Patents by Inventor Shinichi Kuratani

Shinichi Kuratani 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: 10527522
    Abstract: A misfire determination device of an internal combustion engine, includes an angular velocity obtaining section which obtains two crank angular velocities corresponding to two crank angular positions, respectively, which are set between a range which is around a first compression top dead center and a range which is around a second compression top dead center, in which the first compression top dead center is a compression top dead center of a determination target cylinder, and the second compression top dead center is the compression top dead center of a next ignition cylinder in which ignition is performed next to the ignition performed in the determination target cylinder; and a misfire determination section which determines whether or not misfire has occurred in the determination target cylinder based on a result of comparing a deviation between the two crank angular velocities to a predetermined misfire determination threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichi Jino, Katsumi Sobakiri, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 10281359
    Abstract: A misfire determination device of an engine in which explosion occurs at unequal intervals, the engine including a plurality of cylinders and a crankshaft which is angularly displaced at a different angle between expansion strokes, is configured to calculate generated torque correlation amount correlated with generated torque, based on an angular position signal of the crankshaft, and perform misfire determination, based on an average value of the generated torque correlation amount in an interval less than one cycle of the engine, at an angular position of the crankshaft which is different from an angular position of the crankshaft at an ignition timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenichi Jino, Katsumi Sobakiri, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20180128712
    Abstract: A misfire determination device of an internal combustion engine, includes an angular velocity obtaining section which obtains two crank angular velocities corresponding to two crank angular positions, respectively, which are set between a range which is around a first compression top dead center and a range which is around a second compression top dead center, in which the first compression top dead center is a compression top dead center of a determination target cylinder, and the second compression top dead center is the compression top dead center of a next ignition cylinder in which ignition is performed next to the ignition performed in the determination target cylinder; and a misfire determination section which determines whether or not misfire has occurred in the determination target cylinder based on a result of comparing a deviation between the two crank angular velocities to a predetermined misfire determination threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Publication date: May 10, 2018
    Inventors: Kenichi Jino, Katsumi Sobakiri, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20170299468
    Abstract: A misfire determination device of an engine in which explosion occurs at unequal intervals, the engine including a plurality of cylinders and a crankshaft which is angularly displaced at a different angle between expansion strokes, is configured to calculate generated torque correlation amount correlated with generated torque, based on an angular position signal of the crankshaft, and perform misfire determination, based on an average value of the generated torque correlation amount in an interval less than one cycle of the engine, at an angular position of the crankshaft which is different from an angular position of the crankshaft at an ignition timing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2015
    Publication date: October 19, 2017
    Inventors: Kenichi Jino, Katsumi Sobakiri, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 9337755
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus has an inverter circuit having a plurality of pairs of upper and lower arms provided so as to correspond to the number of phases, and switching elements provided on each of the upper arms and the lower arms of each phase that drive a motor on the basis of ON or OFF operations of the respective switching elements, a single current detector that detects a current of the motor flowing through the inverter circuit, and a duty calculator that calculates duties of a PWM signals for turning the switching elements ON or OFF on the basis of a deviation between a current value of the current detected by the current detector and a target current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masamitsu Hamasaki, Takenobu Nakamura, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 9331612
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus has an inverter circuit having a plurality of pairs of upper and lower arms provided so as to correspond to a number of phases, and switching elements provided on each of the upper arms and the lower arms of each phase that drive a motor on the basis of ON or OFF operations of the respective switching elements, a single current detector that detects a current of the motor flowing through the inverter circuit, and a duty calculator that calculates duties of PWM signals for turning the switching elements ON or OFF on the basis of a deviation between a current value of the current detected by the current detector and a target current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 9026340
    Abstract: An air-fuel ratio control system of an internal combustion engine comprises a fuel amount determiner for determining a fuel command value. The fuel amount determiner has a feedback control mode in which the fuel amount determiner determines a running state reference coefficient corresponding to a running state detected by a running state detector based on a first correspondence stored in the memory, determines a running state compensation coefficient corresponding to the running state detected by the running state detector based on a second correspondence stored in the memory, determines a feedback compensation coefficient used to cause an air-fuel ratio to reach a value closer to a theoretical air-fuel ratio based on an output of the air-fuel ratio sensor, and determines the fuel command value using a formula including the determined running state reference coefficient, the determined running state compensation coefficient, and the determined feedback compensation coefficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shinichi Kuratani, Tsuyoshi Takeuchi, Kozo Suzuki, Takashi Abe, Yoshinobu Mori, Daisuke Yanase
  • Publication number: 20150061554
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus has an inverter circuit having a plurality of pairs of upper and lower arms provided so as to correspond to a number of phases, and switching elements provided on each of the upper arms and the lower arms of each phase that drive a motor on the basis of ON or OFF operations of the respective switching elements, a single current detector that detects a current of the motor flowing through the inverter circuit, and a duty calculator that calculates duties of PWM signals for turning the switching elements ON or OFF on the basis of a deviation between a current value of the current detected by the current detector and a target current value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20150061555
    Abstract: A motor control apparatus has an inverter circuit having a plurality of pairs of upper and lower arms provided so as to correspond to the number of phases, and switching elements provided on each of the upper arms and the lower arms of each phase that drive a motor on the basis of ON or OFF operations of the respective switching elements, a single current detector that detects a current of the motor flowing through the inverter circuit, and a duty calculator that calculates duties of a PWM signals for turning the switching elements ON or OFF on the basis of a deviation between a current value of the current detected by the current detector and a target current value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2014
    Publication date: March 5, 2015
    Applicant: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masamitsu Hamasaki, Takenobu Nakamura, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 8446115
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive circuit for driving a motor, and a control section for controlling the drive circuit. The control section has a current command value calculating portion for calculating a current command value, a rotation calculating portion for calculating a rotation angle and an angular speed of the motor, a current command value correcting portion for correcting the current command value based on the rotation angle, a voltage command value calculating portion for calculating a voltage command value based on the current command value, a voltage command value correcting portion for correcting the voltage command value based on the current command value and the rotation angle and the angular speed, and a drive signal generating portion for generating a drive signal based on the voltage command value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Omron Automotive Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Michisada Yabuguchi, Takenobu Nakamura, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 8356512
    Abstract: An ECU is used in a motorcycle including an engine E, which combusts in a combustion chamber a blended fuel in which gasoline and ethanol are blended, and a fuel injection device for injecting a fuel with a predetermined fuel injection amount such that an air excess ratio in the combustion chamber is a first predetermined value when an ethanol concentration of the blended fuel is zero. The ECU executes O2 feedback control based on an O2 concentration derived from an output of an O2 sensor. Further, the ECU calculates an actual fuel compensation ratio by dividing a fuel injection amount after the O2 feedback control by a predetermined fuel injection amount, and estimates the concentration of the alternative fuel based on this actual fuel compensation ratio and a first predetermined value stored in the ECU.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2013
    Assignee: Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Abe, Sou Kurosaka, Yoshinobu Mori, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Patent number: 8310187
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive unit for driving a motor based on an ON/OF operation of a switching element by a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal. The motor drive device uses a PWM control method and performs abnormal determination based on an application voltage value and an actual measurement voltage value of the motor. The motor drive device does not make a false determination of determining as abnormal when it is normal, when determining the presence of abnormality based on the application voltage value and the actual measurement voltage value of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Michisada Yabuguchi, Shinichi Kuratani, Takenobu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8228012
    Abstract: A controller of a multi-phase electric motor has a drive section having an upper arm switching element and a lower arm switching element for driving the multi-phase electric motor, a single current detection section for detecting a current value of the multi-phase electric motor, a pulse width modulation signal generation section for generating plural pulse width modulation of each phase within one control period based on the current value detected by the current detection section and a carrier signal, and a phase movement section for moving the pulse width modulation signal of a predetermined phase generated by the pulse width modulation signal generation section by gradually changing a movement amount of the phase in one control period, and outputting the resultant pulse width modulation signal to the drive section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Masamitsu Hamasaki, Shinichi Kuratani, Takenobu Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20120166068
    Abstract: An air-fuel ratio control system of an internal combustion engine comprises a fuel amount determiner for determining a fuel command value. The fuel amount determiner has a feedback control mode in which the fuel amount determiner determines a running state reference coefficient corresponding to a running state detected by a running state detector based on a first correspondence stored in the memory, determines a running state compensation coefficient corresponding to the running state detected by the running state detector based on a second correspondence stored in the memory, determines a feedback compensation coefficient used to cause an air-fuel ratio to reach a value closer to a theoretical air-fuel ratio based on an output of the air-fuel ratio sensor, and determines the fuel command value using a formula including the determined running state reference coefficient, the determined running state compensation coefficient, and the determined feedback compensation coefficient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2011
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinichi Kuratani, Tsuyoshi Takeuchi, Kozo Suzuki, Takashi Abe, Yoshinobu Mori, Daisuke Yanase
  • Publication number: 20110248656
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive circuit for driving a motor, and a control section for controlling the drive circuit. The control section has a current command value calculating portion for calculating a current command value, a rotation calculating portion for calculating a rotation angle and an angular speed of the motor, a current command value correcting portion for correcting the current command value based on the rotation angle, a voltage command value calculating portion for calculating a voltage command value based on the current command value, a voltage command value correcting portion for correcting the voltage command value based on the current command value and the rotation angle and the angular speed, and a drive signal generating portion for generating a drive signal based on the voltage command value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2011
    Publication date: October 13, 2011
    Applicant: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Michisada Yabuguchi, Takenobu Nakamura, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20110239750
    Abstract: An ECU is used in a motorcycle including an engine E, which combusts in a combustion chamber a blended fuel in which gasoline and ethanol are blended, and a fuel injection device for injecting a fuel with a predetermined fuel injection amount such that an air excess ratio in the combustion chamber is a first predetermined value when an ethanol concentration of the blended fuel is zero. The ECU executes O2 feedback control based on an O2 concentration derived from an output of an O2 sensor. Further, the ECU calculates an actual fuel compensation ratio by dividing a fuel injection amount after the O2 feedback control by a predetermined fuel injection amount, and estimates the concentration of the alternative fuel based on this actual fuel compensation ratio and a first predetermined value stored in the ECU.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Abe, Sou Kurosaka, Yoshinobu Mori, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20110234138
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive unit having at least three pairs of upper and lower arms including switching elements at each of the upper arm and the lower arm, for driving a motor based on an ON/OFF operation of each of the switching elements by a PWM signal, a single current detection resistor for detecting a current flowing to the drive unit, and a control unit for detecting a current value of a current flowing to each phase of the motor based on the current flowing to the current detection resistor, and outputting the PWM signal to each of the switching elements based on a target current value of each phase and the detected current value of each phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Publication date: September 29, 2011
    Applicant: OMRON AUTOMOTIVE ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichi Kuratani, Takenobu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 7974751
    Abstract: A sensitivity identifying device has an operating object device configured to operate when an operation member is moved according to a force applied by a user, an assist force applying device for applying an assist force to movement of the operation member, an operation force parameter detecting device for detecting a value of an operation force parameter, an operation response parameter detecting device for detecting a value of an operation response parameter, a sensitivity identifying information storage section for storing sensitivity identifying information associating a sensitivity index, with a combination of the value of the operation force parameter and the operation response parameter, and a sensitivity determining unit for specifying the sensitivity index based on the combination of the value of the operation force parameter and the operation response parameter, and the sensitivity identifying information, and outputting the sensitivity index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Hideaki Ito, Fuminori Ozaki, Yumi Tsutsumi, Mayumi Komatsu, Shinichi Kuratani
  • Publication number: 20110080126
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive unit for driving a motor based on an ON/OFF operation of a switching element by a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal. The motor drive device uses a PWM control method and performs abnormal determination based on an application voltage value and an actual measurement voltage value of the motor. The motor drive device does not make a false determination of determining as abnormal when it is normal, when determining the presence of abnormality based on the application voltage value and the actual measurement voltage value of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Publication date: April 7, 2011
    Applicant: OMRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michisada Yabuguchi, Shinichi Kuratani, Takenobu Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20110068728
    Abstract: A motor drive device has a drive unit at least three sets of upper and lower arms, each of the at least three sets of upper and lower arms having switching elements thereon, for driving a motor based on an ON/OFF operation of each of the switching elements by a PWM signal, a single current detection resistor for detecting current flowing to the drive unit, and a control unit for detecting a current value of the current flowing to each of phases of the motor based on the current flowing to the current detection resistor, and outputting the PWM signal to each of the switching elements based on a target current value of each of the phases and the detected current value of each of the phases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2010
    Publication date: March 24, 2011
    Applicant: OMRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Kuratani, Takenobu Nakamura, Michisada Yabuguchi, Masamitsu Hamasaki