No. 188: A vending machine that recommends drinks (November 14, 2010)

JR East Water Business, a subsidiary of JR (Japan Railways) East, decided to install extensively vending machines that display recommendable drinks on the screen depending on the attributes of the shopper using the face recognition technology. Currently, there are only two vending machines of this kind in Tokyo, and the company will increase the total number to 100 units by next spring and to 500 units by March 2012. The large touch-screen of the vending machine tells the age and gender of the shopper and display recommendable drinks. For example, if the shopper is a male, it displays recommendable drinks like canned coffee as soon as he stands before the vending machine, and then display standard products. The new vending machine can change recommendable products automatically depending on the temperature and the hour. The two units currently operating in Tokyo achieved about three times more sales than the conventional vending machine. The new vending machine will replace the conventional vending machine in terminal stations in Tokyo, and will account for 12% of all vending machines in the Tokyo Metropolitan area by March 2012.

No. 187: Color toner made of plant-derived materials (November 13, 2010)

Kyocera Mita Corp., one of Japan’s leading copy machine companies, will launch color toners made of plant-derived polyester resin early next year for the first time in the world. Monochrome toners made of plant-derived materials are available from other copy machine companies, but the company is the first to put color toners made of plant-derived materials on the market. The new color toners emit 30% less carbon dioxide as compared with the existing color toners when they are burnt. Pigments of red, blue, yellow, etc. are mixed with resin to produce color toners. Kyocera Mita mixes several plant-derived materials, such as rice husk and palm berry husk, with the conventional color toners by 30%. The company is scheduled to introduce a multifunction machine for the new color toners early next year. The new color toners will be more expensive than the existing color toners, but the company is confident that the price will go down as they are mass produced.

No. 186: Mass production technology of large-size organic electro luminescent display (November 12, 2010)

Seiko Epson and Tokyo Electron announced that they would ally to develop the mass production technology of large-size organic electro luminescent (EL) display, making the best use of Seiko Epson's ink-jet technology and Tokyo Electron's manufacturing equipment technology. The organic EL is widespread for displays smaller than 10 inches, but the technology to form a film of organic materials on the glass substrate for large display has not been established. Seiko Epson has the technology to form a film of a material uniformly using the ink-jet system that it accumulated in the printer business, while Tokyo Electron builds manufacturing equipment for the large-size liquid crystal panels called the 10th generation. Instead of the current technology to spray organic materials on the glass substrate in vacuum, the two companies try to establish the manufacturing technology based on the printing system that uses ink jet.

No. 185: Technology to build a thin-film lithium-ion battery in the normal temperature process (November 11, 2010)

Toyota Motors and National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) jointly built an all-solid thin-film lithium-ion battery in the normal temperature process for the first time in the world. Different from the existing thin film technology, the new technology shortens production time, increases productivity, and reduces production cost because it does not need heating. The two organizations used the aerosol deposition method that is the high-speed and normal-temperature coating process of ceramics materials developed by AIST. They made the oxide system positive-electrode material, negative-electrode material and fixed electrode material thinner and laminated, and built a trilaminar all-solid thin-film lithium-ion battery on trial. They confirmed the charge-discharge characteristics as a battery. Details of the research results will be presented in the 3rd International Congress on Ceramics scheduled between 14th and 18th of coming November in Osaka.
Related web page:
http://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2010/pr20101105/pr20101105.html

No. 184: NEC’s new image conversion technology (November 10, 2010)

NEC developed the image conversion technology that converts low-resolution image to high definition image in a short time. The new technology can convert a one-hour analog video to a high definition image video in 10 hours, one seventieth of the current processing time. It can be used to increase the image resolution of security camera. In the initial stage, however, NEC wishes to put it into practical use for broadcasting stations in a few years. The color quality deteriorates and noise comes up if a low-resolution image is projected on the high definition screen. A clear image can be created if resolution can be restored in image processing. The current technology uses the system to uncompress one high definition frame among multiple frames that construct an image. It takes more than one month for the current technology to convert a one-hour image into high definition image, but NEC improved the calculation method and successfully shortened the necessary time to about 10 hours. It will be possible to convert past analog sports programs and dramas into high definition image videos. Moreover it can draw the profile of a criminal if it is applied to the image of security camera. NEC plans to install it in the PC in the future.
Related web page: http://www.nec.com/

No. 183: Research on infrastructure of photovoltaic generation (November 9, 2010)

Tokyo University and Show Shell Sekiyu started joint research on the next-generation energy infrastructure. They designated Niigata Prefecture where Show Shell Sekiyu operates a large-scale photovoltaic generation plant and Thailand that has long hours of sunshine. They will study problems with technology and cost specific to the local conditions of these two regions, such as installation of storage batteries and coordination with power systems. Showa Shell Sekiyu has been operating a photovoltaic generation plant with a generation capacity of 1,000 kW since last August in Niigata. Tokyo University will interview residents living nearby to know their demand for more user-friendly infrastructure, and will do the same in Thailand in collaboration with universities in Thailand to know more about the operation of the photovoltaic generation system. The university will look into the climate difference between Niigata Prefecture that has many cloudy days and Thailand that has many fine days, and confirm the infrastructure preferred by the people of these two regions and the acceptable range of increase of energy cost in the two regions. No specific period is set for the research. Based on the research findings, Show Shell Sekiyu wishes to establish business of proposing energy infrastructures in the future.
Related web page: http://www.showa-shell.co.jp/english/index.html

No. 182: Water-resistant cardboard box to ship tuna (November 8, 2010)

Oji Paper, one of Japan’s leading paper companies, developed a water-resistant cardboard box to ship big fish like tuna with ice in collaboration with Kinki University that has been making strenuously efforts to establish a system for complete farming of tunas. The newly-developed cardboard box hardly sorbs water and can contain a heavy load up to 100 kg. A standard cardboard box absorbs 300 grams water for every square meter and loses shape if it is immersed in water for 30 minutes, but this new cardboard box absorbs only 3 grams of water even if it is immersed in water for 30 minutes and bears 2.5 tons for every square meter. The company applied special synthetic resin to the multilayer paperboard that hardly absorbs water. It examined the durability and usability of this new cardboard box with Kinki University. This water-resistant cardboard box will be put on the market at nearly the same price of polystyrene foam. Wooden boxes and polystyrene foam boxes are widespread to ship big fish, but the new water-resistant cardboard boxes can replace them because they can be easily fabricated in the field and recycled as used paper.
Related web page: http://www.ojipaper.co.jp/english/index.html