Patents by Inventor Tomoki TAMBO

Tomoki TAMBO 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: 20240039016
    Abstract: A fuel cell system includes: a first fuel cell; a second fuel cell; a cathode configured to receive a positive charge from the first fuel cell and the second fuel cell; an anode disposed apart from the cathode and configured to receive a negative charge from the first fuel cell and the second fuel cell; a manifold enclosing the anode and the cathode; coolant disposed within the manifold and surrounding the cathode and the anode; and a seal disposed between the cathode and the anode so as to prevent the coolant from leaking into the first fuel cell, wherein the cathode includes a seal portion disposed adjacent to the seal and a remaining portion separated from the seal by the seal portion, and wherein the remaining portion of the cathode is configured to be non-parallel with the anode so as to reduce shunt current at the seal portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2022
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Applicants: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomoki Tambo, Ercan Dede, Yuqing Zhou
  • Publication number: 20240006623
    Abstract: A surface-treated titanium material for a fuel cell separator, including a titanium substrate having a passive film on a surface of the titanium substrate and a surface layer formed on the titanium substrate. The surface layer includes a titanium oxide layer and carbon particles, the carbon particles are dispersed in an inside of the titanium oxide layer, and a total film thickness of the titanium oxide layer and the passive film is 25 nm or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2021
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho (Kobe Steel, Ltd.), TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiki SATO, Jun SUZUKI, Kotaro IKEDA, Yusuke WATANABE, Takuya ITAKURA, Tomoki TAMBO
  • Publication number: 20230082620
    Abstract: A bipolar plate for a fuel cell, a fuel cell, and a method of designing a bipolar plate for a fuel cell having a hybrid flow field structure that includes a plurality of parallel feed flow channels fluidically connected to an inlet bipolar plate region, a plurality of parallel exit flow channels fluidically connected to an outlet bipolar plate region, and an interwoven pattern formed by a plurality of simplified periodic array flow field structure generated based on flow patterns generated by homogenized anisotropic porous media optimization. The flow field structure enhances fuel cell performance by facilitating lower pressure drop via minimized fluid flow resistance, and removal of accumulated water in the oxygen channel and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) under the ribs of the bipolar plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2021
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicant: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc
    Inventors: Ercan M. Dede, Yuqing Zhou, Danny J. Lohan, Feng Zhou, Tomoki Tambo, Hiroshi Ukegawa
  • Publication number: 20230065250
    Abstract: A bipolar plate for a fuel cell, a fuel cell, and a method of designing a bipolar plate for a fuel cell having a flow field structure that includes a plurality of Representative Elementary Volumes (REVs) generated based on flow patterns generated by homogenized anisotropic porous media optimization. The flow field structure enhances fuel cell performance by facilitating lower pressure drop via minimized fluid flow resistance, and removal of accumulated water in the oxygen channel and the gas diffusion layer (GDL) under the ribs of the bipolar plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Applicant: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Feng Zhou, Yuqing Zhou, Danny J. Lohan, Ercan M. Dede, Hiroshi Ukegawa, Tomoki Tambo
  • Patent number: 10730379
    Abstract: There is provided a fuel cell vehicle, including a high voltage system disposed in a front compartment of the vehicle, and a first protruding portion that protrudes in a left-right direction of the vehicle toward a vehicle body of the vehicle further than a portion of the high voltage system that is closest to the vehicle body, and is fixed to the high voltage system, in which, when the vehicle is placed on a horizontal plane, the first protruding portion is arranged such that a position of a first most-protruded portion of the first protruding portion that protrudes most toward the vehicle body in a height direction is located at the same position or higher than a center of gravity of the high voltage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomoki Tambo, Hirofumi Kanazawa, Tadashi Akiyama
  • Publication number: 20180297461
    Abstract: There is provided a fuel cell vehicle, including a high voltage system disposed in a front compartment of the vehicle, and a first protruding portion that protrudes in a left-right direction of the vehicle toward a vehicle body of the vehicle further than a portion of the high voltage system that is closest to the vehicle body, and is fixed to the high voltage system, in which, when the vehicle is placed on a horizontal plane, the first protruding portion is arranged such that a position of a first most-protruded portion of the first protruding portion that protrudes most toward the vehicle body in a height direction is located at the same position or higher than a center of gravity of the high voltage system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Publication date: October 18, 2018
    Applicant: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Tomoki TAMBO, Hirofumi Kanazawa, Tadashi Akiyama