contains a compound expressed by a general formula (I).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2005
    Publication date: February 16, 2006
    Applicants: SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD., MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriyuki Tamura, Toshikazu Yoshida, Maruo Kamino, Shin Fujitani, Masahiro Takehara, Makoto Ue
  • Publication number: 20060024587
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which the decomposition of an electrolyte solution is reduced exhibits high coulombic efficiency and excellent charge and discharge cycle performance, and has high energy density. This nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a negative electrode that is formed by depositing a thin film of active material on a collector by a CVD method, sputtering, evaporation, thermal spraying, or plating, wherein the thin film of the active material can lithiate and delithiate and is divided into columns by cracks formed in the thickness direction, and the bottom of each column is adhered to the collector; a positive electrode that can lithiate and delithiate; and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt in a nonaqueous solvent. The electrolyte solution contains a compound expressed by a general formula (I).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2005
    Publication date: February 2, 2006
    Applicants: SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD., MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriyuki Tamura, Toshikazu Yoshida, Maruo Kamino, Shin Fujitani, Masahiro Takehara, Makoto Ue
  • Publication number: 20060024586
    Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery in which the decomposition of an electrolyte solution is reduced exhibits high coulombic efficiency and excellent charge and discharge cycle performance, and has high energy density. This nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes a negative electrode that is formed by depositing a thin film of active material on a collector by a CVD method, sputtering, evaporation, thermal spraying, or plating, wherein the thin film of the active material can lithiate and delithiate and is divided into columns by cracks formed in the thickness direction, and the bottom of each column is adhered to the collector; a positive electrode that can lithiate and delithiate; and a nonaqueous electrolyte solution containing a lithium salt in a nonaqueous solvent. The electrolyte solution contains a compound expressed by a general formula (I).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2005
    Publication date: February 2, 2006
    Applicants: SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD., MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noriyuki Tamura, Toshikazu Yoshida, Maruo Kamino, Shin Fujitani, Masahiro Takehara, Makoto Ue
  • Publication number: 20060019152
    Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte battery is provided that can prevent working voltage of the battery from decreasing even when the battery is stored in high temperature conditions. A non-aqueous electrolyte battery includes: a positive electrode having a positive electrode active material-layer and a positive electrode current collector, a negative electrode having a negative electrode active material layer; and a separator interposed between the electrodes. The positive electrode active material-layer is formed on a positive electrode current collector surface and includes a plurality of layers having different positive electrode active materials, wherein a lowermost layer of the plurality of layers that is in contact with the positive electrode current collector contains as its main active material a positive electrode active material having the lowest end-of-charge working voltage among the positive electrode active materials.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Inventors: Naoki Imachi, Yasuo Takano, Seiji Yoshimura, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060019153
    Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte battery that is capable of improving safety, particularly tolerance of the battery for overcharging, is furnished with a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material-layer (2) containing a plurality of positive electrode active materials and being formed on a surface of a positive electrode current collector (1), a negative electrode including a negative electrode active material layer (4), and a separator (3) interposed between the electrodes. The positive electrode active material-layer (2) is composed of two layers (2a) and (2b) having different positive electrode active materials, and of the two layers (2a) and (2b), the layer (2b) that is an outer layer contains as its main active material a positive electrode active material having the highest thermal stability among the positive electrode active materials. The meltdown temperature of the separator (3) is 180° C. or higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Inventors: Naoki Imachi, Yasuo Takano, Seiji Yoshimura, Shin Fujitani
  • Publication number: 20060019151
    Abstract: A non-aqueous electrolyte battery is provided that is capable of improving safety, particularly the tolerance of the battery to overcharging, without compromising conventional battery constructions considerably. A non-aqueous electrolyte battery is furnished with a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material-layer (2) containing a plurality of positive electrode active materials and being formed on a surface of a positive electrode current collector (1), a negative electrode including a negative electrode active material layer (4), and a separator (3) interposed between the electrodes. The positive electrode active material-layer (2) is composed of two layers (2a) and (2b) having different positive electrode active materials, and of the two layers (2a) and (2b), the layer (2b) that is nearer the positive electrode current collector contains, as its main active material, a spinel-type lithium manganese oxide or an olivine-type lithium phosphate compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Applicant: SANYO ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naoki Imachi, Yasuo Takano, Seiji Yoshimura, Shin Fujitani
  • Patent number: 6979516
    Abstract: A lithium secondary battery comprises a negative electrode containing lithium metal or a material previously storing lithium as an active material, a positive electrode containing a positive active material, and an electrolyte containing a non-aqueous electrolyte solution. The positive active material is a thin film formed by depositing on a substrate from vapor phase or liquid phase and including an oxide containing at least iron as a main constituent by a sputtering method, a reactive deposition method, a vacuum deposition method, a chemical vapor deposition method, a spraying method, a plating method, or a method in combination of these methods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2005
    Assignee: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasuyuki Kusumoto, Masahisa Fujimoto, Shin Fujitani, Yoichi Domoto, Daizo Jito, Hisaki Tarui
  • Publication number: 20050233066
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a chemical battery electrode characterized in that active material particles are attached on a current collector comprising a step of dispersing active material particles in gas flow without melting nor evaporating it, a step of spraying the gas flow to the current collector so that the active material particles collide with the current collector, and a step of bonding the active material particles onto a surface of the current collector by the impact force.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2005
    Publication date: October 20, 2005
    Inventors: Takuya Sunagawa, Yasuyuki Kusumoto, Shin Fujitani, Kensuke Nakatani
  • Publication number: 20050233217
    Abstract: A sealed nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery having a case which is deformed when the inner pressure is increased is characterized in that a material capable of occluding and releasing lithium is used as a negative electrode material, and a mixture of a lithium transition metal composite oxide containing Ni and Mn as transition metals and having a layered structure and a lithium cobaltate is used as a positive electrode material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2003
    Publication date: October 20, 2005
    Inventors: Toyoki Fujihara, Akira Kinoshita, Shingo Tode, Hiroyuki Fujimoto, Yasufumi Takahashi, Ikuro Nakane, Shin Fujitani