Patents by Inventor Tomoya Fujinami

Tomoya Fujinami 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: 10045403
    Abstract: A microwave heating device of the present invention comprises a heating chamber housing an object to be heated, a microwave generation portion generating a microwave, a waveguide portion propagating the microwave, and a plurality of microwave radiating portions radiating the microwave in the heating chamber, wherein the microwave radiating portions are arranged in a direction orthogonal to a direction of electric field and to a direction of propagation within the waveguide portion, and centers of the microwave radiating portions are arranged at positions corresponding to approximate node positions of the electric field within the waveguide portion. The microwave heating device is enabled to make uniform heat distribution in the object to be heated, without using a driving mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Daisuke Hosokawa, Koji Yoshino, Makoto Nishimura, Masafumi Sadahira, Tomoya Fujinami, Tomotaka Nobue, Yoshiharu Omori
  • Patent number: 9414443
    Abstract: An induction heating device includes a top plate (2) on which a cooking container is placed, an infrared ray sensor (3) configured to detect an infrared ray radiated from the cooking container through the top plate, a heating coil (4) to which a high-frequency electric current is supplied to generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container, a mounting plate (6) on which a member for supporting the heating coil is mounted, and a heating control unit (8) configured to control an electric power for heating the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency electric current supplied to the heating coil based on an amount of an energy of the infrared ray received by the infrared ray sensor. The infrared ray sensor is thermally connected to the mounting plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Sunao Okuda, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Patent number: 9131539
    Abstract: Disclosed is an induction cooking device that is not likely to be affected by induction heating and wherein boiling-over can be detected. An induction cooking device has: a top plate on which a cooking container is placed; a heating coil that generates an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container; a heating control unit that controls the heating power of the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency current supplied to the heating coil; electrodes disposed in a lower surface of the top plate; and an electrostatic capacity detector that detects changes in electrostatic capacity occurring in the electrodes when articles to be cooked contact with the top plate. When the electrostatic capacity detector senses changes in the electrostatic capacity of the electrodes, the heating control unit decreases or stops the heating power of the cooking container, and the electrodes are disposed outside of the outer circumference the heating coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Masafumi Sadahira, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Takahiro Miyauchi, Fumitaka Ogasawara
  • Patent number: 9078295
    Abstract: There is provided a heating/cooking equipment capable of accurately determining boiling over. The heating/cooking equipment includes: a top plate (104) connected to a reference potential; a heating unit (105) configured to heat an object to be heated placed on the top plate; an electrode (106) arranged under the top plate; a capacitance detecting unit (107) configured to detect the electrostatic capacitance of the electrode; a boiling over detecting unit (108) configured to detect whether or not a material to be cooked in the object to be heated has boiled over on the top plate, based on a value of the electrostatic capacitance detected by the capacitance detecting unit; and a control unit (109) configured to control the heating operation of the heating unit based on a boiling over detection result from the boiling over detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Masafumi Sadahira, Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Takahiro Miyauchi, Fumitaka Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20150173128
    Abstract: A microwave heating device of the present invention comprises a heating chamber housing an object to be heated, a microwave generation portion generating a microwave, a waveguide portion propagating the microwave, and a plurality of microwave radiating portions radiating the microwave in the heating chamber, wherein the microwave radiating portions are arranged in a direction orthogonal to a direction of electric field and to a direction of propagation within the waveguide portion, and centers of the microwave radiating portions are arranged at positions corresponding to approximate node positions of the electric field within the waveguide portion. The microwave heating device is enabled to make uniform heat distribution in the object to be heated, without using a driving mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 30, 2013
    Publication date: June 18, 2015
    Inventors: Daisuke Hosokawa, Koji Yoshino, Makoto Nishimura, Masafumi Sadahira, Tomoya Fujinami, Tomotaka Nobue, Yoshiharu Omori
  • Patent number: 9055615
    Abstract: The present invention provides an induction heating cooker, which is structured to cut off visible light being incident upon an infrared sensor, yet being capable of more accurately sensing any abnormality of the infrared sensor before heating is started. To this end, the induction heating cooker includes a sensor failure sensing-purpose light emitting portion that emits visible light for sensing any failure of an infrared sensor, a visible light cutting filter provided on a surface of a printed circuit board holding the infrared sensor so as to cover the field of view of the infrared sensor, and a control unit that limits the output of an inverter circuit supplying a high-frequency current to a heating coil when the output of the infrared sensor is equal to or less than a threshold value in a situation where the sensor failure sensing-purpose light emitting portion is lit up.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Watanabe, Takahiro Miyauchi, Tomoya Fujinami, Hiroshi Tominaga
  • Patent number: 8916808
    Abstract: The present invention provides an inductive heating cooking device capable of detecting a temperature of a bottom of a pan instantly without delay in detection of temperature, and precisely keeping a temperature of a cooking container constant, and control method thereof, and control program thereof. The inductive heating cooking device includes a top plate (103) on which a cooking container is placed, a heating coil (104) to which a high-frequency current is applied to generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container, an input unit (114) configured to receive a command for keeping a temperature of the cooking container at a constant temperature, a control unit (105) configured to control a heating of the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency current to be applied to the heating coil, and an infrared ray sensor (106) configured to detect an infrared ray energy radiated from the cooking container through the top plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Sunao Okuda, Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Patent number: 8674272
    Abstract: An induction heating cooker includes: a top plate on which a cooking container is placed; a temperature measuring device which has an infrared ray sensor operable to detect infrared rays radiated from the cooking container and a temperature converting unit operable to calculate a temperature of the cooking container from an output of the infrared ray sensor; a heating coil operable to receive a supply of a high frequency current and generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container; and a heating control unit operable to control the high frequency current of the heating coil based on the temperature measured by the temperature measuring device, and control heating power to be supplied to the cooking container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Sunao Okuda, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Patent number: 8378274
    Abstract: An induction heating device includes a top plate, a thermo-sensitive device, a temperature detector, a coil, a controller, and a light-emitting section. The top plate places thereon a cooking utensil containing material to be cooked. The thermo-sensitive device changes its electrical characteristics with the temperature of the cooking utensil. The temperature detector detects the temperature of the cooking utensil based on the electrical characteristics of the thermo-sensitive device. The coil heats the cooking utensil. The controller controls the coil based on the temperature information of the temperature detector, thereby controlling an amount of the electric heating power to be supplied to the cooking utensil. The light-emitting section emits visible light to the area over the thermo-sensitive device. The light from the light-emitting section illuminates the area over the thermo-sensitive device through the top plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Akira Kataoka
  • Patent number: 8350197
    Abstract: An induction heating cooker including a top plate where a pan is placed; a heating coil for induction heating the pan; an inverter circuit for supplying a high frequency current to the heating coil; an infrared sensor, which is arranged under the heating coil and detects an infrared light radiated from the pan; a light guiding part including an upper opening formed at an upper end facing the top plate and a lower opening formed at a lower end, and guiding the infrared light from the pan to the infrared sensor; and a control unit for controlling an output of the inverter circuit according to an output from the infrared sensor; wherein the light guiding part includes a nonmetallic material part in which the upper opening is formed upper than a lower surface of the heating coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Tominaga, Kenji Watanabe, Masaharu Ohashi, Shintaro Noguchi, Tomoya Fujinami
  • Patent number: 8334487
    Abstract: An induction heating cooking device includes a heating coil (8) that induction-heats a cooking container, an infrared sensor (10) that detects infrared radiation which is emitted from a bottom surface of the cooking container and that outputs a detection signal based on the quantity of energy of the detected infrared radiation, and a heating control section (9) that controls supply of electric power to the heating coil based on the detection signal. When the temperature of the bottom surface of the cooking container is equal to or higher than a first predetermined temperature which is higher than 230 degrees C., the infrared sensor (10) outputs the detection signal, and when the bottom-surface temperature is lower than the first predetermined temperature, the infrared sensor (10) does not output the detection signal substantially.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 18, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Masaharu Ohashi, Kenji Watanabe, Hiroshi Tominaga, Shintaro Noguchi, Tomoya Fujinami
  • Patent number: 8247748
    Abstract: An induction heating cooker includes a cooking container heating coil, an inverter circuit to supply high-frequency current to the heating coil, an infrared ray sensor to detect radiation from the container, an electric power integrating section to integrate heating electric power from the inverter circuit, and a heating control section to control an inverter circuit output. If the power integrating section has less than a predetermined value when an increase in the output of the infrared ray sensor has a first value after start of heating, the cooker shifts to a first heating control mode and, if equal to or more than the predetermined value, shifts to a second heating control mode. The power, in the first heating control mode, is reduced to a second amount of power lower than the first amount and, in the second heating control mode, is a third amount larger than the second amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Kenji Watanabe, Izuo Hirota, Hiroshi Tominaga, Tomoya Fujinami, Keiko Isoda
  • Publication number: 20110315674
    Abstract: An induction heating device includes a top plate (2) on which a cooking container is placed, an infrared ray sensor (3) configured to detect an infrared ray radiated from the cooking container through the top plate, a heating coil (4) to which a high-frequency electric current is supplied to generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container, a mounting plate (6) on which a member for supporting the heating coil is mounted, and a heating control unit (8) configured to control an electric power for heating the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency electric current supplied to the heating coil based on an amount of an energy of the infrared ray received by the infrared ray sensor. The infrared ray sensor is thermally connected to the mounting plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 20, 2009
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Sunao Okuda, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Publication number: 20110309069
    Abstract: Disclosed is an induction cooking device that is not likely to be affected by induction heating and wherein boiling-over can be detected. An induction cooking device has: a top plate on which a cooking container is placed; a heating coil that generates an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container; a heating control unit that controls the heating power of the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency current supplied to the heating coil; electrodes disposed in a lower surface of the top plate; and an electrostatic capacity detector that detects changes in electrostatic capacity occurring in the electrodes when articles to be cooked contact with the top plate. When the electrostatic capacity detector senses changes in the electrostatic capacity of the electrodes, the heating control unit decreases or stops the heating power of the cooking container, and the electrodes are disposed outside of the outer circumference the heating coil.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 28, 2009
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Masafumi Sadahira, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Takahiro Miyauchi, Fumitaka Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20110284524
    Abstract: The present invention provides an inductive heating cooking device capable of detecting a temperature of a bottom of a pan instantly without delay in detection of temperature, and precisely keeping a temperature of a cooking container constant, and control method thereof, and control program thereof. The inductive heating cooking device includes a top plate (103) on which a cooking container is placed, a heating coil (104) to which a high-frequency current is applied to generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container, an input unit (114) configured to receive a command for keeping a temperature of the cooking container at a constant temperature, a control unit (105) configured to control a heating of the cooking container by controlling the high-frequency current to be applied to the heating coil, and an infrared ray sensor (106) configured to detect an infrared ray energy radiated from the cooking container through the top plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2009
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sunao Okuda, Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Publication number: 20110278285
    Abstract: There is provided a heating/cooking equipment capable of accurately determining boiling over. The heating/cooking equipment includes: a top plate (104) connected to a reference potential; a heating unit (105) configured to heat an object to be heated placed on the top plate; an electrode (106) arranged under the top plate; a capacitance detecting unit (107) configured to detect the electrostatic capacitance of the electrode; a boiling over detecting unit (108) configured to detect whether or not a material to be cooked in the object to be heated has boiled over on the top plate, based on a value of the electrostatic capacitance detected by the capacitance detecting unit; and a control unit (109) configured to control the heating operation of the heating unit based on a boiling over detection result from the boiling over detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2010
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masafumi Sadahira, Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Takahiro Miyauchi, Fumitaka Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20110259877
    Abstract: The present invention provides an induction heating cooker, which is structured to cut off visible light being incident upon an infrared sensor, yet being capable of more accurately sensing any abnormality of the infrared sensor before heating is started. To this end, the induction heating cooker includes a sensor failure sensing-purpose light emitting portion that emits visible light for sensing any failure of an infrared sensor, a visible light cutting filter provided on a surface of a printed circuit board holding the infrared sensor so as to cover the field of view of the infrared sensor, and a control unit that limits the output of an inverter circuit supplying a high-frequency current to a heating coil when the output of the infrared sensor is equal to or less than a threshold value in a situation where the sensor failure sensing-purpose light emitting portion is lit up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kenji Watanabe, Takahiro Miyauchi, Tomoya Fujinami, Hiroshi Tominaga
  • Publication number: 20110198342
    Abstract: An induction heating cooker includes: a top plate on which a cooking container is placed; a temperature measuring device which has an infrared ray sensor operable to detect infrared rays radiated from the cooking container and a temperature converting unit operable to calculate a temperature of the cooking container from an output of the infrared ray sensor; a heating coil operable to receive a supply of a high frequency current and generate an induction magnetic field for heating the cooking container; and a heating control unit operable to control the high frequency current of the heating coil based on the temperature measured by the temperature measuring device, and control heating power to be supplied to the cooking container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2009
    Publication date: August 18, 2011
    Applicant: Panasonic Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Sunao Okuda, Naoaki Ishimaru, Akira Kataoka
  • Publication number: 20100176120
    Abstract: There is provided an induction heating cooker capable of preventing a pan having a pan bottom warped in a convex shape or a pan having a pan bottom with a small thickness from being excessively heated. The induction heating cooker includes a heating coil (2) operable to perform induction heating of a cooking container, an inverter circuit (7) operable to supply a high-frequency current to the heating coil, an infrared ray sensor (3) operable to detect an infrared ray radiated from the cooking container, an electric power integrating section (81) operable to integrate an amount of heating electric power outputted from the inverter circuit, and a heating control section (82) operable to control the output of the inverter circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2008
    Publication date: July 15, 2010
    Inventors: Kenji Watanabe, Izuo Hirota, Hiroshi Tominaga, Tomoya Fujinami, Keiko Isoda
  • Publication number: 20100102054
    Abstract: An induction heating device includes a top plate, a thermo-sensitive device, a temperature detector, a coil, a controller, and a light-emitting section. The top plate places thereon a cooking utensil containing material to be cooked. The thermo-sensitive device changes its electrical characteristics with the temperature of the cooking utensil. The temperature detector detects the temperature of the cooking utensil based on the electrical characteristics of the thermo-sensitive device. The coil heats the cooking utensil. The controller controls the coil based on the temperature information of the temperature detector, thereby controlling an amount of the electric heating power to be supplied to the cooking utensil. The light-emitting section emits visible light to the area over the thermo-sensitive device. The light from the light-emitting section illuminates the area over the thermo-sensitive device through the top plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2007
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Applicant: PANASONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomoya Fujinami, Naoaki Ishimaru, Izuo Hirota, Akira Kataoka