In order to realize a sustainable society, it is necessary to build an advanced energy network that optimally circulates energy production, storage, and consumption as a series of processes.
Particularly, optimal storage of electricity and conversion of electricity into hydrogen are required to maximize the use of renewable energy. However, there are still many issues to be solved in order to operate each energy source in an optimal way, with high efficiency, low emission, and little energy loss.
HORIBA is working together with our customers who are the key players to solve these problems and realize a new era of energy, by making a concerted effort in analysis and measurement.
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A major challenge is to make energy available more efficiently, more stably, and at a lower cost. In the development of automobiles, the systems that make up the vehicle are becoming much more complex, such as fuel cells and batteries for electrification and hybrid systems that use internal combustion engines as well. As a result, issues that significantly increase the man-hours required for development have become apparent. The key to addressing this issue is efficient optimization of the system.
Our proprietary evaluation method "Test in the Loop™", for optimizing the energy management of xEVs (electric vehicles with various power sources), is a solution that connects multiple test chambers and combines actual equipment, emulators and models of batteries, motors, powertrains, engines and vehicles to streamline system calibration. Thus it enables efficient system calibration at the development stage of components and subsystems with accuracy close to that of actual vehicle testing and work efficiency close to that of XiLS (X-in-the-Loop-Simulation).
* "Test in the Loop” is a trademark of HORIBA, Ltd.
In order to achieve carbon neutrality, various technologies and initiatives called "carbon recycling" are being promoted to actively use carbon dioxide (CO2), one of the greenhouse gases, in parallel with the use of hydrogen.
Particular attention is now being paid to CCS (CO2 Capture and Storage) technology, which captures and stores atmospheric CO2 and CO2 generated from plants and power plants, and to CCUS (CO2 Capture, Utilization and Storage) technology, which utilizes this CO2. Hydrogen made by combining CCUS with the fossil fuel-derived gray hydrogen production method is called "blue hydrogen" because it does not emit CO2.
"Methanation," which uses renewable energy to synthesize methane (CH4) by electrolysis of water and CO2 and methanation reaction, is also a technology to synthesize chemicals using CO2 as a raw material, and "artificial photosynthesis," which uses solar energy to convert water and CO2 into hydrogen and organic compounds.
For more information, please refer to the Carbon Recycling page.
HORIBA issued a call for research themes for this advanced new academic field under the 2019 Masao Horiba Award.
The Masao Horiba Award was established in 2003, named after the founder of the HORIBA Group, Masao Horiba, in hope of that this prize will help the society to understand the importance of analysis and measurement, as well as to support young researchers in particular who are steadily exploring new areas in this field. We wish that this award will help the public understand the importance of analysis and measurement, and also support young researchers in particular who are steadily developing new areas in this field.
For the 2019 Masao Horiba Award, we accepted applications for new control frameworks for maximizing the use of next-generation energy, i.e., electric power and batteries, as well as advanced analysis and measurement technologies for such frameworks. The theme of the competition was "Advanced analytical and measurement technologies to maximize the performance of electric power and battery usage for efficient control systems," and the call for entries was divided into two themes: 1) "New measurement technology that integrates mechanical, electrical, chemical and control technologies," and 2) "Analysis technology for new control using data science", focusing on research and development leading to the creation of new values.
For more information on this academic field, please refer to "Readout No. E53," a technical information magazine published by HORIBA.
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