Japan’s First High-Pressure Gas Supply System for Marine Engines by MHI
Mitsubishi Heavy Industry has announced the development of Japan’s first system for supplying high-pressure gas enabling use of natural gas as fuel for marine engines. The new high-pressure gas supply system delivers liquefied natural gas (LNG) at 30 megapascals (MPa) through liquid pumping, featuring a compact configuration with reduced power consumption. The liquid pump on this system adopts a hydraulic driver without speed reduction mechanism, facilitating variable speed adjustment and high flexibility of layout. Read more
Launch of New Series of Residential Air Conditioners with Powerful Air Cleaning Capabilities by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industry has announced the launch of new series of residential air conditioning system with power air cleaning capability. The new series feature “plasma 4D ions”, a function in which indoor air is cleaned and sterilized by way of blowing negative ions from the indoor units, as well as “bio-clear operation”, an operating mode capable of suppressing and sterilizing viruses and germs through use of enzymes and other means. Read more
Development of Industry’s Highest Load Resistance Plastic Pulleys for Engine Ancillary Belts
Market demand for more efficient fuel economy automobile is on the rise, and one way to make this happen is by decreasing the actual weight of the vehicle. In doing so, manufacturers in automotive industry are placing their interest in replacing various steel parts through a vehicle with plastic parts. One such part is engine accessory belt pulleys which can be made out of plastic to replace older steel pulleys. However, higher power output and rotational speed of engines in reaching greater efficiency of engines has often resulted in slip (creep) between the outer ring of bearing and plastic parts, resulting in deformation of the pulley which causes the mating between the outer ring of the bearing and seal to become loose causing grease to leak out as the seal rotates. In order to remedy this problem NTN has developed a “High-load Resin Pulley” based on high-rigidity plastic capable of withstanding high temperatures around the engine in the vehicle. Read more
Development of Thermoelectric Conversion Devices Manufactured by way of Printing
Group of Japanese researchers at AIST have developed a novel fabrication technology for printing thermoelectric conversion devices onto flexible substrates such as plastic films and papers. The new technology provides a high flexibility to the thermoelectric conversion devices allowing them to be installed taking the form of the objects that are being installed on. In addition to this the printing technology would provide a cost reduction in the manufacturing process. The printable composite material was made by way of dispersing carbon material into a resin matrix at a nanometer level. Read more
Development of Ceramic Electrolyte Sheet for Lithium-Air Storage Batteries using a New Sintering Process
The lithium-air batteries are consider to be the next generation high performance storage batteries for use in multitude of application ranging from transportation equipments such as automobiles to power storage system, Load leveling as well as industrial machines and machine tools to name few. However the application of sulfide-based ceramic electrolytes in such batteries proved to be difficult due to low water resistance. In light of this, Japanese researchers at AIST have successfully developed ceramic electrolyte sheet showing high conductivity of 0.001 S/cm at room temperature. Read more
Sumitomo Electric Installs and Tests its “Ecomarine” Ultraviolet Ballast Water Management System
Sumitomo Electric Industries has announced the installation and testing of its “Ecomarine” on Asuka II, a cruise ship operated by NYK Cruises in January of 2012. Ecomarine is an ultraviolet ballast water management system incorporating filter units which has been originally developed by Sumitomo Electric for separating large plankton and other aquatic organisms. The new system eliminates ant remaining small organisms with a medium-pressure ultraviolet system, offering a more environmentally friendly operation in comparison to other chemical free ultraviolet ballast water management systems. Read more
Release of Electric Scooter with High-Performance in-wheel Motor and Regenerative Breaking System by Suzuki Motor
Suzuki Motor has announced the release of e-Let’s, an electric scooter with detachable lithium-ion battery. The new e-Let’s comes with high performance in-wheel motor and regenerative braking capability. The new electric scooter achieves a curb weight that is 2kg less than that of Let’S4 Basket, in addition to its smooth acceleration feature. It’s on board lithium-ion battery has a built-in Battery Management Unit (BMU) capable of monitoring battery status which cab be detached for charging. Read more
“EV-STER” The Next-Generation Compact Electric Spots Car by Honda
When I visited the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011, I got a weird feeling that in spite of all the hypes about the Electric Vehicles, our good old fashion gasoline driven vehicles are here to stay for a long haul. How long exactly? No one knows, probably for another 20 to 30 years or even more. On the surface there are no competitions when it comes to fuel efficiency and zero-emission, but in reality lots of effort is going to make the gasoline engine more fuel efficient to meet the Japanese government criteria on fuel efficient society with set of deadline which is at the dismal level of 30% less CO2 emission in comparison to Zero offered by their EVs counterparts. EV conceptual vehicles in the show were all labeled as something fun to drive a mere marketing tactic to sell the sleek aero dynamic body with multitude of cool looking features that average consumers do not care so much about. Among some of these new concepts was Honda’s EV-STER electric sports car. The new EV-STER features an easy to operate twin-lever steering which was adopted in pursuit of the joy of driving. Furthermore, the new EV-STER allows its driver to make own adjustment such as motor output and suspension settings. Read more
Development of Highly Conductive Carbon Nanofiber with World’s First Elliptical Cross-Section of Graphite Layer for use in Li-ion Batteries of electric Vehicles
New era of Electric Vehicles can foresee some new comers into this industry all due change in expertise required to put the EV vehicle together. One of the main attraction to make the whole electric vehicle things work is the their main battery component which up to now has been dominated by Lithium-ion batteries unless someone come up with better and more stable alternatives with low-cost manufacturing process, not to forget the safety standard a must in Automobile industry. One such new comer with long history of innovation not necessary in automobile industry is Teijin who announced the co-development of a highly conductive carbon nanofiber (CNF) with world’s first elliptical cross-section of graphite layers ordered in single direction with Tokyo Institute of Technology. The newly developed CNF features a length of 20 micrometers which is 10 fold of conventional CNF and a diameter of maximum 100 to 300 nanometers and a minimum 50 to 100 nanometers. Read more
Development of Next-Generation Communication-Linked Electric Commuter Vehicles
Toyota Motor is on the role again gearing up for the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show to be held at Tokyo Big Site from November 30th through December 11th. This time around Toyota has collaborated with Yamaha Motor in developing a communication-linked electric vehicle concept. The new vehicles are an “electrically power assisted bicycle,” by name of “PAS WITH,” and an “Electric Commuter,” by name of “EC-Miu,”. The aim of this collaboration was to build a comprehensive information infrastructure where vehicles made by both companies can share the same charging infrastructure and integration with Toyota Smart Center, which is Toyota’s advanced energy management system which enables integrated control of energy consumption, linking homes, vehicles, power companies as well as users. Read more
