Patents by Inventor Tomoo Chiba

Tomoo Chiba 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: 20230104504
    Abstract: A refrigerator port includes a sleeve and a pedestal. A pipe is drawn out from the refrigerator port. The pipe is provided with a valve. Before a cold head is pulled out, helium gas in a tank is supplied to a port space via the pipe. Accordingly, a pressure in the port space becomes the atmospheric pressure or approaches the atmospheric pressure. A pressure adjustment facility can also function when residual gas is discharged from the port space. Thus, the load of an operation of pulling out the cold head from the refrigerator port is reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2021
    Publication date: April 6, 2023
    Inventors: Hiroyuki WATANABE, Tomoo CHIBA
  • Patent number: 7961067
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet apparatus obtains high magnetic field uniformity without increasing the volume of a magnetic material even against disturbances. The superconducting magnet apparatus has a circular superconducting coil which generates a magnetic field; a coil vessel which contains the superconducting coil 11 together with refrigerant; a thermal shield arranged so as to surround the coil vessel; a vacuum vessel with inside kept vacuum which surrounds the thermal-shield; and magnetic materials and for correcting the magnetic field, the magnetic materials being arranged in the vacuum vessel; wherein the magnetic materials and are supported by a heat-insulation support medium fixed to the coil vessel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Engineering & Services Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoo Chiba, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Kunihiro Takayama, Jun Kawamura, Mitsushi Abe, Takeshi Nakayama, Yoshio Hamadate
  • Patent number: 7928820
    Abstract: In a superconducting magnet, including a vacuum vessel, a coil vessel inside the vacuum vessel, and a superconducting coil inside the coil vessel for generating a magnetic field, has a magnetic member, disposed inside the vacuum vessel, supported with thermal insulation, for compensating the magnetic field; a heat exchange device disposed outside the vacuum vessel for supplying to or absorbing heat from the vacuum vessel; and thermal conducting members thermally connecting the heat exchange device via the vacuum vessel to the magnetic member. An MRI including the superconducting magnet is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Medical Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoo Chiba, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Hirotaka Takeshima, Shigeki Tounosu, Mitsushi Abe, Hiroyuki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 7880574
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet includes: first and second torus coolant containers substantially symmetrically, vertically arranged to have a space and a symmetrical plane therebetween for storing a coolant. Each of the first and second torus coolant containers includes therein a main coil bobbin with a main coil for generating a measurement magnetic field, a shield coil bobbin with a shield coil for generating a shielding magnetic field for suppressing outside leak of the measurement magnetic field, a plate member vertically reinforced at a plane thereof opposite to a plane thereof facing the symmetrical plane for supporting the shield coil bobbin and the main coil bobbin. The main coil bobbin is further supported by the shield coil bobbin, to cause the main coil to generate the measurement magnetic field having a substantially uniform magnetic field intensity at a middle region of the space. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus using the superconducting magnet is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2011
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Engineering & Services Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Watanabe, Jun Kawamura, Tomoo Chiba, Miki Yamazaki, Teruhiro Takizawa
  • Patent number: 7714574
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet includes: a superconducting coil for generating a static magnetic field; a refrigerant container for containing the superconducting coil and a refrigerant; a vacuum container for holding the refrigerant container in a vacuum state; a radiation shield between the refrigerant container and the vacuum container; a refrigerator for re-liquidfying the refrigerant; and a dynamic magnetic field shield. The refrigerator includes: first and second regenerative refrigerants. The dynamic magnetic field shield is an electric good conductor and arranged around the first regenerative refrigerant along a motion axis of the first regenerative refrigerant, wherein a direction of the motion axis is aligned with a direction of a magnetic force line of the static magnetic field at the first regenerative refrigerant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryuya Ando, Mitsushi Abe, Tsutomu Yamamoto, Tomoo Chiba
  • Publication number: 20090189721
    Abstract: In a superconducting magnet, including a vacuum vessel, a coil vessel inside the vacuum vessel, and a superconducting coil inside the coil vessel for generating a magnetic field, has a magnetic member, disposed inside the vacuum vessel, supported with thermal insulation, for compensating the magnetic field; a heat exchange device disposed outside the vacuum vessel for supplying to or absorbing heat from the vacuum vessel; and thermal conducting members thermally connecting the heat exchange device via the vacuum vessel to the magnetic member. An MRI including the superconducting magnet is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Inventors: Tomoo CHIBA, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Hirotaka Takeshima, Shigeki Tounosu, Mitsushi Abe, Hiroyuki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 7528605
    Abstract: A superconductive magnet device includes: a pair of coil vessels configured to house a plurality of superconductive coils formed circularly, together with a refrigerant; a pair of vacuum vessels configured to house the coil vessels in the vacuum vessels, respectively; a pair of supports configured to connect the vacuum vessels to each other in a state of the vacuum vessels being faced to each other in an up and down direction, wherein a space between the vacuum vessels is made into a uniform magnetic field space; and a refrigerator and a power lead port configured to be provided at an upper portion of one vacuum vessel positioned upper than the other out of the vacuum vessels, wherein the refrigerator is disposed above one support out of the supports, and the power lead port is disposed above the other support different from the one support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd., Hitachi Kyowa Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoo Chiba, Kunihiro Takayama, Jun Yokoyama
  • Publication number: 20080191697
    Abstract: A superconductive magnet device includes: a pair of coil vessels configured to house a plurality of superconductive coils formed circularly, together with a refrigerant; a pair of vacuum vessels configured to house the coil vessels in the vacuum vessels, respectively; a pair of supports configured to connect the vacuum vessels to each other in a state of the vacuum vessels being faced to each other in an up and down direction, wherein a space between the vacuum vessels is made into a uniform magnetic field space; and a refrigerator and a power lead port configured to be provided at an upper portion of one vacuum vessel positioned upper than the other out of the vacuum vessels, wherein the refrigerator is disposed above one support out of the supports, and the power lead port is disposed above the other support different from the one support.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 15, 2007
    Publication date: August 14, 2008
    Inventors: Tomoo Chiba, Kunihiro Takayama, Jun Yokoyama
  • Publication number: 20080180100
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet includes: a superconducting coil for generating a static magnetic field; a refrigerant container for containing the superconducting coil and a refrigerant; a vacuum container for holding the refrigerant container in a vacuum state; a radiation shield between the refrigerant container and the vacuum container; a refrigerator for re-liquidfying the refrigerant; and a dynamic magnetic field shield. The refrigerator includes: first and second regenerative refrigerants. The dynamic magnetic field shield is an electric good conductor and arranged around the first regenerative refrigerant along a motion axis of the first regenerative refrigerant, wherein a direction of the motion axis is aligned with a direction of a magnetic force line of the static magnetic field at the first regenerative refrigerant.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Publication date: July 31, 2008
    Inventors: Ryuya Ando, Mitsushi Abe, Tsutomu Yamamoto, Tomoo Chiba
  • Patent number: 7336077
    Abstract: A magnet for an NMR analyzer includes a superconductor coil for generating a magnetic field in a magnetic space surrounded by the superconductor coil. The superconductor coil has a shim coil group disposed at least one of inside and outside of the superconducting coil. The superconducting coil provides a first access port for receiving a probe inserted into the magnetic space along a central axis thereof and a second access port having one end for receiving a sample tube containing a sample inserted into the magnetic space in a direction transverse to the central axis of the magnetic space. The second access port is open at an other end thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto
  • Publication number: 20080024254
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet apparatus obtains high magnetic field uniformity without increasing the volume of a magnetic material even against disturbances. The superconducting magnet apparatus has a circular superconducting coil which generates a magnetic field; a coil vessel which contains the superconducting coil 11 together with refrigerant; a thermal shield arranged so as to surround the coil vessel; a vacuum vessel with inside kept vacuum which surrounds the thermal-shield; and magnetic materials and for correcting the magnetic field, the magnetic materials being arranged in the vacuum vessel; wherein the magnetic materials and are supported by a heat-insulation support medium fixed to the coil vessel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Publication date: January 31, 2008
    Inventors: Tomoo Chiba, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Kunihiro Takayama, Jun Kawamura, Mitsushi Abe, Takeshi Nakayama, Yoshio Hamadate
  • Publication number: 20070214802
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet apparatus which comprises: a cryogenic container containing a superconducting coil and helium for cooling the superconducting coil; a thermal shield containing the cryogenic container; a vacuum vessel containing the thermal shield; a refrigerator port which reaches the cryogenic container from the vacuum vessel by passing through the thermal shield; and a multistage refrigerator which is detachably attached within the refrigerator port and has a first stage for cooling the thermal shield and a second stage for cooling the helium, wherein the refrigerator port has a first heat transfer member which is made of a high thermal conductive material, and is thermally connected to the thermal shield, wherein a second heat transfer member which is made of a high thermal conductive material, and is detachably attached to the first heat transfer member and thermally connected to the first stage of the multistage refrigerator, and wherein when the multistage refrigerator is stopped, helium gas wh
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2007
    Publication date: September 20, 2007
    Inventors: Takeo NEMOTO, Tomoo Chiba
  • Publication number: 20070152789
    Abstract: A superconducting magnet includes: first and second torus coolant containers substantially symmetrically, vertically arranged to have a space and a symmetrical plane therebetween for storing a coolant. Each of the first and second torus coolant containers includes therein a main coil bobbin with a main coil for generating a measurement magnetic field, a shield coil bobbin with a shield coil for generating a shielding magnetic field for suppressing outside leak of the measurement magnetic field, a plate member vertically reinforced at a plane thereof opposite to a plane thereof facing the symmetrical plane for supporting the shield coil bobbin and the main coil bobbin. The main coil bobbin is further supported by the shield coil bobbin, to cause the main coil to generate the measurement magnetic field having a substantially uniform magnetic field intensity at a middle region of the space. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus using the superconducting magnet is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Publication date: July 5, 2007
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Watanabe, Jun Kawamura, Tomoo Chiba, Miki Yamazaki, Teruhiro Takizawa
  • Publication number: 20070052421
    Abstract: A magnet for an NMR analyzer includes a superconductor coil for generating a magnetic field in a magnetic space surrounded by the superconductor coil. The superconductor coil has a shim coil group disposed at least one of inside and outside of the superconducting coil. The superconducting coil provides a first access port for receiving a probe inserted into the magnetic space along a central axis thereof and a second access port having one end for receiving a sample tube containing a sample inserted into the magnetic space in a direction transverse to the central axis of the magnetic space. The second access port is open at an other end thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: March 8, 2007
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 7187175
    Abstract: A magnet for an NMR an analyzer includes a superconductor coil which is operated under a permanent current mode so as to generate a magnetic field in a space surrounded by the superconductor coil, and which enables a sample to be inserted into a measurement space in the magnetic space for analization. The superconductor coil includes a first access port for enabling access to the measurement space and a second access port for enabling insertion of the sample into the measurement space in a direction different from a direction of the first access port. An effective diameter of the first access port is larger than an effective diameter of the second access port when the effective diameters of the first and second access ports are defined as a diameter of a cylinder that is insertable into the first and second access ports.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto
  • Patent number: 7141977
    Abstract: To access a measurement space located at the center of the magnet, an access port is provided in the direction of the magnet's axis, a clearance is provided in the coil winding portion, and another access port passes through the clearance so that a sample can be positioned perpendicularly to the coil axis. According to this configuration, an access port passing through the coil winding portion can be smaller than the access port passing through the coil axis, a sample is inserted from the access port, and a probe is inserted from the access port passing through the magnet axis, and thus the clearance can be minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2006
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto
  • Publication number: 20060109006
    Abstract: A magnet for an NMR an analyzer includes a superconductor coil which is operated under a permanent current mode so as to generate a magnetic field in a space surrounded by the superconductor coil, and which enables a sample to be inserted into a measurement space in the magnetic space for analization. The superconductor coil includes a first access port for enabling access to the measurement space and a second access port for enabling insertion of the sample into the measurement space in a direction different from a direction of the first access port. An effective diameter of the first access port is larger than an effective diameter of the second access port when the effective diameters of the first and second access ports are defined as a diameter of a cylinder that is insertable into the first and second access ports.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Publication date: May 25, 2006
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto
  • Publication number: 20040257082
    Abstract: To access a measurement space 3 located at the center of the magnet, an access port is provided in the direction of the magnet's axis, a clearance 12 is provided in the coil winding portion, and another access port passes through the clearance so that a sample can be positioned perpendicularly to the coil axis. According to this configuration, an access port passing through the coil winding portion can be smaller than the access port passing through the coil axis, a sample is inserted from the access port, a probe is inserted from the access port passing through the magnet axis, and thus the clearance can be minimized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Wakuda, Michiya Okada, Tomomi Kikuta, Kohji Maki, Hiroshi Morita, Shuichi Kido, Tomoo Chiba, Hideo Tsukamoto