Patents by Inventor Yuzo Higashiyama

Yuzo Higashiyama 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: 20240050673
    Abstract: A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) apparatus includes: a first unit including a first housing provided with a first flow path that connects a first inlet port and a first outlet port and in which an air blower is provided; and a second unit including a second housing provided with a second flow path that connects a second inlet port and a second outlet port. The first flow path between the first inlet port and the air blower includes a first silencer. The second flow path includes a second silencer. In a first use state where the second unit is attached to the first unit, the second outlet port is connected to the first inlet port. In a second use state where the second unit is not attached to the first unit, the first inlet port is opened to the outside.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2023
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA, Hiroaki WADA, Shigeru TSUJI
  • Patent number: 11833300
    Abstract: A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) apparatus includes: a first unit including a first housing provided with a first flow path that connects a first inlet port and a first outlet port and in which an air blower is provided; and a second unit including a second housing provided with a second flow path that connects a second inlet port and a second outlet port. The first flow path between the first inlet port and the air blower includes a first silencer. The second flow path includes a second silencer. In a first use state where the second unit is attached to the first unit, the second outlet port is connected to the first inlet port. In a second use state where the second unit is not attached to the first unit, the first inlet port is opened to the outside.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuzo Higashiyama, Hiroaki Wada, Shigeru Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20230114545
    Abstract: The CPAP device includes a blower. The blower includes a motor and a blower fan rotatable by the motor. The motor includes a stator assembly including a plurality of coils arranged in a circumferential direction, and a rotor assembly including a permanent magnet and disposed in an inner side portion of the stator assembly in a radial direction. An output shaft is inserted into the rotor assembly. The output shaft rotates together with the rotor assembly. The blower fan is fixed to a tip end of one side of the output shaft. Part of the output shaft is inserted into an insertion hole provided at a center of the base. A plain bearing is interposed between an inner peripheral surface of the insertion hole and an outer peripheral surface of the output shaft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2022
    Publication date: April 13, 2023
    Inventors: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA, Takahiro YAMAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20230030885
    Abstract: In the present disclosure, air passing through the inside of a humidifier is readily humidified. The humidifier includes a water chamber having a first circulation opening and a second circulation opening for allowing air to circulate. An outlet baffle that covers at least part of the second circulation opening from below is provided on an inner surface of a top cover of the water chamber. A third circulation opening is formed by the outlet baffle. The direction in which the third circulation opening opens intersects the direction in which the first circulation opening opens. A baffle protrudes from the inner surface of the top cover. The baffle is located on a straight path between the third circulation opening and the first circulation opening and extends in a direction that intersects the straight path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2022
    Publication date: February 2, 2023
    Inventors: ATSUSHI HATTORI, Ken SHIN, Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Patent number: 11491290
    Abstract: A fluid control device includes a case including an internal space that is partitioned by a partition wall into an air blowing chamber and a control chamber. A dividing wall is disposed inside the air blowing chamber to partition an internal space of the air blowing chamber into a first air blowing chamber and a second air blowing chamber. A fan unit is housed in the second air blowing chamber. A differential pressure sensor senses a differential pressure between a pressure inside the first air blowing chamber and a pressure inside the second air blowing chamber. A controller controls a fan based on the sensed differential pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuzo Higashiyama, Hiroaki Wada
  • Publication number: 20220235952
    Abstract: A humidifier includes a second housing. A water storage tank is in a housing space of the second housing. The tank is detachable through an attachment/detachment port of the second housing. A third introduction hole communicates an inside and an outside of the second housing with each other in the second housing. A first tank hole communicates an inside and an outside of the tank with each other in the tank. Between the second housing and the tank, a first seal member separates a first downstream side flow path leading to an inside of the tank through the third introduction hole and the first tank hole, from an external space of the second housing. The first seal member extends along an inner surface of the second housing to entirely surround the tank, when viewed from a top of the tank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 14, 2022
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventor: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20220218937
    Abstract: A humidifier is provided with a water storage tank, a second housing to which the tank is detachably mounted, and a heater for vaporizing water stored in the tank. The tank is configured with a tank body having a space therein, and a partition wall rising from an inner surface of the tank body. A first tank hole that causes an inside and an outside of the tank body to communicate with each other opens in the tank body. The partition wall partitions the space inside the tank body into a water storage space for storing water, and a trap space. The trap space communicates with an outside of the tank via the first tank hole, and communicates with the water storage space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventor: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Patent number: 11338100
    Abstract: An inner peripheral surface of an upper plate of a first case has a first inclined surface that faces an outer peripheral surface of a seal holding member of a motor in a radial direction of a rotary shaft. An inner peripheral surface of a seal fixing member has a second inclined surface that also faces the outer peripheral surface of the seal holding member in the radial direction. The outer peripheral surface has third and fourth inclined surfaces along an axial direction of the rotary shaft. An outside diameter on sides of the third and fourth inclined surfaces that are far from each other is greater than an outside diameter on sides of the third and fourth inclined surfaces that are near each other. A sealing member is installed in an annular space that is surrounded by the first, second, third, and fourth inclined surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuzo Higashiyama
  • Publication number: 20210178108
    Abstract: A humidification apparatus includes a bag-shaped flexible reservoir where water is stored, a vaporizer that vaporizes supplied water, a water supply path connected to the flexible reservoir and the vaporizer, an accommodation portion where the flexible reservoir is accommodated, a pressurization source that compresses the flexible reservoir by pressurizing a space outside the flexible reservoir and inside the accommodation portion, and a controller that controls an operation of the pressurization source. Water stored in the flexible reservoir is supplied to the vaporizer through the water supply path by compressive force with which the flexible reservoir is compressed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2021
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Inventor: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20210128866
    Abstract: A humidification device (200A) includes a reservoir (216), a vaporizer (250), a water supply passage (230), a gas introduction passage (240), a gas introduction source (260), and a controller. The reservoir (216) stores water. The vaporizer (250) vaporizes the water supplied to the vaporizer (250). The water supply passage (230) is connected to the reservoir (216) and the vaporizer (250) and filled with the water flowing from the reservoir (216). The gas introduction passage (240) is connected to an intermediate position of the water supply passage (230). The gas introduction source (260) introduces gas into the water supply passage (230) through the gas introduction passage (240) so as to push out, by using pressure of the introduced gas, toward the vaporizer (250) the water with which the water supply passage (230) is filled. The controller controls operation of the gas introduction source (260).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2021
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventor: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Patent number: 10982679
    Abstract: A blowing apparatus includes a blowing unit, a first circuit board, a second circuit board, a top casing, a middle casing, and a bottom casing. The bottom casing has an intake hole. The middle casing has a nozzle to which a tube is attached, and also has an exhaust hole inside the nozzle. The exhaust hole is connected to a mask, with the tube interposed therebetween. The blowing unit includes a fan and a motor configured to rotate the fan. The blowing unit is located in a region between the first circuit board and the second circuit board. The first circuit board intersects a rotation axis of the fan. The first circuit board covers the blowing unit as viewed from the top casing in plan view of the first circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuzo Higashiyama, Shigeru Tsuji
  • Publication number: 20210077760
    Abstract: A fan unit includes a fan case and a fan. The fan case has an intake port and a discharge port. The fan is provided inside the fan case and has a holding plate having a first surface and being rotatably supported; and a plurality of blade members provided upright on the first surface. The fan unit includes a first passage that is connected to the intake port and is defined by an inner surface of the fan case, the first surface of the holding plate, and two adjacent blades; and a second passage that is on a second surface side of the holding plate and is connected to the discharge port. An outer circumferential end section of the holding plate is positioned progressively lower towards the outside in the radial direction and has a skirt shape having a sharp gradient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 1, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Hiroaki WADA, Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20210008310
    Abstract: A CPAP device includes a housing. A suction port is provided in a top plate portion of a casing of the air blower. The air blower chamber has a facing wall portion facing the top plate portion with a distance therebetween. A wall portion defining the air blower chamber is provided with an introduction port for introducing external air. In a space between the facing wall portion and the top plate portion, a flow adjustment portion that partitions the space into flow paths arranged side by side around a rotation axis is provided. An outer end portion and an inner end portion of each of the flow paths in a direction orthogonal to the rotation axis are respectively constituted of a first open end and a second open end, the first open end and the second open end being open along the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Inventors: Hiroaki WADA, Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20210001069
    Abstract: A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) apparatus includes: a first unit including a first housing provided with a first flow path that connects a first inlet port and a first outlet port and in which an air blower is provided; and a second unit including a second housing provided with a second flow path that connects a second inlet port and a second outlet port. The first flow path between the first inlet port and the air blower includes a first silencer. The second flow path includes a second silencer. In a first use state where the second unit is attached to the first unit, the second outlet port is connected to the first inlet port. In a second use state where the second unit is not attached to the first unit, the first inlet port is opened to the outside.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA, Hiroaki WADA, Shigeru TSUJI
  • Patent number: 10814084
    Abstract: A cuff-pressure control device includes a pump, an inner pipe connected to the pump, a pressure sensor that measures an internal pressure of the inner pipe, and a control unit that controls a cuff pressure. A cuff is separable from the cuff-pressure control device, and, in a separation state, a first space in communication with the cuff is kept airtight such that the cuff pressure is maintained. The control unit adjusts a pressure in the cuff-pressure control device to a pressure of the first space before the cuff is connected to the cuff-pressure control device in a connection state in which the cuff in the separation state is connected to the cuff-pressure control device and the cuff and the inner pipe are in communication with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuzo Higashiyama, Daisuke Hirayama
  • Patent number: 10773040
    Abstract: A cuff pressure controller device (100) is connected to a foregoing cuff (10) via an air supply tube (125). The cuff pressure controller device (100) includes a controller unit (111), a cuff pressure detector unit (113), a driver circuit (119), a piezoelectric pump (101), a check valve (121), and a release valve (122). The cuff pressure detector unit (113) detects the cuff pressure of the cuff (10). The driver circuit (119) drives the piezoelectric pump (101) at a drive frequency of 20 kHz or higher. The controller unit (111) controls the cuff pressure detector unit (113), the driver circuit (119), and the release valve (122) in such a way that the cuff pressure stays within a predetermined range based on detection results of the cuff pressure detector unit (113) and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuzo Higashiyama
  • Patent number: 10716913
    Abstract: A cuff-pressure control device includes a pump supplying gas into the cuff, a connection path connecting the pump and the cuff, an exhaust valve exhausting gas in the cuff through the connection path, a pressure sensor measuring an internal pressure of the connection path, and a controller controlling the internal pressure of the cuff according to a measured value of the internal pressure of the connection path measured with the pressure sensor. The controller includes an obstruction detection unit that obtains, from the measured value of the pressure sensor, a pressure change amount from a time point when the pump is stopped while the internal pressure of the connection path is being increased by the pump to a time point after a predetermined time elapses and that detects the obstruction of the connection tube when the pressure change amount is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuzo Higashiyama, Sho Makino
  • Patent number: 10711906
    Abstract: A valve includes a cap, a diaphragm defining a movable portion, a valve housing, and a valve portion. An inlet port through which fluid flows into a valve chamber, an outlet port through which the fluid flows out from the valve chamber, and a placement portion on which a peripheral edge portion of the diaphragm is placed are provided in the valve housing. The diaphragm includes a peripheral edge portion, a center portion, a connecting portion connecting the peripheral edge portion and the center portion, and a pusher. The connecting portion has a wave shape from the peripheral edge portion side toward the center portion side such that the connecting portion first projects to a valve body portion side, and next projects to the cap side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideaki Yamagata, Takenobu Maeda, Yuzo Higashiyama
  • Publication number: 20200009337
    Abstract: An inner peripheral surface of an upper plate of a first case has a first inclined surface that faces an outer peripheral surface of a seal holding member of a motor in a radial direction of a rotary shaft. An inner peripheral surface of a seal fixing member has a second inclined surface that also faces the outer peripheral surface of the seal holding member in the radial direction. The outer peripheral surface has third and fourth inclined surfaces along an axial direction of the rotary shaft. An outside diameter on sides of the third and fourth inclined surfaces that are far from each other is greater than an outside diameter on sides of the third and fourth inclined surfaces that are near each other. A sealing member is installed in an annular space that is surrounded by the first, second, third, and fourth inclined surfaces.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2019
    Publication date: January 9, 2020
    Inventor: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA
  • Publication number: 20190282771
    Abstract: A fluid control device includes a case including an internal space that is partitioned by a partition wall into an air blowing chamber and a control chamber. A dividing wall is disposed inside the air blowing chamber to partition an internal space of the air blowing chamber into a first air blowing chamber and a second air blowing chamber. A fan unit is housed in the second air blowing chamber. A differential pressure sensor senses a differential pressure between a pressure inside the first air blowing chamber and a pressure inside the second air blowing chamber. A controller controls a fan based on the sensed differential pressure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Inventors: Yuzo HIGASHIYAMA, Hiroaki WADA