Patents by Inventor Yasunori Niiyama

Yasunori Niiyama 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: 20090217667
    Abstract: An external combustion engine suppressing boiling of cooling water in a cooler. A heater 12 uses waste heat of a heat engine 1 as a heat source to heat a working medium to make it evaporate. A cooler 13 uses cooling fluid cooling the heat engine 1 as a cooling source to cool steam of the working medium and make it condense. A heated part temperature reducing means is provided for reducing a temperature Th of the heated part 12a when the amount of heat radiated from the cooling fluid to the outside becomes smaller than the amount of heat transferred from the working medium to the cooling fluid. Due to this, it is possible to suppress the rise of the temperature Tw of the cooling fluid in the cooler 13, so it is possible to suppress boiling of the cooling water in the cooler 13.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Takashi Kaneko, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Shuzo Oda
  • Patent number: 7574861
    Abstract: An external combustion engine formed with a plurality of heaters for improving output, provided with a container in which a working medium is sealed flowable in a liquid state, the container being formed with heaters for heating part of a working medium to generate vapor of the working medium and coolers for cooling the vapor to liquefy, the generation and liquefaction of the vapor causing the working medium to change in volume and the displacement of the liquid part of the working medium caused by the change in volume of the working medium being converted to mechanical energy for output, wherein at least the parts of the container connected with the heaters being branched into pluralities of tubular parts, a plurality of heaters are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of tubular parts, a plurality of vapor reservoirs for storing the vapor of the working medium are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of heaters, and the plurality of vapor reservoirs are connected with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Takashi Kaneko, Shuzo Oda, Katsuya Komaki
  • Publication number: 20090199559
    Abstract: An external combustion engine alternately repeating a first stroke of making a working fluid evaporate at a plurality of heating portions and making a liquid phase part of the working fluid displace toward an output part side and a second stroke of making the working fluid evaporated at the first stroke condense at the plurality of cooling portions and making the liquid phase part of the working fluid displace toward the side of the plurality of the heating portions and provided with inflow adjusting means for reducing differences in inflows among the plurality of the heating portions, wherein the inflow is defined as the amount of a liquid phase part of the working fluid flowing into the heating portions when the liquid phase part of the working fluid displaces from the output part side to the side of the plurality of the heating portions in the second stroke.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2009
    Publication date: August 13, 2009
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shuzo Oda, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Yasunori Niiyama, Takashi Kaneko, Shunji Okemoto
  • Publication number: 20090031727
    Abstract: An external combustion engine includes: a main container sealed with a working fluid in a liquid state adapted to flow; a heater for heating a portion of the working fluid in the main container and generating the vapor of the working fluid; a cooler for cooling and liquefying the vapor; an output unit for outputting by converting the displacement of the liquid portion of the working fluid generated by the volume change of the working fluid due to the generation and liquefaction of the vapor into mechanical energy; and an auxiliary container communicating with the main container. The heater, the cooler and the output unit are arranged in order, in the direction of displacement of the working fluid. The working fluid is sealed in the auxiliary container which communicates with the portion of the main container nearer the output unit than the cooler.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Publication date: February 5, 2009
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shuzo Oda, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Yasunori Niiyama, Katsuya Komaki, Takashi Kaneko
  • Publication number: 20080282701
    Abstract: An external combustion engine provided with a plurality of evaporators and stabilized in output and efficiency, that is, an engine provided with at least one main container, a plurality of evaporators heating the working medium to evaporate, condensers cooling the vapor of the working medium evaporated at the evaporators to make it condense, an output part communicated with the other end of the main container and converting displacement of a liquid part of the working medium occurring due to fluctuations in volume of the working medium accompanying evaporation and condensation of the working medium to mechanical energy for output, a single main container pressure adjusting means adjusting an internal pressure of the main container, and controlling means for controlling the main container pressure adjusting means based on a lowest temperature in the temperatures of the plurality of evaporators constituting a minimum evaporator temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Publication date: November 20, 2008
    Applicant: DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuya Komaki, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Yasunori Niiyama
  • Publication number: 20080229747
    Abstract: An external combustion engine including a container 10 sealed with a working medium 14 in liquid phase adapted to flow, a multiplicity of evaporators 201 to 204 for heating and evaporating part of the liquid-phase working medium 14, a multiplicity of condensers 221 to 224 for cooling and condensing the working medium 14 evaporated in the evaporators 201 to 204, and an output unit 11 for outputting by converting the displacement of the liquid-phase portion of the working medium 14 into mechanical energy. The multiplicity of the evaporators 201 to 204 share a heat source from which heat is supplied thereto.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2008
    Publication date: September 25, 2008
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Yasunori Niiyama, Shuzo Oda, Katsuya Komaki
  • Publication number: 20080223033
    Abstract: An external combustion engine 10 is disclosed, wherein a container 11 sealed with a working medium adapted to flow in a liquid state includes a heating unit 13 for generating a vapor of the working medium 12 by heating part of the working medium, and a cooling unit 14 for liquefying by cooling the vapor. The volume of the working medium 12 is changed by the generation and liquefaction of the vapor, and the displacement of the liquid portion of the working medium 12 caused by the volume change of the working medium 12 is converted into and output as mechanical energy. The heating unit 13 is structured so that inner members 51a, 53a arranged on the inside and outer members 51b, 53b arranged on the outside are bonded to each other. The outer members 51b, 53b are made of a second material higher in heat resistance than the first material of the inner members 51a, 53a. Further, the thickness of the inner members 51a, 53a is not smaller than the thermal penetration depth ? of the first material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Publication date: September 18, 2008
    Applicant: DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Takashi Kaneko, Shuzo Oda, Katsuya Komaki
  • Publication number: 20080178595
    Abstract: An external combustion engine formed with a plurality of heaters for improving output, provided with a container in which a working medium is sealed flowable in a liquid state, the container being formed with heaters for heating part of a working medium to generate vapor of the working medium and coolers for cooling the vapor to liquefy, the generation and liquefaction of the vapor causing the working medium to change in volume and the displacement of the liquid part of the working medium caused by the change in volume of the working medium being converted to mechanical energy for output, wherein at least the parts of the container connected with the heaters being branched into pluralities of tubular parts, a plurality of heaters are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of tubular parts, a plurality of vapor reservoirs for storing the vapor of the working medium are formed so as to be connected with the plurality of heaters, and the plurality of vapor reservoirs are connected with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2007
    Publication date: July 31, 2008
    Applicant: DENSO Corporation
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Shinichi Yatsuzuka, Takashi Kaneko, Shuzo Oda, Katsuya Komaki
  • Patent number: 7258085
    Abstract: A free piston engine has a pair of pistons opposing to each other and movable in a cylinder, to form a combustion chamber between the pistons. A mixed gas of air and fuel is supplied into the combustion chamber and the mixed gas is auto-ignited when it is compressed by the pistons. A temperature and/or an air-fuel ratio of the mixed gas, and/or a pressure in the combustion chamber is detected to control displacements of the pistons, so that the mixed gas is auto-ignited at an optimum timing to efficiently operate the free piston engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Takashi Kaneko, Yasumasa Hagiwara
  • Publication number: 20060124083
    Abstract: A free piston engine has a pair of pistons opposing to each other and movable in a cylinder, to form a combustion chamber between the pistons. A mixed gas of air and fuel is supplied into the combustion chamber and the mixed gas is auto-ignited when it is compressed by the pistons. A temperature and/or an air-fuel ratio of the mixed gas, and/or a pressure in the combustion chamber is detected to control displacements of the pistons, so that the mixed gas is auto-ignited at an optimum timing to efficiently operate the free piston engine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 12, 2005
    Publication date: June 15, 2006
    Applicant: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Niiyama, Takashi Kaneko, Yasumasa Hagiwara