Patents by Inventor Takatoshi Matsushita
Takatoshi Matsushita 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).
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Publication number: 20130001955Abstract: A variable-speed power generator includes a prime mover that generates motive power by using natural energy; a wound-rotor induction generator that includes a stator having a primary winding and a rotor having a secondary winding, which are connected to a power grid, the generator generating electric power based on the motive power generated by the prime mover; a power converter connected to the stator and the rotor; and a controller controlling wound-rotor induction generator. The controller responds to instructions, sent by the power grid, for supplying reactive power to the power grid. The response of the controller to an instruction for supplying reactive power to the power grid may include imposing limitations on the reactive power supplied by the power converter to the power grid and causing the wound-rotor induction generator to operate at a rotation speed set higher than or equal to a synchronous speed.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 16, 2012Publication date: January 3, 2013Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Akira YASUGI, Takatoshi MATSUSHITA, Takehiro NAKA, Takumi NAKASHIMA
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Patent number: 8322985Abstract: A wind turbine generator in which the temperature in a rotor head can be managed is provided. The wind turbine generator 1 includes, in a nacelle 3, a driving and generating mechanism that is connected to a rotor head 4 equipped with wind turbine blades 5, and devices are disposed inside the rotor head 4, wherein a rotary joint 30 is interposed on a driving shaft that joins the rotor head 4 and the nacelle 3, and fluid for regulating the temperature in the rotor head is supplied from the interior of the nacelle 3 into the rotor head 4 through the rotary joint 30.Type: GrantFiled: August 14, 2008Date of Patent: December 4, 2012Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, LtdInventors: Masahiro Kawai, Takatoshi Matsushita
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Publication number: 20120286510Abstract: Provided is a wind power generation system intending to suppress an increase of torque when a voltage in a utility grid is restored, and to reduce a load to devices due to the torque. The blade control unit controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that a rotation speed of the power generator becomes equal to or greater than a synchronous rotation speed when the power control unit de-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter, and controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that the pitch angle matches a target pitch angle that is determined based on one of a wind speed, a rotation speed of the power generator, and a requested output power when the power control unit re-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 23, 2012Publication date: November 15, 2012Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Shinji ARINAGA, Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Takatoshi MATSUSHITA, Akira YASUGI, Masaaki SHIBATA
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Patent number: 8242619Abstract: Provided is a wind power generation system intending to suppress an increase of torque when a voltage in a utility grid is restored, and to reduce a load to devices due to the torque. The blade control unit controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that a rotation speed of the power generator becomes equal to or greater than a synchronous rotation speed when the power control unit de-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter, and controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that the pitch angle matches a target pitch angle that is determined based on one of a wind speed, a rotation speed of the power generator, and a requested output power when the power control unit re-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter.Type: GrantFiled: February 20, 2009Date of Patent: August 14, 2012Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Takatoshi Matsushita, Akira Yasugi, Masaaki Shibata
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Patent number: 8222758Abstract: An object is to improve the operating rate. A first switch is provided in a power line connecting a power generator to a power system, and a second switch that can be opened and closed by remote control is provided in the power line between the power generator and the first switch. In the second switch, a withstand current capability is set that allows current flowing in a low-voltage event and that withstands current having a value equal to or less than a current value specified by the thermal setting of the power generator. In the first switch, a withstand current capability is set that is superior to the withstand current capability of the second switch and that withstands current having a value equal to or less than the current value specified by the thermal setting of the power generator.Type: GrantFiled: December 14, 2007Date of Patent: July 17, 2012Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Takatoshi Matsushita, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Masaaki Shibata, Akira Yasugi
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Publication number: 20120133146Abstract: A lightning-strike detecting apparatus comprises: receptors (lightning members) that are provided at a plurality of locations on a wind turbine blade; lightning conductors that extend from these receptors to guide lightning-strike current to ground; a plurality of optical-fiber current sensors that are provided on the respective lightning conductors, detect lightning-strike current flowing in the lightning conductors, and output an optical signal; an optical signal converter that receives the individual optical signal output from these optical-fiber current sensors, converts the optical signals to the respective characteristic electrical signals, and outputs the electrical signals; and a controller that identifies the type of the electrical signal input from the optical signal converter, determines a lightning-strike spot on the basis of the type, and reports the lightning-strike spots.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 30, 2011Publication date: May 31, 2012Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Takehiro NAKA, Kentaro HAYASHI, Musashi KIMURA, Nobuyasu NAKAMURA, Takatoshi MATSUSHITA, Yoichiro TSUMURA, Atsushi YUGE
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Patent number: 8133031Abstract: The present invention proposes a lightning protection device of a windmill blade, comprising a tip receptor assembly having receptors which are mounted, in particular to, the tip end part of the blade where the blade profile becomes smaller, and having a simple structure so as to be readily assembled, and an intermediate receptor assembly having a receptor which is set at the outer surface of the blade so as to exhibit an effective countermeasure against increasing of the air pressure in the blade upon a lightning striking upon the blade, a lightening current being discharged to the ground from the receptors through connection equipment such as lead wires laid through the inside of the blade the windmill body and bypass brushes, characterized in that a base plate made of an electrically conductive material and connected thereto with the lead wires is embedded in the blade, and the receptors are secured and supported to the base plate, being exposed at the outer surface of the blade.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2006Date of Patent: March 13, 2012Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Masaaki Shibata, Nobuyasu Nakamura, Takatoshi Matsushita, Kazuhisa Tsutsumi, Takao Kuroiwa, Toshiyuki Hirano, Kai Karikomi
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Patent number: 8109814Abstract: Provided is a wind turbine generator system that can cool a nacelle interior by ventilation irrespective of the outside air temperature in various installation environments. In a wind turbine generator system in which equipment of drive and electricity generation mechanisms that are coupled to a rotor head provided with wind turbine blades is disposed inside a nacelle, and in which, by driving a ventilation fan provided in the nacelle, outside air introduced from an air inlet provided in a front face of the nacelle is exhausted outside the nacelle from an air outlet that communicates with a fan outlet, to perform ventilation cooling of the interior, a side air inlet is additionally provided in a side face of the nacelle at a position where a negative pressure is generated by air flowing outside the nacelle.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2008Date of Patent: February 7, 2012Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Takashi Uchino, Shinsuke Sato, Takatoshi Matsushita
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Patent number: 8082748Abstract: A wind turbine generator capable of preventing a salt damage and reducing noise as well as easily starting in a cold region is provided. The wind turbine generator includes a nacelle (3) for accommodating a generator set, an internal heat exchanging unit (13, 15, 16) accommodated in the nacelle (3) to exchange heat between the generator set and a refrigerant, an external heat exchanging unit (17) disposed outside the nacelle (3) to exchange heat between an outside air and the refrigerant, a compressor (18) disposed in the nacelle (3) to compress the refrigerant and circulate the refrigerant between the internal heat exchanging unit (13, 15, 16) and the external heat exchanging unit (17), and an expansion unit (19) to expand the refrigerant compressed by the compressor (18).Type: GrantFiled: July 8, 2009Date of Patent: December 27, 2011Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Takeshi Matsuo, Shinji Arinaga, Sadamu Takahashi, Takatoshi Matsushita, Masaaki Shibata
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Publication number: 20110291414Abstract: Provided is a wind power generation system intending to suppress an increase of torque when a voltage in a utility grid is restored, and to reduce a load to devices due to the torque. The blade control unit controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that a rotation speed of the power generator becomes equal to or greater than a synchronous rotation speed when the power control unit de-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter, and controls the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades such that the pitch angle matches a target pitch angle that is determined based on one of a wind speed, a rotation speed of the power generator, and a requested output power when the power control unit re-actuates the operations of the converter and the inverter.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 20, 2009Publication date: December 1, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Takatoshi Matsushita, Akira Yasugi, Masaaki Shibata
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Patent number: 8053917Abstract: Reactive power is supplied in accordance with a reactive-power supply instruction from a power grid while ensuring a variable-speed range of a wound-rotor induction generator.Type: GrantFiled: February 25, 2011Date of Patent: November 8, 2011Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Akira Yasugi, Takatoshi Matsushita, Takehiro Naka, Takumi Nakashima
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Patent number: 8006552Abstract: A wind turbine generator system that can quantitatively determine the energy of a lightning strike on a wind turbine blade is provided. In the wind turbine generator system generating electricity by driving an electrical generation mechanism through rotation of a rotor head to which wind turbine blades are attached, an electrically conductive shield tape for judging the charge quantity (C) of a lightning strike is bonded to surfaces of the wind turbine blades.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2008Date of Patent: August 30, 2011Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventor: Takatoshi Matsushita
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Publication number: 20110204630Abstract: The object is to reduce an output fluctuation in an interconnection node. Provided is an operation control method of a wind power generation system including a step of obtaining the output data of each wind turbine, a step of determining a correlation between output fluctuations of adjacent wind turbines by using output data, and a step of shifting, if a strong correlation is exhibited, a phase of output fluctuation of either one of the adjacent wind turbines by a period at which the strong correlation is exhibited.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2007Publication date: August 25, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Takatoshi Matsushita, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Masaaki Shibata, Akira Yasugi
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Publication number: 20110198846Abstract: Reactive power is supplied in accordance with a reactive-power supply instruction from a power grid while ensuring a variable-speed range of a wound-rotor induction generator.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 25, 2011Publication date: August 18, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Tsuyoshi WAKASA, Akira YASUGI, Takatoshi MATSUSHITA, Takehiro NAKA, Takumi NAKASHIMA
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Publication number: 20110193345Abstract: An object is to provide a wind turbine generator that is capable of continuously operating an auxiliary unit even when a grid fault occurs. Provided is a wind turbine generator including an auxiliary-unit breaker provided in a power line that connects an auxiliary unit to a power grid, wherein the auxiliary-unit breaker has a current-resisting capacity within a range that tolerates a current that flows in a low-voltage event and does not exceed a tolerable current of a motor provided in the auxiliary unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 20, 2009Publication date: August 11, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Takatoshi Matsushita, Masaaki Shibata
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Publication number: 20110187104Abstract: The invention provides a pitch drive apparatus of a wind generator and the wind generator capable of, with a simple structure, preventing reliability of the pitch drive apparatus from being deteriorated. The wind generator includes a wind turbine rotor blade having a blade root mounted so as to be turnable around an axis center O with respect to a rotor head, and a pitch drive apparatus for turning and driving the wind turbine rotor blade around the axis center O to change a pitch angle thereof. The pitch drive apparatus has an electric cylinder functioning as a linear actuator.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 10, 2009Publication date: August 4, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTDInventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Takatoshi Matsushita
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Publication number: 20110187107Abstract: A wind turbine generator capable of easily stopping wind turbine blades at an appropriate position in a short time is provided. A pitch control device controls the pitch angle to a feather side to reduce the rotational speed of the wind turbine blades to a predetermined speed upon receiving a stop signal instructing stopping the rotation of the wind turbine blades, and, on the basis of a detection result of an angle detection device, a brake disc and a brake device are driven and controlled so that the rotation of the wind turbine blades is stopped at a desired position.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 4, 2010Publication date: August 4, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Takashi Toyohara, Masayuki Hashimoto, Takatoshi Matsushita
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Publication number: 20110182731Abstract: A wind turbine blade has a blade body 11, a plurality of receptors 12, 13 embedded in and exposed to the surface of the blade body 11, a conductor layer 14 provided on the surface of the blade body 11 and connecting the receptors 12, 13 with one another and a downconductor 21 connected to the receptors 12, 13 and provided in the blade body 11. The downconductor 21 may be embedded in an insulator.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 15, 2011Publication date: July 28, 2011Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.Inventors: Takehiro NAKA, Takatoshi MATSUSHITA, Nobuyasu NAKAMURA, Yoshihiko HAYASHI, Shinji ARINAGA
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Patent number: 7982327Abstract: A wind turbine generator system includes: a wind turbine rotor including a blade having a variable pitch angle; a generator driven by the wind turbine rotor; and a control unit controlling the output power of the generator and the pitch angle of the blade in response to the rotational speed of the wind turbine rotor or the generator.Type: GrantFiled: October 29, 2010Date of Patent: July 19, 2011Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Shinji Arinaga, Tsuyoshi Wakasa, Takatoshi Matsushita
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Publication number: 20110156388Abstract: It is an object to provide a wind turbine generator system that can promptly restore the system voltage in the event of, for example, a low voltage phenomenon. A controller 21 detects the power factor state of a generator when a normal operation mode is switched to a low-voltage control mode and sets a condition for switching from the low-voltage control mode to the normal operation mode depending on the detected power factor state.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 14, 2008Publication date: June 30, 2011Inventors: Akira Yasugi, Takatoshi Matsushita