Patents by Inventor Yoichiro KITAHARA

Yoichiro KITAHARA 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: 8981249
    Abstract: A gap is provided at joining faces of a pair of metal works with an uneven shape when the metal works contact one another for joining. An adhesive agent having a chain-reacting curing reaction function is disposed within the gap. The adhesive agent is cured by an autogenously-generated curing reaction heat caused by an outer energy and an additional heat that is successively generated by the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat within the adhesive agent. A welding portion, where the works contact one another substantially directly, is welded by a laser beam, and the above-described energy for causing the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat for the adhesive agent is provided by the laser beam. Accordingly, a joining structure and method of metal works that can have less limitation in a joining location is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: Mazda Motor Corporation
    Inventors: Chikara Tanaka, Katsuya Himuro, Yoichiro Kitahara
  • Publication number: 20100206856
    Abstract: A laser welding method including a step of welding upper and lower metal plates, a step of picking up an image of a molten pool near a molten hole from the side of the upper metal plate during an execution of the welding step, a step of determining whether a welding state of the metal plates is proper or not by analyzing a generation state of the molten pool based on the image picked up in the picking-up step, and a step of adjusting at least one of a parameter of the irradiated laser beams and a feeding speed of the filler wire so that the welding state of the metal plates becomes proper in case the welding state determined in the determining step is not proper.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2010
    Publication date: August 19, 2010
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chikara TANAKA, Yoichiro KITAHARA
  • Publication number: 20100140978
    Abstract: In a vehicle body structure in which a vehicle-body frame of front side frames with a flangeless structure having a rectangular closed cross section and a vehicle-body panel of a dash panel are welded, a concave portion is formed at a specified portion of the vehicle-body panel to which the vehicle-body frame is welded so as to be concaved toward one side which is opposite to a disposition side of the vehicle-body frame and extends in its longitudinal direction, a temporary connection portion which temporarily connects the vehicle-body frame to a side of the concave portion is formed, and a lazar welding portion which connects the vehicle-body frame to the vehicle-body panel is formed near the temporary connection portion so as to extend along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle-body frame.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 7, 2009
    Publication date: June 10, 2010
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akinori UTSUNOMIYA, Chikara TANAKA, Yoichiro KITAHARA, Masanori HONDA, Shin SASAKI, Takayuki HASHIDA
  • Publication number: 20080237203
    Abstract: A gap is provided at joining faces of a pair of metal works with an uneven shape when the metal works contact one another for joining. An adhesive agent having a chain-reacting curing reaction function is disposed within the gap. The adhesive agent is cured by an autogenously-generated curing reaction heat caused by an outer energy and an additional heat that is successively generated by the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat within the adhesive agent. A welding portion, where the works contact one another substantially directly, is welded by a laser beam, and the above-described energy for causing the autogenously-generated curing reaction heat for the adhesive agent is provided by the laser beam. Accordingly, a joining structure and method of metal works that can has less limitation in a joining location is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2008
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Applicant: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Chikara TANAKA, Katsuya HIMURO, Yoichiro KITAHARA