"FuelCell japan-1"

Next generation solar cell turns the doorknob to real commercialization

2012-01-26T12:09:00.002+09:00

“Organic thin-film solar cells” have been known. It is the next (third) generation solar cell. The cell efficiency of the solar cell reached about 10%. This figure indicates a rough standard for its real commercialization. The products based on the organic thin-film solar cells will be launched in this and next years, although those products /sales will be trially done. The writing of the detailed description on this title is now going on.

TOSHIBA completes new ENEFARM

2011-12-22T14:01:00.005+09:00

* March 2012: will be delivered the products to OSAKA gas (gas dealer)
* Price: around 260 man-yen
* Target number of products in 2012: 6,000 units (double of the number of products sold in 2011)
* Overall efficiency = 94% (city gas for primary fuel, LHV (lower heating value) base)
* Installation space: 22% reduced (compared to the current product)
* ENEFARM = home-use micro-CHP
If any, feel free to contact us.
Source >> here

Magnesium, fuel to metal fuel cell

2011-12-10T20:29:00.001+09:00

Magnesium has attracted attention recently in the fuel cell field. It has many attractive features when it is applied as the fuel to the metal fuel cell. The magnesium resource is almost limitless. It is recyclable,　relatively high safety, and good storageability.
The problem we have to solve before it is used as the fuel to the metal fuel cell is how to reduce MgO (raw and/or produced after Mg is used). The reducing process currently used is expensive since it needs the burning of a large amount of coal that is done while emitting a great amount of CO2, and further needs the catalyst for the reaction promotion.
Prof. Yabe (Tokyo Institute of Technology) has provided a good solution to the MgO reduction problem. The proprietary solar pumped laser is used for smelting magnesium. A 1 kW solar pumped laser was completed. Another challenger for the MgO-reduction problem solution appeared recently. The challenger is Prof. Kohama (Tohoku University) et al. He uses a solar furnace with a concave mirror. The mirror concentrates the solar rays to a single point to form a super high temperature spot of at least about 1,200 degrees of C.

New electrolytic cell for hydrogen generation, developed by Toshiba

2011-09-29T10:02:00.002+09:00

Toshiba has developed a new electrolytic cell for hydrogen generation.
It is used in a high temperature steam atmosphere.
Toshiba has already developed the electrolytic cell for hydrogen generation, which is operable at 900°C in the high temperature steam electrolysis process.
The electrolytic cell developed this time will operate at temperatures below 900°C.
It is a ceramic electrolytic element having a three-layer structure, which consists of a zirconia electrolyte and two electrodes layered on both major sides of the electrolyte. The structure of the electrolytic cell is substantially the same as that of the cell unit of the SOFC.
In operation, the ceramic electrolytic element is placed in a high temperature steam atmosphere, and voltage is applied to between the electrodes. Steam is electrolyzed at one electrode into H2 and oxygen ion (O2-). The O2- immigrates to the other electrode where it is released outside in the form of O2.
To learn mode, visit here.

Great step toward explosion-free lithium ion battery

2011-09-19T14:52:00.003+09:00

A new ceramic electrolyte sheet has been developed. The sheet exhibits high ion conductivity at room temperature. Where it is applied to the all-solid state lithium ion battery, an explosion-free lithium ion battery, which is operable at room temperature, is realized. An overall conductivity of the ceramic electrolyte sheet is 1 x 10-3 S/cm at room temperature.
A unique sintering process was developed. It successfully reduced the particle resistance, leading to development of the ceramic electrolyte sheet.
Applications of the sheet are 1) the electrolyte of the all-solid lithium ion battery 2) the electrolyte of the lithium-water battery (since it has waterproof performance), and 3) others.
Where the technology is used, less energy is required to manufacture large-area thin electrolyte sheets.
For the all-solid lithium ion battery and the lithium-water battery, visit here.
Source: AIST

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications (KOKAI)

2011-08-06T20:41:00.004+09:00

[Announcement]
“Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications (KOKAI)”:
Provisional English translation of the KOKAI has been presented on my site.
The translation is under progress, and the translated KOKAI will be accumulatively added upon completion of its translation.
* Keyword: includes solid oxide fuel cell
* Int.Cl.:
* Searched: from 2011 to
* Gathered from JPO's database
* Contents of Table:
1) Title
2) Int.Cl.
3) Object (to provide)
4) Means to Achieve the Object
5) Related Drawing

You can read the JPO’s formal translation of the same after about 3 months from the date of the publication of the KOKAI.

JPO = Japanese Patent Office

Two Technical News：1) SOFC Electrolyte Operable at < 300 degrees C、2) Precise Doping Process

2011-07-29T23:43:00.001+09:00

1) SOFC Electrolyte Operable at < 300 degrees C
In the oxide artificial superlattice having a multilayer structure consisting of atomic layers, those layers are selectively reduced and oxidized at lower than 300 degrees C.
The oxide artificial superlattice may be used also as a new oxygen storage material.
2) Precise Doping Process. The process is capable of controlling, as desired, the chemical compositions and the structure of the oxide nanosheet of 1 nm thick.
To read more, visit here.

Succeeds in manufacturing low-temp SOFC modules using micro-tube SOFC cells

2011-07-11T18:31:00.015+09:00

The left photo is credited by AIST (Advanced Industrial Science And Technology).

Announcement
This article has been copied & pasted by Japan Energy, without my permission.
If interested, visit this site and click the title of "チューブ　sofc".
Most of the English articles in this site are illegally copied & pasted from my site "FuelCell japan-1".
Japan Energy is malicious.
Currently it responds to visitor’s actions in the following way.
Where the Google’s browser is used:
1) In the case of the browser containing my attribute registered,
the comment box located below the article stolen allows my comment claiming the copyright to appear in the box. So you who are reading my article here will see my comment in the comment box of Japan Energy when visiting this malicious blog site.
2) In the case of the browser not containing it, it rejects my writing of the copyright claiming comment. You cannot see my comment in the box.
*********************************************************

SOFC module prototypes using micro-tube SOFC cells were successfully developed. Those SOFC modules operate at 650 degrees of centigrade or lower. A number of miro-tube SOFC cells were integrated into an SOFC unit (Fig. 2). Two SOFC units were combined to form an SOFC module. A total number of micro-tube SOFC cells used for the SOFC module was 90. The output power of the SOFC module was 50 watts or higher. The power generation efficiency was 40% or higher. The power generation density was 2 W/cm3.
Another SOFC module of 200 W output power was also manufactured using eight SOFC units (Fig. 3). The SOFC module, which consists of eight SOFC units, is considerably complex in structure. In this study, the gas manifolds and the current collecting electrodes were further assembled into such a complex integration structure.
Thus, the micro-tube SOFC cell high-density packaging technique for SOFC modules and its evaluation technique were successfully established.
The co-developer has a plan to apply the SOFC module of 200 W output power to APUs (auxiliary power units), small cogeneration systems, etc., and to evaluate the resultants. The results of this study will be presented in The Eleventh International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-XI)、in Vienna, Austria from October 4-9, 2009

Co-developed by:
AIST (Advanced Industrial Science And Technology)
FCRA (fine ceramics research association)
NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd
TOHO Gas Co., Ltd.

SOFC is usually used for the large-scale power plant since its operation temperature is high (800-1000 degrees of centigrade). The SOFC has many advantages, for example, of high power generation efficiency, simple structure, and easy maintenance. With those advantages, there is a strong demand for development of small SOFC power generators. The SOFC modules using micro-tube SOFC cells developed this time will for sure satisfy the demand.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]
The technical development for realizing small SOFC power generation systems is under progress. The SOFC modules, developed this time, are one of the development results and　may indicate the present level of the SOFC development. This technology is one of the watchful technologies
Source: AIST’s Press release issued on September 10, 2009

FC Chargers, Now Commercially Available from Aquafairy, and Micro SOFCs

2011-07-06T20:26:00.015+09:00

Fuel cell chargers are now commercially available from Aquafairy Corporation in Japan. The chargers came on the market this April. The charger is one of the really commercialized fuel cell products, not many, and is the hot product.

Many medias have reported the FC charger. For its details, refer to the medias. The company’s website also presents the details of the product.

The product name of the charger is AF-M3000. The fuel cell used is of PEFC type. The output power of the charger is 3 W. The price is a little lower than 400 USD. Hydrogen as the fuel is generated in a simple manner that a cartridge containing hydrogen generating agent is set to the charger body and then water is injected into a water port of the charger body. The hydrogen generating agent is calcium hydride. In use, AF-M3000 as the charger is applied to a rechargeable-battery contained device, such as smart phones, mobile phones, mobile game machines, to charge the battery.

With regard to the hydrogen supplying system to the fuel cell system, the company has many useful technologies that have already been developed and are now being developed. Some of those technologies have been incorporated into the product, and other technologies will be incorporated into the same. Some important features are:
1) to on/off control the supply of hydrogen.
2) to control an amount of hydrogen to be produced in accordance with an amount of electric power used. In other words, the Aquafairy’s hydrogen supply control system is capable of controlling the power supply to a device (e.g., note PC) of which the load largely varies, while following up a large load variation. The control function will be incorporated into the charger next Spring.
3) To continuously supply hydrogen fuel to such a device that is operable at low power consumption for a long time. Necessity of the fuel replenishing operation and the recharging operation are completely removed, as a matter of course.

Development of micro SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) is being actively made worldwide. This tendency is part of movement to replace PEFC with SOFC. The major reason for this is to use the SOFC having many advantages for the power sources of small devices such as mobile phones, note PCs, APU and residential CHP systems. As known, the SOFC is superior to the PEFC in that the power generation efficiency is high, the structure is simple, the durability is high, and a variety of fuels may be used for the fuel.

A company (Germany) has reached a stage where the micro SOFC is successfully assembled into the mobile phone. The SOFC unit used consists of an integration of ceramic tubular SOFC elements each being 3 mm in diameter and 4 to 5 cm in length. The output power of the SOFC unit is 1 W. The primary fuel of the micro SOFC is camping or lighter gas. At least two points are unknown to me. The first is the startup time of the SOFC unit. The second is how to technically deal with the considerably high temperature. The micro SOFC that is assembled into the mobile phone, when it is operating, must be at considerably high temperature.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

In Japan, the prototype of the micro SOFC was manufactured at the time of 2006. The prototype was at relatively high levels of performances and reached the stage of mass production. Tubular SOFC elements are integrated into a micro SOFC unit. Each tubular element is about 1 cm in length and 1.6 mm in diameter. The output power of the prototype was 0.17 to 1 W/cm2 at 450 to 570 degrees C. Ceria ceramics was used for the electrodes as well as the electrolyte. At this time, a micro SOFC prototype using tubular elements having 0.8 mm diameter was also manufactured successfully.

The technology levels of the micro SOFCs in Japan seems to be high enough when comparing with those in other countries, so far as I know. The micro SOFCs referred to here is the one developed in an initial stage of the development and had reached a mass production stage. In addition to the micro SOFCs referred to here, there are many other excellent micro-SOFC technologies, which had been developed up to mass production levels. I have never heard that those micro SOFCs have been practically used, however. I don’t understand the reason why any action has been taken to apply those developed SOFCs to practical devices, such as mobile phones and smart phones.

I wrote the blog in light of recent small fuel cells, although it was a casual idea popped up to my mind. I have a plan to write recent micro SOFCs mainly of Japan in the form of report. I am gathering materials for writing the report. The writing work isn’t going as well as I would like. I'm planning to go writing the report in English. I feel that a fewer number of publications on recent micro SOFC technologies in Japan have been presented to general pubic.
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I have recently formed the sub-site of Aquafairy Corporation in my website, FuelCell japan. If interested, please visit my website FuelCell japan.
In my website, please click “Companies & Products” on the top page, and then find “Aquafairy Corporation”.
I introduced the company in my blog FuelCell japan-1 about two years ago.

Titanium Oxide Solidified Body Absorbs and Stably Confines a Large Amount of Cesium

2011-05-27T12:57:00.014+09:00

NIMS successfully created a new material being capable of absorbing high concentrations of cesium and stably confining the absorbed one for a long time.
A titanium dioxide （TiO2）was used as a solidified body to absorb cesium. The titanium oxide of 1 cm3 is capable of absorbing the amount of cesium contained in a cesium aqueous solution of 100 tons, which contains 10 ppb of cesium, and stably confining the same therein. The titanium oxide solidified body is throughout prepared under normal pressure.
This leads to size reduction and construction simplification of the disposal equipment when the titanium oxide solidified body is applied to the radioactive cesium disposal. Fukushima nuclear reactor accident still continues but the radiation leak is almost stopped. Cesium 137: Radioisotope of cesium, around 30 years as its half-life, emitting radiation, and high chance of suffering from cancer when it enters the body.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more, visit HERE.

Micro SOFC Now in Japan

2011-04-23T12:25:00.010+09:00

Development efforts are focused mainly on PEFC and SOFC now in Japan.
SOFC is superior to PEFC in that it is high in energy conversion efficiency, simple in construction, and high in durability, and further that it is operable with relatively many types of fuels.

***************
To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
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FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

Photovoltaic/Storage Cell

2011-04-04T14:09:00.007+09:00

Photovoltaic cell, it generates electricity responsive to sunlight, … in clean manner. The most serious drawback of the solar cell is that it can produce zero output power when light to the cell is zero or weak, … well, for example, at night, in rainy and cloudy days.

The output power drops to zero.
And the zero output power state continues for a long time.
I don’t want to use the word “variation” to express the power level changes.
I have felt for a long time that the solar cell device has been used quite luxuriously.

There are many ways to level the output power of the solar cell.
Its examples are combinations with secondary battery, fuel cell or the like.

A bold scheme is present to make full use of the solar cell.
A solar power generation station is located at such a place in the universe as to allow the station to constantly receive sunlight. Electric power from the station is transmitted to the earth by space propagation medium, e.g., microwave.
This is really an ideal power leveling approach.
I know that the United States has a plan to demonstration test the scheme in around 2015. This is a grand experiment.
***************
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
Please understand that our special circumstances cause us to do so.
FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

What I Think of Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Accident

2011-03-30T18:04:00.008+09:00

I begun to write the blog around 10 days ago. I am too late to upload the blog for my own reasons. The situations of the earthquake, tsunami and power outage, which were described by me in this blog, are different from the current situations. Bear this in mind when reading the blog.
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Fukushima nuclear reactor accident, its situation is changing time to time. It seems that the sea water pouring action into the used fuel pool of the Fukushima Daiichi No.3 nuclear reactor become effective to prevent its overheat. The workers are trying to introduce the power lines into the nuclear power plant. There is a report that they succeeded in connecting the power lines to a nuclear reactor in the power plant. It is reported that radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant　have been scattered over a broad area. The area where I live must be distanced at least 150 km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor. Radiation iodine and radiation cesium have been detected although their amounts are minute. Those radioactive substances are found in the spinach or other leaf vegetables. Shipment of those vegetables is now refrained. I am nervous when going out.

Of the earthquake disaster, Tsunami, rather than earthquake, seems to give big and misery damage. As already reported, the damage is disastrous. In the case of MinamiSanriku-machi, almost one town was flown away. Around 10,000 residents are still unknown. This town is located near my hometown. My relatives, friends, distant and younger-days memories, histories of my family and myself, memorable buildings and others were broken and flown away. This is a real thing. I have no word to express this tragedy and shock.

Takashi Hirose (journalist) wrote about the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor accident. The title is “Could we avoid the catastrophic end of … ? - Truth of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor – “ (Diamond ONLINE). I carefully read the report. Hirose already wrote a book titled “Nuclear Reactor Time Bomb”.
He has doubts on the value of the 9.0 magnitude. He said also that before about 100 years we had experience of the immense Tsunami, which is larger than of the present Tsunami. And he believes that the nuclear reactor accident is a man-made disaster.
Hirose describes a state that the nuclear reactor plant goes damaged: After one hour from the earthquake, the AC power source to the reactor plant stopped, and then the control/drive systems in the plant stopped. In this state, Tsunami attacked the nuclear plant. Oil tanks were flown away and the power systems are under water. The ECCS (emergency core cooling system) started to operate but they lost their functions immediately. Was there something to deal with the situation at that time or before the tsunami attacked the plant?
The nuclear power plant accident should not occur, absolutely.

I have hoped for the nuclear power plant as the most promising clean power generator. I expected that many countries would also have the thoughts on the clean energy power plant, which are similar to my thought. My hope has easily crumbled away. The forces of nature ignored and treated condescendingly the technologies on which we absolutely rely. I think that the building of the nuclear power plants will be a taboo phrase, while we clearly recognizes the need for the nuclear technology.

A large-scale power outage occurred. In the earthquake area, the nuclear power plants have halted their operations. The power supply is being intentionally stopped in the earthquake area including Kanto and Tohoku to cover the electric power shortage caused. I have never experienced such a large-scale power outage like this. This indicates the seriousness of the current situation.
Electric power will be suspended for over 3 hours in the morning tomorrow.
Electricity is used to light the rooms, and to drive heaters and cookers. Choice left to me is to go to bed. I don’t want to go outside. I am afraid of atmospheric radioactivity.

In the power outage by the earthquake, the current centralized generation explicitly showed its inherent defect, while having been highly managed and maintained. I guess that if the decentralized generation is employed, the power outage problem could be considerably eased. I should think that the government employs the fuel cell-based decentralized generation for the national power distribution system. The power outage this time is caused by the earthquake. If a war (I do not want to suppose it) causes the power outage, the situation will be more serious. If the enemy attacks the power generation stations in pin-point style, the power outage situation will be reproduced.

The fuel cell technology is not yet matured. I understand this fact. The (PEM) micro CHP system for home use, which is in the early stage market, has a price problem. Its price is still too high. The micro CHP is to be reduced to half price in around 2015. A new type (SOFC) micro CHP system will be launched into an early stage market soon. There is no reason that we must do nothing till that the technology and products are completed in satisfactory levels and matured. The fuel-cell micro CHP system has been commercialized though imperfect.

I think that a measure that legally supports the fuel cell developers to give a strong incentive to the developers and motivates them to develop the fuel cell is one of effective solutions, and increases the number of the fuel cell products while reviewing the state of the progress. In this case, the measure will be executed while minimizing problems raised anew.

The power supply frequency in the western Japan is different from that in the eastern Japan. I wonder that this frequency difference has some merit. Why do we have the different power supply frequencies in this small country?
In an emergency like this, it is impossible for the disaster area to receive a sufficient amount of electric power from the area not damaged. This is out of the question. I think that the government should immediately take some action to make the power supply frequencies equal to each other. This action should be executed at a stretch by, for example, the premier's instruction. This is the perfect chance to change the power supply frequency.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]

ARIOS’ platinum catalyst formation rate is 50 times compared to the conventional one

2011-03-04T19:58:00.006+09:00

ARIOS Inc., in cooperation with Prof. Toru Yonezawa, Hokkaido University, has developed a process for forming platinum catalyst at extremely high rate.
The in-water microwave-excited plasma process was used for forming the platinum catalyst. The catalyst formation rate was 5g/hour. This value is 50 times as large as that of the conventional process.
In the catalyst forming process, platinum nanoparticles of 2 nanometers in particle diameter
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[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
Please understand that our special circumstances cause us to do so.
FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

SOFC-based home fuel cell systems are put into the market this autumn

2011-02-26T02:08:00.006+09:00

JX Nippon Oil & Energy announced that the company will reduce the price of the current ENE-FARM and will start the sale of new ENE-FARMs, which is of the SOFC type, in autumn this year.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]
1. To reduce the price of the ENE-FARM (PEFC-based micro-CHP system) being currently sold by about 20%.
2. To launch the sale of new ENE-FARMs, or SOFC-based micro CHP systems, in October this year.
3. Features of new ENE-FARM: 1) remarkable size reduction of about 40% (volume ratio) when compared with the current machine, and 2) the rated power generation efficiency = 45%.
4. Customers will have more flexible choice when buying the ENE-FARM, with addition of the new SOFC ENE-FARM.
5. To outsource production of the new ENE-FARMs to Dainichi Co., Ltd. (Niigata city).
6. To reveal the SOFC ENE-FARM in “FC EXPO 2011”, March 2 to 4, Tokyo Big Site.
Source: News release

PEFC Operable in Intermediate Temperature Region

2011-02-25T13:58:00.007+09:00

Another Fuel Cell Operable in the intermediate temperature region (100 to 200 Celsius degree) was already developed. The fuel cell is a PEFC of the non-humidification type. A unique solid electrolyte membrane is used which is a PBI/H3PO4 composite membrane made of polybenzimidazole (PBI) doped with phosphoric acid. Possible applications of the technology are alkaline fuel cell, MFC and others, in addition to the PEFC.
Developer: Lab team led by Masahiro Rikukawa, professor of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Sophia University.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Sources: Tech-On!
I found the technology when writing other related articles, but I missed to refer to this technology.

Micro-tubular SOFC Directly Reforms Hydrocarbon Fuel at 450℃ or Lower and Generates Electric Power

2011-02-19T20:48:00.005+09:00

A micro SOFC has been recently developed. It is a micro-tubular SOFC. The operating temperature of the micro SOFC is 450 Celsius degree or lower. The developers = AIST and Prof. Nigel Sammes, Colorado School of Mines.
The micro-tubular SOFC is featured by:

***************
To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
Please understand that our special circumstances cause us to do so.
FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

“Hydrogen Town Project” is going on in Japan

2011-02-05T14:24:00.004+09:00

The project has started on January 15, 2011.
The fuel cell systems using pure hydrogen as their fuel are demonstration tested in a (Kitakyushu) hydrogen town. In the town, ordinary homes, condominiums, commercial and public facilities are installed with different types of fuel cell systems (1 kw, 3 kw and 1,000 kw). Hydrogen gas is produced in Nippon Steel Yawata Works, located near the hydrogen town. Hydrogen gas produced is delivered to the hydrogen town, through the pipelines that are laid in the city area of the hydrogen town. The project is very unique.
To read more, visit HERE.

Car and Energy Sectors Actually Move toward Early Stage Market of FCVs in Japan

2011-01-26T23:06:00.008+09:00

The Japanese FCV industries, including car and energy, take a large step toward the early stage market of FCVs in 2015.

Recently, in Japan, three big automakers and ten energy companies issued a joint statement declaring that the companies make active efforts to build the infrastructure for supplying hydrogen gas to fuel cell vehicles (FCV), which will enter the early market stage in around 2015. About 100 hydrogen stations will be built in the major metropolitan cities of Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.

The FCV driving demonstration test using FCV buses has started from the middle of December last year. The FCV buses regularly run on the routes, including the highway, between Haneda airport and two locations in Tokyo. The demonstration test using the hired-car will be conducted before long. The hired-car runs on the highway between Narita airport and the center of Tokyo.

The way for the hydrogen station to obtain hydrogen gas is different between 1) the hydrogen station coupled to the bus route and 2) that coupled to the hired-car route.
To learn more, visit HERE.

Another micro SOFC operating at 450 Celsius degree or lower

2011-01-21T21:53:00.009+09:00

A micro-tubular SOFC, co-developed by AIST and Prof. Nigel Sammes, Colorado School of Mines.
It is capable of generating electric power by directly reforming any of various kinds of hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen fuel even at 450 Celsius degree or lower.
A ceria layer of nanometer-size (reforming catalyst) is formed on the inner wall of the tube.
More

SOFC and PEFC, their Operating Temperatures Go toward Intermediate Temperatures

2011-01-15T17:16:00.007+09:00

In the PEFC and SOFC fields, it seems that much development efforts are directed to the technologies to stably operate those types of the fuel cells at the intermediate temperatures in practical levels.

The fuel cell that Nordic Power Systems uses operates at temperatures higher than 100 Celsius degree, the limit operating temperature of the PEFC.
SiEnergy Systems, LLC (USA) has fabricated a prototype of the micro-SOFC, which operates at 300 Celsius degree.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]
In connection with this, the lab team led by Prof. Yuichi Shimakawa (Kyoto University) discovered the fact that the oxygen ions anisotropically diffuse in the solid oxide at 300 Celsius degree or lower. The discovery shows that the perovskite-structure oxide exhibits the oxygen ion conductivity in the intermediate temperature region. The discovery is a big discovery when considering the current development trend to operate the fuel cells at the intermediate temperatures. The news on the discovery was released at about this time of the last year. I have carelessly forgotten to refer to the discovery news in my related articles although I wanted to do so. The technical paper describing the discovery was posted to the journal Nature Chemistry and was published on its online version.
SiEnergy: http://www.alliedminds.com/Portfolio/SiEnergy_Systems/index.htm
Nature Chemistry：
http://www.ehcc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/eh10/index.php?plugin=attach&refer=%E8%AB%96%E6%96%87/Publications&openfile=133_NatureChemistry_SrFeO2film.pd
My site：http://www.fcpat-japan.com/SiEnergy.htm

Actual EV Market Starts to Move

2010-12-24T01:51:00.009+09:00

Following Mitsubishi and SUBARU, NISSAN launched the electric vehicle LEAF into the EV (electric vehicle) market on December 20, 2010.　
TOYOTA and Honda will start the sales of EVs in Spring next year.
The actual EV market started to move forward in Japan.

200 km is the running distance of LEAF on a single charge.
And the plug-in charging mode is used for charging the LEAF’s battery.
200 km, this amazed me.
Those specs are enough to satisfy the short-distance transportation requirements.

We have already the technologies on the motor itself and its control, which have sufficiently matured, although its applications, with some exceptions, do not concern the vehicle. I have thought that the decisive problem to be solved is only how to enhance the battery performances.
And, I had guessed that at least a few years were needed until the battery performances reach practical levels.

NEC (partner of NISSAN in the battery field) has a schedule to double the performances of the battery and to half the price of the battery within around two years (says NEC).
My real feeling is that the battery development progresses at higher speed than as expected.
My guess is that the problem left to us is to deploy the charging infrastructure as fast as possible.

EVs are now and will be increasing more than expected.
And the battery manufacturers can't keep up with the demand.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and to see you again next year.

[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Written based mainly on:
1) “Electric Vehicles Business Starts” by Yomiuri Shimbun
2) “LEAF, it is a challenge to our dream. We are confident of success in achieving the dream.” Interview with Carlos Ghosn, the president of Nissan, by Isshiki, chief editor, Asahi Shimbun

SiEnergy Systems Successfully Prototypes Micro SOFC

2010-12-14T23:30:00.009+09:00

Development is being made to expand the application range of the SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell). The aim of the development is to apply the SOFCs to the power sources of, for example, small electronics devices such as laptops and mobile phones by lowering the operating temperature of the SOFCs, which operate at high temperatures of 700 to 1000°C.
Recently, I wrote three new electrolyte materials for use with the SOFC operating at temperatures from 350 to 600°C.
Meanwhile, at the same time, SiEnergy Systems, LLC（USA）announced the success in prototyping a micro SOFC operating at 500°C or lower, and revealed an innovative process for fabricating the electrolyte film used by the micro SOFC. The fabricating process is capable of scaling up an active area of the electrolyte film to arbitrary dimensions depending on total power needed.
SiEnergy Systems is one of the subsidiaries of Allied Minds (U.S. private equity company).
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more, visit HERE.

Solid Electrolyte Materials for Intermediate-Temperature Use are Developed Anew

2010-11-25T11:42:00.003+09:00

SOFC generally operates at high temperatures of around 1000 degrees of C.
The high temperature operation of the SOFC limits its application range.
If the operation temperature of the SOFC could be lowered to 700 degrees of C or lower, its application range will broaden. It is said that to use the SOFC (micro SOFC) for the power sources of small electronic devices, its operation temperature must be 450°C or lower
NIMS is developing solid electrolyte materials that are applicable to the intermediate-temperature SOFC operating at intermediate temperatures within a range of 350 to 600°C.
As already described, NIMS has developed the electrolyte thin film effective at the intermediate temperatures. The electrolyte thin film is a yttrium-doped barium zirconate （BZY）thin film. The pulsed laser deposition process was used for fabricating the BZY thin film.
Recently, NIMS has additionally developed two types of solid electrolyte materials in use for the intermediate-temperature SOFC.
For somewhat more detail, visit here.

All-Solid-State Thin-Film Lithium Ion Battery: Its Trial Product is Successfully Manufactured by AIST and Toyota

2010-11-17T12:35:00.007+09:00

AIST and TOYOTA succeeded in manufacturing a trial product of an all-solid-state thin-film lithium (Li) ion battery. The battery exhibited its charge/discharge characteristic.　This was experimentally confirmed. A positive electrode thin film (LiCoO2 or LiMn2O4), a negative electrode thin film (Li4Ti5O12), and an oxide solid electrolyte thin film were formed and laminated into a three-layered film structure by the aerosol deposition process (high speed normal temperature coating process). The three-layered film structure was placed on the metal substrate to form an all-solid state thin-film Li ion battery having a three-layered film structure. This is the first result of a research collaboration by AIST & TOYOTA for Li ion battery development.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more, visit here.

Norway’s New Fuel Cell System – eliminate the need of hydrogen infrastructure?

2010-11-03T23:55:00.021+09:00

A new fuel cell system is now being developed in Norway. The company that is developing the new fuel cell system is “Nordic Power Systems”. The development is carried out with support by “The Research Council of Norway”. The fuel cell system reforms regular diesel or biodiesel to produce hydrogen and the hydrogen generated drives a solid-acid fuel cell.
The new fuel cell system uses two innovative core technologies.
One of the technologies is implemented into a reformer called a “cool flame reformer”. The reformer reforms regular or biodiesel fuel into hydrogen. The regular diesel fuel is available at oil stations by anyone. This fact implies that there is no need of building the infrastructure for hydrogen filling stations.
The implications of “no need of building the infrastructure” are very significant.
The other technology is the solid-acid fuel cell technology. The solid-acid fuel cell uses a solid acid electrolyte of CsHSO4, for example, and operates in the intermediate temperature region (100 to 300 degrees C) under a non-humidity condition. Caltech (USA) developed the solid-acid fuel cell and has the patent right of it. The fuel cell is featured by low price and robustness. Currently, SAFCell (USA) is developing and manufacturing the solid-acid fuel cell.
If all goes according to plan, the unit being developed with Marshall will be ready for market launch by mid-2011, while the solid-acid fuel cell will be phased in somewhat later. An assembly plant in Høyanger, Norway, is scheduled to open in early 2012.
>> More

Big Step toward Realization of Micro SOFCs for Small Electronics Devices

2010-10-13T17:41:00.003+09:00

NIMS has succeeded recently in fabricating a new electrolyte thin film which enables the realization of micro SOFCs that may be used as the power sources of small electronics devices such as laptop PCs and mobile phones.
* NIMS = National Institute for Materials Science
The electrolyte thin film is a yttrium-doped barium zirconate （BaZr0.8Y0.2O3-.、BZY）thin film (BZY thin film). The BZY thin film fabricated is epitaxially oriented and relatively thick and contains no grain boundaries.

The proton conductivity of the BZY thin film is 0.01 S/cm at 350℃. This value is a minimum of proton conductivity values required for practical fuel cells. Incidentally, in this type of micro SOFC, its operation temperature must be below 450 degrees Celsius. The proton conductivity of the BZY thin film measured at 350 degrees Celsius is the highest of the oxide materials ever reported. It is also much higher than the conductivity of the oxygen ion conductor that is stable in the same temperature region.

It is said that the BZY has never been taken up as the SOFC electrolyte material because its proton conductivity is extremely low. The BZY contains much grain boundaries. The blocking effect of the grain boundaries renders the proton conductivity low. To avoid this, the study used the pulse laser deposition to fabricate the BZY thin film.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
For somewhat more detail, visit KOKO.

Switched Reluctance Motor Supersedes Rare Earth-Contained Motors

2010-10-12T09:36:00.012+09:00

Keywords
Rare earth, switched reluctance motor, synchronous motor, SRM, reluctance differences, interior permanent magnet synchronous motors, IPMSM, permanent magnet rotor, EV, HEV, FCV, China, Japan, collision accident, fishing boat, patrol boat, export, import

Summary
SRM was improved to have the performances comparable with those of the incumbent IPMSM. Some characteristics of the improved SRM exceeded those of the IPMSM. Creative efforts were focused on the motor structure and selection of the materials to be used, and the best combinations of them were found.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

The rare earth issue has been closed up recently in Japan.

Over 90% of the rare earths currently used in Japan is imported from China. Recently, the collision accident between the Chinese fishing boat and the Japanese patrol boat occurred. As the result of the
**************
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
Please understand that our special circumstances cause us to do so.
FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

Oxygen Ion Distribution in SOFC Cells, Successfully Visualized

2010-09-23T12:08:00.023+09:00

Technology Brief Description:
A new technology developed this time uses the stable isotopes of oxygen (18O) as labeling elements, and further uses the SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry) for measuring a distribution of concentrations of oxygen stable isotopes (18O) at high resolution of the order of micrometers or smaller.

Reference is made to Figs. A to D (the uppermost drawings of HERE). A medium-temperature planar tubular cell stack (Figs. A and B) of a practical SOFC machine, which is operating at high temperature, was used. The stable isotopes of oxygen (18O) were introduced into the SOFC machine. And the fuel cell reaction took place. The cell stack was rapidly cooled down to normal temperature. In this state, a measurement was made of a concentration distribution of the oxygen stable isotopes in the solid electrolyte. As a result, active sites of oxygen ionizing reaction in the cell were visualized and specified (Figs. C and D).

The technology is capable of specifying portions in the electrodes and the electrolyte where oxygen ionization reaction activity is high, and further visualizing a concentration distribution associated with the oxygen ions (diffusion). Therefore, the technology will provide helpful instructions to designers of high performance electrode/electrolyte interfaces and contribute to elucidation of the deterioration mechanism.

Background Description:
As known, SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) has advantageous features of high power generation efficiency, substantially eliminating the need of catalyst, and the like. And it has been known as the next generation fuel cell. In Japan, residential SOFC micro-CHP systems have been under demonstration test from 2007. Osaka gas, Toyota, Kyocera, etc. has substantially completed development of the same type of fuel cell system, and entered the demonstration test. "BlueGen" of Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited in Australia is well known for the SOFC micro-CHP system. The output power of BlueGen is 2 kW.
SOFC has the electrolyte consisting mainly of solid ceramics. In the SOFC, oxygen molecules (O2) are ionized into oxygen ions (O2-). The oxygen ions diffuse into the solid electrolyte, and then react with hydrogen to produce electricity. To enhance the performances of the SOFC, it is necessary to reduce reaction resistance associated with the oxygen ionization and the oxygen ion diffusion.

Motions of oxygen and oxygen ions have been estimated indirectly. A model of the electrode reaction mechanism was established. The model was placed in various conditions. Electrical signals produced from the model were measured. There are almost no technologies being capable of directly visualizing portions of the practical SOFC machine where oxygen ionization reaction activity is high and concentration distributions of oxygen ions associated with the diffusion of the oxygen ions.
For somewhat more detail, visit HERE.
***************************

Ikuo Kawai & UNHCR
News: Sept. 23, 2010 -
1) Koydo says: Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan stated at the Millennium Development Goals summit, New York, that Japan pledges to contribute a total of 8.5 billion dollars to the U.N. for five years from now on: 5 billion dollars for anti-infectious disease measures, and 3.5 billion dollars for the spread of universal primary education.
2) Time says: U.N.: More Funds Pledged to Fight Poverty
(UNITED NATIONS) — A three-day summit to push global leaders to meet U.N. goals to significantly reduce poverty by 2015 wraps up Wednesday with new financial pledges from countries but no certainty there will be enough money and political commitment to meet the targets.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Ikuko Kawai: Stradivarius violinist
Official site: http://www.ikukokawai.com/prof/prof-english.html
Volunteer work: Visit Ikuo Kawai & UNHCR
Listen to Albinoni's Adagio, if interested.

“Hydrogen Embrittlement”, this tough nut is cracked at last

2010-08-20T12:04:00.008+09:00

Note:
“Great Solution to "Hydrogen Embrittlement Problem"”, published on July 6, 2010, has been rewritten into this article.
The reasons for this are:
1) Description of the previous article is unsatisfactory because the time allowed for me to write was insufficient.
2) The number of accesses to the article is relatively large.
**************************

Hydrogen embrittlement: When a metal is exposed to hydrogen, the hydrogen enters into the metal and the metal is brittle and fractured.
Discovery: When an extremely large amount of hydrogen was made to enter a metal material, a fatigue strength characteristic of the material was considerably improved.
Discovered by HYDROGENIUS = Research Center for Hydrogen Industrial Use and Storage, located at Ito-Campus of Kyushu University

The discovery denies the explanation of the “hydrogen embrittlement” thus far made.
Much research efforts have been made to elucidate a mechanism of the hydrogen embrittlement for a long time in the world. Some theories to explain the hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon have been proposed. This phenomenon has not yet been elucidated, however. It is sure that this fact has impeded real commercialization of the products using hydrogen gas.
To read more, visit HERE.

Sulfur-Doped Fe-Te Says “I Need More Wine”

2010-08-10T11:06:00.005+09:00

NIMS recently made an interesting discovery on the superconductivity development of specific materials.
Discovery: A sulfur-doped iron- tellurium compound （FeTe1-xSx）, which is synthesized by the solid-state reaction process, was simmered in alcoholic drinks for 24 hours. The temperature was about 70 degrees of centigrade. The onset of superconductivity was observed at about 8 K (265 degrees below zero). The drinks used were red wine, white wine, beer, sake, shochu, and whisky. Of those drinks the red wine presented the largest superconducting volume fraction.
At a party, Dr. Takano was inspired to use drinks to cause the material to develop superconductivity. Isaac Newton reached his theory of gravitation when he was hit with (??) ａ falling apple from a tree. It seems that there is a rule that the discovery occurs outside the laboratory.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more, visit here.

Keywords?: simmer, alcoholic drinks, superconductivity, drunken?

United Natural Foods purchases a Large Volume of Fuel-Cell Driven Lift Trucks

2010-07-22T18:14:00.003+09:00

It seems that the fuel cell lift trucks are increasing in number in the North American area. United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) purchased over 100 fuel-cell lift trucks from Plug Power Inc., and those lift trucks are now operating (press release-2). The fuel cell units mounted on the lift trucks are GenDrive™ (TM = trade mark) units manufactured by Plug Power Inc.

The GenDrive uses the fuel cell stack (Fcvelocity™ (TM = trade mark)) manufactured by Ballard Power Systems Inc. Plug Power has exclusively used the fuel cell stacks manufactured by Ballard, and will use the same in the same way. “Power Plug and Ballard have extended their existing supply agreement, effective immediately, through 2014 (press release-1).” The press release-1 immediately follows the press release-2. The combination of Ballard and Plug Power takes a market share of over 85% in the material handling space.
For somewhat more detail, visit here.

press release-1:
“Plug Power And Ballard Extend Supply Agreement Through 2014” (July 15, 2010)
- Plug Power
- Ballard
press release-2:
UNFI Deploys Plug Power Gendrive Fuel Cells To Increase Productivity At Distribution Center (July 13, 2010)

Direct Flame Exposure Type Fuel Cell

2010-07-17T13:09:00.003+09:00

The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has recently attracted attention as the next generation fuel cell. Disadvantageously, however, the SOFC operates at high temperature, usually 750 to 1,000 degrees of centigrade. Long time is taken and much electric power is consumed till the operating temperature of the SOFC is reached.
During search of patent documents, I unexpectedly hit a patent gazette entitled “Direct Flame Exposure Type Fuel Cell”. This technology is unique in that the power generating cells (stack) are heated directly by a heat source to reduce the startup time of the SOFC. The applicant of the invention of the technology is “Shinko Electric Industries Co., Ltd. (SHINKO)”. The company is a leader of semiconductor packaging manufactures in Japan. It seems that in the invention, the anode side of the cell stack is placed in a flame or located near the flame.
The SHINKO’s homepage says: Such an idea as to directly heat the cell stack for the purpose of reducing the startup time of the SOFC has been known.
The cell stack structure is complicated in many aspects. If heat is directly applied to the cell stack, many problems will be created, and those are serious and difficult to cope with. This encouraged almost no one to take approaches to find solutions to the problems. In this situation, SHINKO ventured to develop the technology of the “direct flame exposure type fuel cell” by making full use of the ceramic technology having been cultivated through the production of ceramic packages.
No other information than above on this technology could be found in the homepage, but the patent database presented many patent applications of the technology (inventions).
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
For somewhat more detail, visit here.

New Outdoor Radio Clock Using Electric Double Layer Condenser for Electric Storage

2010-07-13T18:19:00.009+09:00

CITIZEN T.I.C. CO., LTD. (the consolidated subsidiary company of Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd.) started the sale of a new solar cell-driven outdoor radio clock (on June 6, 2010). The outdoor radio clock uses the electric double layer condenser for electricity storage. The Ni-Cd battery has been used for the same purpose. The primary power source of the clock is a solar cell.
Advantageous features:
1) The battery replacement period is significantly long, about 15 years, while that of the Ni-Cd battery is about 5 years (since the battery performance is less deteriorated through the charging/discharging operation.)
2) Environment friendly and safe (since toxic heavy metals (e.g., cadmium or lead) are not used.)
3) Even on cloudy and rainy days, the capacitor battery can secure the electric power consumed during the day through the charging operation, with good charging efficiency.
4) No time correction work, no electric wiring work, and no electric fee

Price: 320,250 yen to 1,176,000 yen (before taxes)
Electric storage: electric double layer condenser (1300 F) x 2
The product details are here.

Note:
The capacitor technology has reached such a level as to allow the capacitor to be used in place of the battery. In the Citizen’s outdoor clock, the Ni-Cd battery is replaced with the capacitor. It seems that the defects of the clock, which result from use of the Ni-Cd battery, have been removed. The capacitor functions to store electric energy while receiving weak current from the solar cell when it is cloudy and rainy. This feature of the capacitor is also important. The capacitor caught my eyes since I have just introduced the new capacitor using single-layer carbon nanotube electrodes, developed by AIST, and the capacitor still remains in my brain.

Single-layer Carbon Nanotube Electrode Capacitor Not Using Current Collectors

2010-07-08T15:51:00.004+09:00

Developed by:
Advanced Industrial Science And Technology (AIST)
http://www.aist.go.jp/index_en.html
イザディナジャファバディアリ（Maijo University）

The capacitor is increasing its applications because of its many advantageous features such as rapid charging/discharging functions, high power density, long service life, and low internal resistance.
In this circumstance, a new capacitor having single-layer carbon nanotube (high purity) electrodes and elimination of current collectors has been developed. Its performances were evaluated. The result showed that the new capacitor stably operated with application of higher voltage than the capacitor using activated carbon.
Disadvantages of activated carbon: Conductive bonding agent is needed to mold powdered activated carbon into an electrode. Impurities and functional groups, which are on the surface of the bonding agent and the activated carbon, promote deterioration of the electrode. The result is that voltage that is allowed to be applied to the capacitor is at most 3 V or lower, and that the service life of the capacitor is short.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more, visit here.

Great Solution to “Hydrogen Embrittlement Problem”, - Open the flood gates of fuel cell real commercialization ? -

2010-07-06T11:01:00.015+09:00

Please read ""Hydrogen Embrittlement", this tough nut is cracked at last" above.

SENATOR DORGAN HONORED FOR LEADERSHIP TO ADVANCE HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES

2010-06-28T16:46:00.003+09:00

Washington, DC--The National Hydrogen Association presented Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) with the Spark Matsunaga Memorial Hydrogen Award Thursday in recognition of his long history of leadership in Congress to advance America's hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The other 2010 recipients are Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Hydrogen energy technology will help drive America's energy future and reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Senator Dorgan said. "I've long been a supporter of boosting the use of hydrogen energy in our country, and I've worked to increase funding for hydrogen research and development. In fact, I helped to create the first-ever national Center for Hydrogen Technology located at the University of North Dakota."

"For many years Senator Dorgan has been a tireless champion for hydrogen and fuel cells, working to advance the legislation and appropriations necessary to bring these important clean energy technologies significantly closer to commercialization," said Jeffrey Serfass, President of the National Hydrogen Association. "As the popularity of hydrogen has waxed and waned, Senator Dorgan's steady support has ensured that the technologies have improved by leaps and bounds. Many rapid R&D achievements recorded by the U.S. Department of Energy and industry are a direct result of Senator Dorgan's vision, leadership, and commitment."

Senator Dorgan:
A founding Co-Chair of the Senate Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus, and had an integral role in advancing hydrogen and fuel cell provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The National Hydrogen Association:
Founded in 1989, is a membership organization composed of university, research, and business members. Its mission is to foster the development of hydrogen technologies and their utilization in industrial, commercial, and consumer applications and promote the role of hydrogen in the energy field.
url: http://www.hydrogenassociation.org

CONTACT:
NHA: Patrick Serfass, 202-223-5547 x366
serfassp@HydrogenAssociation.org
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
The press release is roughly translated into Japanese. If interested, please visit here.

“Silver Phosphate Is a Highly Active Photocatalytic Material Responsive to Visible Light”, Discovered by NIMS

2010-06-24T11:47:00.011+09:00

* NIMS: National Institute for Materials Science

The silver phosphate as a photocatalytic material discovered this time 1) photocatalytically reacts with water under visible light irradiation at normal temperature, and 2) the quantum efficiency of the silver phosphate is about 90% under visible light irradiation.

The photocatalyst is now attracting great attention.
As known, the photocatalyst directly changes solar energy to hydrogen energy by the water splitting process. The light-to-hydrogen energy conversion is performed while producing no CO2, as in the photosynthesis of plant. If the photocatalyst technology is matured and photocatalyst is practically used, we will meet with the advent of an ideal renewable, clean energy generating system in which the light rays of the sun are directly converted into hydrogen gas, and the hydrogen gas is supplied to the fuel cell. At present, we have entered the phase of the third energy revolution (oil to hydrogen). Hydrogen gas becomes main energy for supporting our society. In this situation, the photocatalyst discovery this time is of very importance.
The market scale of the systems, which are constructed by using the environment-friendly technology based on the visible light-activated photocatalyst, will be several tens times of the current market scale. In connection with the market scale, the net describes that the market scale including the titanium oxide and its related products will reach 1 cho-yen in 2005 (though it is somewhat old data.). The strong oxidizing and reducing functions of the titanium oxide are used for the water splitting and the decomposing of toxic substances, and its hydrophilic function is used for anti-fogging purposes. (1 cho-yen = 10,000 oku-yen, 1 oku-yen = 100,000,000 yen, 1 USD = just over 90 yen)
For somewhat more detail, visit here (New Photocatalytic Material, 90% Quantum Efficiency Under Visible Light Irradiation).

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industries Join Call to Increase Clean Energy Investment

2010-06-15T14:23:00.002+09:00

Washington, DC--The Electric Drive Transportation Association, the National Hydrogen Association and U.S. Fuel Cell Council added their support today to dramatically increase the U.S. investment in clean energy technologies.

"Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are an essential part of America's energy solution. Commercial fuel cells will deliver clean, efficient energy at home and at work, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs and, together with other technologies, eliminate the need for gasoline for passenger vehicles," the organizations said in a joint statement.

"Fuel cells make energy electrochemically, without combustion, from hydrogen and hydrogen rich fuels. Some of the largest and most progressive companies in America are already using fuel cells for highly reliable heat and power, to guarantee computer and telephone communications, move goods, keep food cold and travelers and students warm. Thousands of average Americans have driven fuel cell electric vehicles and hundreds of thousands are expected on the road in the next decade.

"Fuel cells and hydrogen energy are American engineered, American manufactured and domestically fueled. America can capture 250,000 jobs in the next 10 years making, installing and servicing fuel cells, according to Fuel Cell Today. But those jobs are not guaranteed. There is an intense international competition. A stronger public investment in fuel cells will allow America to keep its lead, and capture its share of green jobs, profits and energy security benefits," the organizations said.

"The industry and government have had a strong partnership in developing hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, although federal investment has been decreasing in recent years. Going forward, a clarification of priorities is needed," the organizations said. "To achieve our national goals for increased security and reduced pollutants, the U.S. must expand its commitment to the clean energy options that hydrogen and fuels provide. We have learned from other advanced energy opportunities lost that it will be more expensive to buy these technologies back from foreign competitors if we let them finish what the U.S. has started."

· Fuel cells and hydrogen can help free America from the menace of oil dependence. Fuel cell passenger vehicles are 2-3 times more efficient than today's gasoline powered vehicles and can achieve the equivalent of 60 to 70 miles per gallon. In combination with other technologies, fuel cell vehicles can reduce light duty demand for gasoline nearly to zero by 2050 and can achieve an 80% CO2 reduction, according to the National Academies of Science and the NHA's Energy Evolution study.
· Fuel cells advance integration of renewables, such as solar and wind power, into the electricity grid by enhancing their stability. Whatever the source, fuel cells save energy, save customers money and reduce emissions.
· Fuel cell power systems are 80% to 90% efficient when both heat and electricity are generated for homes or businesses. Systems optimized to produce electricity achieve 50% or greater electrical efficiency-many times greater than generators. Residential fuel cells reduce home energy use by one-third or more.
· Fuel cells reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Compared to conventional technologies, reductions start at a minimum of 20% to 60% for power systems and 50% from passenger cars when natural gas is used. These reductions increase to 100% when renewable energy is used to make hydrogen to fuel the fuel cell.

EDTA, NHA, and USFCC collectively represent more than 200 companies and organizations.

For somewhat more detail, visit here.
*************

CONTACT:
EDTA: Genevieve Cullen, 202-408-0774 x308
gcullen@electricdrive.org
NHA: Patrick Serfass, 202-223-5547 x366
serfassp@HydrogenAssociation.org
USFCC: Brynne Ward, 202 293 5500
bward@usfcc.com

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX RESULTS THROUGH 1st QUARTER 2010

2010-06-05T02:06:00.005+09:00

Honda Takes Lead

ALBANY, NY—Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. is pleased to announce results for the first quarter of 2010 for the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) by the firm’s Cleantech Group.

The CEPGI tracks the granting of patents in the Clean Energy sector and monitors important technological breakthroughs in this field. Victor Cardona, Co-chair of the firm’s Cleantech Group stated, “we are pleased to announce that the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index reached its highest quarterly value in the first quarter of 2010.” Honda took the quarterly Clean Energy patent Crown from GM. Granted patents for fuel cells, solar and hybrid/electric vehicles reached quarterly records while wind patents fell. Fuel cell patents dominated the other sectors.

To learn more.

Shell’s attitude to and Activities Performance on CO2 Reduction

2010-06-03T16:33:00.015+09:00

I found an email studded with some words of “Shell” in the inbox.
The email arrived from TIME. It seemed like a PR email. I guess there are many people having received the same emails as the one I received. The opened email tells about Shell’s attitude to CO2 emission reduction problem, the results of company’s activities having come to grips with the problem, and the activities being done and to be done for solving the problem.
I felt something different when reading the email message, carefully read it, and found that the sentences were refined giving off a faint smell of emotion.
Simple linear extension of the logic of the sentence results only in unnatural Japanese.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

If I translate the original into Japanese, the Japanese produced will fail to reach the sentence level of the original. The reason is that my Japanese may have an imaginary-part vector aplasia disease. No matter how much I listen to a new medicine, which seems likely to be good for the disease, much time is needed till it works for my disease.
So, I give up to translate the email message into Japanese, and instead of translation, pick up Shell’s problem solution effort results, etc. and list them below.

Note:
The medicine is "Libertango " arranged for violin and played by Ikuko Kawai, violinist and professor in Osaka University of Fine Arts and Music. Somebody named the medicine as "cutting-edge Japanese elegance".

(Omitted)

Some search was made about Shell. Shell has actively tackled with hydrogen and fuel cells, and established “Shell Hydrogen” in 1999. The company drew up “Energy Scenario 2050”. It seems that the company is going ahead with the hydrogen/fuel cell development and business according to the scenario. Shell is the second largest oil major in the world.

(Omitted)

*************

Below is the original text.
Let's deliver energy for a changing world. Let's go.
Today's consumers are smarter than ever about energy. Naturally they want it to heat, cool and light their homes, get them to work, and power their mobile phones. But they are also keen to help build an energy system that sustains the lives of future generations. They want their energy to come from cleaner sources. They want to get the most out of every drop. And they want to see positive results now.

At Shell, we're listening. Consumers' raised expectations inspire us to come up with ever more innovative products and services.

Take the quest for cleaner air in our cities. We have created a fuel oil which can cut soot emissions from factories by up to 75%. That should help people breathe a little easier.

Customers at our service stations want to play their part, too. They want fuels that are more efficient. We've responded with new blends that help drivers save fuel with every fill-up. And we're working with transport companies, combining the latest fuels and lubricants with satellite technology to reduce fuel consumption.

Low-carbon biofuels are another way to meet rising expectations. They can help reduce emissions from road transport right now. We're already the world's largest distributor of biofuels and are pursuing plans for large-scale production. We're also working with technical partners to develop future biofuels from non-food sources, like crop residue and even algae.

Of course, our customers' horizons stretch beyond transport to more responsible living, whether through cleaner electricity or more energy-efficient homes and offices.

That's why we are boosting production of cleaner-burning natural gas, which emits less than half the carbon dioxide of coal when used to generate electricity. And why we are investing in vital technology to capture emissions from power plants and other industrial sites and store it safely underground.

Despite all this change, one thing remains the same. After more than a century, our customers still expect reliable and affordable energy every day.

With global energy demand set to double by mid-century, that will be a challenge. But together with our partners we will continue unlocking energy from hard-to-reach places like frozen Siberia and delivering it to customers around the world.

At Shell, we're grateful to have millions of customers asking for better energy. They demand as much of us as we ask of ourselves.

Together, let's go the extra mile.
www.shell.com/letsgo

ACAL Energy Completes Funding Round - 3.5 million Pounds Raised in First Close -

2010-05-21T11:25:00.008+09:00

!! Adsense Ads are removed from this page because Adsense's relevance is lost !!

Cheshire, UK - May 19th 2010 - ACAL Energy, the developer of affordable and reliable Fuel Cell Engines based on platinum free FlowCathR technology, has completed a funding round worth ￡3.5 million that will provide a strong boost to the development of its core FlowCathR technology. Additional investment funds are expected in a second close later this summer.

The funding has been raised from existing investors, led by Carbon Trust Investments and supported by Solvay SA, Porton Capital and a leading Japanese automotive corporation. The funds will be used to complete development of ACAL Energy’s ground breaking FlowCathR platinum-free cathode technology and introduce first commercial offerings. An OEM evaluation kit is planned for availability later this year and a first Fuel Cell Engine product incorporating FlowCathR will be sampled to prospective customers in 2011.

ACAL Energy believes its FlowCathR technology is ready for application in small and medium sized stationary power applications, replacing diesel generators in back-up power systems, combined heat and power (CHP) installations and remote power uses. Larger-scale stationary power and transport applications are planned for the future.

“This further investment by our institutional financial and strategic investors is a strong endorsement of our technology and our Company”, says Dr SB Cha, CEO of ACAL Energy. “It recognises our recent progress and the significant market potential we see for low cost, reliable fuel cell engines.

Jonathan Bryers, Partner at CT Investment Partners said “We are delighted to be leading a further investment round into ACAL Energy following extensive technical and cost due diligence and welcome the continued support of Solvay and our other co-investors. We are excited at the opportunity we see with ACAL Energy as a UK clean energy technology company that can provide breakthrough cost and performance benefits in an internationally competitive field”.

Over the last year, ACAL Energy has achieved several important milestones, including achieving a peak power density of nearly 800mW/cm2, the development of new, potentially higher performance chemical systems, and the scale up from a 50W integrated system to a 1.5kW laboratory demonstration system. In March, a model hydrogen fuel cell system was launched to great acclaim at Japan’s FC EXPO.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]

For further information, please contact Amanda Lyne at ACAL Energy:
Tel: +44 (0)1928 511581
E-mail : alyne@acalenergy.co.uk

About ACAL Energy Limited
ACAL Energy is a developer of a new fuel cell technology that will enable low cost and highly reliable fuel cell systems for a wide variety of applications. The company was founded in August 2004 by FlowCathR inventor Dr Andrew Creeth and is headquartered in Runcorn, UK. FlowCathR is a registered trademark of ACAL Energy Ltd.

Dual Functional Lithium-Water Battery - Generates Hydrogen & Electricity -

2010-05-18T09:41:00.004+09:00

Large-scale and big money consuming-infrastructure is essential for the hydrogen transportation/storage for FCVs. This is a serious problem.
A significantly improved lithium-water battery has been developed recently.
This battery is one of the effective solutions to the problem. The battery generates hydrogen and electricity simultaneously.
The new lithium-water battery generates hydrogen and electricity through its discharging operation, although it is still in the laboratory level.　It is noted that if the ionic conductivity of the separator (solid electrolyte) of the battery is increased and the operating temperature is increased, the hydrogen generation capability of the battery will be increased several tens times when compared with that of the battery used for demonstration test.
>> More

Tokuyama Constructs Trial Production Lines for FC Electrolyte Membranes

2010-05-13T11:38:00.016+09:00

!! Adsense Ads are removed from this page because Adsense's relevance is lost !!

Tokuyama has a plan to construct trial production lines, which will trially manufacture electrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) and anion electrolyte membranes.
Place: Tokuyama Factory (Yamaguchi prefecture)
Time to start construction: Spring of the next year
Production Scale: 10,000 m square/year

Advantageous features:

***************
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To learn more in English, feel free to contact at newene02"abc" fcpat-japan.com
Please replace "abc" with "@".
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
Please understand that our special circumstances cause us to do so.
FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/

High-Pressure Hydrogen Gas Hose, Not Using Steel Wires

2010-05-06T18:09:00.008+09:00

!!Adsense Ads are removed from this page
because Adsense's relevance is lost!!

Yokohama Rubber and Iwatani Industrial Gases have successfully co-developed a hose for the 70 MPa hydrogen gas dispenser. The hose name is “ibar HG70”. A major feature of the hose is that the steel wires are not used for reinforcing layer of the hose.
The following advantages result from the fact that the steel wires are not used:
1) The hose is free from the hydrogen embrittlement.
The hydrogen embrittlement inevitably occurs in the conventional hose using the steel wires.
2) The hose is flexible and light (in weight), and easy handling and refueling.

Yokohama Rubber and Iwatani Industrial Gases had already succeeded in co-developing a 35 Mpa hydrogen gas hose (ibar HG35) in 2006.

Those high-pressure hydrogen gas hoses were developed under contract with NEDO. Both companies have continued the research and development in the hydrogen gas sector, and presented many excellent results by using their proprietary technologies to full advantage.
*************

Yokohama Rubber
Iwatani Industrial Gases

The above topic is described in somewhat more detail in my site.
If interested, please visit here.

Next Generation Vehicle Deployment Plans in Japan – Till 2030 -

2010-05-03T16:43:00.003+09:00

!!Adsense Ads are removed from this page because Adsense's relevance is lost!!

METI has recently released a report describing deployment plans for the next generation vehicles, incumbent vehicles and their related industries up to 2030. The plans contain the target numbers of the next generation vehicles, which are likely to be used, and strategic plans, and action plans to execute the strategies, and load maps for some of the strategies, which contain time-arranged activities to be taken for achieving the goals.

In the action plans, the target numbers of the next generation vehicles are set to be larger than expected. The ratios of the next generation vehicles to the new vehicles sold in percentage term are 20 to 80% in 2020 and 50 to 70% in 2030. Those figures are not small.

The figures representative of the fuel cell vehicle listed are negligible. The report never ignores the FCV, however.
In a vehicle-size vs. cruising distance chart, the FCV is located in a region defined by the largest vehicle size and the longest cruising distance. The chart implies that the fuel cell vehicle will be infallibly employed for the long-cruising next generation vehicle of large size.
The report says: “The technology of the fuel cell vehicle is essential to diversify the fuels used in the transportation sector” in “Fuel Diversification” of the report.
The negligible figures will result from the conclusion produced when the fact that the FCV is under development and difficulty of building the hydrogen transportation and refueling infrastructure are taken into account.

In this connection, the unique technology has been developed by Hrein energy. The technology is capable of storing hydrogen in the form of an organic hydride, transporting the organic hydride, and removing hydrogen from the organic hydride for refueling. The organic hydride can be handled like gasoline and petroleum. The current filling station infrastructure can be directly used for refueling hydrogen vehicles.
I always think why this technology is not discussed for the building cost reduction of the hydrogen infrastructure.
For more detail, read the METI’s press release. If any question, please ask METI or feel free to contact us [NewEne01@fcpat-japan.com or Newene01@gmail.com].

My site refers mainly to the FCV descriptions excerpted from the report. If interested, please visit my site.

Infrequent Updating of My Blog & Site

2010-04-19T17:28:00.006+09:00

!! Adsense Ad is removed from this page because Adsense's relevance is lost!!

My site/blogs updating has been infrequent recently.

The following two accidents occurred and much time was and has been consumed to cope with them.
1. My computer had been on the blink since the virus attack occurred on the later part of this February. This computer trouble has been sovled, however.
2. In the computer adjustment work, the data transfer was done many times.
The result is that the home page building software acted up.

I will start again the site and blogs in near future. Please be patient.

Hybrid field motor for next generation vehicles - Rare-earth　Used is halved in Amount -

2010-04-06T18:19:00.003+09:00

Key words:
Hybrid field motor, saved rare-earths, next generation vehicles, permanent magnets, electromagnets, output density, SMC, soft magnetic composites, motor core, rare-earth-dependency free technology
**********

A unique hybrid field motor used for the next generation vehicles has been successfully developed by Assistant Professor Dr. Kosaka (Nagoya Institute of Technology). The new hybrid field motor is featured by: 1) use amount of permanent magnet is halved when compared with of the incumbent motor used by the current hybrid vehicle. 2) the output density is high, and 3) the motor core was made of SMC（soft magnetic composites ）which has rarely been used for the core.

Most of the motors used for the next generation vehicles are being vigorously developed in many countries. Most of the motors used for current hybrid vehicles are IPMSMs. IPMSM = interior permanent magnet synchronous motor。
The motor uses the permanent magnet as literally indicated.
The permanent magnet uses rare earths. The countries which mine and sell the rare earths are limited in number.

The necessity of developing the technology to extricate from the situation essentially needing such rare earths for motor construction is essential when taking into account the difficulty of securing rare-earths, and real commercialization and rapid increase of the number of the next generation vehicles. See “Extract from dependency of rare-metals and rare-earths”.

The hybrid field motor as one of the technologies to extract from rare-earth dependency is now being actively developed in many countries. The hybrid field motor is constructed such that the permanent magnet and the electromagnet are combined to cooperatively generate magnetic force required for motor turn. Such a construction allows significant reduction of the use amount of the permanent magnet.

Kosaka et al focused their attention on the nature of soft magnetic composite, for example, excellent formability and workability, and used it for making the motor core. Few examples of using the SMC for the core have been reported. The researches created an SMC motor structure having a 3-D magnetic circuit. The unique motor structure was designed with the aid of the computer which operates based on 3D-FEM to successfully provide an optimum motor structure.
For more detail, visit here.
If any question, please ask NEDO or NewEne01@gmail.com

Clean Energy US Patents in 2009, Increased by 20%

2010-03-15T10:55:00.003+09:00

The fourth quarter of 2009 for the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) was issued by Cleantech Group of Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

1) The number of patents granted in the clean energy sector has rapidly increased
2) The number of the granted patents in the automobile sub-sector is much larger than those in the remaining sub-sectors. The figure is outstanding.
3) Honda is still strong in the clean energy sector.
4) GE, one of major companies in the U.S., is actively developing the clean energy technologies, including particularly the wind power technology.
****************

Results through the fourth quarter of 2009 reveal the CEPGI for 2009 to be at its highest level in the eight year period of its tracking at 1125 granted patents, up over 20 percent (about 200 patents).

Patents in fuel cells and hybrid/electric vehicles were each up over twenty percent over 2008 with solar patents up sixty percent and biomass/biofuel energy patents up two hundred sixty percent. Fuel Cells, wind, and biomass/biofuel energy patents were also at all time highs in 2009. In contrast, hydroelectric and tidal patents decreased in 2009 while geothermal patents were up only one patent over the year prior.

Honda again claimed the Clean Energy Patent crown in 2009 by edging General Motors out by four patents. Honda leads overall since 2002 and automobile companies occupy 5 of the top ten patent leader spots since 2002.

GE made the top ten in 2009 continuing its strong showing in clean energy patents having over twice the patents of its nearest wind patent competitor, Aloys Wobben, the owner of Enercon GmbH of Germany.

The original text is put on my site. If interested, visit here.

Research Report on Japan Fuel Cell Market in 2009, Published by Fuji-Keizai

2010-03-04T00:09:00.006+09:00

Fuji-Keizai Ltd. carried out the market research on the Japan Fuel Cell market in 2009 and its related market, and　published the fuel cell research report, entitled “Future Outlook for Fuel Cell Related Technologies and Market: 2010 Vol.1”.

The essentials of the market research report are:
1) The residential fuel-cell cogeneration or CHP systems will steadily grow.
2) The real market of the FCVs will start in around 2015. After 2020, the FCVs will lead the whole fuel cell market forward.
3) The automobile sub-sector and the home sub-sector have the market share of 92%. The shipments of the fuel cell systems in those sub-sectors will rapidly increase.
４）When the portable fuel cells reach a predetermined amount of shipments, the market will grow since a variety of products use the batteries.

It is not denied that there are many people who deny and have doubts about the relation between co2 increase and the global warming increase. It is believed that the fuel cell is a typical implementation of the renewable power generation technology, and is the device indispensable to the fossil energy substitution. In this sense, much efforts to develop the fuel cell technology for its commercialization must be continuously made particularly from the point of view of the government energy policy. It seems that the residential fuel-cell CHP systems will be market competitive in around 2015, and the market is expected to expand at high rate. At least Panasonic has explicitly expressed that the company will export the FC CHP systems in the future. I hope that the shipments of the residential fuel-cell CHP systems will increase to be in excess of the expected one.

>> To learn more and if interested, please visit here.

NTM Sensors announces a new product - SenseH2tm Hydrogen Sensor

2010-02-24T11:53:00.004+09:00

NTM Sensors, a newly created division of NexTech Materials, Ltd., is pleased to announce a new hydrogen sensor, SenseH2tm. With the tag line “We sense a GREEN future” NTM Sensors intends to introduce several new products aimed at reduction of greenhouse gas and polluting emissions.

NTM Sensors will make its debut at the Fuel Cell Expo in Japan on March 3rd where it will be accepting orders for the SenseH2tm products. Dr. Lora Thrun, Director of Commercialization, recently commented that “… this innovative product represents a significant leap forward in hydrogen sensing technology, and we are looking forward to its imminent release and commercial success.”

Our first commercialized volume product, the SenseH2tm , has been extensively beta tested for PEM fuel cell related applications, including forklift trucks, back-up power systems and electrolyzers. The sensor is a turn-key solution for many applications. It includes a patent pending chemi-resistive sensor element, electronic controls, and an electronic signal output that is calibrated to measure hydrogen content in air, by providing a voltage output corresponding to 0 to 100% of the lower flammability limit (LFL). It offers a unique combination of features: high selectivity to hydrogen over other combustible gases and VOCs, rapid response and recovery, insensitivity to humidity, and linear and repeatable output corresponding to a broad range of hydrogen concentrations.

NTM Sensor products are available directly through NTMSensors.com and through NexTech’s sales distribution network. NexTech currently has distributors in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Europe and is continuing to expand its distribution network throughout the world.

About NTM Sensors
NTM Sensors’ vision is to be a global supplier of technologically advanced gas sensors. We will achieve this by productizing sensor innovations for energy and environmental markets. By leveraging NexTech’s innovation, product development and manufacturing talents, we provide robust, cost effective solutions to customers in diverse markets. For more information please visit our website www.ntmsensors.com.

About NexTech Materials, Ltd.
NexTech was founded as a privately held company in 1994 and has grown into one of Ohio’s leading technology companies. NexTech recently expanded its manufacturing and R&D facilities located in Lewis Center Ohio. NexTech has many products in its pipeline including fuel cell stacks for military and residential power applications, sensors for gas detection and control systems, catalysts for energy conversion systems, and membranes for gas separation devices. For more information, please visit our web site www.nextechmaterials.com.
# # #
Contact:
Mr. Rick Lesueur
rhl@NTMSensors.com
(614) 842-6606, extension 128
NTM Sensors, A division of NexTech Materials
404 Enterprise Drive, Lewis Center, OH 43035
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
To read this in Japanese, please visit here.

ACAL Energy Leads Field Demonstration of Platinum-Free Cathode Fuel Cell System

2010-01-12T19:59:00.002+09:00

Cheshire, UK – 11th January 2010 -- ACAL Energy Ltd, the developer of affordable and reliable fuel cell systems, is leading a collaborative project to build the world’s first installed system using FlowCath® fuel cell technology in a practical application. The project represents an investment of £1.9 million and has been awarded funding by the Technology Strategy Board. It will see a fully operational demonstration system of a FlowCath® fuel cell unit installed at Solvay Interox’s large industrial site at Warrington, Cheshire, and will be a major step on the commercialisation road map for this innovative technology.

Joining ACAL Energy as partners on the project are: Solvay Interox Ltd, Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, UPS Systems plc, the Centre for Process Innovation, the University of Southampton and the Manufacturing Engineering Centre at Cardiff University.

ACAL Energy and its partners will develop and operate a suitably sized, low cost FlowCath® fuel cell unit to provide continuous electrical power to a remote environmental monitoring system within the chemical manufacturing plant. The project commenced 1st December 2009, with the build and installation taking place in the second half of 2010. Ultimately, fuel cell systems utilizing FlowCath® will be a clean and economically sensible alternative to diesel and gasoline generators in stationary and transportation applications requiring 1kW to 200kW of electrical power.

ACAL Energy’s FlowCath® technology replaces the platinum catalyst on the cathode in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with a low cost, durable liquid chemical. This will significantly reduce the overall platinum content, as much of the platinum in conventional PEM fuel cells is used in the cathode. ACAL Energy has developed a family of proprietary chemical compounds that deliver the same level of fuel cell power density as today’s platinum cathode systems. Further increases in power density are forecast in the future. The technology also significantly reduces the balance of plant costs by eliminating the need for hydration, pressurization, separate cooling and other expensive mechanical sub-systems commonly found in conventional PEM fuel cells.

“Field demonstration of our FlowCath® technology is a very important milestone for the company”, said Dr SB Cha, Chief Executive Officer of ACAL Energy. “This application requires the unit to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and will be an excellent example of the robustness and reliability of our low cost fuel cell technology. We are delighted to be part of a world-class project team and we are grateful to the UK Technology Strategy Board for their strong support.”

For further information, please contact Amanda Lyne at ACAL Energy:
Tel: +44 (0)1928 511581
E-mail : alyne@acalenergy.co.uk

Related links:
1) http://www.fcpat-japan.com/index.html
2) http://blog.goo.ne.jp/fcjggi

SRM becomes competitive with IPMSM in performance

2010-01-06T00:14:00.012+09:00

SRM = switched reluctance motor
IPMSM = interior permanent magnet synchronous motor
**************

The SRM technology developed this time is innovative.

IPMSM is currently used for called electrically or motor driven vehicles (EV, HEV, FCV) and others. It is a synchronous motor in which permanent magnets are buried in the rotor. It has many advantages. Its disadvantage is that the permanent magnet used contains rareearth(s).

It is said that China almost dominantly mines and export the rare earths at present, and has a plan to reduce the amount of the rare earths exported to 1/5 of the current one.
The motor-driven vehicles and the wind power generators will form a core business in near future market. The number of the motors used for them will increase depicting a steeply ascending curve. From this, it is clear that we must be faced with a vexed problem that the demand of the motors considerably increases, while the supply of the rare earths considerably decreases.

The SRM considerably improved is a synchronous motor not using the permanent magnet (rareearths). It has advantages of simple structure, excellent heat resistance and high rigidity, but it is inferior to the IPMSM in the torque and energy utilization efficiency. The disadvantages have prevented the SRM from being applied to the motor-driven vehicles. Where the SRM is designed to produce the performance comparable with that of the IPMSM, its size is too large to mount it on the vehicle.

The performance of the new SRM reached that of the IPMSM, and its some characteristics exceeded those of the SRM.

Co-developed by:
Prof. Akira Chiba et al (Tokyo University of Science) and Pro. Satoshi Ogasawara et al (Hokkaido University).

>> More

Two green technologies emerge from Panasonic

2009-12-26T16:22:00.002+09:00

1) Panasonic Develops Direct Methanol Fuel Cell System
With High Power Output and Durability
- 100 W-class portable generator to be developed and field tested in fiscal 2012 -

2) Panasonic Develops High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Battery Cells
That Can Power Laptops and Electric Vehicles

Lateral-Stripe Type SOFC System: its Demonstration Test Starts

2009-12-19T14:02:00.006+09:00

Durability of the lateral stripe cell stack has been remarkably improved.
The durability test of the cell stack bundle was tested. From the test result, the developers were confident of securing the durability of the cell stack bundle corresponding to 5 years. The developers started the demonstration test of SOFC systems with lateral stripe cell stacks (referred to as lateral stripe type SOFC systems) from this month. The demonstration test is being conducted as part of the SOFC demonstration study project, which is under control of the NEF (new energy foundation).
The number of the lateral stripe type SOFC systems being currently demonstration tested is 2. Additional four SOFC systems will be subjected to the demonstration test in 2010.
The lateral stripe type SOFC system is scheduled to be commercialized in the early 2010s.

The following four companies are co-developing the lateral stripe type SOFC system.
Tokyo Gas (develops cell stack bundle, power generation unit, and hot water reserve tank)
Kyocera (develops cell stack bundle)
Rinnai (develops power generation unit and hot water reserve tank)
Gastar (develops power generation unit and hot water reserve tank)

Lateral Stripe Cell Stack
1) Structure
A number of cells are sintered on a ceramic substrate. Those cells are electrically connected in series on the substrate.
2) Advantageous Features
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

SOFC Demonstration Study Project
The SOFC demonstration study project is being conducted by NEF (new energy foundation). The project period ranges from 2007 to 2010. 67 “1-kW class SOFC systems” are currently demonstration-tested at 62 sites nationwide.
The project gathers data through demonstration tests and evaluates them to find technology development subjects. The SOFC systems are installed at general homes or the like and operated under real load conditions. Tokyo Gas has participated in the SOFC demonstration study project by using the SOFC systems manufactured by Kyocera. The company first provided to the project the SOFC systems using the lateral stripe cell stacks, which were designed using the company’s proprietary technologies.
TOYOTA and AISIN SEIKI recently announced that they provide 30 residential SOFC cogeneration systems to the SOFC demonstration study project, and will subject them to the demonstration tests. Specifically, those companies provide the SOFC cogenerators to five gas suppliers, including Tokyo Gas and Hokkaido Gas, and the gas suppliers install them at homes and field test them there. Commercialization of the residential SOFC cogenerators is scheduled to start also in the early 2010s. TOYOTA and AISIN SEIKI started the cooperative project with OSAKA GAS and Kyocera for developing SOFC cogeneration systems, from March this year.

Rough Specifications of Lateral Stripe Type SOFC System
1) Power generation unit
2) Hot-water reserve tank

For more details, visit here.

2010 Global Market Analysis/Survey on Green-Energy Materials

2009-12-12T12:35:00.012+09:00

Fuji-Keizai, a leader in the marketing business in Japan, announced the results of the worldwide market research on green-energy materials.
The market research report describes a market analysis in the fields of those materials from two aspects of the material market and the corporate strategy, and foresees the market trends up to 2015.
The tile of the market research report is "The whole Picture of Green-Energy Material Market 2010".
(The title is my literal translation and may be different from that by Fuji-Keizai.)
Green-energy materials: defined, by Fuji-Keizai, as every material which will lessen the environmental load and will be found in various types of environment-friendly devices, such as solar batteries, rechargeable batteries, LEDs, and organic ELs.
(The definition translation is based on my interpretation of the definition expression written in Japanese.)

Research -1
The following 60 green-energy materials were researched:
.........
Research-2
The research was made on the corporate strategies of 36 companies which seem to have entered those fields.
.........

For more details visit Fuji-Keizai or here.

Electrolyte solution in use for the next generation 5-V class Li-ion battery

2009-11-30T22:53:00.000+09:00

To increase the cruising distance of the electric vehicle, it is necessary to increase the energy density of the Li-ion cell. Research efforts are being vigorously made on new materials to increase the electrode energy capacity and the operating voltage worldwide.
Specially Appointed Prof. Dr. Fujinami, et al., Shizuoka University have developed an organic electrolyte, which operates under high voltage of 4 V, which is increased by 1 V when compared with the conventional battery cell. The organic electrolyte is the first in the world.
The electrolyte has a property of flame retardant, leading to increase of safety.
An additional advantageous feature of the organic electrolyte is that it uses boric acid. This material is cheap. The result is battery cost reduction.
Details of the study will be presented in the Battery NEDO session, which will start from November 30, 2009.
Electrolyte solution:
This unique electrolyte solution was formed in a manner that different electrolyte solutions are mixed to form a liquid, and lithium salt was dissolved into the liquid.
The electrolyte solution exhibits high ion conductivity and its lithium ion transport number is large.
(Written based on press release from NEDO)

Basic technology for using “lithium metal” for negative electrode

2009-11-30T21:24:00.002+09:00

The research of the electrode materials for the lithium ion cell is currently in full flood. Lithium metal has been considered as the ultimate negative electrode material and studied for long time. The Li-ion cell capacity decreases for a relatively short time of period because of presence of the lithium metal deposition called lithium dendrite through the charging/discharging operation. For this reason, the lithium metal has not been used for the negative electrode of the Li-ion cell.

Prof. Dr. Kanemura et al. Tokyo Metropolitan University succeeded in developing a unique separator which inhibits the dendrite from growing.
In the experiment, no decrease of the cell capacity was observed after more than 2000 charge/discharge cycles. This fact leads to considerable increase of the energy density of the Li-ion cell and the cruising distance of the car carrying the battery. The researchers have successfully developed a production process capable of mass-producing the separators at low cost.

New technology for inhibiting dendrite growth:
Many studies have been made on the lithium dendrite deposition.
Most researchers have considered that the major cause for the dendrite deposition is that the lithium metal non-uniformly deposits on the negative electrode.
Dr. Kanemura et al. have developed anew a separator having a unique structure called a 3DOM structure, which enables the lithium metal to uniformly deposit on the negative electrode. The reversible charge/discharge capacity, when the unique separator is used, was 1000m Ah/g. The figure is about 3 times of the graphite materials currently used. Further increase of the reversible charge/discharge capacity is theoretically allowed. It was confirmed that no performance deterioration occurred after the charging and discharging operations were repeated.
(Written based on press release from NEDO)

Rechargeable battery: Its remarkable performance improvements, ensured by recent research results

2009-11-30T21:20:00.003+09:00

NEDO’s research/development project on the next generation battery systems steadily progresses. Recently, NEDO announced four innovative battery cell technologies, which had emerged from the project.
Those technologies are:
1. Basic technology for putting “lithium metal” into practical use
– By Prof. Dr. Kanemura, Tokyo Metropolitan University
2. Electrolyte solution in use for the next generation 5-V class battery
- By Specially Appointed Prof. Dr. Fujinami, Shizuoka University
3. High capacity Li-ion cell using ionic liquid-electrolyte
- By Associate　Prof. Dr. Komaba et al., Tokyo University of Science
4. Magnesium ion rechargeable battery
– By Saitama Industrial Technology Center
Details of the study will be presented in the Battery NEDO session, which will start from November 30, 2009.

Under strong demands of lowering carbon emissions and finding the best solutions to the limited resource problems, the clean and renewable energy is treated as a social subject. In this circumstance, the rechargeable battery has become one of the key devices.
The automobile has started to change its drive source from the internal combustion engine to an electric drive source. The rechargeable battery is one of the electrical drive sources, and the fuel cell is another prospective electrical drive device.
The rechargeable battery has another important function to level the output powers of the solar power generator and the wind power generator, which greatly change depending on weather and day and night. A watchful eye must be kept on this near-future key technology.
(Written based on press release from NEDO)

Kerosene-fueled 3-kW SOFC system, successfully co-developed

2009-11-23T11:57:00.008+09:00

An SOFC power generation system using kerosene available on the market.
It has successfully generated electric power of 3 kW (at DC terminal).
It is designed mainly for small business applications.
It is co-developed by the following three companies:
1) Japan Energy Corporation (JOMO)
2) Sumitomo Precision Products Co., Ltd.
3) NGK Insulators, Ltd. (NGK)

Rough specifications
Rated output power: 3 kW
Primary fuel: kerosene sold on the market
Operating temperature: 750 deg. centigrade
Cell stack: passage-contained cell stack (manufactured by NGK)
Features
1) Start-up kerosene burner (developed by JOMO)
2) Efficient kerosene reforming process (developed anew by JOMO)
3) Cell stack of high power generation efficiency (developed anew by NGK)
4) Sophisticated heat management (developed anew by Sumitomo Precision)

The companies will evaluate the performances such as power generation efficiency, further increase the power generation efficiency, and reduce the size of the SOFC system, and has a plan to demonstrate the SOFC system in a real-load environment, aiming at commercializing the kerosene type SOFC system
(written based on press release from Japan Energy Corporation)
>> More-1 and More-2

Hiroshima University collaborates with LANL on development of hydrogen storage non-metallic materials

2009-11-20T13:52:00.001+09:00

The Chugoku Shimbun recently reported the following:
The Hiroshima University Institute for Advanced Materials Research has entered into a department-level academic exchange agreement with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to develop non-metallic materials for hydrogen storage.
Specifically, hydrogen is stored in the form of a chemical compound of boron and nitride. The compound is light in weight and its hydrogen storage capability is large when compared with the hydrogen-storage metallic materials currently used. The amount of hydrogen that the compound can store is theoretically about 20% of the compound when calculated by weight. It is approximately 10 times of the nickel hydrogen battery. The compound, if successfully developed, will reduce the hydrogen tank in size and weight. Additional advantages are: 1) boron and nitrogen are more abundant than rare metals, and 2) easily available.
Also visit here.

Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Programs start among Japan, USA and Europe early next year

2009-11-17T13:27:00.006+09:00

Two meetings of heads of JPO, EPO and USPTO were held at KYOTO on November 12 and 13, 2009. One is the heads meeting of JPO and EPO, and other other is the heads meeting of JPO, USPTO and EPO. The followings were decided in the meetings.

1. The PPH (patent prosecution highway) pilot programs will start among the JPO, the EPO and the USPTO on January 29, 2010. This was decided at the meeting of the heads of the JPO and EPO (November 12), and the meeting of the heads of the JPO, the USPTO and the EPO, ((November 13)), which were held in Kyoto.
The PPH has already been launched between the JPO and the USPTO on January 4, 2008.

2. In the trilateral meeting, it was also decided that the early examination rule of the PPH applied to the PCT-based patent application, which had been determined to be patentable by the International Searching Authority or the International Preliminary Examining Authority in any of the trilateral patent offices of Japan.
>> More

Patent Prosecution Highway = PPH：
In this program, when a patent application is matured to the patent in a country, the examination of the corresponding patent application, which was filed in another country, is quickened upon request of the applicant. The programs enable the companies to quickly and easily obtain patent rights in other countries than those to which the companies belong.
>> More

Aquafairy enters production and sales stage of micro-FC based battery chargers

2009-11-06T18:38:00.006+09:00

Credited by Aquafairy Corporation

Aquafairy Corporation, which has been known as a developer of a unique micro fuel cell not using methanol, has completed the development of battery chargers based on the unique micro fuel cells, and entered the stage of production and sales of the chargers.

Aquafairy Corporation reached an agreement with GS Yuasa Power Supply Ltd. on the production and sales of the developed charges, which will be used for charging external batteries and built-in batteries of portable devices. [Copyright by FuelCell japan]
Upon the agreement, the companies have a plan to develop technologies for charging various types of GS Uasa's batteries, including lithium ion batteries, and integrally incorporate the battery mass production technologies into the charging technologies, with the intention of increasing the number of applied products.
>> More

Two recent press releases from Japan

2009-10-23T14:44:00.002+09:00

1) Toshiba Launches Direct Methanol Fuel Cell in Japan as External Power Source for Mobile Electronic Devices
TOKYO—Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502), a world leader in the development of fuel-cell technology for handheld electronic equipment, today announced the launch of its first direct methanol fuel-cell product: Dynario™, an external power source that delivers power to mobile digital consumer products. Dynario™, together with a dedicated fuel cartridge for refueling on the go, will be launched in Japan, in a limited edition of 3,000 units only, and will be exclusively available at Shop1048 (http://shop1048.jp/), … >> More
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

2) MHI Achieves 3,000-Hour Operation, Unprecedented in Japan
Tokyo, October 1, 2009 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has achieved 3,000 cumulative hours of operation - unprecedented in Japan - of a 200 kilowatt (kW) class combined-cycle power generation system incorporating solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and a micro gas turbine (MGT). … >> More

‘Global Cleantech 100’ lists ACAL Energy

2009-09-19T03:44:00.009+09:00

ACAL’ commercial potential and technology were recognised by Global Cleantech 100 listing

Cheshire, UK -- 17th September 2009 -- ACAL Energy, the leading developer of innovative fuel cell technology, has been named in the ‘Global Cleantech 100’, published by Guardian News and Media and the Cleantech Group. This first ever Global Cleantech listing unveils the most promising clean technology companies on the planet: those which offer the potential for superior performance at lower costs while reducing negative ecological impact. One of only thirteen UK companies listed, ACAL Energy also headed the Guardian’s lead paragraph on UK innovation.

The Global Cleantech 100 list is supported by the Carbon Trust, and represents the collective opinion of hundreds of leading experts from cleantech innovation and venture capital companies in Europe, North America, Middle East, India and China, combined with the specific input of an expert panel.

The panel chose companies that are currently regarded as having the potential and likelihood to achieve high growth and high market impact. Their thoughts were then combined with insights from the Cleantech Network™, the de facto industry association of international clean technology investors, entrepreneurs, large corporations and other industry insiders. Some 3,500 companies were considered for inclusion in the list.

“The first ever Global Cleantech 100 shines a spotlight on which companies and which technology areas the global innovation community is currently most excited about, from a commercial standpoint”, said Richard Youngman, Managing Partner at Cleantech Group.

“We are delighted and honored to be recognised as one of the most significant cleantech companies globally”, said Dr S B Cha, CEO of ACAL Energy. “Our commercial potential has clearly been recognised as well as our ground-breaking Flowcath® technology.”

ACAL Energy has recently announced the achievement of several technology milestones.

For further information, please contact Amanda Lyne at ACAL Energy:
Tel: +44 (0)1928 511581
E-mail : alyne@acalenergy.co.uk
******************************************************
* You are welcome to visit ACAL's stand no. 135 at "11th Grove Fuel Cell Exhibition", Westminster, London, UK, 22-24 September 2009, and to show you a prototype of our new Flowcath® Evaluation Kit.
This 1kW unit enables research scientists to evaluate the ease of operation and characteristics of a FlowCath® powered system.
* Visit here for Japanese version.

Cleantech Group, LLC: www.cleantech.com
The Cleantech Group pioneered the clean technology investment category in 2002. Today, it accelerates the development and market adoption of clean technologies globally. The company’s worldwide network of investors, entrepreneurs, enterprises, service providers and others—representing trillions of dollars in assets—receives access to capital, investment deal flow, networking, market leading research and data, sales leads and promotional opportunities. The Cleantech Group also provides advisory services for large corporations and governments, publishes leading cleantech sector industry news coverage and produces the premier Cleantech Forum® events worldwide.
The Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk
Carbon Trust：http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/default.ct

ACAL Energy Limited: www.acalenergy.co.uk
Has the most advanced “platinum substitution” technology with the top level of its commercialising technology.
1.0 kW PEM fuel cell, incorporating this technology, FlowCath®, is operating for test now.

Micro-tubular SOFC Directly Reforms Hydrocarbon Fuel at 450℃ or Lower and Generates Electric Power

2009-08-28T18:00:00.006+09:00

A micro SOFC has been recently developed. It is a micro-tubular SOFC. The operating temperature of the micro SOFC is 450 Celsius degree or lower. The developers = AIST and Prof. Nigel Sammes, Colorado School of Mines.
The micro-tubular SOFC is featured in that:
1) The fuel is directly reformed at the fuel electrode (nickel) at 450 Celsius degree or lower.
2) Hydrocarbon is used for the fuel (multifuel utilizing technology).
The fact that the micro SOFC is capable of generating electric power was reliably confirmed.
In the micro-tubular SOFC, a catalysis layer having a reforming capability was formed on the inner wall of the nickel fuel electrode (see Fig. 1). The catalysis layer was a ceria catalysis layer.
>> More

ACAL Energy Starts Operation of 1kW Liquid Cathode Fuel Cell System

2009-08-26T17:44:00.007+09:00

Cheshire, UK – 25th August 2009 -- ACAL Energy, a leading developer of affordable and reliable fuel cell technology, announced today the successful start-up of its kilowatt-scale fuel cell system using its patented liquid cathode technology, FlowCath®. The hydrogen-fuelled ‘short-stack’ unit has already achieved a continuous power output of over 600W, and will deliver over 1.5kW with the full stack, expected later this summer. Fuel cell systems utilizing FlowCath® ultimately will be a clean and economically sensible alternative to diesel and gasoline generators in stationary and transportation applications requiring between 1kW and 200kW of electrical power.

ACAL Energy’s FlowCath® technology replaces up to 90% of the current level of platinum catalyst in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with a low cost, durable liquid chemical. ACAL Energy has developed a family of proprietary chemical compounds that can deliver the same level of fuel cell performance as platinum, and which are expected to exceed this level in the future. The technology also significantly reduces the balance of plant costs by eliminating the need for hydration, pressurization, complex cooling and other expensive mechanical sub-systems commonly found in conventional PEM fuel cells.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

Speaking on the five year anniversary of the Company’s formation, Dr S B Cha, Chief Executive Officer of ACAL Energy said: “This unit represents a 20-fold scale-up from our last demonstration unit. It is a tremendous achievement by our very talented team of engineers and scientists and a key step towards commercialization of the technology. Our business strategy is to offer FlowCath® to fuel cell system manufacturers in the form of a stack and supporting mechanical elements in addition to our proprietary chemical solution. We will soon make data from the 1kW unit available to key OEM partners to enable them to start designing systems incorporating FlowCath®.”

For further information, please contact Amanda Lyne at ACAL Energy:
Tel: +44 (0)1928 511581
E-mail : alyne@acalenergy.co.uk
*********************************

About ACAL Energy Limited:http://www.acalenergy.co.uk/
ACAL Energy is a developer of a new fuel cell technology that will enable low cost and highly reliable fuel cell systems for a wide variety of applications. The company was founded in August 2004 by FlowCath® inventor Dr Andrew Creeth and is headquartered in Runcorn, UK.
FlowCath® is a registered trademark of ACAL Energy Ltd.

New power converter of high-voltage/large-capacity; switching frequency = 2kHz

2009-08-15T11:55:00.014+09:00

A new power converter of high voltage and large capacity has been developed.
The major improvements of the power converter are:
1) The switching frequency of the power converter is considerably increased (4 times).
2) As the result of the increase of the switching frequency, a power converter facility using the power converters is significantly reduced ((about 1/5).
This type of the power converter will find its application in near-future electric power fields, including smart grid, mega-solar, wind power generation, and high speed railways.
The technologies and products in those fields are developed and market-deployed currently and in near future in the world. In this respect, the power converter technology developed this time is significant.
Co-developed by AIST, TOSHIBA, TMEIC, Tokyo Metolopolitan University, and Ibaraki National College of Technology
1) The switching frequency of the power converter is considerably increased. The switching frequency achieved this time is 4 times that of the conventional power converter. The power elements used are SiC diode and Si-IEGT. Specifically, large area SiC-PiN diodes of 4 mm square and Si-IEGTs were combined into a high speed switching module. Si-IEGT was supplied from TOSHIBA. The large area SiC-PiN diode is of 6 kV class and has excellent features of low loss and high speed operation. The SiC-PiN diode was developed on the basis of the SiC-element area-increasing technology, developed and accumulated by AIST. A cooling device for cooling the switch modules and a high-speed gate drive circuit were also developed (Figure 3). The switching frequency of the switching module formed was 2kHz. This figure is four times of the conventional device.
The conventional power converter is based on Si diode and Si-IEGT. The switching characteristic of the Si diode inherently limits the switching frequency of the Si-IEGT to 500 Hz.
A prototype of a power converter was constructed which used high speed switching modules and was based on the single-phase three-level power conversion, and the power capacity of which was ± 5 kV – 300 kVA (Fig. 5)
The performances of the prototype were demonstrated. The figure representative of its switching frequency was confirmed.
2) A power converter facility using the power converters newly developed is significantly reduced. The considerable increase of the switching frequency of the power converter allows a designer to employ the 3-level power conversion system for the power conversion (Fig. 4). Where this power conversion system is used, there is no need of using the insulating transformer. Further, the considerable increase of the switching frequency improves the wave shape of the output power of the power converter. The improved wave shape remarkably reduces the capacity of the filter for filtering out the distorted wave components. The size of the power converter facility was about 1/5 of the conventional one.
In the conventional high-voltage/large-power power converter, the serial multiplexing system has been used for power conversion. This power conversion system essentially needs the insulating transformer. The transformer occupies about the half of the entire space of the power converter facility. The filter occupies about 1/4 of the entire space.
When the output powers of the 3-level power converter and the switching element are compared with each other, the former is substantially double of the latter in terms of switching frequency.
Written based on AIST’s news release, issued on August 4, 2009
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Note: For figures used, refer to Aist's news release written in Japanese.
If any, ask AIST or feel free to contact us at infonenryo@gmail.com

Keywords: power converter, high voltage, high capacity, switching frequency, power converter facility, SiC-PiN diode, Si-IEGT, 3-level power converter

Energy sector set up “Research Association for Hydrogen Infrastructure Building”

2009-08-06T15:45:00.006+09:00

Recently, in Japan, there were two large moves toward the next generation vehicles.
1) Energy sector set up “Research Association for Hydrogen Infrastructure Building” (FCV: fuel cell vehicle)
2) Four big companies set up “Rapid Charger Infrastructure Promotion Council” (EV: electric vehicle)

1) Energy sector set up “Research Association for Hydrogen Infrastructure Building”
Strong social demand impelled the Japanese energy sector to set up the research association for developing basic technologies for deploying the hydrogen infrastructure for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Japanese automakers will also participate in the research association.
Objective of the research association is to develop technologies of hydrogen extraction and transport, maintenance, and management of hydrogen utilization, and others for the purpose of deploying the hydrogen infrastructure for full-fledge spread of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Large cost taken for building the hydrogen infrastructure urges those companies in the industrial sector to take an action to establish the research association.
About 700 oku-yen will be spent till 2015. * 1 oku-yen = 100,000,000 yen
Several tens of hydrogen stations will be built in the areas of big cities in Japan.
A large scale demonstration test will start within this year by using those stations. Target price of hydrogen supplied to FCV is comparable with the current oil price.
(Prepared based on some Japanese medias)

2) Four big companies set up “Rapid Charger Infrastructure Promotion Council”
Mitsubishi, Subaru, NISSAN, and TEPCO are plan to establish “Rapid Charger Infrastructure Promotion Council (tentative)” within this year.
Those companies will invite other companies to join the council.
[Other companies: e.g., battery charger manufacturers, and battery charger service providers]
Currently, those auto-manufacturers have respectively developed the rapid chargers in cooperation with TEPCO, and currently employ those developed chargers of which specifications are different from one another.
To achieve a full-fledge spread of EVs, it is essential to unify those different specifications.
(Source: http://car.nikkei.co.jp/release/article.aspx?id=227531)

* Mitsubishi and Subaru: launched EVs on this July
* NISSAN: will launch EVs next year, price of the EV is about 2/3 of the current EV sold by other companies.

World’s largest SOFC platform, demonstrated by NexTech Materials

2009-07-31T11:26:00.005+09:00

NexTech Materials, Ltd. recently completed scale-up of its FlexCell™ solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology to a nominal area of 1200 cm2 and power output of 400 watts per cell, believed to be the largest production planar fuel cells.
This development represents a significant accomplishment in the advancement of its planar fuel cell technology, and together with the many advanced features of the FlexCell™ technology, is enabling for large-scale power applications.
NexTech began development of it FlexCell™ platform in 2006 and has previously produced cells in the 50 to 100-watt class.
These have been deployed for production of stacks intended for military, transportation and micro-CHP applications.
The large area cells are intended for large stationary power systems, including combined heat and power systems, distributed generation, and for use in combined coal gasification and fuel cell systems.
NexTech’s FlexCell™ technology:
NexTech’s FlexCell™ technology is an innovative electrolyte-supported SOFC. It incorporates NexTech’s patent pending sulfur tolerant anode system, its durable cathode, and a thin high performance electrolyte. The name is derived from the fuel cell’s ability to operate on a variety of fuels (fuel flexible) and due to its flexible mechanical nature that is manufacturable and durable for a variety of applications.
>> To learn more

Contact:
Dr. Scott Swartz
s.swartz@nextechmaterials.com
(614) 842-6606, extension 103
NexTech Materials, Ltd.
404 Enterprise Drive
Lewis Center, OH 43035
***********************

About NexTech Materials:
NexTech’s vision is to be a global leader in the development and manufacturing of innovative products for energy and environmental markets. NexTech is a leading developer and supplier of materials, components and services for the fuel cell industry and is dedicated to reducing the manufacturing and operating costs of fuel cells and other electrochemical devices. NexTech’s customers are located in over 35 countries and include leading researchers, developers and manufacturers throughout the world. NexTech Materials, Ltd. was founded as a privately held company in 1994 and has grown into one of Ohio’s leading technology companies. NexTech recently expanded its manufacturing and R&D facilities located in Lewis Center Ohio. NexTech has many products in the pipeline including fuel cell stacks for military and residential power applications, sensors for gas detection and control systems, catalysts for energy conversion systems, and membranes for gas separation devices.

Innovative solar lens, no need of sun tracker

2009-07-30T14:34:00.007+09:00

最小高度の光線　solar rays at the minimum altitude of the sun
最大高度の光線 solar rays at the maximum altitude of the sun
入射面 incident face
出光面 light emitting face
前斜面 front slanted face
後斜面 back slanted face

Unique solar lens. The solar lens, while in a stationary state, condenses sun rays coming from every azimuth direction and at every elevation angle and guides them onto the solar module, and substantially halves the solar module area, when the solar lens is applied to the solar panel. Use of the solar lens eliminates the need of using the driving mechanism for turning the solar panel to trace the sun for maximum sun rays gathering.
It is said that if the solar panel is turned so that it always direct its front surface toward the sun, the amount of generated power is 2 to 3 times that generated from the solar module, which is set in stationary state.
As seen from the explanatory diagram above, the solar lens condenses sun rays coming from every azimuth direction and at every elevation angle, and emits the conensed rays from the light emitting face, which is narrower than the incident face.
Thus, the solar lens is capable of condensing sun rays coming from every azimuth direction and at every elevation angle with no aid of the sun tracker.
The solar panel incorporating the solar lens is simple in construction and cost effective, and substantially maintenance free.
The solar lenses thus constructed may be laterally arrayed to form a bar-like lens. The bar-like lens may be made of a single material, such as glass or resin. In this case, molding process may be used for forming the bar-like lens in mass production.
Applications: solar panel, optical duct for natural light, size reduction and performance improvement of ever type of solar heating system, and others.
The inventor is Motoaki Masuda. The current status of invention is in patent pending. The inventor desires to actively utilize the invention in any of the following: 1) production consignment, 2) patent licensing and 3) co-development.
The invention is currently managed by “The Risona Foundation for Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion”.
>> If any question, feel free to contact us at infonenryo@gmail.com.

SDK Develops Bipolar-Type Carbon Separators for PEFCs

2009-07-23T15:18:00.000+09:00

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) has developed new technologies to produce low-cost carbon separators that will increase output density of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Specifically, SDK has established technologies to produce carbon separators with lower cost and lighter weight by making substantial changes in the process and raw materials. At the same time, SDK has achieved an increase of around 30% in output density compared with PEFCs made earlier by SDK on a trial basis. These technical developments have been supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). ... > Source

TOKYO GAS increases sales target number of ENEFARMs

2009-07-22T09:41:00.004+09:00

TOKYO GAS put ENEFARMs (residential fuel cell cogenerating systems) on the market on this May. The results of sales of ENEFARMs show that the ENEFARM cogenerators have been sold in an unexpected way. The number of ENEFARMs having been sold up to now to customers having already built houses has reached the target number of sales.
The fact teaches that the customers who will reform their houses show relatively high interest in ENEFARMs. On the basis of this fact, the company decided to increase the target number of sales from 1,500 units to 2,100 units.
Before putting ENEFARMs on the market, the company predicted that it would be easy to sell ENEFARMs to customers newly building houses.
In the sales plan, the target number of sales of ENEFARMs was set at about 1,500 units a year. About 1,000 units of the target number were assigned to the customers who will build new houses.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Prepared based on "business i".

MAZDA approaches TOYOTA for HV key components

2009-07-18T14:43:00.001+09:00

Yomiuri-Shimbun reported the following:
MAZDA seems to sound out TOYOTA about supply of key components of the hybrid vehicle (HV) to MAZDA.
For the HV key components, the current status of TOYOTA is that the company’s production capacity insufficiently meets the demand by TOYOTA per se.
TOYOTA launched a new model Prius (hybrid vehicle) on this May.
The number of new Prius HVs having been ordered but not yet delivered to customers is about 200,000. Further, TOYOTA has a plan to increase the number of HVs produced a year to about 1,000,000 in early 2010. TOYOTA is increasing the production capacity of manufacturing the HV’s key components of the HVs in connection with plan.
It is noteworthy how TOYOTA makes a final decision on the approach from MAZDA.
>> To learn more, contact Yomiuri-Shimbun or fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com [XYX >> ＠].

SDK Develops Platinum-Substitute PEFC Catalysts with High Efficiency

2009-07-17T12:26:00.006+09:00

Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) has developed new platinum-substitute catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s (NEDO) project led by Professor Kenichiro Ota of Yokohama National University.
These new catalysts comprise a niobium-oxide-based catalyst and a titanium-oxide-based catalyst, each containing carbon and nitrogen atoms. They exhibit the world’s highest levels of efficiency in terms of open circuit voltage and durability among platinum-substitute catalysts so far announced in the world, as follows: ..... >> Source

World’s first tomographing of interior of lithium battery

2009-07-13T17:54:00.002+09:00

A lab team, led by Professor Kawamura, in Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials Tohoku University, succeeded in tomographing the interior of the lithium battery by using the MRI technique, which is widely used in medical fields. This is first in the world.

The success in tomographing the interior of the lithium ion battery enables one to detect the interior destruction and the deterioration of the lithium ion battery. This will contribute to improvement of the safeness of the lithium battery and development of the battery anti-deterioration technology.

While the medical MRI is capable of detecting hydrogen atomic nuclei (protons), it has been difficult for the MRI to detect lithium ions. The lab team succeeded in measuring MRI images of the hydrogen protons. Thus, the lab team clearly showed that the MRI technique could be used for diagnosing deterioration of the lithium battery.

NEDO is carrying out the project of developing the most-advanced electric power storage technology in use for automobiles toward commercialization of next-generation clean energy automobiles, such as plug-in hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. The project is called “Li-EAD project”.
The study by Professor Kawamura, et al has been made as part of the Li-EAD project.

>> To learn more, contact source or fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com [XYX >> ＠]

ENEOS CELLTECH’s ENEFARMs, First Shipped

2009-07-05T00:01:00.013+09:00

ENEOS made the first shipment of ENEFARMs on July 2, 2009.
A ceremony was held to celebrate the first shipment of ENEFARMs.
The representatives from ANRE and Osaka Gas were among the participants at the ceremony.

ENEOS = Nippon Oil Corporation
ENEFARM = common name representative of residential fuel cell cogenerating systems manufactured in Japan
ANRE = Agency for Natural Resources and Energy

ENEOS participated in the “Large-Scale Demonstration Test Project of Residential Fuel Cells”, which was conducted during the period from 2005 to 2008 by NEF (New Energy Foundation). A total of 1,328 ENEOS’s ENEFARMs were tested in the project.
The company begun to book the sales of ENEOS’s ENEFARMs on this May. Prospective customers having already signed agreements for purchase, including customers who are proceeding with purchase procedure, have reached about 500.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
Preapred based on the ENEOS's news release.
Above photo　is courtesy of ENEOS
>> More

Tokyo Gas, develop system for optimizing co-operation of ENEFARM & PV

2009-07-02T15:39:00.001+09:00

The system to be developed controls the voltage of the solar power or PV generator without decreasing the amount of power generated by the generator in a situation where excessive power from the PV generators unexpectedly increases.

In Japan, the sales of ENEFARMs started on this May, and general homes which buy and install PV generators are soaring in number.
In this situation, those homes, which want to buy both the ENEFARM and the PV generator are not small in number.

As known, when a large amount of electric power flows into the power system (power grid system), problems will occur for sure in the power system. For example, the power system voltage rapidly increases, and the power system frequency shifts from the original one.
The PV generator has a function to automatically control the amount of generated power and to suppress the amount of electricity flowing into the power system.

Where the function operates on the excessive power generated, as the number of the PV generators increases, the amount of power generated by each PV generator is more suppressed. As a result, the amount of excessive electric power to be bought by the electric power company also decreases. Decrease of the electricity to be bought will discourage the adoption of the renewable energy generators.

To cope with the problem, Tokyo Gas proposes a new control system, which makes better use of the inverter contained in the ENEFARM for voltage control purpose.

>> More

ENEFARM = common name of every type of residential fuel cell
co-generating system manufactured in Japan.

The 5th International Fuel Cell Workshop 2009

2009-06-29T22:40:00.003+09:00

The 5th International Fuel Cell Workshop 2009 will be held in Kofu, Yamanashi, August 23 and 24.

The Workshop gathers invited oral presentations by top scientists in the PEFC field from the United States, Europe and Asia, including Japan, and contributed posters. An exhibition, with an FC system, FCEVs (including driving demo), and general materials, is also scheduled. The 5th IFCW is sponsored by NEDO, ISE, and University of Yamanashi.

Registration
Date, Location, and Program
Contact
Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center, University of Yamanashi
Takeda 4, Kofu, Yamanashi 400-8510, Japan
IFCW Organizer, Masahiro Watanabe
FAX: +81-55-254-0371 or +81-55-220-8618
TEL: +81-55-220-8619 (Uchida) or +81-55-220-8707 (Miyatake)
E-mail: ifcw@yamanashi.ac.jp

>> More

New catalyst for residential FC co-generating system

2009-06-29T09:40:00.002+09:00

A new catalyst for use with ENEFARM (residential fuel cell co-generating system) was developed by Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center, University of Yamanashi. The catalyst developed this time belongs to the Catalyst for Selectively Methanating CO. With use of the catalyst newly developed, the fuel processor will be cost-reduced by about 20%, and the fuel processor will be volume-reduced to 2/3 of the current processor.

The results of using the new catalyst in the ENEFARM’s fuel process for converting city gas into hydrogen are:
1) Removal of the residual carbon monoxide by at least 99.9%, and
2) Reduction of size, weight and the amount of used catalyst and simplified structure, and much reduction of cost.
It is sure that the new catalyst will accelerate spread of ENEFARMs the sales of which started on this May.

The results of the study will be presented in Symposium of “2009 NEDO Development Results Report on Fuel Cell/Hydrogen Technologies” (June 30, 2009), and “104th Catalyst Forum” (September 27, 2009).
>> To learn more, contact source or contact fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com
[XYX→＠].

Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center, University of Yamanashi
Center director: Professor Masahiro Watanabe

TOYOTA’s 2015 FC vehicle is probably fuel-cell hybrid vehicle, much innovated

2009-06-25T10:27:00.005+09:00

According to Asahi Shimbun, one of the major newspapers in Japan, TOYOTA is plan to sell a new fuel-cell (FC) hybrid vehicle in or before 2015. The new vehicle will be much improved in performances and endurance when compared with the current one. The company intends to foster the new FC hybrid vehicle into the environmentally friendly vehicle, in addition to the hybrid vehicle and the electric vehicle. To this end, the company has plan to place much emphasis on manufacturing cost reduction in development. [http://www.asahi.com/business/update/0623/NGY200906230026.html]

TOYOTA released the fuel cell hybrid vehicle, “TOYOTA FCHV-adv”, in 2008.
To develop the FCHV, TOYOTA gathered and accumulated a vast amount of data through the demonstration and field tests of the FCHV in various conditions and in different countries, and further made steady research efforts to elucidate the mechanisms causing problems. The fuel cell system was renewed on the basis of the results of the analysis and the research, and the low temperature startup performance was improved and the cruising distance was increased.
[http://www.carmode.net/calendar_detail.php?no=177]

Market research on power & energy system sector, by Fuji-keizai

2009-06-24T15:37:00.010+09:00

Fuji-keizai, one of the major market research companies in Japan, publicly released a brief of the market research on the power & energy system sector. The research was conducted during the period from March to May in this year.
The expected and forecast figures of the following items in 2009 and 2017 are tabulated: fuel cell, solar cell,wind power/biomass, secondary batteries/power storage system, heat source equipment, and lighting. For the table, visit Detail-1.
Fuel Cells:
The fuel cell market will grow since the residential fuel cell cogeneration systems will start their sales to general consumers on this May. It is anticipated that the fuel cell market will be driven to rapidly grow by their sales promotion to be conducted.
Solar cells:
Fuikeizai’s forecast figure will be revised upward to a much-increased figure because Prime Minister Aso declared “The Japanese government plans to increase the current number of the solar power generator systems to 20 times by 2020.”
Wind power:
The major electric power companies successively announced plans to aggressively build wind power systems.
Lithium ion batteries:
Full-scale incorporation of the lithium ion batteries into motor vehicles will start from around 2015. Note that the Japanese government has decided to drive development of the electric power storage technologies.
>> To learn more, contact the source or contact fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com
[XYX→＠].

Fuji-Keizai

Motor-driven vehicles world market forecasts, by Fuji-keizai

2009-06-24T13:26:00.009+09:00

Fuji-keizai forecasted the world market of motor-driven vehicles, including electric vehicles, fuel cells vehicles, hybrid vehicles, etc.
The market scale of the motor-driven vehicles will reach 12 cho 1265 oku-yen in 2015. [cho = 10,000 oku-yen, 1 oku-en = 100, 000, 000 yen]
Hybrid vehicles:
Fuji-keizai forecasts the world market scale of the hybrid vehicles in 2015.
The expected figures of strong hybrid, mild hybrid and EV (electric vehicle) in 2015 are 4 cho 4,500, 5 cho 700, and 7,700. [The monetary unit of those figures = oku-yen, for example, 139 means 139 oku-yen, and oku-yen = 100, 000, 000 yen.]
It has been considered that the hybrid vehicle will be an interim vehicle till real commercialization of the fuel cell vehicle. However, it is now the favorite for the environmentally friendly vehicle.
The market scale of the hybrid vehicle is forecast to be 3 cho 7169 oku-yen in 2010, 12 cho 3899 oku-yen in 2011, and 12 cho 1465 oku-yen in 2015. The number of the vehicles will reach 11,120,000 in 2015. The price of the vehicle will rapidly drop since the number of market participants will increase and the mass production plants will be built.
Batteries:
The market scale in 2015 will reach 5,000 oku-yen, and the number of batteries will be 433,000,000.
>> To learn more, contact the source or contact fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com
[XYX→＠].

Organic thin film solar cell, remarkably improved by DNP

2009-06-23T10:36:00.003+09:00

Improvement: The energy conversion efficiency of a large solar cell of 50 mm2 size (square in shape) exceeds 4 percent.
The figures result from the research efforts of Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP). DNP successfully presents one of effective solutions to the problem left unsolved that the energy conversion efficiency decreases as the solar cell size increases.

Sample shipping of the new solar cell will start in 2012. Commercialization of the cell will start in or before 2015.

The organic thin-film solar cell having about 5 percent (conversion efficiency) has been known. The solar cell size is small, about 2 mm2.
If the size of this solar cell is increased to 50 mm2, the conversion efficiency is about 0.1 percent at most.

To solve the problem, the DNP’ researcher established a hypothesis that the conversion efficiency decrease resulting from its size reduction might be due to the electrical energy loss that is created by heat, which is generated in the transparent conductive film when electric power generated is led to the peripheral electrodes.
A try was made to form an auxiliary electrode having a specially designed opening in the transparent conductive film by a modified photo-etching process. Provision of the auxiliary electrode such structured reduces resistance in the electric power path to the peripheral electrode, and reduces the loss by heat generated.
>> To learn more, contact the source or contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com
[XYX→＠].

New solar cell backseat, not using aluminum

2009-06-23T08:50:00.003+09:00

Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP) has revealed a new solar cell backseat with extremely high water-vapor barrier property.
With this solar cell backseat, the solar cell manufacturing field has entered a post-aluminum foil era.

No aluminum foil is used. The price is low. Water-vapor barrier property: 0.01g/cm2・day. The price: comparable with that of the previous aluminum-foil based backseat.
The sample shipping of the new backseat will start soon. 500 million Yen (target sales amount) will be reached in 2012.
A new converting process, developed anew, enables the formation of the new backseat. The converting process uses a non-oxide vapor deposited film having high water-vapor barrier property and an adhesive having high weather resistance

As known, use of the aluminum foil for the solar cell backseat is a common practice particularly in the thin film solar cell and the crystal solar cell because high water-vapor barrier property is essentially required for the solar cells. The process to electrically insulate the ends of the aluminum foil is also essential to eliminate a chance of electrical contact of the aluminum foil with the wires led from the solar cell. This is a serious workload.
>> To learn more, contact the source or contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com
[XYX→＠].

New motor drive system for hybrid-electric vehicles, co-developed by Yasukawa and Mazda

2009-06-22T10:11:00.005+09:00

Yasukawa Electric Corporation, in cooperation with MAZDA, has successfully developed a new motor drive system for hybrid-electric vehicles. The motor drive system has been applied to Mazda's Premacy Hydrogen Hybrid Rotary Engine. The motor drive system is made up of IPM (interior permanent magnet) motors, IPM generator and a power control unit.

Hybrid system: of the series hybrid type.
Power control unit: High efficiency, small size, two inverters combined, one for the wheel driving motors, and the other for the generator to extract optimum electric power from the engine
Generator: newly developed
Electronic winding switching techniqu: newly developed, and is applied to the inverter for driving the motors. The electronic winding switching technique is based on the winding switching techniques, which have been developed in the stage where the company developed industrial motor drive for machine tools.
This newly developed winding switching technique significantly increased the motor efficiency in medium- and high-speed ranges.
>> To learn more, contact the source or contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com [XYX→＠].

Yasukawa Electric Corporation
Mazda Motor Corporation

Aquafairy’s micro fuel cell = $50, and cartridge = $1

2009-06-17T14:54:00.019+09:00

Fuel is not methanol, and non-toxic and non-poisonous.
Fuel is combination of water and hydrogen generation agent.
Light, small, and satisfactory charging capacity:
Volume ≑ 20 cm3
Weight ≑ 20 g, 35 g (when attached with cartridge)
Output power ≑ 3.0 W
Charging capacity ≑ 5 Whr

What the user has to do for operating the fuel cell is to simply set a cartridge containing hydrogen generation agent and water to the fuel cell.
The company started the sample shipping from this April, and will start sales of the fuel cells toward general users on April 2010.
At the present stage the company seems to have no plan to sell the products overseas.

If interested, please read “108: Aquafairy's PEFC Charger is Ready for Mass Production” of News2008-4, and, if necessary, contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com　[XYX→＠].

Aquafairy Corporation: Kyoto based company founded on June 30, 2006. The company develops and sells micro fuel cells using unique hydrogen generators in collaboration with NTT DOCOMO.
url: http://www.aquafairy.co.jp/

Patent Administration Annual Report 2009, disclosed by JPO

2009-06-16T11:07:00.007+09:00

“Patent Administration Annual Report 2009” was disclosed on June 12, 2009.
The annual report describes the present status and direction of the Japanese policies on Intellectual properties, trends and analysis on domestic and overseas policies on intellectual properties, statistics information, and the like.
JPO = Japan Patent Office

Annual report outline:
1. The number of patent applications for countries outside Japan increased, but the number of domestic patent applications decreased.
2. The number of primary examination for patent applications increased to 340,3000. This results from employing fixed-term examiners and outsourcing the prior art researches work
3. Effort has been made to increase the number of countries, which accept the setting-up of “Patent Prosecution Highway” with Japan, to assist Japanese patent applicants to acquire patent rights in countries outside Japan.
4. In the university sector in the intellectual property fields, the number of patent applications decreased, but the number of licenses increased.
The intellectual property activity in the university sector has entered a new phase.
To assist the sector to cope with the new situation, JPO (Japan patent office) has sent professionals expertised in producing and licensing intellectual properties to the sector.
>> To learn more, contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com　[XYX→＠].
Press release material-1
Press release material-2

NGK successfully develops high efficiency SOFC

2009-06-11T16:23:00.004+09:00

The stationary SOFC stack used in the test was: the output power = 700 W and the operation temperature = 800 degrees of centigrade.
The test results were:
Power generation efficiency = 63% (LHV),
Fuel utilization efficiency = 90%
Will be used at:
Homes, offices, shopping centers, etc.

The SOFC has a unique structure based on the sophisticated ceramic technology. As known, NGK has excellent ceramic technologies, cultivated through many years of study and experiments.
>> To learn more, contact us at fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com　[XYX→＠].

Nissei accelerates development of fuel cells in use for industrial robots

2009-06-04T19:46:00.003+09:00

"Nissei accelerates development of the industrial robot and the fuel cell for driving the robot. This results from the fact that with the recent economic turndown, the order of company’s major products, including gear boxes and gears, sharply fell down (Nikkei).”

Nissei has developed and manufactured fuel cell products t hat are optimized for motor driving. The motor frequently experiences instantaneous and abrupt load variations during its operation. Such variations reduce the service life of the fuel cell. The problem was successfully solved by coupling the electric double layer capacitor..
To learn more, contact the source or me = fcj-1XYXfuelcelljpn.com　[XYX→＠].

About NISSEI CORPORATION: Aichi-based auto-parts company.
Major products: gearmotors and linear actuators, small fine-pitch gears, die-cast parts

Co-development of SiC power device prototypes and their applied system

2009-06-03T17:39:00.005+09:00

AIST collaborates with Fuji Electric Advanced Technology for developing SiC power device mass-production prototypes and for demonstration-testing its applied systems, with intention of establishing the production technique of the SiC power device chips to stably and quickly supply the device chips the amount of which is required for the inverter development.

AIST = Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
SiC = silicon carbide

In current situations of calling for co2 reduction and power saving, much attention has been paid to the SiC power device having its advantageous features of large capacity and low loss, and also to the inverter using such SiC power devices.
The SiC power device per se has been developed to satisfactory levels, but the inverter using the SiC power devices remains in unsatisfactory levels.
This results from the following reasons. The companies having developed the SiC power devices are different from those having developed their applied systems. On account of this, it is difficult to stably and quickly supply reliable and high-quality SiC power devices. This impedes the development of the inverter using a number of SiC power devices. To put the SiC inverter into practice, it is essential to form SiC inverter prototypes and to demonstration-test the prototype inverters.
Source: AIST’s press release
References:
1) Significantly improved next generation power semiconductor device
- About 70% reduction of power loss is realized in 11 kW SiC inverter -
http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/news/2009/0218-d.htm
２）SiC power device technology
http://www.jeita.or.jp/japanese/exhibit/06MrTakami.pdf
3) SiC devices and their application technologies
Shin－ichi Kinouchi, Hiroshi Nakatake, Masayuki Imaizumi
http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/giho/0507/0507107.pdf
４）World’s first high power module containing SiC semiconductor devices designed for next generation electric vehicle, co-developed by Honda R&D and ROHM
http://www.rohm.co.jp/news/080911.html
5) What's SiC?
Shinano Electric Refining Co., Ltd.
http://www.shinano-sic.co.jp/en/w_sic.html

To learn more, contact news source or us.

TEPCO uses Alstom’s wind turbines for new wind firm

2009-06-02T10:50:00.004+09:00

Alstom’s wind turbines will be employed for a first wind firm project of TEPCO, which will be built at Higashi Izu in Shizuoka prefecture.
Alstom will supply, install, and operate 11 Eco74 wind turbines at the wind firm.
The total output power of the wind power generators is about 18 megawatts. The operation of the wind power generation system will start in October 2011.
The successful order from TEPCO proved that Alstom’s design techniques completely satisfied the strict requirements of “Building Standards Law” in Japan, including requirements on seismic criterion and turbulence measure.
Related link 1
Related link 2
To learn more, contact me = fcj-1@fuelcelljpn.com (plan to use SSL)
TEPCO = Tokyo Electric Power Company, largest electric power company in Japan

Succeeded in recycling co2 into methane by using methanogen

2009-06-01T09:40:00.001+09:00

Professor Kozoh Satoh (petroleum engineering) in Tokyo University successfully converted co2 into methane as the main component of the natural gas, in a condition equivalent to a state in which co2 is buried deep in the earth (Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2009, May 21, 2009). The new technology presents the possibility of putting a recycling system to recover and recycle emitted CO2 into practice.
To learn more, please contact the source or us = infonenryo@gmail.com
Source: http://mainichi.jp/select/science/news/20090522k0000e040077000c.html

Hy9 releases hydrogen generators for FC backup power applications

2009-05-31T11:01:00.001+09:00

The Hy9 HGS-M series of hydrogen generators, using planar metal membranes, are designed for PEM fuel cell backup power applications requiring extended runtime hydrogen supply. It operates on a fuel mixture of methanol and water to provide extended runtime with a fuel consumption rate of under one-third of a gallon per kilowatt-hour. A 1.7 kW fuel cell can be powered for 24 hours on just 11 gallons of fuel. From standby, the unit will ramp to full output of hydrogen in less than one minute.
Links:
1) http://hy9.com/Hydrogen5-27-09.pdf
2) http://hy9.com/staproducts.html

Hy9 Corporation: Based in Hopkinton, Massachusetts (USA), and a manufacturer of high performance fuel processing and hydrogen purification systems for the portable power, stationary and backup power, industrial gas and transportation markets. Hy9 Corporation’s technology portfolio for producing and purifying hydrogen is built around a planar metal membrane that extracts pure hydrogen from hydrogen containing gas mixtures much like a filter.

Australian residential fuel-cell cogenerator debuts in the market in early 2010

2009-05-30T17:35:00.011+09:00

The Premier of Victoria has officially launched “BlueGen”(residential SOFC cogenerator) manufactured by Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. on May 22, 2009.
Product name = BlueGEN, type of fuel cell = SOFC, fuel = natural gas, output power = 2 kW (max.), size = dishwasher, price = $8,000/unit, Sales = negotiating with potential customers, payback period = 7 years, product lifetime = 15 years.
>> More

SOFC (in Japan): Next generation fuel cell. Power generation efficiency is higher than that of current PEFC. In Japan, the SOFC cogenerators will enter a real commercialization stage around 2015, and are under demonstration test. If you have some questions about this matter, please contact us (infonenryo@fcpat-japan.com).

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd. (CFCL):
Formed in 1992 by Australia's CSIRO (Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation) and a consortium of leading energy and industrial companies.
Under the agreement, CFCL and Paloma will work together to evaluate and develop a commercial m-CHP product by integrating CFCL's advanced fuel cell module with a Paloma home heating appliance.
VicUrban:
Victorian Government's sustainable urban development agency committed to delivering prosperous and successful communities in regional and metropolitan Victoria.

Direct observation of Fermi surface of heavy electron, and new solid electrolyte for batteries

2009-05-28T11:40:00.002+09:00

SPring-8 has emitted two excellent technologies recently. SPring-8 = large-scale synchrotron radiation facility located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.
1) World’s first direct observation of actual formation of the Fermi surface of the heavy electron
The Fermi surface of the heavy electron was observed when the researcher team selectively observed specific electron orbitals in a “resonant angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy” experiment, which used soft x-ray radiation in SPring-8. The successful observation provides a clue to the attractive superconducting mechanism coexisting with magnetism. The study result will be online published on Physical Review Letters, May 27, 2009/05/28.

2) New solid electrolyte for batteries
The solid electrolyte developed has extremely high ion conductivity even at room temperature, and is stable and highly heat resistive at atmospheric pressure. It will accelerate the development of high performance batteries. The battery user will be released from dangerous accident (e.g., explosion) inherent to the liquid electrolyte thus far used.
The study result was online published on Nature Materials, May 17, 2009
(title)
"Size-controlled stabilization of the superionic phase to room temperature in polymer-coated AgI nanoparticles"
Rie Makiura, Takayuki Yonemura, Teppei Yamada, Miho Yamauchi, Ryuichi Ikeda, Hiroshi Kitagawa, Kenichi Kato & Masaki Takata

If any interesting in those technologies, please contact the sources or us
(=infonenryo@fcpat-japan.com)

EBARA decides to pull out of fuel cell business and to dissolve Ebara-Ballard

2009-05-26T12:25:00.003+09:00

The difficult economic turndown that is originated from the global financial crisis continues, and there is still uncertainty in economical recovery. In the present stage of the residential fuel cell cogenerator business having entered its real commercialization, further management resources must be invested for the mass-production and cost reduction of the cogenerators. Under this economic situation, the company has decided that it is difficult to further continue the fuel cell business. It is true that the company has thus far utilized every resource available with hope that the residential FC cogenerator business would be a promised business in the medium- and long-range forecast.

Source: Excerpted from Ebara’s press release

20-cm-Long Fault-Current Limiter Element Using Superconducting Oxide Thin Film, Remarkably Improved

2009-05-25T16:54:00.010+09:00

Contents:１) Improvements, 2) Brief summary, 3) Background description, 4) Principle description, and 5) New fault-current limiter element

1) Improvements
a) Increase of fault-current limiter element capacity
The research team succeeded in increasing the capacity of the new fault-current limiter to 500 V/200 A.
b) Remarkable cost reduction of the fault-current limiter element
Withstand voltage of the fault-current limiter element is significantly increased.
The fault-current limiter element can withstand the voltage 4 times as high as of the previous fault-current limiter element. In other words, the required length of the superconducting oxide thin film could be reduced to 1/4 or shorter, and this fact leads to remarkable cost -reduction of the current limiter element.

The improvements were made by a research team, led by Hirobumi Yamazaki, in superconductor technology group, Energy Technology Research Institute (RTRI), AIST (national institute of advanced industrial science and technology)

2) Brief summary
A new fault-current limiter element of only 20 cm long was constructed, and tested while being placed in liquid nitrogen. It was confirmed in the test that current of 237 A (effective value, rms) flowed through the fault-current limiter element, at zero resistance. A further test of the fault-current limiter element was conducted under high voltage of 500 V.
It was confirmed that the fault-current limiter element instantaneously limited fault-current to 1/3 or smaller. Unless the fault-current limiter element is used, the fault-current was 2.26 kA. Also in the test, current flow of five cycles was observed (also see Figs. 4 and 6). Connection of eight fault-current limiter elements could form one phase of a fault-current limiter element of a 3-phase 6.6 kV/200. “From the above experimental facts, it is confident to realize a practical superconducting fault-current limiter of several tens kV/several hundreds amperes, which is featured by low cost, compact, low loss, and quick response,” said AIST.

3) Background description
Wind power generators are increasing and will be more increasing in the near future.
If a fault, for example, a short-circuiting fault, occurs in one of the wind power generators, which are connected to the existing electric power distribution network,
short-circuit current flows into the power distribution network and will give rise to a serious problem, for example, damaging of the power facilities, in the network.
The fault-current limiter prevents such an overcurrent from flowing into the power distribution network. The superconducting thin film fault-current limiter element, developed this time, will be, for sure, one of the effective solutions to the problems which will occur when a number of the distributed power systems based on new energy#1 are connected to the existing electric power distribution network.
Actually, there is a strong demand for the superconducting fault-current limiter of low cost and high reliability. The reality is far from this demand, however.
A major reason for this is that the superconducting thin film is expensive.
There are many approaches to developing a fault-current limiter, which uses a superconducting tape wire having a metal base material.
The fault-current limiter needs the wire of which the length is 100 times the length of the superconducting thin film. From this it is readily seen that the current limiter has many problems to be solved, for example, high cost, large size and large loss (in the normal conducting state).

4) Principle description
Related diagrams = Figs. 1 and 2
The superconducting thin-film fault-current limiter element is made up of a superconducting oxide thin film, a gold-silver alloy layer, and a non-inductive winding shunt resistor.
The superconducting oxide thin film was formed by using the MOD process, originally developed by AIST. (The S - N transition property of the super conducting thin film is utilized for the fault-current limiter. S = superconducting and N = normal.)
The gold-silver alloy layer (having high resistivity) was vapor-deposited on a superconducting oxide thin film (having a large area).
The gold-silver alloy layer serves as a shunt protecting layer.

In terms of circuit connection, both ends of the superconducting oxide thin film is connected to the power source terminals. The shunt protecting layer and the non-inductive winding shunt resistor are connected in parallel with the superconducting oxide thin film (Fig. 1). The shunt protecting layer and non-inductive winding shunt resistor are provided to avoid the hot-spot phenomenon#2, which inherently occurs in the superconducting oxide thin film.
In the fault-current limiter element constructed above, with high resistance of the superconducting oxide thin film, the voltage (tolerable electric field) that is allowed to be applied to the superconducting oxide thin film per unit length of the film, could be increased to have a voltage value, which is about 4 times as large as that when the Au-Ag shunt protecting layer of high resistivity is not used. In other words, the necessary length of the superconducting thin film could be reduced to 1/4 or shorter, resulting in cost reduction of the current limiter element. This fault-current limiter element well operated where it is small in size. The current limiter element was proposed on November 2004.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

5) New fault-current limiter element
In the electric power distribution network including the fault-current limiter elements coupled to the network, when the electric power handled by the network is large, the fault -current limiter element must be designed to have a large rated current.
Accordingly, the ampacity of the superconducting thin film of the fault-current limiter element must also be increased. The increase of the ampacity raises the level of the hotspot problem. The researchers have made a try of supplementing the overcurrent shunting function that the external shunt resistor has. Exactly, a capacitor of small capacitance, commercially available, was connected across the superconducting thin film (Fig. 2). The external resistor and the capacitor, together with the superconducting thin film, were placed in liquid nitrogen. ….
More (in English) >> please contact us (= infonenryo@fcpat-japan.com)
Source: AIST’s press release

Tags: fault-current limiter, fault-current limiter element, superconducting oxide thin film, AIST, wind power generators, short-circuiting fault, electric power distribution network

Succeeded in Directly Observing a Change in Nanoparticle Surface Structure

2009-05-02T18:32:00.005+09:00

JASRI and NEC have collaboratively developed a world’s first method for observing in real time a change in the surface structure of a nanoparticle in an aqueous solution by using the large-scale synchrotron radiation facility, Spring-8, and succeeded in clarifying in atom level a deterioration mechanism of the electrode catalyst in the fuel cell.

The method developed this time is based on the combination of the energy dispersive XFS (Fig. 1) and the high energy X-ray diffraction method.
The method enables one to observe, at intervals of milliseconds, the structure of the uppermost surface of the nano-particle where chemical reactions occur.

Observation was made of a deterioration phenomenon of platinum catalyst in the fuel cell by using the method. It was observed that an irreversible crystal structure change occurred in the oxide layer of the outermost surface of the platinum nano-particle. At this time, a volume expansion from the a-phase to b-phase also occurred concurrently (Fig. 2). From this it was confirmed that catalyst deterioration by elution of platinum occurred.

Details of the study will be presented on "Journal of the American Chemical Society", May 6, 2009.
Title: "In situ and real-time monitoring of oxide growth in a few monolayers at surfaces of platinum nanoparticles in aqueous media", by Imai Hideto, Izumi Koichi, Matsumoto Masashi, Kubo Yoshimi, Kato Kazuo and Imai Yasuhiko
[Copyright by FuelCell japan: http://www.fcpat-japan.com/]
>> More

Fig. 1 and Fig. 2: see here.
JASRI = Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute

RENEWABLE ENERGY 2009 TOKYO FAIR

2009-04-29T22:51:00.016+09:00

Cutting-edge technologies and products, and industrial and other information in new and renewable energy fields (12 categoies). "PVJapan 2009" is also held concurrently. Organized by Japan Councile for Renewable Energy.

June 24 (wed) to 26 (Fri), 2009
Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan

Exhibit Categories
Access to venue
Exhibition guide
>> More

Japan Councile for Renewable Energy (JCRE): organized incorporating NEDO, AIST and NEF and related academias on June 8, 2007.
NEDO, AIST and NEF are Japanese goverment backed organizations.
NEDO: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
AIST: Advanced Industrial Science And Technology
NEF: New Energy Foundation

"FuelCell japan-1"

Next generation solar cell turns the doorknob to real commercialization

TOSHIBA completes new ENEFARM

Magnesium, fuel to metal fuel cell

New electrolytic cell for hydrogen generation, developed by Toshiba

Great step toward explosion-free lithium ion battery

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications (KOKAI)

Two Technical News：1) SOFC Electrolyte Operable at < 300 degrees C、2) Precise Doping Process

Succeeds in manufacturing low-temp SOFC modules using micro-tube SOFC cells

FC Chargers, Now Commercially Available from Aquafairy, and Micro SOFCs

Titanium Oxide Solidified Body Absorbs and Stably Confines a Large Amount of Cesium

Micro SOFC Now in Japan

Photovoltaic/Storage Cell

What I Think of Fukushima Nuclear Reactor Accident

ARIOS’ platinum catalyst formation rate is 50 times compared to the conventional one

SOFC-based home fuel cell systems are put into the market this autumn

PEFC Operable in Intermediate Temperature Region

Micro-tubular SOFC Directly Reforms Hydrocarbon Fuel at 450℃ or Lower and Generates Electric Power

“Hydrogen Town Project” is going on in Japan

Car and Energy Sectors Actually Move toward Early Stage Market of FCVs in Japan

Another micro SOFC operating at 450 Celsius degree or lower

SOFC and PEFC, their Operating Temperatures Go toward Intermediate Temperatures

Actual EV Market Starts to Move

SiEnergy Systems Successfully Prototypes Micro SOFC

Solid Electrolyte Materials for Intermediate-Temperature Use are Developed Anew

All-Solid-State Thin-Film Lithium Ion Battery: Its Trial Product is Successfully Manufactured by AIST and Toyota

Norway’s New Fuel Cell System – eliminate the need of hydrogen infrastructure?

Big Step toward Realization of Micro SOFCs for Small Electronics Devices

Switched Reluctance Motor Supersedes Rare Earth-Contained Motors

Oxygen Ion Distribution in SOFC Cells, Successfully Visualized

“Hydrogen Embrittlement”, this tough nut is cracked at last

Sulfur-Doped Fe-Te Says “I Need More Wine”

United Natural Foods purchases a Large Volume of Fuel-Cell Driven Lift Trucks

Direct Flame Exposure Type Fuel Cell

New Outdoor Radio Clock Using Electric Double Layer Condenser for Electric Storage

Single-layer Carbon Nanotube Electrode Capacitor Not Using Current Collectors

Great Solution to “Hydrogen Embrittlement Problem”, - Open the flood gates of fuel cell real commercialization ? -

SENATOR DORGAN HONORED FOR LEADERSHIP TO ADVANCE HYDROGEN AND FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES

“Silver Phosphate Is a Highly Active Photocatalytic Material Responsive to Visible Light”, Discovered by NIMS

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Industries Join Call to Increase Clean Energy Investment

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX RESULTS THROUGH 1st QUARTER 2010

Shell’s attitude to and Activities Performance on CO2 Reduction

ACAL Energy Completes Funding Round - 3.5 million Pounds Raised in First Close -

Dual Functional Lithium-Water Battery - Generates Hydrogen & Electricity -

Tokuyama Constructs Trial Production Lines for FC Electrolyte Membranes

High-Pressure Hydrogen Gas Hose, Not Using Steel Wires

Next Generation Vehicle Deployment Plans in Japan – Till 2030 -

Infrequent Updating of My Blog & Site

Hybrid field motor for next generation vehicles - Rare-earth Used is halved in Amount -

Clean Energy US Patents in 2009, Increased by 20%

Research Report on Japan Fuel Cell Market in 2009, Published by Fuji-Keizai

NTM Sensors announces a new product - SenseH2tm Hydrogen Sensor

ACAL Energy Leads Field Demonstration of Platinum-Free Cathode Fuel Cell System

SRM becomes competitive with IPMSM in performance

Two green technologies emerge from Panasonic

Lateral-Stripe Type SOFC System: its Demonstration Test Starts

2010 Global Market Analysis/Survey on Green-Energy Materials

Electrolyte solution in use for the next generation 5-V class Li-ion battery

Basic technology for using “lithium metal” for negative electrode

Rechargeable battery: Its remarkable performance improvements, ensured by recent research results

Kerosene-fueled 3-kW SOFC system, successfully co-developed

Hiroshima University collaborates with LANL on development of hydrogen storage non-metallic materials

Patent Prosecution Highway Pilot Programs start among Japan, USA and Europe early next year

Aquafairy enters production and sales stage of micro-FC based battery chargers

Two recent press releases from Japan

‘Global Cleantech 100’ lists ACAL Energy

Micro-tubular SOFC Directly Reforms Hydrocarbon Fuel at 450℃ or Lower and Generates Electric Power

ACAL Energy Starts Operation of 1kW Liquid Cathode Fuel Cell System

New power converter of high-voltage/large-capacity; switching frequency = 2kHz

Energy sector set up “Research Association for Hydrogen Infrastructure Building”

World’s largest SOFC platform, demonstrated by NexTech Materials

Innovative solar lens, no need of sun tracker

SDK Develops Bipolar-Type Carbon Separators for PEFCs

TOKYO GAS increases sales target number of ENEFARMs

MAZDA approaches TOYOTA for HV key components

SDK Develops Platinum-Substitute PEFC Catalysts with High Efficiency

World’s first tomographing of interior of lithium battery

ENEOS CELLTECH’s ENEFARMs, First Shipped

Tokyo Gas, develop system for optimizing co-operation of ENEFARM & PV

The 5th International Fuel Cell Workshop 2009

Hybrid field motor for next generation vehicles - Rare-earth　Used is halved in Amount -