Patents by Inventor Toshihiro Aono

Toshihiro Aono 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: 11859584
    Abstract: Provided is a solenoid valve control device capable of detecting a motion of a valve body in response to a drive command without adding a special circuit. According to the present invention, a solenoid valve control device controls opening and closing of a solenoid valve in an internal combustion engine system including: a fuel pump including a plunger that that increases or decreases a volume of a pressurizing chamber by moving up and down with rotation of a pump drive cam, a solenoid valve for sucking fuel into the pressurizing chamber, and a discharge valve for discharging fuel in the pressurizing chamber; and a fuel rail (common rail) that accumulates fuel discharged by the fuel pump. The solenoid valve control device includes a control unit that determines whether or not closing of the solenoid valve has succeeded based on fuel pressure 604 of the fuel rail, or calculates a discharge amount by closing the solenoid valve based on the fuel pressure of the fuel rail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirotaka Nakai, Osamu Mukaihara, Toshihiro Aono
  • Patent number: 11852093
    Abstract: Low noise control of a high-pressure fuel pump is performed by reducing noise generated by an anchor colliding with a fixing core. A control device 800 for a high-pressure fuel pump controls a suction valve that opens and closes an inflow port through which fuel flows to a pressurizing chamber by performing energization to a solenoid 205 in synchronization with a reciprocating motion of a plunger. A current energized to the solenoid 205 includes a peak current for giving a force to start closing a valve to the suction valve in a stationary state and a holding current for performing switching in a range smaller a maximum value of the peak current in order to hold the suction valve in a valve closing state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Osamu Mukaihara, Kenichiro Tokuo, Hirotaka Nakai, Kotaro Oki, Shunsuke Aritomi, Akiyasu Miyamoto
  • Publication number: 20230193867
    Abstract: Provided is a solenoid valve control device capable of detecting a motion of a valve body in response to a drive command without adding a special circuit. According to the present invention, a solenoid valve control device controls opening and closing of a solenoid valve in an internal combustion engine system including: a fuel pump including a plunger that that increases or decreases a volume of a pressurizing chamber by moving up and down with rotation of a pump drive cam, a solenoid valve for sucking fuel into the pressurizing chamber, and a discharge valve for discharging fuel in the pressurizing chamber; and a fuel rail (common rail) that accumulates fuel discharged by the fuel pump. The solenoid valve control device includes a control unit that determines whether or not closing of the solenoid valve has succeeded based on fuel pressure 604 of the fuel rail, or calculates a discharge amount by closing the solenoid valve based on the fuel pressure of the fuel rail.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2021
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Hirotaka NAKAI, Osamu MUKAIHARA, Toshihiro AONO
  • Patent number: 11614064
    Abstract: Provided is a control device and a control method of a high-efficiency internal combustion engine capable of stabilizing combustion and suppressing NOx emissions without unnecessarily increasing a mounting load on an ECU. Therefore, the control device of the internal combustion engine for controlling the internal combustion engine includes an ignition plug that ignites an air-fuel mixture of fuel and air in the combustion chamber, a combustion pressure estimation sensor that detects a combustion pressure in the combustion chamber, and a crank angle sensor that detects a crank angle of a crankshaft. An MBT region is set based on an ignition delay period from an ignition timing of the ignition plug calculated from a detection value of the combustion pressure estimation sensor and a detection value of the crank angle sensor to a combustion start timing in the combustion chamber, and a combustion period from the combustion start timing to a set amount combustion end timing when a set amount of combustion ends.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Shimada, Toshihiro Aono, Masayuki Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20230038318
    Abstract: Low noise control of a high-pressure fuel pump is performed by reducing noise generated by an anchor colliding with a fixing core. A control device 800 for a high-pressure fuel pump controls a suction valve that opens and closes an inflow port through which fuel flows to a pressurizing chamber by performing energization to a solenoid 205 in synchronization with a reciprocating motion of a plunger. A current energized to the solenoid 205 includes a peak current for giving a force to start closing a valve to the suction valve in a stationary state and a holding current for performing switching in a range smaller a maximum value of the peak current in order to hold the suction valve in a valve closing state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 25, 2020
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Toshihiro AONO, Osamu MUKAIHARA, Kenichiro TOKUO, Hirotaka NAKAI, Kotaro OKI, Shunsuke ARITOMI, Akiyasu MIYAMOTO
  • Patent number: 11391226
    Abstract: To accurately evaluate combustion stability in consideration of the effect of the trend even at the time of the transient operation. The present invention is configured to have a combustion energy calculation unit that calculates a combustion energy W_t of one combustion cycle in an internal combustion engine, a trend calculation unit that calculates a trend Tr of change in the combustion energy W_t calculated by the combustion energy calculation unit in a plurality of the combustion cycles, and a combustion stability judgment unit that judges combustion stability based on the combustion energy W_t in the plurality of combustion cycles and the trend Tr of change calculated by the trend calculation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Masayuki Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 11319892
    Abstract: Provided is a novel internal-combustion engine control device that can accurately determine a combustion state of an air-fuel mixture in a combustion chamber even in a case where operation is switched between a steady operation state and a transient operation state. For this purpose, the internal-combustion engine control device includes a physical quantity detection unit that detects a physical quantity that fluctuates output of the internal-combustion engine, an output fluctuation value calculation unit that calculates an output fluctuation value for each cylinder based on a detection result of the physical quantity detection unit, and a state determination unit that determines a transient operation state or a steady operation state based on a difference or a ratio between a first output fluctuation value of a predetermined first cylinder and a second output fluctuation value of a predetermined second cylinder calculated by the output fluctuation value calculation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Sukegawa, Toshihiro Aono, Masayuki Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 11300070
    Abstract: An electromagnetic valve control unit for detecting operation of an electromagnetic valve on the basis of a drive voltage or a drive current applied to the electromagnetic valve. The electromagnetic valve control unit includes an A/D converter, a filter, and a detection unit. The A/D converter converts the drive voltage or the drive current into a digital signal. The filter has a gain of about zero at a predetermined frequency. The detection unit detects operation of the electromagnetic valve on the basis of an output of the filter upon input of the digital signal into the filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Motoyuki Abe, Ryo Kusakabe, Teppei Hirotsu, Ayumu Hatanaka, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Takao Fukuda, Masahiro Toyohara, Osamu Mukaihara
  • Publication number: 20210285395
    Abstract: Provided is a novel internal-combustion engine control device that can accurately determine a combustion state of an air-fuel mixture in a combustion chamber even in a case where operation is switched between a steady operation state and a transient operation state. For this purpose, the internal-combustion engine control device includes a physical quantity detection unit that detects a physical quantity that fluctuates output of the internal-combustion engine, an output fluctuation value calculation unit that calculates an output fluctuation value for each cylinder based on a detection result of the physical quantity detection unit, and a state determination unit that determines a transient operation state or a steady operation state based on a difference or a ratio between a first output fluctuation value of a predetermined first cylinder and a second output fluctuation value of a predetermined second cylinder calculated by the output fluctuation value calculation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Publication date: September 16, 2021
    Inventors: Yoshihiro SUKEGAWA, Toshihiro AONO, Masayuki SARUWATARI
  • Patent number: 11073092
    Abstract: Provided is a control device for an internal combustion engine capable of estimating a compression ratio of the internal combustion engine at the time of fuel cut of the internal combustion engine and without being affected by an intake air amount and an intake air temperature. A compression ratio ? is calculated on the basis of a change of in-cylinder pressure P with respect to crank angle ? at timing when an in-cylinder volume change rate dV/d?/V takes an extreme value or at timing from closing of an intake valve 109 to the start of ignition of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Masayuki Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 10961935
    Abstract: A drive device capable of detecting individual variations of an injection quantity of a fuel injection device of each cylinder and adjusting a current waveform provided to an injection pulse width and a solenoid such that the individual variations of the fuel injection devices are reduced. The fuel injection device in the present invention includes a valve body that close a fuel passage by coming into contact with a valve seat and opens the fuel passage by separating from the valve seat and a magnetic circuit constructed of a solenoid, a fixed core, a nozzle holder a housing and a needle and when a current is supplied to the solenoid a magnetic suction force acts on the needle and the needle has a function to open the valve body by colliding against the valve body after performing a free running operation and changes of acceleration of the needle due to collision of the needle against the valve body are detected by a current flowing through the solenoid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryo Kusakabe, Motoyuki Abe, Ayumu Hatanaka, Toshihiro Aono, Teppei Hirotsu, Hideyuki Sakamoto, Masahiro Toyohara, Osamu Mukaihara, Takao Fukuda, Yoshihito Yasukawa, Akiyasu Miyamoto
  • Publication number: 20210079857
    Abstract: To accurately evaluate combustion stability in consideration of the effect of the trend even at the time of the transient operation. The present invention is configured to have a combustion energy calculation unit that calculates a combustion energy W_t of one combustion cycle in an internal combustion engine, a trend calculation unit that calculates a trend Tr of change in the combustion energy W_t calculated by the combustion energy calculation unit in a plurality of the combustion cycles, and a combustion stability judgment unit that judges combustion stability based on the combustion energy W_t in the plurality of combustion cycles and the trend Tr of change calculated by the trend calculation unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2019
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Applicant: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Toshihiro AONO, Masayuki SARUWATARI
  • Patent number: 10823104
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to detect variations between the quantities of fuel injected into cylinders by fuel injection devices and correct the fuel injection quantity variation while minimizing the computational load on a drive device and the level of performance required of a pressure sensor. A drive device for fuel injection devices according to the present invention performs control wherein movable valves are driven so that predetermined quantities of fuel are injected by applying, for the duration of a set energization time, a current that will reach an energization current to solenoids of a plurality of fuel injection devices which open/close fuel flow paths. The drive device is characterized in that the set energization time or energization current is corrected on the basis of a pressure detection value from a pressure sensor that is attached to a fuel supply pipe disposed upstream of the plurality of fuel injection devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Kusakabe, Motoyuki Abe, Toshihiro Aono, Takashi Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20200300184
    Abstract: Provided is a control device for an internal combustion engine capable of estimating a compression ratio of the internal combustion engine at the time of fuel cut of the internal combustion engine and without being affected by an intake air amount and an intake air temperature. A compression ratio ? is calculated on the basis of a change of in-cylinder pressure P with respect to crank angle ? at timing when an in-cylinder volume change rate dV/d?/V takes an extreme value or at timing from closing of an intake valve 109 to the start of ignition of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Publication date: September 24, 2020
    Inventors: Toshihiro AONO, Masayuki SARUWATARI
  • Publication number: 20200291914
    Abstract: Provided is a control device and a control method of a high-efficiency internal combustion engine capable of stabilizing combustion and suppressing NOx emissions without unnecessarily increasing a mounting load on an ECU. Therefore, the control device of the internal combustion engine for controlling the internal combustion engine includes an ignition plug that ignites an air-fuel mixture of fuel and air in the combustion chamber, a combustion pressure estimation sensor that detects a combustion pressure in the combustion chamber, and a crank angle sensor that detects a crank angle of a crankshaft. An MBT region is set based on an ignition delay period from an ignition timing of the ignition plug calculated from a detection value of the combustion pressure estimation sensor and a detection value of the crank angle sensor to a combustion start timing in the combustion chamber, and a combustion period from the combustion start timing to a set amount combustion end timing when a set amount of combustion ends.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Publication date: September 17, 2020
    Inventors: Atsushi SHIMADA, Toshihiro AONO, Masayuki SARUWATARI
  • Patent number: 10677184
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a drive device of a fuel injection device which can increase the accuracy in an injected fuel injection amount by combining the fuel injections from a plurality of injection pulse widths. In the drive device of the fuel injection device which has a function of driving the fuel injection device such that the fuel injection is performed plural times in one combustion cycle, the fuel injection device is driven such that a fuel injection at a target opening level in which a valve element or a movable element of the fuel injection device reaches a regulation member and a fuel injection at an intermediate opening level in which the valve element does not reach the regulation member are included in the plural times of division injections performed in one combustion cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Ryo Kusakabe, Toshihiro Aono, Motoyuki Abe, Takuya Mayuzumi, Masahiro Toyohara, Takashi Okamoto, Osamu Mukaihara, Shinji Nakagawa, Yusuke Kihara
  • Publication number: 20190331052
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to detect variations between the quantities of fuel injected into cylinders by fuel injection devices and correct the fuel injection quantity variation while minimizing the computational load on a drive device and the level of performance required of a pressure sensor. A drive device for fuel injection devices according to the present invention performs control wherein movable valves are driven so that predetermined quantities of fuel are injected by applying, for the duration of a set energization time, a current that will reach an energization current to solenoids of a plurality of fuel injection devices which open/close fuel flow paths. The drive device is characterized in that the set energization time or energization current is corrected on the basis of a pressure detection value from a pressure sensor that is attached to a fuel supply pipe disposed upstream of the plurality of fuel injection devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Applicant: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo KUSAKABE, Motoyuki ABE, Toshihiro AONO, Takashi OKAMOTO
  • Patent number: 10371084
    Abstract: A method for detecting variations between the quantities of fuel injected into cylinders by fuel injection devices and correcting the fuel injection quantity variation while minimizing the computational load on a drive device and the level of performance required of a pressure sensor includes a drive device for fuel injection control, wherein movable valves are driven so that predetermined quantities of fuel are injected by applying, for the duration of a set energization time, a current that will reach an energization current to solenoids of a plurality of fuel injection devices which open/close fuel flow paths. The drive device is characterized in that the set energization time or energization current is corrected on the basis of a pressure detection value from a pressure sensor that is attached to a fuel supply pipe disposed upstream of the plurality of fuel injection devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Kusakabe, Motoyuki Abe, Toshihiro Aono, Takashi Okamoto
  • Publication number: 20190218990
    Abstract: An electromagnetic valve control unit for detecting operation of an electromagnetic valve on the basis of a drive voltage or a drive current applied to the electromagnetic valve. The electromagnetic valve control unit includes an A/D converter, a filter, and a detection unit. The A/D converter converts the drive voltage or the drive current into a digital signal. The filter has a gain of about zero at a predetermined frequency. The detection unit detects operation of the electromagnetic valve on the basis of an output of the filter upon input of the digital signal into the filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2019
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventors: Toshihiro AONO, Motoyuki ABE, Ryo KUSAKABE, Teppei HIROTSU, Ayumu HATANAKA, Hideyuki SAKAMOTO, Takao FUKUDA, Masahiro TOYOHARA, Osamu MUKAIHARA
  • Patent number: 10247125
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fuel injection valve control device with which variability in the injection amount with respect to drive pulse width can be kept to a satisfactory level in each of a plurality of fuel injection devices. The present invention provides a fuel injection valve control device for controlling a plurality of fuel injection devices each equipped with a valve body and a solenoid for opening the valve body, characterized in that the device is configured such that, a prescribed time after voltage has been applied to the solenoid, a holding current is applied, the prescribed time and the holding current being corrected for each of the fuel injection devices, on the basis of the operating characteristics of the fuel injection device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshihiro Aono, Motoyuki Abe, Masahiro Toyohara, Osamu Mukaihara