Denso Corporation

Aisin Seiki Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippondenso Co., Ltd.

Nippon Soken, Inc.

Osaka Gas Company Limited

Makoto Shirai

Masayuki Kobayashi

Masaya Nakamura

Manabu Yamada

Yutaka Maeda

Kozo Takamura

Yoshitsugu Sakamoto

Hirokatsu Mukai

Naochika Nunogaki

Hisao Kuroki

Minoru Ohta

Shigenori Isomura

Eturo Yasuda

Akira Fujii

Koichiro Hirosawa

Daisuke Makino

Toshihiro Suzumura

Kenji Fukaya

Kazumasa Futamura

Masanori Fukutani

Atsutoshi Ikegawa

Toru Fujikawa

Tatsunori Kato

Tomotsugu Terada

Atsuo Suehiro

Taiji Yokoyama

Noriaki Kihara

Hiroyuki Tatebayashi

Takumi Ushikubo

Hiroyoshi Tanikawa

Akihiro Oka

Katsuhide Akimoto

Methods of manufacturing a ceramic sheet and a gas sensing element are disclosed. At least ceramic powder, a binder and a plasticizer are blended and mixed in slurry. The slurry is formed into unfired green sheets, on which paste is printed. Each of the unfired green sheets has porosity greater than 5%. In the manufacturing methods, the unfired green sheets are pressurized with a pressure of 10 MPa at a temperature above 60&#xb0; C., after which the paste is printed on surfaces of the unfired green sheets. In the method of manufacturing the gas sensing element, a shielding layer, a porous diffusion resistance layer and the unfired green sheets for a sensing layer, a reference gas airspace forming layer and a heating layer are stacked to form a stacked ceramic body, whish is fired to obtain the gas sensing element.

Method of manufacturing ceramic sheet and method of manufacturing gas sensing element

A ceramic heater is provided which may be built in a gas sensor to heat a sensor element up to a desired activation temperature. The ceramic heater includes a pair of electrical conductors formed on a ceramic body. Each of the conductors is equipped with a terminal. Leads are joined to the terminals for supplying electrical power to the conductors. Joints between the leads and the terminals are covered hermetically by a seal, thereby minimizing corrosion thereof to avoid disconnections of the terminals from the leads. This improves the durability of the ceramic heater.

Sealing structure of ceramic heater

In order to provide an engine oil supply apparatus including a second oil pump () which can draw in and discharge oil quickly regardless of whether or not a first oil pump () is driven and which does not need to be large, an engine oil supply apparatus (Y) includes a first oil pump () drawing oil through a first oil passage () from an oil holder () holding oil, a second oil pump () connected in series with the first oil pump () through a connection oil passage () and driven independently of the first oil pump (), a first supply oil passage () for supplying oil to a first circulation section () from the first oil pump (), and a second supply oil passage () for supplying oil to a second circulation section () from the second oil pump (). In the engine oil supply apparatus (Y), a first oil reservoir () holds oil to be supplied to the second oil pump () and is provided independently of the oil holder () is provided.

Engine oil supply apparatus

A ceramic heater is provided which may be employed in a gas sensor. The ceramic heater includes a heating element disposed inside a ceramic body, a connector assembly, and a cover coating. The connector assembly consists of an external terminal, a connector terminal, and a metallic joint layer. The external terminal is affixed to an outer surface of the ceramic body in electrical connection with the heating element. The joint layer is formed on the external terminal to establish an electrical joint between the external terminal and the connector terminal. The cover coating is wrapped over a surface of the connector assembly and made of a metallic material containing a main component of one of Au, Pt, and Cr, thereby ensuring a corrosion resistance of the connector assembly.

Corrosion resistance structure of ceramic heater and gas sensor equipped with same

An improved structure of a mechanical seal for keeping a gas chamber and a reference gas chamber airtight in a sensor body. A sensor element is disposed within an insulator. A gap between the sensor element and the insulator is sealed hermetically by a glass sealing member. The glass sealing member has a coefficient of thermal expansion whose differences between itself and the sensor element and the insulator is within a range of &plusmn;3&times;10 /&deg; C. This provides a mechanical seal required to keep the reference gas chamber and the gas chamber in the gas sensor airtight in an environment such as an automotive exhaust system subjected to a great temperature change.

Sealing structure of gas sensor

An air side cover is attached to a proximal end of a housing so as to confine an aerial atmosphere therein. A measured gas side cover is attached to a distal end of the housing so as to confine a measured gas atmosphere therein. A glass sealing material airtightly seals a clearance between an inner surface of an insulator and an outer surface of a sensing element. A contact interface of the glass sealing material protrudes toward a proximal end of the gas sensor compared with at least an adjacent portion of the remainder of the glass sealing material. By melting and hardening a glass pellet, the sensing element is airtightly fixed in the insulator.

Gas sensor and manufacturing method for the same

An improved structure of a mechanical seal for keeping a gas chamber and a reference gas chamber airtight in a sensor body. A packing seal is disposed between a shoulder formed on an inner wall of a housing of the sensor body and a tapered surface of an insulation porcelain installed in the housing to define the gas chamber and the reference gas chamber hermetically. The packing ring is formed by a metal plate which has a thickness of 0.1 mm or more and a Vickers hardness of 200 or less and which is made of at least one of a nickel, a nickel alloy, a titanium, and a stainless steel.

A ceramic heater that may be used in an oxygen sensor for automotive air-fuel ratio control systems and includes a ceramic square rod formed with a laminate of a heater substrate on which a heater-patterned layer consisting of a heater element and leads is formed and a covering substrate covering the heater-patterned layer. Metallic terminals are connected electrically to the leads of the heater-patterned layer, respectively, and mounted on surfaces of the ceramic square rod opposed to each other in a direction of lamination of the heater substrate and the covering substrate, respectively. At least one outer lead is joined to one of the metallic terminals through a bonding layer.

Gas sensor with ceramic heater

A metallic layer is provided on the surface of a ceramic body. A junction layer is provided on the metallic layer. The junction layer contains 40.about.98 wt % Cu and 2.about.20 wt % Ni. A conductive member is bonded to the metallic layer via the junction layer.

Ceramic-metal junction structure and a method for manufacturing the same

The engine balancer unit includes a first oil pan attaching to the bottom of an engine cylinder block, a second oil pan attaching to the first oil pan to close a bottom of the first oil pan, and a unitary case inserted in the first oil pan to support counterbalance shafts with balance weights. The cylinder block does not need to be modified to install the engine balancer unit because the first oil pan which encloses the unitary case is attached under the cylinder block. Further, fluid tightness between the first oil pan block is not spoiled by the unitary case because the unitary case is provided inside the first oil pan. Furthermore, fluid tightness between the first oil pan and the second oil pan is not spoiled by conventional fastening structure.

Engine balancer unit

Several heater patterns are printed on a ceramic green sheet for substrates, and the ceramic green sheet is laminated with a ceramic green sheet for cover plates, thereby forming a lamination body. Then, the lamination body is cut so that it is divided into several intermediate bodies, each of which holds a corresponding one of the heater patterns therein and has a side surface on which a terminal portion of the heater pattern is exposed. Then, the intermediate body is baked. As a result, a ceramic heater composed of a heater substrate holding the heater pattern and a cover plate disposed on the heater substrate to cover the heater pattern can be provided without any micro-cracks therein.

Method of producing lamination type ceramic heater

An oxygen sensor element has a cup-type solid electrolyte body defining an air chamber therein, and a plate-like lamination-type ceramic heater is disposed in the air chamber with a front end portion contacting the bottom portion of the air chamber. Accordingly, the lamination type ceramic heater is prevented form being swung and hit against the electrolyte body.

Oxygen sensor element holding lamination type ceramic heater

Sunlight sensor that detects a distrubition and amount of thermal load

Growing community of inventors

Hekinan, Japan

Makoto Shirai