Panasonic's Bulb-type Fluorescent Lamp Gets Bright Quickly

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd released the Palook Ball Premier Q, a bulb-type fluorescent lamp that offers sufficient brightness immediately after it is turned on.

The new lamp incorporates an incandescent bulb called "Quick Lamp" inside a spiral arc tube. In order to overcome the problem of insufficient luminous intensity immediately after a lamp is turned on, the new lamp utilizes the Quick Lamp to compensate for the lack of brightness of the fluorescent lamp for the first minute or so.

According to the company, the brightness of the latest lamp increases to 60% of the maximum level in one second at around 25°C and to approximately 100% in a little over a minute. The brightness of the existing products is only about 40% immediately after they are turned on. Fluorescent lamps generally take longer before becoming bright. This is one of the obstacles in replacing incandescent bulbs with bulb type fluorescent lamps.

The latest product is suitable for use in bathrooms, corridors, etc, where the light is used for a short period of time and is frequently turned on/off. The power consumption is 10W, except when using the Quick Lamp (30W).

The life (time required for light flux to be reduced to 80% of the initial level) of the latest lamp is extended from 10,000 to 13,000 hours. The amount of material used to release electrons (the emitter), which is applied on the coil in the electrode unit, has been increased by a certain amount.

In addition, by equalizing the thickness of the fluorescent material applied on the arc tube, the remaining amount of gas generated when baking the fluorescent material has been reduced. As a result, the light flux is less likely to be reduced even when the lamp is used for a longer period of time, the company said.

The number of times that the lamp can be turned on/off during its life cycle is increased from 30,000 to 40,000 through the optimization of amount of emitter applied. This is also advantageous for applications in places where lighting is required for a shorter period of time, according to the company.

The Palook Ball Premier Q comes in three types, namely, the A-type measuring 55mm in outer diameter, the D-type with an exposed spiral arc tube and the G-type with a spherical shape measuring 90mm in outer diameter. Two colors are available for all types: the incandescent color and the cool color, which looks whiter. There is no manufacturer's suggested retail price, but it is expected to be about ¥1,500 (US$14, price may vary depending on country). It is slated for release on July 1, 2008.

Jun 10, 2008 18:42
Masaru Yoshida, Nikkei Electronics

TechOn!

Mitsubishi Heavy wins order for 5 geothermal power plants in Iceland

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said Tuesday it has received an order from an Iceland power company to build five 45-megawatt geothermal power plants in the northern European country.

A consortium consisting of Mitsubishi Heavy and Balcke-Durr GmbH, a German engineering company, won the turnkey order from Reykjavik Energy, with the new plants due to begin operating between October 2010 and February 2012, the Japanese heavy machinery maker said.

JapanToday.

Oil Price Surge Lures Japan Traders to High-Cost Energy Projects

Tokyo, June 10, 2008 (Jiji Press) - With U.S. crude oil futures prices nearing 140 dollars per barrel, major Japanese trading companies are moving to make profits from natural resources that they once refrained from exploiting due to high development costs.

Mitsui & Co. <8031> said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with U.S. Oil Shale Exploration Co. and Brazilian state oil company Petrobras to launch a feasibility study for an oil shale development project in Utah.

Global reserves of oil shale, from which synthetic crude oil can be produced, are estimated to total 2 trillion barrels.

Although the break-even point for synthetic crude oil production from oil shale stands at around 80 dollars per barrel, the three companies believe that the operations will be profitable thanks to record-breaking crude oil price surges.

Mitsui and its two partners intend to launch daily oil production of 50,000 barrels as early as in 2013.

Mitsubishi Corp. <8058> said Monday it will launch a feasibility study with its two partners for the production of liquefied natural gas off the Nigerian coast in a low-cost LNG output system that is expected to achieve profitable output even at small- and medium-sized gas fields.

Mitsui, Norwegian venture firm Flex LNG Ltd. and Nigerian oil and gas developer Peak Petroleum Industries Nigeria Ltd. will study the low-cost system as LNG development and production have already started at known large gas fields to meet growing global demand.

With the method called floating production, storage and offloading system, the three companies aim to produce 1.5 million tons of LNG a year if an investment agreement is successfully concluded.

JCN.

As energy bills soar, Japanese test fuel of future

TOKYO (AFP) — As world oil prices skyrocket, thousands of households in energy-poor Japan are taking part in an ambitious experiment to use fuel cells to light and heat their homes.

Since the prime minister's official residence became the first house in the world to be equipped with a domestic fuel cell in 2005, about 3,000 households have signed up to have the grey boxes installed outside their homes.

The project aims to thrust Japan to the forefront of a "hydrogen society" that has kicked its addiction to fossil fuels and produces affordable energy while spewing out far less of the greenhouse gas that is blamed for global warming.

"The principle of fuel cells has been known since the end of the 14th century, but their first practical use was not until 1965, aboard the American spacecraft Gemini 5," said Michihiro Mohri, a senior vice president at Nippon Oil Corp.

The fuel cells produce electricity and hot water through a chemical reaction between oxygen and hydrogen extracted from natural gas or other fuels.

"The hydrogen needed can come from various sources -- hydrocarbons, natural gas, bio mass or rubbish" to create methane, said Mohri.

While the fuel cells do not emit carbon dioxide, some is produced by the system during the process to extract hydrogen from natural gas, although less than traditional forms of power generation.

As well as producing electricity, the fuel cells also ensure a steady supply of hot water for households. With no motor inside, the machines -- about the size of a small cupboard -- are also silent.

"Households with the system are also no longer at the mercy of power cuts during natural disasters," said Mohri, an obvious plus for people living in one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Japan, with almost no natural energy resources of its own, is seeking to reduce its dependence on crude oil imports by developing energy efficient appliances and alternative forms of power generation.

Oil prices posted their biggest ever one-day gain on Friday, hitting a new record of 138.54 dollars a barrel in New York, up five-fold since 2003 amid supply worries and rising demand in emerging economies.

Far behind in meeting its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol to cutting emissions, Japan hopes to drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by its households.

The government even recently called on households to cut their time in the bath or shower to help meet Kyoto targets.

The government-sponsored fuel cell scheme involves a clutch of Japanese energy and technology heavyweights including Nippon Oil, Tokyo Gas, Sanyo Electric, Toshiba, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toyota Motor.

Some provide the source of hydrogen, others batteries or other components.

The government estimates there could be demand for 550,000 domestic fuel cells a year in Japan within a few years. There are 48 million households in Japan, of which 25 million live in individual houses.

For now, however, the system is expensive at about two million yen, or some 19,000 dollars, excluding installation. Research is underway to make the machines as economical as possible thanks to less expensive sources of hydrogen.

Thanks to reductions in the cost of components, the companies involved in the project hope to reduce the price of the equipment to one million yen as soon as possible to boost demand, and to cut it further to 500,000 yen in 2015.

Japanese automakers are also chasing the fuel cell dream, working to create a viable car which would produce power through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen and leaving water as the only by-product.

AFP.

Eliica

The Eliica (or the Electric Lithium-Ion Car) is a battery electric vehicle prototype, or concept car designed by a team at Keio University in Tokyo, led by Professor Hiroshi Shimizu.

Pen-type Device Displays Characters Written in Air on Monitor

SMK Corp developed "Wireless Input Pen," which can transmit characters written in the air and displays them on a monitor.

The pen was exhibited at the company's exhibition "TEXPO 2008," which took place in Shinagawa, Tokyo from June 4 to 6, 2008.

The pen has a built-in triaxial acceleration sensor and the Bluetooth function. The sensor detects the positional information and recognizes the inputted characters. The characters are wirelessly transmitted to a monitor via Bluetooth. The maximum transmission distance is reportedly about 10m. It is expected that the pen will be used in place of a laser pointer in sales presentations.

According to SMK, it is the world's first pen-type device that can transmit characters written in the air to a monitor and the company is currently applying for a patent. Thus far, Anoto AB of Sweden and CandleDragon Inc have prototyped a pen that can transfer characters written on paper to a monitor, etc.

Shinya Saeki, Nikkei Electronics

TechOn!

Hitachi, Osaka Gas Use Wearable Sensors to Raise White-collar Productivity

Motohiko Hamada, Nikkei Automotive Technology

Hitachi Ltd and Osaka Gas Co Ltd jointly developed a new analysis and assessment technology to improve white-collar productivity. Through a test, the companies confirmed that the technology helps quantitatively comprehend, for example, business activities and communications of white-collar employees inside an organization.

The analysis and assessment technology combines Hitachi's "Business Microscope," a system that visualizes activities in an organization using Hitachi's proprietary sensor technology incorporating infrared and acceleration sensors, and Osaka Gas' action monitoring technology.

Data will be stored after measuring the time of face-to-face communications between employees and their actions, for example, using the Business Microscope. Then the action data is analyzed by the action monitoring technology in an effort to actualize underlying problems. In action monitoring, action data is analyzed using knowledge such as human engineering, environmental psychology and gesture and expression analysis.

Combining each company's excellent sensor technology and action monitoring technology, the two companies conducted a verification test at the headquarters of Osaka Gas for four months from July to October 2007.

Through the test, in which 30 workers engaged in the information and communication department wore the sensors, the companies found the amount of communication with superiors doubled and the area of communication expanded beyond the organization in a free-address office, where employees have no fixed seat and sit in their favorite place in a common work space, compared with a fixed-address office.

The test also revealed realities concerning how long the employees concentrated on doing the same task and factors that interrupted their concentration.

The two companies are planning to conduct more verification tests to provide a consulting service to analyze and improve operations at general companies.

TechOn!

Tests conducted on Kibo space lab's robotic arm

Jun. 09 HOUSTON, United States

Tests are conducted on the robotic arm of Japan's ''Kibo'' space research laboratory in the International Space Station. (Photo taken from NASA TV)

Kyodo.

Japan's top film rental chain offers high-definition downloads

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's top film rental chain Tsutaya on Thursday unveiled a download-on-demand broadband service, letting customers rent titles from home without going to the store.

The service by Tsutaya, which counts 27.2 million members at its 1,330 branches across Japan, is the latest sign of the growing market for high-definition television in Japan.

Tsutaya, part of the Culture Convenience Club (CCC) Group, will start the service Friday by allowing downloads of the first season of hit US television series such as "Heroes," "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives."

A customer can download a title and watch it over a 48-hour period using Actvila, a portal set for interactive services launched by Japan's major television makers.

Tsutaya plans to raise its catalogue of downloadable titles to 2,000 by the end of the year via agreements with four major Hollywood studios -- Paramount, Warner Brothers, Walt Disney and NBC Universal.

Renting a full-length movie through the service will cost 735 yen (seven dollars), with a lesser price for shorter films.

Use of the service requires high-speed fibre-optic connections, which are gradually replacing ADSL lines. Nearly 12 million of Japan's 48 million households have a fibre-optic Internet service.

Tsutaya hopes that the new service will pull in more customers with higher disposable incomes in the 40-50 age range.

Actvila was developed by Japan's major television makers -- Sharp, Sony, Matsushita, Toshiba and Hitachi -- and is compatible with several dozen models of plasma or liquid crystal display sets.

Prices of such high-definition televisions have been on the decline, creating a larger market of viewers.

Japan has been a leader in digital television broadcasts, which require advanced sets, and plans to end analogue broadcasts entirely in 2011.

AFP.

Japan, U.S. To Cooperate in Methane Hydrate Research

AOMORI, Japan (AFP) — Japan and the United States on Saturday agreed to cooperate on research into methane hydrate, known as the "ice that burns" which is seen as a promising future energy source.

Energy ministers from the world's two largest economies signed the cooperation agreement at a meeting in northern Japan that comes amid mounting concern about record-high oil prices.

Methane hydrate, or methane gas trapped in frozen water, looks like ice but burns. Its deposits can be found in permafrost regions and seabeds.

Under the three-year cooperation agreement, Japan hopes to conduct an on-shore production test in Alaska.

The deal was signed between Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari and US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.

The Japanese ministry and US department plan "extensive research with respect to methane hydrate exploration and resource assessment," a statement announcing the bilateral cooperation said.

"To establish technology for commercial production, we have to conduct test-production for several months," a Japanese ministry official said.

Japan already carried out test-production for several consecutive days in Canada, but it needs to carry out on-shore production for a longer test period, he said.

The meeting in Aomori, Japan, comes after oil prices posted their biggest ever one-day rise, soaring to 138.54 dollars in New York after hawkish remarks by a senior Israeli official about oil producer Iran.

AFP.

Toyota develops new fuel cell hybrid with improved cruising distance

TOKYO — Toyota has developed a new fuel cell hybrid, a green car powered by hydrogen and electricity, that can travel more than twice the distance of its predecessor model without filling up, the automaker said Friday.

Continue reading article at JapanToday.

Riken Makes Developments in Alzheimer's Disease Research

Tokyo, June 9, 2008 (Diginfo) - A team from the Laboratory for Proteolytic Neuroscience at RIKEN is conducting extensive research on Alzheimer's disease, specifically focusing on the study of somatostatin, a neuropeptide that inhibits the secretion of growth hormones. This research in intended to lead to the discovery of new medicine for Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease is a cognitive dysfunction disorder that occurs when nerve cells are impaired and and thus affects brain activity. There are around 24 million Alzheimer patients worldwide. Amyloid peptide has been identified as the pathogen that exhibits neurotoxicity and consists of 42 amino acids which are produced in the brain. The disease occurs when amyloids peptides accumulate in excess outside of the nerve cells.

The Researchers at Riken also discovered that Neprilysin, which breaks up amyloid peptide, diminishes with age and decreases even further upon the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

In the laboratory, they treated an Alzheimer's disease model mouse with a gene therapy that boosted the activity of Neprilysin by 10 times, and as a result, were able to suppress the accumulation of the amyloid peptide.

Riken is currently conducting bio-chemical and histological analysis of the brain using an Alzheimer's disease model mouse.

JCN.

Panasonic develops new fluorescent bulbs that last for 13,000 hours

OSAKA —
Panasonic on Monday announced the new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q (quick) compact
fluorescent light bulbs with the industry’s first “hybrid lighting method” that enables instant
brightness. The new product will be available in Japan starting this July.

Energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs have been attracting attention as an
environmentally-friendly choice for home for their long lifespan and the property to give off
warmth like incandescent lights. These fluorescent bulbs, however, were considered
unsuitable for places where they were turned on and off frequently, such as bathrooms, as
they could not light up as instantly as incandescent bulbs.

To solve the problem, Panasonic said it has successfully developed the “hybrid lighting method” by installing a newly-developed compact “quick lamp” in the center of the spiral arc tube structure inside the pear-shaped Premium Q fluorescent light capsules. The “quick lamp” allows the bulb to obtain 60% of full brightness within the first second after it is turned on, which is 50% faster than current Pa-Look Ball Premium bulbs and stands as the industry’s quickest ramp-up time.

A built-in timer automatically turns off the “quick lamp” when the spiral arc tube lamp develops enough brightness. As a result, the new Premium Q bulbs achieve brightness equivalent to that of 54-watt incandescent bulbs with an energy consumption of only 10-watts, cutting down CO2 emissions and electricity bills by 80%.

The new Premium Q last approximately 13,000 hours and can be switched on and off approximately 40,000 times.

Japantoday.

Bridgestone ships 10 millionth runflat tire

The company claims that its runflat tires continue to operate at a specified speed for a specified distance after losing pressure under normal conditions at 0kPa air pressure. This reportedly improves safety in the event of a sudden loss of pressure as with a puncture, by ensuring that handling remains steady.

The Bridgestone group has said that it recognizes runflat tires as strategic products. As runflat tires can also contribute greatly to safety and reduce environmental burden, Bridgestone is hoping yo strive to further permeate and expand the market.

Bridgestone is seeking to achieve stable supply of runflat tires to automakers and drivers the world over in the future. The company produces runflat tires at six plants in Japan, the US, Poland and South Africa.

Automotive Business Review.