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).

  • Publication number: 20180072176
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Publication date: March 15, 2018
    Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
  • Publication number: 20180065495
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2017
    Publication date: March 8, 2018
    Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
  • Patent number: 9895986
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Masayuki Horiba
  • Patent number: 9789781
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
  • Patent number: 9718368
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tomokazu Masuda
  • Patent number: 9708697
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20170198375
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Publication date: July 13, 2017
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)
    Inventors: Tomonobu ISHIDA, Tomokazu MASUDA
  • Publication number: 20170130303
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2015
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Applicant: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho (Kobe Steel, Ltd.)
    Inventors: Tomonobu ISHIDA, Tomokazu MASUDA
  • Publication number: 20170120775
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 4, 2017
    Inventors: Takashi Murata, Tomokazu Masuda
  • Patent number: 9618954
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, FUJI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Tatsuo Hidaka, Sumikazu Shamoto, Naoki Kanie, Kiyohito Machida, Kazuhiko Matsuda
  • Patent number: 9598751
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2017
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20170058376
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Publication date: March 2, 2017
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)
    Inventors: Atsuhiko TAKEDA, Tomokazu MASUDA, Sho TAKAYAMA
  • Patent number: 9534279
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Hideo Hata, Katsura Kajihara, Toshio Murakami, Masaaki Miura, Muneaki Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20160347302
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2016
    Publication date: December 1, 2016
    Inventors: Yamato Niwa, Tomokazu Masuda, Yoshihiro Nomura, Kiyohito Machida, Yusuke Kuruma
  • Publication number: 20160325636
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu MASUDA, Tomohiro INOUE
  • Publication number: 20160325635
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2014
    Publication date: November 10, 2016
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu MASUDA, Masayuki HORIBA
  • Publication number: 20160319393
    Abstract: 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: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2014
    Publication date: November 3, 2016
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOBE SEIKO SHO (KOBE STEEL, LTD.)
    Inventors: Atsuhiko TAKEDA, Tomokazu MASUDA, Sho TAKAYAMA
  • Patent number: 9457673
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Yusuke Tsutsui, Shogo Hirata
  • Patent number: 9444187
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Koichi Kojima, Tomokazu Masuda, Yamato Niwa, Tomohiro Inoue
  • Patent number: 9257867
    Abstract: 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: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomokazu Masuda, Takahiro Ito