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.