Patents by Inventor Toru KOUNO

Toru KOUNO 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: 20240125860
    Abstract: The objective of the present invention is to provide a technology capable of estimating a battery condition in conjunction with charging/discharging operations of a battery, without employing dedicated equipment for estimating the condition of the battery. A battery management device according to the present invention identifies a first period and a subsequent second period in a rest period after a battery finishes discharging or charging, and uses an output voltage difference in the second period to estimate the condition of the battery (see FIG. 1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2022
    Publication date: April 18, 2024
    Inventors: Emha Bayu MIFTAHULLATIF, Toru KOUNO, Hiroya FUJIMOTO, Yutaka UEDA, Katsutoshi KONDO
  • Patent number: 11841402
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a battery state estimation device capable of accurately estimating a deterioration state of an entire battery system in consideration of an SOH distribution of battery cells. The battery state estimation device according to the present invention estimates an SOH of a battery cell by using a correspondence between a time derivative of an output voltage during a pause period of the battery cell and a battery temperature, and estimates a deterioration state of an entire battery system by using the SOHs of a plurality of battery cells (see FIG. 1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Emha Bayu Miftahullatif, Toru Kouno
  • Publication number: 20230378759
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a control technique capable of connecting a storage battery to a DC bus via a DC/DC converter and controlling charging and discharging of the storage battery by the DC/DC converter. A DC grid system according to the invention calculates a voltage command value of a DC bus using a present voltage of a storage battery and a target voltage of the storage battery, and provides the voltage command value as a command value for each of an AC/DC converter and a DC/DC converter (see FIG. 1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2021
    Publication date: November 23, 2023
    Inventors: Ryo WAKABAYASHI, Toru KOUNO, Satoru AKIYAMA, Emha Bayu MIFTAHULLATIF, Katsutoshi KONDO
  • Publication number: 20230349981
    Abstract: The internal resistance and state of health of a battery is measured at the same time in a short time by a simple method. A battery management device acquires a first difference between a voltage at a first start time point after an end time point when charging or discharging is ended and the voltage at a first time point when a first period elapses after the first start time point, further acquires a second difference between the voltage at a second start time point after the first time point and the voltage at a second time point when a second period elapses after the second start time point, estimates an internal resistance according to a relationship between the first difference and the internal resistance of the battery, and estimates a state of health according to a relationship between the second difference and the state of health of the battery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventors: Emha Bayu MIFTAHULLATIF, Toru KOUNO, Hiroya FUJIMOTO, Yutaka UEDA, Tomoya FUKUZUKA, Chiaki OZAWA
  • Publication number: 20220381846
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a battery state estimation device capable of accurately estimating a deterioration state of an entire battery system in consideration of an SOH distribution of battery cells. The battery state estimation device according to the present invention estimates an SOH of a battery cell by using a correspondence between a time derivative of an output voltage during a pause period of the battery cell and a battery temperature, and estimates a deterioration state of an entire battery system by using the SOHs of a plurality of battery cells (see FIG. 1).
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Inventors: Emha Bayu MIFTAHULLATIF, Toru KOUNO
  • Patent number: 11275118
    Abstract: Provided is a battery estimation system comprising a processor and a storage device coupled to the processor. The storage device stores accelerated test data obtained by measuring change in degree of deterioration of a rechargeable battery cell at a predetermined temperature. The processor calculates a relationship between the temperature and the magnitude of an activation energy of the rechargeable battery cell on the basis of the accelerated test data, calculates a temperature as a maximum temperature on the basis of the relationship between the temperature and the magnitude of the activation energy of the rechargeable battery cell, the calculated temperature being a temperature at which the magnitude of the activation energy changes from decreasing to increasing in response to increase in the temperature, and determines a temperature equal to or less than the maximum temperature as a temperature to be used in an accelerated test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Emhabayu Miftahullatif, Toru Kouno
  • Publication number: 20200341064
    Abstract: Provided is a battery estimation system comprising a processor and a storage device coupled to the processor. The storage device stores accelerated test data obtained by measuring change in degree of deterioration of a rechargeable battery cell at a predetermined temperature. The processor calculates a relationship between the temperature and the magnitude of an activation energy of the rechargeable battery cell on the basis of the accelerated test data, calculates a temperature as a maximum temperature on the basis of the relationship between the temperature and the magnitude of the activation energy of the rechargeable battery cell, the calculated temperature being a temperature at which the magnitude of the activation energy changes from decreasing to increasing in response to increase in the temperature, and determines a temperature equal to or less than the maximum temperature as a temperature to be used in an accelerated test.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2020
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Emhabayu MIFTAHULLATIF, Toru KOUNO
  • Patent number: 10340849
    Abstract: A diagnosis system including: a power collection unit configured to couple a plurality of photovoltaic cell arrays, each including photovoltaic cells, in parallel; a control unit; and a monitoring unit, the monitoring unit being configured to: estimate a solar radiation amount and an operating temperature of the photovoltaic cell arrays based on the current value measured by a first ammeter in the control unit and the voltage value measured by the first voltmeter in the control unit by using an expression expressing a relationship between the solar radiation amount, the operating temperature, and a number of photovoltaic cells, and an output current; correct the estimated values so as to match the current values measured by second ammeters in the power collection unit by using the expression; and calculate a theoretical current value of each of the photovoltaic cell arrays based on the corrected values by using the expression.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Kouno, Hideyuki Shitanishi, Masahito Toyosaki, Tetsuharu Ohya, Kenichi Gokita, Tomoharu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 10312858
    Abstract: A monitor device in a solar power generation system extracts a first time band indicating a minimum amount of solar radiation and a second time band indicating a maximum amount of solar radiation in a day, and calculates, using a ratio of operation and short-circuit currents in a solar battery array, an expected electric power value of a solar battery string to be inspected in each of the first and second time bands. From measurement electric power values of the solar battery string to be inspected in the time bands, the expected electric power value of the first time band, and the expected electric power value of the second time band, first and second electric power losses in the first and second time bands are calculated, and a failure in the solar battery string to be inspected is detected based on the first and second electric power losses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Kouno, Tetsuharu Ohya, Yuuichi Nagayama, Tomoharu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 9998071
    Abstract: A failure diagnosis system is configured to calculate an estimated irradiation on a first photovoltaic string and an estimated operating temperature of the first photovoltaic string based on a short-circuit current and an open-circuit voltage on a current-voltage characteristic of the first photovoltaic string, and the array output voltage value and the array output current value measured by an array measurement apparatus. The failure diagnosis system is configured to calculate an estimated current value of the first photovoltaic string based on the estimated irradiation, the estimated operating temperature, and the current-voltage characteristic. The failure diagnosis system is configured to diagnose degradation of the first photovoltaic string by comparing the measured current value of the first photovoltaic string and the estimated current value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Toru Kouno, Tetsuharu Ohya, Yuuichi Nagayama, Tomoharu Nakamura, Koki Morikawa, Satoshi Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 9837957
    Abstract: The diagnostic method for a photovoltaic power system includes: a step of storing measured values of voltage and current outputted by a photovoltaic cell array, and identifying a first time period and a second time period with a lower solar radiation amount than in the first time period; a step of calculating the number of faulty photovoltaic cells on the basis of the measured values in the first time period; a step of calculating the number of faulty photovoltaic cells on the basis of the measured values in the second time period; and a step of comparing the number of faulty photovoltaic cells as calculated for the first time period, and the number of faulty photovoltaic cells as calculated for the second time period, and identifying a series resistance of the photovoltaic cells and a value indicating a degree of loss resulting from a fault in the photovoltaic cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Kouno, Atsuhiko Kubo, Yuuichi Nagayama, Tomoharu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 9711663
    Abstract: A power generating system comprising: a plurality of power generating units coupled in parallel; a power collecting device for collecting electric power output from the plurality of power generating units; and wirings for coupling the plurality of power generating units and the power collecting device. A ratio of a conductor diameter to a predetermined length of each of the wirings is defined as a reference ratio. A value obtained by multiplying the reference ratio, a number of the wirings, and a loss generated by a specific wiring together is subtracted from a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined number of wirings for adjustment by a ratio of a conductor diameter to a length of the specific wiring. A total of the ratios of the conductor diameters to the lengths of the predetermined number of the wirings for adjustment is determined as a value less than the subtracted value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Toru Kouno, Yuuichi Nagayama, Masaaki Fujimori, Tomoharu Nakamura, Koki Morikawa
  • Publication number: 20170170781
    Abstract: A diagnosis system including: a power collection unit configured to couple a plurality of photovoltaic cell arrays, each including photovoltaic cells, in parallel; a control unit; and a monitoring unit, the monitoring unit being configured to: estimate a solar radiation amount and an operating temperature of the photovoltaic cell arrays based on the current value measured by a first ammeter in the control unit and the voltage value measured by the first voltmeter in the control unit by using an expression expressing a relationship between the solar radiation amount, the operating temperature, and a number of photovoltaic cells, and an output current; correct the estimated values so as to match the current values measured by second ammeters in the power collection unit by using the expression; and calculate a theoretical current value of each of the photovoltaic cell arrays based on the corrected values by using the expression.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventors: Toru KOUNO, Hideyuki SHITANISHI, Masahito TOYOSAKI, Tetsuharu OHYA, Kenichi GOKITA, Tomoharu NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20160315584
    Abstract: The diagnostic method for a photovoltaic power system includes: a step of storing measured values of voltage and current outputted by a photovoltaic cell array, and identifying a first time period and a second time period with a lower solar radiation amount than in the first time period; a step of calculating the number of faulty photovoltaic cells on the basis of the measured values in the first time period; a step of calculating the number of faulty photovoltaic cells on the basis of the measured values in the second time period; and a step of comparing the number of faulty photovoltaic cells as calculated for the first time period, and the number of faulty photovoltaic cells as calculated for the second time period, and identifying a series resistance of the photovoltaic cells and a value indicating a degree of loss resulting from a fault in the photovoltaic cells.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Inventors: Toru KOUNO, Atsuhiko KUBO, Yuuichi NAGAYAMA, Tomoharu NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20160233830
    Abstract: Provided is a technology that enables sensing of a solar battery string failure even with a smaller change in output, and that enables identification of a factor causing the failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2016
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: Toru KOUNO, Tetsuharu OHYA, Yuuichi NAGAYAMA, Tomoharu NAKAMURA
  • Publication number: 20150090312
    Abstract: A power generating system comprising: a plurality of power generating units coupled in parallel; a power collecting device for collecting electric power output from the plurality of power generating units; and wirings for coupling the plurality of power generating units and the power collecting device. A ratio of a conductor diameter to a predetermined length of each of the wirings is defined as a reference ratio. A value obtained by multiplying the reference ratio, a number of the wirings, and a loss generated by a specific wiring together is subtracted from a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined number of wirings for adjustment by a ratio of a conductor diameter to a length of the specific wiring. A total of the ratios of the conductor diameters to the lengths of the predetermined number of the wirings for adjustment is determined as a value less than the subtracted value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Inventors: Toru KOUNO, Yuuichi NAGAYAMA, Masaaki FUJIMORI, Tomoharu NAKAMURA, Koki MORIKAWA
  • Publication number: 20150094967
    Abstract: A failure diagnosis system is configured to calculate an estimated irradiation on a first photovoltaic string and an estimated operating temperature of the first photovoltaic string based on a short-circuit current and an open-circuit voltage on a current-voltage characteristic of the first photovoltaic string, and the array output voltage value and the array output current value measured by an array measurement apparatus. The failure diagnosis system is configured to calculate an estimated current value of the first photovoltaic string based on the estimated irradiation, the estimated operating temperature, and the current-voltage characteristic. The failure diagnosis system is configured to diagnose degradation of the first photovoltaic string by comparing the measured current value of the first photovoltaic string and the estimated current value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Publication date: April 2, 2015
    Inventors: Toru KOUNO, Tetsuharu OHYA, Yuuichi NAGAYAMA, Tomoharu NAKAMURA, Koki MORIKAWA, Satoshi MIYAZAKI