Patents by Inventor Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA

Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA 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: 10626760
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device includes: a driving side rotator synchronously rotating with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven side rotator coaxially disposed with a rotation axis of the driving side rotator and integrally rotating with a valve opening/closing camshaft; advance and retard chambers formed between the driving side and driven side rotators; a lock mechanism including a lock member capable of engaging with a recessed portion on one of the driving side and driven side rotators and provided in the other of the driving side and driven side rotators; and a connecting bolt coaxially disposed with the rotation axis and connecting the driven side rotator to the camshaft. The connecting bolt includes an internal space, and an advance port, a retard port and a lock port are formed as through-holes, a valve unit accommodates a spool, and the spool includes an internal flow path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Yusuke Hisaeda
  • Patent number: 10550736
    Abstract: A valve opening and closing timing control apparatus includes a drive-side rotational body, a driven-side rotational body, an intermediate lock mechanism which selectively switches between a lock state where displacement of a relative rotational phase of the driven-side rotational body relative to the drive-side rotational body is restrained in an intermediate lock phase and an unlock state where the lock state is released, and an electromagnetic valve. At a time of predetermined operation of an internal combustion engine, a value of the drive current is set as a boundary current, and the value of the drive current to be set as the boundary current differs, by a predetermined value, from a value of the drive current at a time when the unlock state was switched to the lock state due to the change of the drive current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Amano, Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa
  • Patent number: 10539049
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device includes: a driving side rotator synchronously rotating with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven side rotator coaxially disposed with a rotation axis of the driving side rotator and integrally rotating with a valve opening/closing camshaft; advance and retard chambers formed between the driving side and driven side rotators; a lock mechanism including a lock member capable of engaging with a recessed portion formed on one of the driving side and driven side rotators, and provided in the other of the driving side and driven side rotators; and a connecting bolt coaxially disposed with the rotation axis and connecting the driven side rotator to the camshaft, in which the connecting bolt includes an internal space, a valve unit accommodates a spool, and the spool includes an internal flow path, and, in the spool, a lock holding check valve is disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10450905
    Abstract: A variable valve timing control device includes a valve unit including a spool having a plurality of land portions at an outer circumference of the spool, and being formed with a drain flow path inside the spool. The valve unit allows a second pump port and a lock port to communicate with each other in a case where the spool is set at an unlock position where a lock state of a lock mechanism is released, and the valve unit closes the second pump port with the land portion of the spool and allows the lock port to communicate with the drain flow path in a case where the spool is set at a lock position where the lock mechanism is allowed to be shifted in the lock state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Hiromitsu Shigyo
  • Patent number: 10337363
    Abstract: A valve opening and closing timing control apparatus includes a driving-side rotating body, a driven-side rotating body fixed to a camshaft by a bolt, a fluid pressure chamber, an intermediate lock mechanism, a lock flow passage bringing the working fluid to the intermediate lock mechanism, and an electromagnetic valve including a spool which is arranged at an inner portion of the bolt, the lock flow passage including a first flow passage which is arranged between the spool and a supply flow passage in a radial direction and which is connected to the supply flow passage, the lock flow passage including a second flow passage which is provided at the inner portion of the bolt in a penetrating manner in the radial direction and which brings the working fluid to flow between the spool and the intermediate lock mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20190153910
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device is configured to implement controlling of a relative rotation phase and controlling of a lock mechanism by means of a small control valve. The valve opening/closing timing control device includes a first valve whose position is switched electromagnetically and a second valve whose position is switched by a fluid pressure controlled by the first valve. The second valve is constituted of at least one of a phase control valve that controls the relative rotation phase by providing an advance chamber or a retard chamber with an operating fluid from a fluid pressure pump and a lock control valve that controls a lock state of the lock mechanism by controlling the operating fluid from the fluid pressure pump.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2016
    Publication date: May 23, 2019
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeo ASAHI, Yuji NOGUCHI, Masaki KOBAYASHI, Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Hiromitsu SHIGYO
  • Publication number: 20180274398
    Abstract: A variable valve timing control device includes a valve unit including a spool having a plurality of land portions at an outer circumference of the spool, and being formed with a drain flow path inside the spool. The valve unit allows a second pump port and a lock port to communicate with each other in a case where the spool is set at an unlock position where a lock state of a lock mechanism is released, and the valve unit closes the second pump port with the land portion of the spool and allows the lock port to communicate with the drain flow path in a case where the spool is set at a lock position where the lock mechanism is allowed to be shifted in the lock state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2018
    Publication date: September 27, 2018
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Masaki KOBAYASHI, Hiromitsu SHIGYO
  • Publication number: 20180156080
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device includes: a driving side rotator synchronously rotating with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven side rotator coaxially disposed with a rotation axis of the driving side rotator and integrally rotating with a valve opening/closing camshaft; advance and retard chambers formed between the driving side and driven side rotators; a lock mechanism including a lock member capable of engaging with a recessed portion on one of the driving side and driven side rotators and provided in the other of the driving side and driven side rotators; and a connecting bolt coaxially disposed with the rotation axis and connecting the driven side rotator to the camshaft. The connecting bolt includes an internal space, and an advance port, a retard port and a lock port are formed as through-holes, a valve unit accommodates a spool, and the spool includes an internal flow path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Masaki KOBAYASHI, Yusuke
  • Publication number: 20180156079
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device includes: a driving side rotator synchronously rotating with a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven side rotator coaxially disposed with a rotation axis of the driving side rotator and integrally rotating with a valve opening/closing camshaft; advance and retard chambers formed between the driving side and driven side rotators; a lock mechanism including a lock member capable of engaging with a recessed portion formed on one of the driving side and driven side rotators, and provided in the other of the driving side and driven side rotators; and a connecting bolt coaxially disposed with the rotation axis and connecting the driven side rotator to the camshaft, in which the connecting bolt includes an internal space, a valve unit accommodates a spool, and the spool includes an internal flow path, and, in the spool, a lock holding check valve is disposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Masaki KOBAYASHI
  • Patent number: 9958076
    Abstract: A flow passage partition structure including a flow passage member including a flow passage space portion, a partition member partitioning the flow passage space portion into a first flow passage and a second flow passage, the partition member including a first plate and a second plate being in contact with the first plate in a state where the second plate is press-fitted in an inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion, the first plate including an outer circumferential surface that is out of contact with the inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion, and the first plate, the second plate, and the inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion forming a space portion that corresponds to a foreign material storage portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Hiromitsu Shigyo
  • Patent number: 9903235
    Abstract: A valve timing control apparatus includes: a drive-side rotational member synchronously rotating with a drive shaft of an internal combustion engine; a driven-side rotational member disposed inside the drive-side rotational member and integrally rotating with a valve opening/closing camshaft; a hydrostatic pressure chamber formed by partitioning a space between the drive-side rotational and driven-side rotational members; an advance angle chamber and a retardation angle chamber formed by dividing the hydrostatic pressure chamber; an intermediate lock mechanism able to selectively switch between locked and unlocked states; an advance angle flow path allowing the hydraulic fluid to be circulated; a retardation angle flow path allowing the hydraulic fluid to be circulated; a control valve having a spool; and a phase control unit controlling the control valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroki Mukaide, Naoto Toma, Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Takeshi Hayashi, Hiroyuki Amano
  • Publication number: 20180051599
    Abstract: A valve opening and closing timing control apparatus includes a drive-side rotational body, a driven-side rotational body, an intermediate lock mechanism which selectively switches between a lock state where displacement of a relative rotational phase of the driven-side rotational body relative to the drive-side rotational body is restrained in an intermediate lock phase and an unlock state where the lock state is released, and an electromagnetic valve. At a time of predetermined operation of an internal combustion engine, a value of the drive current is set as a boundary current, and the value of the drive current to be set as the boundary current differs, by a predetermined value, from a value of the drive current at a time when the unlock state was switched to the lock state due to the change of the drive current.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Publication date: February 22, 2018
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroyuki AMANO, Masaki KOBAYASHI, Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA
  • Publication number: 20170234174
    Abstract: A valve opening and closing timing control apparatus includes a driving-side rotating body, a driven-side rotating body fixed to a camshaft by a bolt, a fluid pressure chamber, an intermediate lock mechanism, a lock flow passage bringing the working fluid to the intermediate lock mechanism, and an electromagnetic valve including a spool which is arranged at an inner portion of the bolt, the lock flow passage including a first flow passage which is arranged between the spool and a supply flow passage in a radial direction and which is connected to the supply flow passage, the lock flow passage including a second flow passage which is provided at the inner portion of the bolt in a penetrating manner in the radial direction and which brings the working fluid to flow between the spool and the intermediate lock mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Publication date: August 17, 2017
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Masaki KOBAYASHI
  • Patent number: 9708939
    Abstract: The valve open/close timing control device includes a housing that rotates synchronously with a crankshaft, an inner rotor that is disposed inside of the housing and rotates integrally with a camshaft, a fluid pressure chamber formed between the housing and the inner rotor, an intermediate lock mechanism capable of switching between a locked state and an unlocked state, an unlocking channel that allows passage of working oil to be supplied to or discharged from the intermediate lock mechanism, a lock discharge channel that allows passage of working oil discharged from the intermediate lock mechanism, and an electromagnetic valve that controls the supply/discharge of the working oil to/from the fluid pressure chamber and the intermediate lock mechanism. With this valve open/close timing control device, the lock discharge channel allows passage of the working oil in the case where the electricity supply amount to the electromagnetic valve is 0 or the maximum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Kazuo Ueda
  • Patent number: 9689283
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device is configured to be capable of appropriately setting a valve opening/closing timing within a short period of time from start-up of an internal combustion engine. An advancing chamber and a retarding chamber for relative phase control are formed between a driving rotating body that rotates synchronously with a drive shaft of an internal combustion engine and a driven rotating body that rotates integrally with a valve opening/closing camshaft, and a lock mechanism that locks the relative rotation phase at a locked phase is provided. During start-up of the internal combustion engine, a controller starts fluid-filling control for filling the advancing chamber and the retarding chamber with a fluid, and performs unlock control for releasing a locked state of the lock mechanism before filling of the fluid by the fluid-filling control is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Hiroyuki Amano
  • Publication number: 20160348542
    Abstract: A flow passage partition structure including a flow passage member including a flow passage space portion, a partition member partitioning the flow passage space portion into a first flow passage and a second flow passage, the partition member including a first plate and a second plate being in contact with the first plate in a state where the second plate is press-fitted in an inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion, the first plate including an outer circumferential surface that is out of contact with the inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion, and the first plate, the second plate, and the inner circumferential surface of the flow passage space portion forming a space portion that corresponds to a foreign material storage portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2016
    Publication date: December 1, 2016
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: MASAKI KOBAYASHI, YOSHIAKI YAMAKAWA, HIROMITSU SHIGYO
  • Publication number: 20160298504
    Abstract: The valve open/close timing control device includes a housing that rotates synchronously with a crankshaft, an inner rotor that is disposed inside of the housing and rotates integrally with a camshaft, a fluid pressure chamber formed between the housing and the inner rotor, an intermediate lock mechanism capable of switching between a locked state and an unlocked state, an unlocking channel that allows passage of working oil to be supplied to or discharged from the intermediate lock mechanism, a lock discharge channel that allows passage of working oil discharged from the intermediate lock mechanism, and an electromagnetic valve that controls the supply/discharge of the working oil to/from the fluid pressure chamber and the intermediate lock mechanism. With this valve open/close timing control device, the lock discharge channel allows passage of the working oil in the case where the electricity supply amount to the electromagnetic valve is 0 or the maximum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Publication date: October 13, 2016
    Applicant: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki KOBAYASHI, Yoshiaki YAMAKAWA, Kazuo UEDA
  • Patent number: 9447710
    Abstract: A variable valve timing control device includes a driving side rotation member, a driven side rotation member, a control valve controlling a supply and draining of an operation fluid to and from a fluid pressure chamber to change a relative rotational phase of the driven side rotation member relative to the driving side rotation member, an intermediate member positioned inwardly of the driven side rotation member between the driven side rotation member and a camshaft, the intermediate member including the control valve inwardly thereof; and a torsion spring retained by the driving side rotation member and the intermediate member to bias the driving side rotation member and the driven side rotation member either in a first rotation direction or a second rotation direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Masaki Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 9441563
    Abstract: A control device is configured that can shorten the time required for a system to stop due to an ignition switch operation in a situation in which the internal combustion engine is stopped due to stop control. The control device includes a control unit that, in the situation in which the internal combustion engine is stopped due to stop control, if the transmission mechanism is operated to a second shift position that is different from a first shift position in which the vehicle can travel, executes phase conversion control to shift a valve opening/closing timing control mechanism from a first lock phase to a second lock phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa, Kazuo Ueda
  • Patent number: 9410454
    Abstract: A valve opening/closing timing control device includes an advancing chamber and a retarding chamber between driving and driven rotating bodies, an intermediate locking mechanism performing switching between a locked state and an unlocked state, an advancing channel connected to the advancing chamber, a retarding channel connected to the retarding chamber, and at least one electromagnetic valve supplying/discharging working fluid to/from the advancing chamber, retarding chamber, and intermediate lock mechanism due to an electricity supply amount being changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2016
    Assignee: AISIN SEIKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaki Kobayashi, Yoshiaki Yamakawa