Engineer Interview

It is no exaggeration to say that semiconductors are used in everything supporting our lives and industry in modern society. Examples include smartphones, home appliances, and industrial products in various fields.

Global energy prices remain at high levels. The presumed cause is the imbalance between energy supply and demand due to recovery in economic activity from the spread of COVID-19, unseasonable weather, disasters, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and other factors. The soaring energy prices naturally have an impact on the electricity sector, putting not only ordinary households but also electricity suppliers, or electric power companies, in a difficult situation. Power companies are being forced to cut costs to keep power prices down.

In order to promote carbon neutrality, the use of renewable energy that doesn't emit CO2 is expanding.Among renewable energy resources, solar power generation is an important one which will continue to grow in popularity.

In anticipation of expansion of EV charging infrastructure in Japan, where the EV shift is accelerating, we worked on the development of the “medium-capacity quick charger (B11)” as a charger that meets the needs for intermediate chargers between normal chargers and quick chargers. This article introduces the features of the product, ingenuity in the development process, and our future vision.

Renewable energy sources are increasingly in use as an energy source that has a low impact on the global environment. However, renewable energy is characterized by being easily affected by the natural environment, such as the weather. Unlike conventional power plants such as thermal power plants, which generate stable amounts of power, tidal current values and tidal current directions flowing through transmission lines can change greatly depending on the weather, time of year, and time of day. Therefore, devices that control overloads caused by transmission line accidents are required to have higher functionality. To meet this demand, Takaoka Toko is working on the development of a multi-terminal transmission type OLR device that complies with the international standard IEC 61850 and optimizes transmission line overload control in an era where renewable energy is mainstream.

Renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind power are affected by the weather and other natural environmental conditions, making it difficult to provide a stable power supply. For a stable power supply, it is necessary to devise ways to send power from places with surplus power to places with a shortage and to store power to prepare for power shortages. The system that centrally manages and controls power supply-and-demand balance from a remote location via a network is the remote monitoring and control DERMS.

As substation equipment ages, the risk of failure increases. If left unaddressed, it may lead to a serious accident. Substation accidents have a major impact on local communities and must be prevented. For this reason, inspections have traditionally been performed by specialist engineers, but the frequency of such inspections is naturally limited. As a solution to this challenge, Takaoka Toko developed a partial discharge diagnosis device (PD Catch Monitor). This device enables continuous monitoring from a remote location 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

In October 2020 , the Japanese government declared to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, by 2035, 100% of new cars sold should be electric vehicles (EVs) and other electrified vehicles. However, at present, there are far fewer EV charging facilities than gas stations. Especially when traveling long distances, there is always the concern of running out of battery. Therefore, Takaoka Toko has developed a charger that can quickly charge two EVs at once. We propose new-age EV charging infrastructure that frees you from frustrating charging experiences.

Transformers are designed to convert high-voltage electricity sent from a substation to household voltage. Since this conversion process is subject to electricity loss, how to reduce the loss has become a major issue. The next-generation nanocrystalline soft magnetic material NANOMET® is attracting attention as a way to address this issue. Using this material, three engineers at Takaoka Toko are working on the development of a transformer with less loss.

The separation of the power generation business from the power distribution business introduced in April 2020 made it obligatory to install meters at power plants and substations for the transmission of electricity to consumers. However, installing new additional equipment to existing equipment poses a number of challenges in terms of cost and space. Therefore, Takaoka Toko has developed and provides various meters while responding to the needs of customers responsible for power transmission and distribution.

With the recent trend toward electricity deregulation, there is a growing demand for higher levels of reliability and efficiency in electric power supply. In addition, as telecommunications, finance, and transportation systems are increasingly dependent on electricity, there is a greater demand than ever to avoid or quickly recover from the impact of power outages on various kinds of infrastructure. To avoid various such problems, Takaoka Toko has developed and provides monitoring and control systems that comply with the international standard IEC 61850 and are suitable for digital substations. This article features three engineers who devote themselves on the development efforts.

To build a decarbonized society, it is important to have a comprehensive perspective throughout processes from manufacturing to disposal and recycling. In the development of epoxy molded devices, Takaoka Toko intends to establish environmental-friendly technology applicable along the entire life cycle. Two passionate engineers are directing their efforts toward comprehensive low-carbonization of the entire life cycle, from the point of manufacture to use, final disposal, and recycling.

By 2040, the amount of installed wind power generation equipment is expected to increase to more than 15 times relative to the current level. Wind turbines are facing an increasing frequency of lightning strikes as they become larger. In light of this situation, we have improved the functionality of the lightning current measurement device for wind power generation equipment so as to be helpful for the prevention of recurrence of lightning damage, as described here.

Epoxy resin has excellent electrical insulation properties and mechanical strength. The material is used as an insulating medium in our products. Here you will see our research intended to contribute to more efficient product development by enabling prediction and evaluation of the mechanical strength of devices that use epoxy resin, with the residual stress induced during their plastic molding process in mind.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is focus of attention for its use for work efficiency improvement and the development of unprecedented products and services. Our approach toward AI-based image recognition technology to improve the efficiency of product management operations is described here.

We are working on research to further rationalize oil-immersed transformers in terms of insulation properties. By rationalizing the insulation, we aim to reduce costs and make products more compact while at the same time maintaining and improving their high reliability. Our rationalization efforts regarding the insulation properties are described here.

Based on the results of clarifying the mechanism in which disconnectors fail due to earthquakes, we have had success in developing a damper that demonstrates significantly improved seismic performance and has sufficient durability even against a huge earthquake. New technologies that protect disconnectors from large-scale earthquakes and contribute to a stable power supply are described here.

We have had success in developing a technology that simultaneously performs transformer abnormality diagnosis and deterioration diagnosis by continuously measuring gas in oil, oil temperature, and water in oil. Technologies that are expected to contribute to the stable and efficient operation of power receiving and transforming equipment are described here.

Previous models of smart meters could perform automatic meter reading only with electricity. In contrast, the newly developed tenant meter reading system can read the amount of heat as well as perform joint meter reading of gas and water. Here you will see new technologies that help improve meter reading operation efficiency in various aspects.

We have developed a demand response (DR) control device, which carries out remote DR control of small-scale energy resources such as solar panels and storage batteries installed on the consumer side, regardless of manufacturer or model, as described here.

In developing countries and regions, there are many areas that lack stable power distribution networks. For the introduction of distribution automation systems to such overseas regions, we have developed a new controller using an IED, as described here.

To meet the growing demand for equipment that can accurately inspect and evaluate the thermal deformation characteristics of semiconductor packages, we have developed a thermal deformation inspection system that performs more accurate measurement with less manpower cost. The development process is described here.

Electric vehicles and PHEVs are expected to play a role not only as everyday vehicles, but also as power sources for homes and emergency power sources. To be in line with this trend, we have developed and commercialized a small V2H system that can supply power to home, as you will see here.

Eco.Web5LiteG is a gateway device for high-voltage consumers that can be used to check power usage by means of cloud computing services. The device has been developed as society's awareness of electricity changed. The development process and future possibilities are described here.

Of our research and development projects on eco-friendly insulating oils and related technologies, you will see here research on transformer retrofilling using palm fatty acid ester (PFAE), a type of ester oil.

While we have been working on numerous research and development projects since 2009, with the aim of creating a communications system that can transmit and receive data stably and constantly with high security, you will see here the development of a mobile communications system using LTE lines.

The objective of TAKAOKA TOKO is to establish a control method for stabilizing the voltage of distribution system through the verification of control simulation technologies and field tests of PCSs (power conditioning system) and voltage regulators at distribution network test field.

In the stress relaxation analysis for the optimum design of epoxy molded devices, we have conducted research into analysis technologies for setting the optimum design and manufacturing conditions to improve the efficiency of molding (manufacturing).

Recently, TAKAOKA TOKO has promoted the development of resins that reduce the environmental load in order to achieve additional greening of molded devices for electric power equipment. Among such research, we introduce our efforts for the development of plant-derived epoxy resin for molded devices for electric power equipment.