Two green technologies emerge from Panasonic

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

Durability of the lateral stripe cell stack has been remarkably improved.
The durability test of the cell stack bundle was tested. From the test res

2010 Global Market Analysis/Survey on Green-Energy Materials

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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New catalyst for residential FC co-generating system

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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.
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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

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

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

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

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.

If you want to read more, please feel free to contact us at:
http://www.fcpat-japan.com/AboutUs.htm
We don't accept free-mail addresses.
free-mail addresses はご遠慮ください。

RENEWABLE ENERGY 2009 TOKYO FAIR

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

ENEOS CELLTECH’s plant completes for fuel cell cogenerator mass production

ENEOS CELLTECH completes a plant for mass-producing ENEFARMs.
Production plant outline:
1) Built in the Gunma factory site of SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
2) LPG & city gas based FC cogenerators
3) * FC cogenerator production has already started from April 2009 using
a part of the same plant
* 2010: plant capable of 10,000 units/year (to be built)
* 2015: plant capable of 40,000 units/year
4) 150,000 units (total number) to be produced from 2009 to 2015
Source: ENEOS CELLTECH's press release
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

ENEFARM = residential fuel cell cogenerator, see news item No. (78)

NYK LINE Unveiled a Future Concept Eco-Ship

The future concept ship, called “NYK Super Eco-ship 2030”, is a container ship.
“NYK Super Eco-ship 2030” is designed aiming at achieving about 70% CO2 reduction in the marine transportation and commercializing the eco-ship up to around 2030. New technologies, which are theoretically feasible, but not yet commercialized, will be used for the future ship.
NYK LINE = Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha

The following will be achieved in the future eco-ship:
1) To reduce the propulsion required for driving the ship by reducing the ship weight and friction resistance, and
2) To use LNG-fueled fuel cells, solar power and wind power for propulsion power.
69% reduction of CO2 emission per container unit will be realized by using the combination of those power sources.
[Copyright by FuelCell japan]

Co-developed by:
Monohakobi Technology Institute (MTI), subsidiary of NYK LINE
Garroni Progetti S.r.l. = design company in Italy
Elomatic Marine = ship design, consulting & engineering company in Finland

Photo: Click here.

My Eye-Catching News 4-1

1. Nisshinbo succeeded in commercializing the carbon alloy catalyst (one of candidate platinum-substitution catalysts under development in Japan). The cost of the carbon alloy catalyst is about 1/6 when compared with the platinum catalyst having the performance almost equal to the former in level. The power generation performance of the platinum-substitution catalyst is the world’s top class. The real commercialization of the new catalyst is sure to lead to remarkable cost reduction of the resultant PEFC base fuel cell.
Power generation performances of the carbon alloy catalyst:
Open voltage: 0.98V
Voltage at 0.2A/cm2: 0.67V
Output density: 525mW/cm2
http://www.nisshinbo.co.jp/news/news20090331_495.html
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/sangyo/20090331AT1D2101S30032009.html

2. TDK succeeded in developing a new “DC to DC converter” for use with the car-carried battery. The converter is capable of converting 100 to 300 V of the battery output to 14 V. The weight of the new converter is reduced by 45% and the volume is reduced to 5% when compared with those of the conventional converter. The converters are currently used by the Honda’s new hybrid vehicle “Insight”.
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/business/090330/biz0903302136029-n1.htm

3. Ishizeki Precision Co., Ltd. has decided to shift its current major business, which is handling the products in the fields of electric and electronics, to the business handling products in the cleantech fields. The company has a plan to begin mass-production of metal parts of fuel cells and light emission diodes (LED) within this year (2009).
http://www.nikkan.co.jp/news/nkx0120090401baal.html

4. The Japanese and the US governments announced a comprehensive collaboration on studying the cutting-edge cleantech technologies in eight technical fields. Both countries will sign a memorandum of understanding on the study collaboration as soon as possible. The participants in the collaboration program are AIST (advanced industrial science and technology) in Japan, DOE’s LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory), and other three laboratories in the US. The study collaboration, if succeeded, will greatly influence the technology development in other major countries, including European and Asian countries.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/eco/news/20090329-OYT1T00018.htm?from=navrhttp://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=113274&servcode=A00§code=A00

5． A new electrolyte that exhibits a high hydrogen-ion conductivity in the medium-temperature region was developed by Associate Professor Jun Kuwano et al in Tokyo University of Science. The performances of the electrolyte are superior to those of the current PEFC electrolyte. The new electrolyte will enhance the heat source ability of the cogeneration system, and increase the number of choices for the platinum substitution electrodes.
http://www.nikkan.co.jp/news/nkx0620090403aaaa.html

If interested in any of the above news articles, please contact the news source(s) or us (= infonenryo@fcpat-japan.com).

My Eye-Catching News 3-5

１． Osaka Gas, KYOCERA, TOYOTA MOTOR, and AISIN SEIKI Co., Ltd. have agreed to jointly develop residential SOFC cogeneration system. It seems that the aim of the agreement is to quicken the real commercialization of the SOFC cogeneration system for home use. They plan to complete the development of the residential SOFC cogeneration system till the first half of 2010, next year. As known, the PEFC cogeneration systems for home use is scheduled to begin selling of them on May of this year. The distributors of the home-use PEFC cogenerators are Tokyo Gas and other big energy companies in Japan.
http://www.aisin.co.jp/news/d00191.html

2. Tokyo Gas:
2-1) Tokyo Gas has completed a technology which is capable of producing hydrogen while keeping down CO2 emission even in small-scale facilities. The company has a plan to design hydrogen stations each supplying hydrogen to general family homes located near the hydrogen station, as well as to FCVs coming to the station.
http://www.business-i.jp/news/ind-page/news/200903240003a.nwc
2-2) Tokyo gas has decided to redesign the current residential PEFC cogeneration system, generally called ENEFARM, to reduce its size so that it is installable at multi-family housing. The FC cogenerators so size reduced will be sold in the first half of 2010. Tokyo Gas has a plan to sell 42,000 PEFC cogenerator units till the end of 2013. Other big energy companies as well as Tokyo gas are actively developing many sales strategies and continue the effort of developing new technologies, including cost reduction technology.
http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20090314AT1D1308513032009.html

3． 　SAPPORO Breweries, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A and ERGOSTECH, RENEWABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS LTDA. will cooperatively perform a demonstration test of a project of producing bio fuels, including hydrogen, from cellulose bio-mass of the residue of the crops in Brazil.
http://www.sapporobeer.jp/CGI/newsrelease/detail/00000133/

4． Katayama Rivet & Screw Co., Ltd. exhibited unique products in FC EXPO 2009. This is the second time in a row that the company has participated in the expo. The products exhibited include new products, high strength stainless screws and titanium screws. The company expects that the sales of company’s screw products will increase in those fields.
http://www.nejinews.co.jp/news/fastener/archive/eid1852.html

5. Nagoya university has a plan to develop a large scale electron microscope which enables the observer to directly view chemical reaction processes in atom level, in cooperation with private companies. The development will be completed after one year. The world’s first microscope, when completed, is expected to have great contribution to the research and development of new catalysts and efficient fuel cells.
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/article/2009032290111135.html

Also read:
1) (75) Succeeded in Dynamically Observing Hydrogen Releasing Reaction
(by Graduate School of Engineering Hokkaido University & Institute for Advanced Materials Research (Hiroshima University)
News item No. 75, http://www.fcpat-japan.com/News2008-3.html
2) 113: Succeeded in Visualizing Incoming and Outgoing Motions of Lithium Ions at Positive Electrode by Electron Microscope (by AIST)
New item No. 113, http://www.fcpat-japan.com/News2008-4.html

If interested in any of the above news articles, please contact the news source(s) or us (= infonenryo@fcpat-japan.com)

World’s First Use of Bio-Process for Forming Platinoid Element Nanoparticle Catalyst

A bio-process has successfully formed platinoid element nanoparticle catalyst.
Specifically, iron-reducing bacteria (IRB) were used for forming the catalyst.
This process is different from the conventional engineering process.
This is the world’s first success.
The bio-process is economic and environment friendly.

Developed by:
Dr. Yoshinori Suzuki and Toshihiko Ohnuki, chief researcher (Advanced Science Research Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency)
Professor Yohichi Enokida and joint research team (EcoTopia Science Institute, Nagoya University)

As is known, the platinoid element has an excellent catalytic ability.
The platinoid element has been used for fuel cells, for removing causative agents of photochemical smog, acid rain, etc., isotope exchange, for isotope exchange.
The nanoparticle has a large ratio of the surface area to the volume.
Many processes to form the platinoid element nanoparticle catalyst have been developed and are currently used. Those processes suffer from problems, however.

The physically crushing method has the following problems: When large particles are crushed into nanoparticles, impurity substances are mixed into the nanoparticles (poor impurity), and nanoparticles tend to agglutinate.
The chemical precipitation method needs a large-scale system for making the nanoparticle grow from a seed as chemical reaction proceeds.
Much efforts have been made to seek the best ways to form the nanoparticle catalyst all over the world. It is note that in such circumstances, the bio-process to form the nanoparticle catalyst has been created.

The researchers focused attention on the fact that specific microorganisms couple to the transuranic element, for example.
Iron-reducing bacteria were added to a platinic acid solution and a palladium acid solution. It was observed that platinoid particles of nano-scale were formed on the cell of the iron-reduction bacterium (see Fig. 1).
“Microorganism cells - platinoid particles” were placed on diatomaceous earth for the isotope exchange hydrogen (H2) with deuterium (D2) (H2 + D2 → 2HD).
The efficiency of the isotope exchange was about 6 times of that when only the platinum particles are used. Excellent catalytic ability was exhibited.

The researchers said:
1) The iron-reducing bacteria have other functions, for example, function to mineralize uranium.
2) The possibility is present that other microorganisms, for example, yeast, have excellent functions.
3) We hope to find other functions of the microorganism, to elucidate their mechanisms and to propose additional bio-processes.
4) We hope to develop new catalysts that are operable in intensive radiation conditions.
[Excerpted from Press Release by Japan Atomic Energy Agency]

The latest Reports on Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies in Japan

Did you know? The most recent reports on fuel cell and hydrogen technologies in Japan are downloadable free of charge. Those reports are all written and edited by Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology Development Department in NEDO.
1) Development of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies 2008 to 2009, （2.76MB）, Issued on October 2008
Contents is here.
2) Industry-Academia Consortium PEFC Project To Shed Light on Fuel Cell Mechanism（2.14MB）, issued on October 2008,
Contents is here.

If any question, please ask NEDO or contact me.

JSR Completes Construction of Mass-Production Plant for Producing Hydrocarbon Electrolyte Membranes

JSR has completed the construction of a mass-production plant for producing hydrocarbon electrolytic membranes for fuel cells at its factory site of Yokkaichi City in Mie Prefecture. The production capability of the plant is equivalent to the number of the hydrocarbon electrolytic membranes used by ten thousands to twenty thousands of motor vehicles per year. JSR has already operated the semi-commercial plant for producing the electrolyte membranes.
The mass-production plant has been constructed to meet the full-scale expansion of demand. The electrolyte membranes of JSR have been used for the fuel cell vehicles by an automobile manufacturer in Japan.
The company is scheduled to develop and manufacture hydrocarbon electrolyte membranes for stationary fuel cell systems such as residential fuel cell systems and mobile direct methanol fuel cells.
JSR’s Hydrocarbon Electrolyte Membrane
The JSR’s hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is designed to have a concentration of ion-exchanging groups which is higher than that of the conventional electrolyte membrane. The result is an excellent proton conductivity. The hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is designed by fully utilizing the features of the aromatic hydrocarbon structure allowing a high freedom of design.
The results are: high endurance, excellent gas shut-off property, and excellent high- and low-temperature characteristics. Further, the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane is environment friendly. The hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane, unlike the conventional fluorine electrolyte membrane, is free from fluorine compounds, which are produced in the catalyst recovery process and waste disposal. JSR is developing a new electrolyte membrane, which has long-time stable power generation performance, and is durable against load variations as in the start and stop operations.
Electrolyte Membrane for Vehicle Fuel cells
JSR is developing a new hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane in cooperation with an automobile manufacturer in Japan. In the fuel cell system using the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane developed by us, high temperature operation, and low temperature start-up have successfully been realized. The power generation temperature region is considerably increased (-30 to 95 degrees of centigrade). It is noted that the JSR’s electrolyte membranes have been used by the vehicle fuel cells where the electrolyte membranes are inevitably placed in extremely harsh conditions. JSR is making efforts to further improvement of the endurance.
Electrolyte Membrane for Stationary Fuel Cell Systems
A hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for use with residential fuel cell systems has been developed. The development has been made with efforts to make the most of advantageous features of the hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for automobiles, including good durability, high temperature being usable, good recycability in the catalyst recovery stage.
Electrolyte Membrane for Mobile DMFC
JSR has developed a hydrocarbon electrolyte membrane for DMFC applications．
The balance between the output characteristic and the methanol permeability has been significantly improved. In the previous electrolyte membrane and electrode electrolyte (binder for fixing the catalyst layer), when methanol of high concentration is used in order to increase the output power of the DMFC, the methanol crossover inevitably occurs and the electrode electrolyte inevitably dissolves, leading to degradation of the power generation capability of the fuel cell. The electrolyte membrane developed and offered by JSR enables a designer to use high concentration methanol and to increase the output power of the fuel cell.
* This article is excerpted from JSR's press release.
Keywords: hydrocarbon electrolyte membranes, mass-production plant, uel cell vehicles, high ion-exchanging group concentration, aromatic hydrocarbon structure, high endurance, gas shut-off property, high- and low-temperature characteristics