Patents by Inventor Tomonobu Yoshikawa

Tomonobu Yoshikawa 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).

  • Patent number: 6905437
    Abstract: A power roller bearing of a toroidal-type continuously variable transmission unit that is used for a transmission of an automobile or the like comprises a power roller, an outer race, balls, a retainer, etc. Annular raceway grooves are formed individually on the respective opposite end faces of the outer race and the power roller. Treated-surface layers for enhancing the endurance of the power roller bearing are formed individually on the respective surfaces of the raceway grooves. The treated-surface layers include super-finished surfaces with the surface roughness of 0.05 Rad or less, formed individually on the raceway grooves, and low-friction layers formed individually on the super-finished surfaces. Alternatively, the treated-surface layers include residual compression stress layers formed on the respective surface layer portions of the raceway grooves by shot-preening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2005
    Assignee: NSK, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Itoh, Takashi Imanishi, Nobuo Goto, Yasuo Murakami, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6770152
    Abstract: The present invention provides a rolling bearing having high wear resistance at high temperature and with reduced manufacturing cost. At least one of an inner ring, an outer ring and rolling elements is formed of the following steel material into a predetermined shape, then applied with hardening and tempering at a temperature of 240° C. or higher or 350° C. or lower to make the Vickers hardness (Hv) on the raceway surface and/or rolling surface to 720 or more. The steel material contains, as the alloy ingredient, 0.8% by weight or more and 1.2% by weight or less of C, 0.5% by weight or more and 2.5% by weight or less of Si, 0.7% by weight or more and 1.5% by weight or less of Cr, 0.8% by weight or more and 2.0% by weight or less of Mo and 0.3% by weight or more and 1.2% by weight or less of Mn, with a ratio of Mo to Cr (Mo/Cr: weight ratio) of 1.1 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2004
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Shigeru Okita, Akihiro Kiuchi, Hiromichi Takemura, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6746365
    Abstract: The toroidal-type continuously variable transmission comprises an input shaft rotatably supported, an input side disk, an output side disk, a plurality of trunnions, a plurality of power rollers, and a plurality of thrust rolling bearings 32, in which the mutually opposed inner surfaces of the input side and output side disks are respectively formed as concave surfaces each having an arc-shaped section, the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are formed as spherical-shaped convex surfaces, and the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are contacted with the inner surfaces of the input side and output side disks. In the thus structured toroidal-type continuously variable transmission, each of the thrust rolling bearings 32 is made of high carbon chromium bearing steel and is also carbonitrided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yasuo Murakami
  • Patent number: 6666792
    Abstract: A toroidal continuously variable transmission is characterized by comprising an input disk, an output disk, trunnions, power rollers, and thrust rolling-element bearing, in which at least one of the input disk, output disk and power rollers of a power roller bearing is formed of an alloy steel and subjected to either carburizing processing and polishing or carbonitriding processing and polishing, and at least one of the input disk, output disk and the inner ring of the power roller bearing has an efficient hardened layer of Hv 653, which has a depth of 2.0 mm or more and 4.00 mm or less from the surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2003
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6659909
    Abstract: A toroidal continuously variable transmission system of the present invention is provided with an input disk, an output disk and power rollers. The input and output disks have traction surfaces defined between a small-diameter portion and a large-diameter portion and having an arc-shaped concave section. The input and output disks are coaxially arranged in such a manner that the traction surfaces face each other. The power roller are frictionally engagement with the traction surfaces of the input and output disks and transmit a driving force. At least one of the input disk, the output disk and the power rollers is formed of an alloy steel which contains 0.15 to 2.0% by weight of Mo. The alloy steel is subjected first to carburization or carbonitriding processing executed at a temperature not lower than 1,000° C., and then to hardening and tempering. The alloy steel has a surface carbon content of 0.8 to 1.4%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2003
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Shigeru Okita, Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yutaka Ishii
  • Patent number: 6626795
    Abstract: The toroidal-type continuously variable transmission comprises an input shaft, an input disk, an output disk, a plurality of trunnions, a plurality of power rollers, and power roller bearings, wherein the mutually opposed inner surfaces of the input and output disks are respectively formed as concave surfaces each having an arc-shaped section, the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are respectively formed as spherical-shaped convex surfaces, and these peripheral surfaces are contacted with the above-mentioned inner surfaces. The retainer of the power roller bearing is formed of high strength brass, and the high strength brass has a micro structure in which the &agr; phase thereof is 40% or more in the area ratio thereof, and the hardness of said retainer is set at HB80 or higher.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2003
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20030181287
    Abstract: A power roller bearing of a toroidal-type continuously variable transmission unit that is used for a transmission of an automobile or the like comprises a power roller, an outer race, balls, a retainer, etc. Annular raceway grooves are formed individually on the respective opposite end faces of the outer race and the power roller. Treated-surface layers for enhancing the endurance of the power roller bearing are formed individually on the respective surfaces of the raceway grooves. The treated-surface layers include super-finished surfaces with the surface roughness of 0.05 Ra or less, formed individually on the raceway grooves, and low-friction layers formed individually on the super-finished surfaces. Alternatively, the treated-surface layers include residual compression stress layers formed on the respective surface layer portions of the raceway grooves by shot-peening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2003
    Publication date: September 25, 2003
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Itoh, Takashi Imanishi, Nobuo Goto, Yasuo Murakami, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6623400
    Abstract: In the thus structured toroidal-type continuously variable transmission, at least one of the concave surface of the input side disk, the concave surface of the output side disk, the convex surfaces of the power rollers, the raceway surfaces of the inner races of the power roller bearings, and the raceway surfaces of the outer races of the power roller bearings is, after heat treatment, subjected to grinding, superfinishing and shot-peening and then surperfinishing again, and the resultant surface residual compression stress is in the range from −780 to −1800 MPa.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2003
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yasuo Murakami
  • Publication number: 20030087723
    Abstract: A toroidal continuously variable transmission is characterized by comprising an input disk, an output disk, trunnions, power rollers, and thrust rolling-element bearing, in which at least one of the input disk, output disk and power rollers of a power roller bearing is formed of an alloy steel and subjected to either carburizing processing and polishing or carbonitriding processing and polishing, and at least one of the input disk, output disk and the inner ring of the power roller bearing has an efficient hardened layer of Hv 653, which has a depth of 2.0 mm or more and 4.00 mm or less from the surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Publication date: May 8, 2003
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20030040401
    Abstract: A toroidal continuously variable transmission system of the present invention is provided with an input disk, an output disk and power rollers. The input and output disks have traction surfaces defined between a small-diameter portion and a large-diameter portion and having an arc-shaped concave section. The input and output disks are coaxially arranged in such a manner that the traction surfaces face each other. The power roller are frictionally engagement with the traction surfaces of the input and output disks and transmit a driving force. At least one of the input disk, the output disk and the power rollers is formed of an alloy steel which contains 0.15 to 2.0% by weight of Mo. The alloy steel is subjected first to carburization or carbonitriding processing executed at a temperature not lower than 1,000° C., and then to hardening and tempering. The alloy steel has a surface carbon content of 0.8 to 1.4%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2002
    Publication date: February 27, 2003
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Shigeru Okita, Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yutaka Ishii
  • Publication number: 20020151407
    Abstract: The toroidal-type continuously variable transmission comprises an input shaft, an input disk, an output disk, a plurality of trunnions, a plurality of power rollers, and power roller bearings, wherein the mutually opposed inner surfaces of the input and output disks are respectively formed as concave surfaces each having an arc-shaped section, the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are respectively formed as spherical-shaped convex surfaces, and these peripheral surfaces are contacted with the above-mentioned inner surfaces. The retainer of the power roller bearing is formed of high strength brass, and the high strength brass has a micro structure in which the &agr; phase thereof is 40% or more in the area ratio thereof, and the hardness of said retainer is set at HB80 or higher.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2002
    Publication date: October 17, 2002
    Applicant: NSK LTD.
    Inventor: Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6443870
    Abstract: The present toroidal-type continuously variable transmission comprises input and output disks coaxially disposed so as to be opposed to each other, and a pair of power roller bearings, each power roller bearing including an inner race, an outer race, and power rollers disposed so as to roll on the toroidal surfaces of the input and output disks. At least one of the input and output disks and power rollers are made of medium-carbon steel containing carbon in an amount ranging from 0.3 wt %-0.5 wt %, to thereby have a very long life.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yasuo Murakami
  • Patent number: 6440233
    Abstract: An inner ring and an outer ring are composed as follows. These members are fabricated with a steel for bearing containing carbon 0.6 wt % or higher. A carbonitrided layer is formed in a raceway surface. The amount of residual austenite at a position of 2% Da depth in the raceway surface is determined to be 1.0 vol % or lower. Hardness at the position of 2% Da depth is set to be HRC58 or more. Nitrogen content (Np) at the position of 2% Da depth is 0.05 wt % or more. A multiple Gd of an impression resistance expressed with the following formula (1) is 1.6 or more, Gd=(H0.2/500)+2·Np  (1), wherein in the formula, H0.2 is meant by Vickers hardness at the position of 2% Da depth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2002
    Inventors: Shigeru Okita, Susumu Tanaka, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20020086767
    Abstract: In the thus structured toroidal-type continuously variable transmission, at least one of the concave surface of the input side disk, the concave surface of the output side disk, the convex surfaces of the power rollers, the raceway surfaces of the inner races of the power roller bearings, and the raceway surfaces of the outer races of the power roller bearings is, after heat treatment, subjected to grinding, superfinishing and shot-peening and then superfinishing again, and the resultant surface residual compression stress is in the range from −780 to −1800 MPa.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2001
    Publication date: July 4, 2002
    Applicant: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yasuo Murakami
  • Publication number: 20020082133
    Abstract: The toroidal-type continuously variable transmission comprises an input shaft rotatably supported, an input side disk, an output side disk, a plurality of trunnions, a plurality of power rollers, and a plurality of thrust rolling bearings 32, in which the mutually opposed inner surfaces of the input side and output side disks are respectively formed as concave surfaces each having an arc-shaped section, the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are formed as spherical-shaped convex surfaces, and the peripheral surfaces of the power rollers are contacted with the inner surfaces of the input side and output side disks. In the thus structured toroidal-type continuously variable transmission, each of the thrust rolling bearings 32 is made of high carbon chromium bearing steel and is also carbonitrided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2001
    Publication date: June 27, 2002
    Applicant: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Yasuo Murakami
  • Publication number: 20020039949
    Abstract: A power roller bearing of a toroidal-type continuously variable transmission unit that is used for a transmission of an automobile or the like comprises a power roller, an outer race, balls, a retainer, etc. Annular raceway grooves are formed individually on the respective opposite end faces of the outer race and the power roller. Treated-surface layers for enhancing the endurance of the power roller bearing are formed individually on the respective surfaces of the raceway grooves. The treated-surface layers include super-finished surfaces with the surface roughness of 0.05 Ra or less, formed individually on the raceway grooves, and low-friction layers formed individually on the super-finished surfaces. Alternatively, the treated-surface layers include residual compression stress layers formed on the respective surface layer portions of the raceway grooves by shot-peening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2001
    Publication date: April 4, 2002
    Applicant: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Itoh, Takashi Imanishi, Nobuo Goto, Yasuo Murakami, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6332714
    Abstract: An induction-hardened rolling bearing device used by disposing rolling elements in a raceway track member, with excellent cold drawability and improved wear resistance and extended service life, in which ingredients of an alloy for the raceway track member contain, from 0.40 to 0.90% of C, from 0.05 to 0.80% of Si, from 0.10 to 2.0% of Mn, from 0.05 to 0.50% of Ti and 0.03% or less of N, on the weight basis, induction hardening is applied at least to the raceway surface of the raceway track member, and Ti carbide and Ti carbonitride each having an average particle diameter of from 5 to 100 nm are dispersed on the surface and in the steels of the raceway track member to make the hardness of the raceway surface to HRC 59 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2001
    Assignees: NSK Ltd., Sanyo Special Steel Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiromichi Takemura, Nobuaki Mitamura, Yasuo Murakami, Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Shuhei Kitano, Kazuhiko Hiraoka
  • Publication number: 20010035234
    Abstract: An inner ring and an outer ring are composed as follows. These members are fabricated with a steel for bearing containing carbon 0.6 wt % or higher. A carbonitrided layer is formed in a raceway surface. The amount of residual austenite at a position of 2% Da depth in the raceway surface is determined to be 1.0 vol % or lower. Hardness at the position of 2% Da depth is set to be HRC58 or more. Nitrogen content (Np) at the position of 2% Da depth is 0.05 wt % or more. A multiple Gd of an impression resistance expressed with the following formula (1) is 1.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 27, 2001
    Publication date: November 1, 2001
    Inventors: Shigeru Okita, Susumu Tanaka, Tomonobu Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 6174085
    Abstract: A linear guide bearing device includes a rail, a bearing supported by the rail and rectilinearly movable along the axial direction of the rail, and rolling members interposed between the rail and the bearing to roll along with motion of the bearing. At least one of the rail and the bearing is made of induction-hardened steel including 0.6 to 0.9 wt % of carbon, 0.05 to 0.25 wt % of silicon, 0.3 to 0.9 wt % of manganese, 0.1 to 0.5 wt % of chromium, 0.2 to 1.0 wt % of molybdenum, and residual portion as iron and unavoidable impurities, and the induction-hardened steel has a total content of carbon, manganese, and molybdenum, which satisfies predetermined inequalities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2001
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Nobuaki Mitamura
  • Patent number: 6165289
    Abstract: A water-resistant and long-life rolling bearing used in an environment involving water's seeping in the lubricant thereof, wherein at least one of the inner race, the outer race, and the rolling member is formed of alloy steel containing 0.05 to 0.60% by weight of Cu, 0.10 to 1.10% by weight of C, and 0 to 0.2% by weight of Nb or V. The alloy steel has functions of reducing hydrogen evolution on the surface thereof and of forming a film hardly permeable to hydrogen thereby to retard occurrence of flaking due to hydrogen-induced brittleness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2000
    Assignee: NSK Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoichi Matsumoto, Tomonobu Yoshikawa, Takashi Nagato