Patents by Inventor Tomohiro Numajiri

Tomohiro Numajiri 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).

  • Publication number: 20110309620
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided with: a nacelle mounting a wind turbine rotor; a yaw drive device generating drive force for causing yaw turning of the nacelle; a brake mechanism generating braking force for braking the turning of the nacelle; a control system controlling the yaw drive device and the brake mechanism; and a wind speed measurement device measuring wind speed. When detecting occurrence of a high wind speed state based on the wind speed while the nacelle is turned by the yaw drive device, the control device provides braking force for the nacelle by using the brake mechanism in response to the detection of the occurrence of the high wind speed state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuto Fujino, Seita Seki, Yoshiyuki Hayashi, Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110293425
    Abstract: There is provided a wind turbine generator that includes an improved grease supply and discharge system of lubricant oil used in a blade rotating ring bearing of a wind turbine blade, and can reliably recover discharged grease. The wind turbine generator includes a pitch control mechanism that can adjust a pitch angle of the wind turbine blade via the blade rotating ring bearing provided between the wind turbine blade and a rotor head, a grease supply and discharge device is provided in the rotor head, and the grease supply and discharge device includes a grease supply device that pumps lubricant oil in a supplied grease tank with a grease supply pump and supplies the lubricant oil to the blade rotating ring bearing, and a grease discharge device that forcibly sucks and recovers the discharged grease from the blade rotating ring bearing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2010
    Publication date: December 1, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Yoshihiro Fujioka, Atsushi Imanaga
  • Publication number: 20110278996
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided with a generator which is provided with a stator and a stator casing accommodating a generator rotor and the stator; a main shaft having one end coupled to a wind turbine rotor and the other end coupled to the generator rotor; a first bearing which rotatably supports the main shaft; a second bearing which is provided on the main shaft to support the stator casing such that the main shaft and the stator casing are rotatable relative to each other; a base to which the first bearing is attached; and a torque support including a coupling member which couples the base portion and a front plate of the stator casing. The load center of force acting between the coupling member and the front plate in a case that torque acts on the stator casing in the circumferential direction of the main shaft is positioned in a range between the front and back surfaces of the front plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2010
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110280730
    Abstract: A frame for supporting equipment arranged in a hub of a wind turbine is fixed to the hub at one end and flexibly connected to the hub at another end. The variation of the relative position between the hub and the frame caused by the deformation of the hub associated with a rotation of the wind turbine or the like is absorbed by the flexible connection. A wind turbine whose frame in the hub has high durability against the rotation can be provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2010
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Tomohiro NUMAJIRI, Emi TORII
  • Publication number: 20110272949
    Abstract: Provided is a wind turbine generator in which the intake air temperature of an air-cooled heat exchanger disposed in a nacelle is decreased to allow efficient heat exchange. A wind turbine generator that generates electric power in such a manner that a rotor head that rotates when receiving wind power drives a generator installed inside a nacelle, the nacelle being installed at the upper end of a tower that is vertically erected on a foundation, and the wind turbine generator including a closed-circuit lubricating-oil circulation system in which lubricating oil circulates through devices installed inside the nacelle, wherein an air-cooled heat exchanger installed in the lubricating-oil circulation system to cool the lubricating oil by heat exchange with air is provided in a region separate from nacelle air.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takeshi MATSUO, Yasushi OKANO, Tomohiro NUMAJIRI, Taisuke NAKAMURA, Chuuhachi GOTOU, Shigeto HIRAI, Shinsuke SATO
  • Publication number: 20110266806
    Abstract: A direct-drive wind turbine generator is provided with: a main shaft having one end connected to a rotor head of a wind turbine rotor; a generator having a stator, a stator casing for supporting the stator, and a rotor connected to the other end of the main shaft; first and second bearings positioned between the rotor head and the generator to rotatably support the main shaft; and a torque support for supporting the stator casing. The second bearing is positioned closer to the generator than the first bearing. The first bearing is a bearing with an aligning capability, and the second bearing is a bearing with no aligning capability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110269586
    Abstract: A driving force transmission apparatus includes: a motion power transmission part for transmitting a motion power via a driving medium formed by a belt or a chain; and a tensioner for applying a tension to the driving medium. The tensioner includes: a compression spring for biasing the driving medium; a stopper for preventing the compression spring from being compressed to a length less than a predetermined length; and an adjustment part for pushing the compression spring to be the predetermined length in a direction toward the driving medium. According to this configuration, the tension of the driving medium is dominant at installation. When the driving medium becomes fatigue to some extent, the stopper of the tensioner becomes off and the compression spring absorbs the vibration of the driving medium. As a result, the exchange timing of the tensioner can be extended by a simple configuration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2011
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro NUMAJIRI
  • Patent number: 8047791
    Abstract: Provided are a wind turbine generator and a method for constructing a wind turbine generator that allow for alleviation of construction costs, particularly for large wind turbine generators, and alleviation of limitations on construction due to weather. Provided are a rotor head that has a plurality of wind turbine rotor blades and that is rotated by wind power received by the plurality of wind turbine rotor blades, a front segment disposed on top of a tower and constituting a nacelle to which the rotor head is attached, a rear segment attached to the front segment and constituting the nacelle, a front frame disposed in the front segment and positioned between the rotor head and the tower so as to support a load on the rotor head, a rear frame disposed in the rear segment and attached to the front frame, a front cover covering the periphery of the front segment, and a rear cover covering the periphery of the rear segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Hisao Miyake, Masaaki Shibata
  • Publication number: 20110254281
    Abstract: Size enlargement of a wind turbine generator is facilitated by eliminating various problems that occur with a bearing that joins a tower (2) and a nacelle. In a wind turbine generator that turnably supports a nacelle installed at the top portion of a tower (2) via a yawing sliding bearing (30), a sliding bearing member (33) of the yawing sliding bearing (30) is provided on at least one of an inner circumferential surface side and an outer circumferential side of the tower (2), and the side-surface length (H) of the sliding bearing member (33) is set to be at least twice the horizontal-direction length (L) of the sliding bearing member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2009
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshitomo Noda, Tomohiro Numajiri, Akihiko Yano, Hideaki Nishida, Takafumi Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20110241353
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator according to the present invention includes: a rotor head equipped with wind turbine blades to constitute a wind turbine rotor blade; a nacelle that bears a rotation shaft of the rotor head and houses a generator that generates electricity by a rotation of the rotor head; a tower that supports the nacelle; a rotor head cover that covers the rotor head; an outside-air intake that is provided on a distal end part of the rotor head cover and takes in the outside wind; an outside-air delivery communicating parts that delivers the outside air, which has been taken into the rotor head cover from the outside-air intake, to an inside of the nacelle; and cooling air outlets that are provided in a region of the outer surface of the nacelle that experiences a negative pressure due to the outside wind.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2011
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro NUMAJIRI
  • Publication number: 20110233939
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator provided with a sliding bearing as a yawing ring bearing that can reduce shifting of an axial center by making radial-direction clearances small. In a wind turbine generator in which a nacelle installed at the top of a tower is turnably supported via a yawing sliding bearing, the yawing sliding bearing is provided with a sliding member 33 disposed between top and bottom support surfaces of a flange formed mainly at a stationary portion and a turning portion; and a rolling element disposed between the stationary portion of the yawing sliding hearing and the turning portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2009
    Publication date: September 29, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshitomo Noda, Tomohiro Numajiri, Seita Seki
  • Publication number: 20110204647
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator includes: a main shaft for supporting a wind turbine rotor; a main bearing for rotatably supporting the main shaft; a generator having a generator rotor and a stator; a sleeve connected to the generator rotor and inserted onto the main shaft; and a hydraulic shrink fit provided outside the sleeve and tightening the sleeve to connect to the main shaft. The hydraulic shrink fit is constructed to reduce the inner diameter through a supply of hydraulic fluid to secure the sleeve to the main shaft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2009
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110187104
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: April 10, 2009
    Publication date: August 4, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Takatoshi Matsushita
  • Publication number: 20110166796
    Abstract: A testing method for the bolt to be used under the conditions of excessive wind force by which bolts made of Cr—Mo steel can be separated into a group of bolts usable in cold areas and a group of bolts unusable in cold areas without conducting Charpy impact test involving complicated operation, specifically, a testing method for determining whether bolts made of heat-treated Cr—Mo steel are usable or unusable in cold areas, wherein the determination is conducted on the basis of both J parameter calculated by formula: J=(Si %+Mn %) (P %+Sn %) 104 (wherein P %, Si %, Mn % and Sn % are contents (mass %) of phosphorus (P), silicon (Si), manganese (Mn) and tin (Sn) respectively as disclosed in the inspection certificate of the Cr—Mo steel) and bolt diameter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2009
    Publication date: July 7, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Shin Nakayama, Masuo Tada, Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110142680
    Abstract: Provided is an offshore wind turbine generator capable of withstanding unevenly distributed stress with a simple and inexpensive structure and of maintaining reliability in terms of strength. An offshore wind turbine generator includes a nacelle that rotatably supports a rotor head, and a tower portion that supports the nacelle and yaws integrally with the nacelle, and a structure portion that bears the strength of the tower portion has a higher strength against a load in a direction included in a plane having a rotation axis of the rotor head and an extending direction of the tower portion than the strength of the structure portion against a load in a direction included in other planes including the extending direction of the tower portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2010
    Publication date: June 16, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro NUMAJIRI
  • Publication number: 20110119889
    Abstract: Provided is a construction apparatus for safe and smooth construction of a floating offshore wind turbine generator in deep sea. The construction apparatus for constructing the offshore wind turbine generator with a crane ship includes a guide member attached to the crane ship in a work position perpendicular thereto such that a bottom end of the guide member is disposed under the sea and at least one pair of arm units that include grippers capable of holding and releasing a tower member divided into a plurality of segments in an axial direction and that slide along the guide member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicant: Mitsubish Heavy Industies, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Publication number: 20110095537
    Abstract: A wind turbine generator is provided in which a gear having a large diameter is not required in a yaw drive device (30) of a yaw system (10A). The yaw drive device (30) of the yaw system (10A), which revolves a nacelle (3) depending on the wind direction, includes a electric motor (31) which is fixedly provided on a nacelle base plate (12), with an output shaft (31a) substantially aligned with a pivot of the nacelle (3). The output shaft (31a) and a fixed-side support member (2b) provided in the vicinity of an upper end of the tower (2) are coupled by a coupling shaft (33) having couplings (32) provided at both ends thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Publication date: April 28, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Patent number: 7905707
    Abstract: Provided are a pitch actuator for a wind turbine generator and a wind turbine generator that can be prevented from losing their reliability. Provided are a cylinder (12) and a rod (13) that rotate a wind turbine rotor blade about an axis thereof relative to a rotor head to change a pitch angle; a cylinder bearing (14, 15) supporting the cylinder (12) so as to be rotatable relative to the rotor head about a first rotation axis (L1) extending substantially parallel to the axis of the wind turbine rotor blade and about a second rotation axis (L2) extending in a direction crossing both the first rotation axis (L1) and the axis of the cylinder (12) and the rod (13); and a rod bearing (16) rotatably supporting an end of the rod (13) on an end surface of the wind turbine rotor blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Numajiri, Masahiro Kawai, Seita Seki
  • Publication number: 20110047899
    Abstract: A flange joint for structural members is provided, wherein by avoiding stress concentration at a welded portion, the cross-sectional size can be determined based on the base material strength, and a structure can be reduced in weight and size. In a flange joint for structural members, structural members are connected to each other in a state where an end face, for example, of an H-shaped steel beam is connected to a structural-member-connecting face of an end plate by welding and a non-connection face of the end plate is coupled to another structural member. The structural-member-connecting face of the end plate, to which the end face of the H-shaped steel beam is connected, is provided with recessed grooves along the shape of the welded portion of the end face.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Publication date: March 3, 2011
    Applicant: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri
  • Patent number: 7895744
    Abstract: A method of replacing wind turbine equipment, which can reduce the cost for replacing large equipment disposed in a nacelle, is provided. The method is characterized by including a winch-hoisting step for winching up to a nacelle a reciprocating winch that is used for replacing the wind turbine equipment disposed in the nacelle mounted atop a tower and a balance supporting the wind turbine equipment with an ordinarily-installed winch provided on a girder that moves in the nacelle; a wire-hoisting step for hoisting a wire that is used for the replacement of the wind turbine equipment to the nacelle from a drum disposed on the ground; a winch-replacing step for detaching the ordinarily-installed winch from the girder and attaching the winch for replacement to the girder; and a wire-arranging step for arranging the hoisted wire on the reciprocating winch and a movable pulley provided between the balance and the girder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Numajiri