IP Library Granted Patent US 11,781,998
Granted Patent B2
US 11,781,998 · App. 17/670,910 · Granted Oct 10, 2023

Inspection method and inspection device for membrane electrode assembly

Inventors: Shinya Takeshita (Toyota, JP); Toshiyuki Takahara (Gotemba, JP)
Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA; HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
G01N23/18G01B15/025G01N23/04G01N23/083G01N2223/04G01N2223/401G01N2223/652
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,781,998
App. No.
17/670,910
Granted
Oct 10, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

An inspection method of a membrane electrode assembly includes a first process of acquiring an X-ray transmission image of the membrane electrode assembly, a second process of identifying a luminance-reduced region having a luminance lower than a luminance of a surrounding region in the X-ray transmission image acquired in the first process, a third process of correcting the luminance of the luminance-reduced region identified in the second process, in accordance with a planar size of the luminance-reduced region, based on a correlation between a planar size of a foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly and change in luminance due to diffraction of X-rays, and a fourth process of finding a thickness of the foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly based on the luminance corrected in the third process.

Claims (15)

1. An inspection method of a membrane electrode assembly, the inspection method comprising:

a first process of acquiring an X-ray transmission image of the membrane electrode assembly;

a second process of identifying a luminance-reduced region having a luminance lower than a luminance of a surrounding region in the X-ray transmission image acquired in the first process;

a third process of correcting the luminance of the luminance-reduced region identified in the second process, in accordance with a planar size of the luminance-reduced region, based on a correlation between a planar size of a foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly and change in luminance due to diffraction of X-rays; and

a fourth process of finding a thickness of the foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly based on the luminance corrected in the third process.

2. The inspection method according to claim 1 , further comprising a fifth process of finding a three-dimensional size of the foreign matter, based on the thickness found in the fourth process and the planar size of the luminance-reduced region.

3. The inspection method according to claim 2 , further comprising a sixth process of performing quality determination processing for determining whether the membrane electrode assembly is defective or non-defective, by comparing the three-dimensional size of the foreign matter found in the fifth process with a defect determination threshold value set in advance.

4. An inspection device of a membrane electrode assembly, the inspection device comprising:

an acquisition unit configured to acquire an X-ray transmission image of the membrane electrode assembly; and

a processing unit configured to

identify a luminance-reduced region having a luminance lower than a luminance of a surrounding region in the X-ray transmission image,

correct the luminance of the luminance-reduced region in accordance with a planar size of the luminance-reduced region, based on a correlation between a planar size of a foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly and change in luminance due to diffraction of X-rays, and

find a thickness of the foreign matter in the membrane electrode assembly based on the corrected luminance.

5. The inspection device according to claim 4 , wherein the processing unit is configured to find a three-dimensional size of the foreign matter, based on the thickness found by the processing unit and the planar size of the luminance-reduced region.

6. The inspection device according to claim 5 , wherein the processing unit is configured to perform quality determination processing for determining whether the membrane electrode assembly is defective or non-defective, by comparing the three-dimensional size of the foreign matter with a defect determination threshold value set in advance.

Assignments (3)
CHANGE OF ADDRESS Recorded Sep 17, 2025
From: HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
To: HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 072903/0593 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Sep 17, 2025
From: HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
To: HITACHI HIGH-TECH ANALYSIS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 072913/0104 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 14, 2022
From: TAKESHITA, SHINYA; TAKAHARA, TOSHIYUKI
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA; HITACHI HIGH-TECH SCIENCE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 059001/0699 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2021-041216 · Mar 15, 2021 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220291152A1 · Sep 15, 2022