Patents by Inventor Tomokazu Masuda
Tomokazu Masuda 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: 20180072176Abstract: In a case where a connector of a power supply facility is connected to an inlet, an ECU is configured to control a potential of a pilot signal so as to request power supply to the power supply facility and to permit execution of external charging. Further, in a case where the ECU detects a feeding voltage from the power supply facility without requesting the power supply to the power supply facility, when it is detected that the feeding voltage is not output from the power supply facility in a state where the connector is connected to the inlet, the ECU permits the external charging.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 15, 2017Publication date: March 15, 2018Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
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Publication number: 20180065495Abstract: An inlet is configured to connect with a connector of a charging cable. An ECU is configured to switch between (i) a charging permitted state in which external charging is permitted and (ii) a charging non-permitted state in which external charging is not permitted. When the connector is in connection to the inlet, the ECU selects the charging permitted state in which external charging is permitted, even if a connector connection signal indicative of a state of connection between the connector and the inlet indicates a partially-connected state in which the connection between the connector and the inlet is not latched.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2017Publication date: March 8, 2018Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
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Patent number: 9895986Abstract: This vehicle includes an inlet for performing external charging of a first method as well as a charging cord and a relay for performing external charging of a second method. During external charging of the first method, a battery charger is controlled such that electric current having a value smaller than or equal to a current value indicated by a pilot signal flows. During external charging of the second method, the relay is caused to conduct, and the battery charger is controlled such that electric current having a value smaller than or equal to a previously defined current value flows. Therefore, external charging of the first method and that of the second method can be selectively executed with a simple configuration.Type: GrantFiled: December 3, 2014Date of Patent: February 20, 2018Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Masayuki Horiba
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Patent number: 9789781Abstract: A charging device for a vehicle carries out timer charging in which the charging device is set in a standby state without charging until charging start time comes when the charging start time is set for a vehicle-mounted electrical storage device. The charging device for the vehicle includes a charger that charges the electrical storage device with electric power supplied from a device outside the vehicle, and an ECU that determines whether to carry out timer charging or carry out instant charging without carrying out the timer charging on the basis of a state of a switch associated with an open/close state of a charging lid, and that controls the charger. Desirably, a timer cancellation or determination switch is also used as a switch for detecting the open/close state of the lid or a switch for opening the lid.Type: GrantFiled: January 31, 2014Date of Patent: October 17, 2017Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Tomokazu Masuda
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Patent number: 9718368Abstract: There is provided a charging device for a vehicle, which carries out timer charging in which the charging device, is set in a standby state without charging until charging start time comes when the charging start time is set. The charging device includes a charger that charges an electrical storage device of the vehicle with electric power supplied from a device outside the vehicle, a cable lock mechanism (260) that locks a charging cable in a state where the charging cable is connected to an inlet, and an electronic control unit (170) that determines whether to carry out timer charging or carry out instant charging without carrying out the timer charging on the basis of a state of a switch associated with operation of the cable lock mechanism (260).Type: GrantFiled: February 17, 2014Date of Patent: August 1, 2017Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Tomokazu Masuda
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Patent number: 9708697Abstract: In a steel sheet having a specific chemical composition and having a microstructure including ferrite that is a soft first phase by 20-50% in terms of the area ratio, the remainder being tempered martensite and/or tempered bainite that is a hard second phase, the microstructure of steel of a surface layer section of the steel sheet from the surface to the depth of 100 ?m and a center section of t/4-3t/4 (t is the sheet thickness) is controlled.Type: GrantFiled: May 29, 2013Date of Patent: July 18, 2017Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
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Publication number: 20170198375Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a wire rod for a steel wire, which is excellent in low cycle fatigue characteristics and is useful as a material for a high-strength steel wire such as a wire rope or a PC steel wire, and to provide a steel wire that can exhibit such characteristics. A wire rod for a steel wire of the present invention comprises by mass: C: 0.70 to 1.3%; Si: 0.1 to 1.5%; Mn: 0.1 to 1.5%; N: 0.001 to 0.006%; Al: 0.001 to 0.10%; Ti: 0.02 to 0.20%; B: 0.0005 to 0.010%; P: 0% or more and 0.030% or less; and S: 0% or more and 0.030% or less, with the balance being iron and inevitable impurities, wherein, the wire rod has pearlite as a main phase, an area ratio of proeutectoid ferrite is 1.0% or less, and an average thickness of the proeutectoid ferrite is 5 ?m or less.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 2, 2015Publication date: July 13, 2017Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)Inventors: Tomonobu ISHIDA, Tomokazu MASUDA
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Publication number: 20170130303Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a wire rod for a steel wire, which is excellent in low cycle fatigue characteristics and is useful as a material for a high-strength steel wire such as a wire rope or a PC steel wire, and to provide a steel wire that can exhibit such characteristics. A wire rod for a steel wire of the present invention comprises by mass: C: 0.70 to 1.3%; Si: 0.1 to 1.5%; Mn: 0.1 to 1.5%; N: 0.001 to 0.006%; Al: 0.001 to 0.10%; Ti: 0.02 to 0.20%; B: 0.0005 to 0.010%; P: 0% or more and 0.030% or less; and S: 0% or more and 0.030% or less, with the balance being iron and inevitable impurities, wherein, the wire rod having pearlite as a main phase and a hydrogen diffusion coefficient D in steel at 300° C. satisfies formula (1) below: D?2.5×10?7(cm2/sec)??(1).Type: ApplicationFiled: June 2, 2015Publication date: May 11, 2017Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho (Kobe Steel, Ltd.)Inventors: Tomonobu ISHIDA, Tomokazu MASUDA
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Publication number: 20170120775Abstract: An electric power storage system for a vehicle includes a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of a battery, a battery heater, a charger connectable with an external power supply and configured to deliver external power to the battery and the battery heater, and a controller. In the system, a first electric power is supplied to the battery heater when the state of charge of the battery is larger than a predetermined value and the temperature of the battery is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature, and a second electric power is supplied to the battery heater when the state of charge of the battery is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value and the temperature of the battery is equal to or lower than the predetermined temperature. The first electric power is smaller than the second electric power.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 26, 2015Publication date: May 4, 2017Inventors: Takashi Murata, Tomokazu Masuda
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Patent number: 9618954Abstract: In response to connection of a vehicle with an external power supply, a plug ECU (PLG-ECU) performs a first charging operation of controlling a charger using a target value which is set to a state of charge lower than a predetermined full state of charge, until the state of charge of a power storage device reaches the target value. After the state of charge reaches the target value, the PLG-ECU stops charging of the power storage device, and restarts charging of the power storage device so that the state of charge reaches the predetermined full state of charge at a scheduled time to end charging which is specified through the use of an input unit.Type: GrantFiled: October 7, 2011Date of Patent: April 11, 2017Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Tatsuo Hidaka, Sumikazu Shamoto, Naoki Kanie, Kiyohito Machida, Kazuhiko Matsuda
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Patent number: 9598751Abstract: In a high strength cold-rolled steel plate having a specific chemical composition, a soft first phase (ferrite) has an area ratio of 20-50%, the remainder being a hard second phase (tempered martensite and/or tempered bainite), among all the ferrite grains, ferrite grains that have an average grain diameter of 10-25 ?m account for a total area ratio of 80% or more, the number of the cementite grains that have an equivalent circle diameter of 0.3 ?m or more is more than 0.15 piece and 1.0 piece or less per 1 ?m2 of ferrite, and the tensile strength is 980 MPa or more.Type: GrantFiled: May 24, 2013Date of Patent: March 21, 2017Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
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Publication number: 20170058376Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a rolled material, which is a material for high strength spring, and also can exhibit excellent corrosion fatigue properties after quenching and tempering even when suppressing the addition amount of an alloying element; and a wire for high strength spring obtained from such a rolled material. The rolled material for high strength spring of the present invention includes, in % by mass: C: 0.39 to 0.65%, Si: 1.5 to 2.5%, Mn: 0.15 to 1.2%, P: exceeding 0% and 0.015% or less, S: exceeding 0% and 0.015% or less, Al: 0.001 to 0.1%, Cu: 0.10 to 0.80%, Ni: 0.10 to 0.80%, and O: exceeding 0% and 0.0010% or less, with the balance being iron and inevitable impurities, wherein the number of oxide inclusions having an average diameter of 25 ?m or more is 30 or less per 100 g of a steel material, and an amount of nondiffusible hydrogen is 0.40 ppm by mass or less.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 3, 2015Publication date: March 2, 2017Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)Inventors: Atsuhiko TAKEDA, Tomokazu MASUDA, Sho TAKAYAMA
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Patent number: 9534279Abstract: A high-strength cold-rolled steel sheet has a chemical composition including C of 0.05% to 0.30%, Si of greater than 0% to 3.0%, Mn of 0.1% to 5.0%, P of greater than 0% to 0.1%, S of greater than 0% to 0.02%, Al of 0.01% to 1.0%, and N of greater than 0% to 0.01%, in mass percent, with the remainder including iron and inevitable impurities. The steel sheet has a microstructure containing ferrite as a soft primary phase in an area percentage of 20% to 50% with the remainder including tempered martensite and/or tempered bainite as a hard secondary phase. The ferrite grains are adapted to contain cementite particles having an appropriate size in an appropriate number density.Type: GrantFiled: December 11, 2012Date of Patent: January 3, 2017Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Hideo Hata, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
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Publication number: 20160347302Abstract: A vehicle includes an electrical storage device, an auxiliary load, a charger configured to charge the electrical storage device with power supplied from a power supply outside the vehicle, and an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to create an actuation schedule of the auxiliary load during charging of the electrical storage device, before initiation of the charging. The electronic control unit is configured to learn charging power of the electrical storage device for each actuation pattern of the auxiliary load during the charging. The electronic control unit is configured to estimate a required time period for the charging based on a learned value of the charging power, an execution time period of each of the actuation patterns, and a total charging power amount of the electrical storage device. The electronic control unit sets initiation time of the charging in accordance with the estimated required time period.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 23, 2016Publication date: December 1, 2016Inventors: Yamato Niwa, Tomokazu Masuda, Yoshihiro Nomura, Kiyohito Machida, Yusuke Kuruma
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Publication number: 20160325636Abstract: A sub DC/DC converter converts an output voltage of a charger into a level of an output of an auxiliary battery, and outputs the output voltage to a power supply line connected to a PLG-ECU and the auxiliary battery. A control unit interrupts a current path from the power supply line to the auxiliary battery when a voltage of the sub auxiliary battery is equal to or lower than a prescribed value.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 3, 2014Publication date: November 10, 2016Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu MASUDA, Tomohiro INOUE
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Publication number: 20160325635Abstract: This vehicle includes an inlet for performing external charging of a first method as well as a charging cord and a relay for performing external charging of a second method. During external charging of the first method, a battery charger is controlled such that electric current having a value smaller than or equal to a current value indicated by a pilot signal flows. During external charging of the second method, the relay is caused to conduct, and the battery charger is controlled such that electric current having a value smaller than or equal to a previously defined current value flows. Therefore, external charging of the first method and that of the second method can be selectively executed with a simple configuration.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 3, 2014Publication date: November 10, 2016Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu MASUDA, Masayuki HORIBA
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Publication number: 20160319393Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a rolled material for high strength spring, which has excellent wire drawability even when suppressing the addition amount of an alloying element, and which can exhibit corrosion fatigue properties after quenching and tempering. The present invention provides a rolled material for high strength spring, including C, Si, Mn, P, S, Al, Cu and Ni, wherein an amount of nondiffusible hydrogen is 0.40 ppm by mass or less, and an area ratio of ferrite expressed as a percentage satisfies an inequality expression (1) below, and a total area ratio of bainite and martensite is 2% or less: Ferrite area ratio<{(0.77?[C])/0.77?[C]/3+0.08}×100??(1) where [name of element] in the above inequality expression (1) means a content expressed in % by mass of each element.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 10, 2014Publication date: November 3, 2016Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)Inventors: Atsuhiko TAKEDA, Tomokazu MASUDA, Sho TAKAYAMA
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Patent number: 9457673Abstract: A vehicle includes a power storage device, a power receiving unit for receiving power for charging the power storage device from an external power supply, an illumination unit for emitting light to the power receiving unit in response to a transistor attaining an on-state, and stopping the emission of light and a microcomputer for controlling the transistor.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2011Date of Patent: October 4, 2016Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Yusuke Tsutsui, Shogo Hirata
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Patent number: 9444187Abstract: A vehicle includes a connection unit, a lid of the connection unit, one lock unit, another lock unit, and a drive device. The connection unit is configured to connect a power cable. One lock unit is configured to lock connection of the power cable to the connection unit. The other lock unit is configured to lock the lid to a closed state. The drive device is configured to drive both of the lock units to a locked state when at least one of a first condition permitting one lock unit to be locked and a second condition permitting the other lock unit to be locked is established.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 2013Date of Patent: September 13, 2016Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Koichi Kojima, Tomokazu Masuda, Yamato Niwa, Tomohiro Inoue
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Patent number: 9257867Abstract: An externally chargeable vehicle which is charged with electric power from an external power supply includes an HV-ECU for controlling a power storage device during any of operation of the vehicle and external charging, and a PLG-ECU for controlling a charging device during external charging. With such a configuration, running and charging can be controlled while a function of the HV-ECU for controlling operation of the vehicle and a function of the PLG-ECU for external charging is prevented from becoming redundant.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2010Date of Patent: February 9, 2016Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Takahiro Ito