Hydrogen energyHydrogen energyHydrogen energy

Development of hybrid electrolyte membrane of a fuel cellHigh- effi ciency use of energy carriers and nuclear hydrogenThe secret of the Amazon native fruit " guarana "Take advantage of the big data to the tourism strategy and regional creation strategyMulti-scale processing for bio- medical applications deviceManufacturing to be fused in the point of view of physical therapy

Case studies of industry-university -government collaborationCase studies of industry-university -government collaboration

2016 Vol.3Tokyo Metropolitan University, Administration Offi ce

vol.3

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New polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cell vehicles

It was decided at COP21, which was held last year in Paris, to suppress to less than 2 degrees Celsius the increase in the global average temperature as a countermeasure against global warming. To achieve this target, we will have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions dramatically and to do that, humankind will have no choice but to rely on “hydrogen energy” in future.

Tokyo is leading the world in advancing efforts aimed at the introduction of hydrogen-related technology including fuel cell cars that have little environmental impact and at expanding their use by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to realize “hydrogen society.” In order to support Tokyo’s efforts in terms of both scientific research and social implementation, we will establish a “Hydrogen Energy Society Construction Research Center” in April. I will also participate as one of its members.

Apart from the establishment of infrastructure such as hydrogen stations and the like, improving the characteristics of fuel cells themselves is also an urgent issue for the diffusion of fuel cel l vehicles. In particular, there are various demands for the polymer electrolyte membranes that constitute the “cell” that is the heart of a fuel cell including high proton conductivity and long term durability as well as cost reductions,

and further progress from now on is strongly required. In my laboratory, we are conducting research to create new materials that will be useful in the bio / medical area and the environmenta and energy areas based on polymer chemistry, organic chemistry and molecular biology. Against the background of this age, we are currently strongly promoting in collaboration with companies, etc., “research on the foundat ions and application of environmental engineering materials” that will solve environmental and energy problems.

The design of new materials based on environmental engineering and materials science and engineering will be essential in order to respond to expanding energy demands while being considerate of the global environment. We focused on nanofi bers and fused the two technologies of polymer electrolytes and nanofi bers to develop a new electrolyte membrane that achieves both superior performance and cost reductions for fuel cell.

We will develop the next-generation fuel cell platform and aim to make it the global standard

A proton conducting membrane that transports protons efficiently is essential for the higher performance of fuel cells. We considered a new material design guideline and synthesis methods to that end and advanced research on a new polymer electrolyte membrane, succeeding in the development of a very thin and strong hybrid type of electrolyte membrane combining nanofi bers and polymers. In comparison to the thickness of 10 to 15 microns of a conventional electrolyte membrane, our electrolyte membrane has realized

both a significantly thinner membrane thickness of approximately 2 microns and the maintenance of strength. Thinner electrolyte membranes have less resistance so current fl ows more easily. In addition, it also leads to the resolution of the problems of fuel cell cost reductions and compactness.

We consider this hybrid type fuel cell based on nanofi bers and polymers to be a platform technology that can be applied not only to fuel cells, but also to the next generation of other batteries too. If this technology is used, it will also be able to meet performance requirements required by various types of batteries such as ion transport (lithium ions, etc.), membrane durability and cost reductions. Moreover, companies are developing polymer membrane materials and nanofi bers, and by combining these it will also be possible to raise the performance of fuel cells and secondary batteries. We would like this platform technology to be adopted for the fuel cell cars running in 2020 and to make it a global standard technology originating in Japan.

Promoting research to design and create new materials that will change future society, aimed at resolving problems in the environment and energy areas

Topics

Professor Hiroyoshi KAWAKAMI, Dr. EngineeringDepartment of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences

Development of hybrid-type electrolyte membranes for fuel cells that will realize a “hydrogen energy society”

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Hydrogen Energy Society and Fuel Cell Vehicle

The Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government have plans to showcase the value of hydrogen energy society at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Recently research and development of technologies related to hydrogen are very active in Japan. Fuel cell powered passenger cars became commercially available in Japan and fuel cell buses are test driven in Tokyo area. The advantages of fuel cell vehicles are that they have both high energy efficiency and no harmful exhaust gas emissions. In addition, the use of hydrogen which can be produced from wide variety of resources can ease the Japan’s excessive dependence on oil to improve the energy security, and fuel cell also offers the potential to serve as a distributed power source in times of disaster. Further, as the Japanese automotive industry consists of a wide range of related companies, movements to establish a hydrogen society using fuel cel l vehicles would have a broad industrial ripple effect and enhance the industrial competitiveness.

High Density Storage of Hydrogen

When comparing fuel cell to conven-tional internal combustion engine, fuel cell has higher energy efficiency and engine has higher power density. So the power output should be improved in fuel cells and the efficiency should be improved in engines. Recently, the efficiency of engine powered vehicles has been largely improved, and very high efficiency can be achieved by using a hybrid vehicle system which combines the engine with electric motor. If the engine is fueled with hydrogen in this hybrid vehicle, it can be a mechanical equivalent to a fuel cell vehicle.

Hydrogen can be stored onboard as compressed hydrogen or liquid hydrogen. Though current commercial fuel cell vehicles are fueled with the compressed hydrogen, hydrogen can be stored with even higher energy density by cooling it to the liquid phase. However, even when the hydrogen is liquefied by cooling at the ultra-low temperatures of 20K, its energy density is approximately 1/4 of gasoline, so high energy density fuel storage is very important issue in hydrogen fueled vehicles.

Research on Efficient Vehicle Power Systems and Energy Carrier Options

In the Laboratory for Energy and Environment, I am conducting research for improving the energy efficiency of vehicle power systems using energy carriers such as methanol and ammonia. Especially methanol, which is liquid at normal conditions, has approximately twice the energy density of l iquid hydrogen. It is easy to produce hydrogen from methanol or ammonia onboard for fueling fuel cells or hydrogen engines. Currently, one of the main topics in our research is to increase the performance of fuel cells by employing new flow fields made of porous metal materials. The new flow fields enable fuel cells to supply reactants to the whole area of electrodes and increase the power output. Among our research subjects, there are also approaches to improve the efficiency of hydrogen combustion engine by reducing heat transfer loss from burning gas, to produce hydrogen from methanol and ammonia by utilizing the engine exhaust gas heat for recovering the waste heat, to realize a new high efficiency homogeneous charge compress ion ignition (HCCI) combustion system fueled with hydrogen and dimethylether both produced onboard from methanol, and to use wide variety of energy carriers such as biofuels and synthetic fuels.

We want to provide a wide variety of options of energy system and energy carrier that will contribute to humankind using energy cleanly and efficiently.

Professor Toshio SHUDO, Dr. EngineeringDepartment of Mechanical Engineering,Graduate School of Science and Engineering

Vehicle Power System and Energy Carrier Options for a Sustainable Society

Efficient Utilization of Various Energy Carriers such as “Hydrogen”

Ultra-thin total provision reactant flow paths with sintered titanium fibers

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Brazil’s miracle fruit

Genet i c s and genomic s g rea t l y advanced our knowledge about molecular basis of our life, but there are still a lot of questions remaining to be answered. For example, worker bees and queen bees have the same genes, but their lifespans were very different: the former die in 1 to 2 months while the latter fed with royal jelly can live for 3 to 4 years. Th is suggests that the genes involved in the longevity function diff erently depending on the environment, particularly food. In my laboratory, we use Drosophila as a model system to study the impacts of nutritional environment on animals. Since approximately 70% of disease-a s soc ia ted genes in humans have functional homologs in Drosophila , the knowledge of gene functions is exchangeable between the two species in many cases.

Guarana is a fruit indigenous to the Amazon basin, where it has been used as a traditional supplement/medicine to treat diarrhea, fatigue, hunger, and arthritis. Few people have lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension or cerebral infarction. Surprisingly, despite large quantities of methylmercury accumulated

in their hairs, they look healthy, with no overt symptoms of methylmercury intoxication.

We have been inves t igat ing the biological activity of this fruit using Drosophila , especially how it affects gene expression, which might be related to human health. When the fruit flies were fed with guarana, they became very active. In addition, we found that they became more resistance to poisons such as methylmercury. In addition, the fruit may have an activity to lower the cholesterol levels.

Guarana is a well-known health food in Brazil, but it is not the case in other countries. Experimental verifi cation with a model organism such as Drosophila will be providing reliable evidence. We are trying to demonstrate the biological activity using transgenic technology with candidate genes that have been identifi ed through gene expression analysis. We are very excited about the potential of guarana as a health-promoting agent.

Towards international industry-a c a d e m i c – g o v e r n m e n t collaboration

The guarana research project receives the support of Brazilian government agencies and is being promoted jointly with the Federal University of Santa Maria and the Amazonas State University. In 2013, the project was adopted for the “Japanese-Brazil Research Cooperative Program,” a Strategic International Research Cooperative Program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). We have continued international joint research as a project of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) since 2015.

Through this project, researchers and students from both sides are being exchanged to promote the collaboration. We had joint symposia in Brazil (2014) and Japan (2015). We plan to publicize our results when we completed the experiments to demonstrate the eff ects of guarana in Drosophila and in humans. There will be a great impact for those who are waiting for powerful functional foods, which would prevent lifestyle diseases. We are ready to work together with companies in various fields who are interested in the development of new functional foods, supplements and medicines.

Furthermore, we are interested in how guarana modifies epigenetic status. We are also studying the transmission of epigenetic modifi cation from the parents to children.

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Drosophila ( left : male , right : female)

Real and seeds of guarana

Professor Toshiro AIGAKI, Dr. Engineering.Department of Biological Sciences,Graduate School of Science and Engineering

Unveiling the secrets of guarana, a fruit from the Amazon

Genetic approaches to understanding the environmental impacts on our health

5

Supporting tourism policy and planning

The importance of tourism is increasing globally, as one of the important industries in the 21st Century. When planning urban and regional transportation systems, it is essential to take into account not only travels with commuting purpose, but also those with shopping and tourism purposes.

In terms of the car, as well, which is a major transport mean to and in tourism destinations, issues on the growth of number of elderly people and foreigner, as well as understanding impact s o f h ighways deve lopment to tourism destinations and implementing countermeasures are more highlighted.

A typical example of the issue above mentioned is Shirakawa-go village. After the development of the Tokai Hokuriku Expressway, the number of tourists by car has increased, and the long queues to private car parking in the Gassho-Dukuri-style district has been one of the major factors of dissatisfaction with Shirakawa-go. To cope with this problem, the community and local government introduced a countermeasure in which large public car parking outside the district was developed and the use of the private car parking was banned. And this resulted in offering the better walking environment inside the district and its attractiveness was dramatically improved

Traffic congestion on expressways near mega cities has still been serious problem for long time. Therefore, we still need to have much effort for realizing better transport system for making our tourism world more attractive.

Nowadays, the national and regional governments should draw up tourism strategy and planning on scientific basis. Therefore, we should have much effort to systemize tourism policy study and tourism planning study supported by data-oriented and fact-based analyses and reliable future forecast method. Department of Tourism Science, TMU

to which I belong offers unique scientific education program and conducts scientific researches in tourism. The study field of my laboratory is infrastructure and transport planning in civi l engineering, and we research on how we develop better transport infrastructure and how we offer better transport services for tourism promotion on scientific basis.

Nowadays, we can freely enjoy our travel, then it is impossible to understand variety of travel needs and behaviors only using the official statistics reported by the national and regional governments. Therefore, I have had much effort to conduct researches on understanding determinant factors of variety of individual travels using tempo-spatial GPS data detected by smartphone and car navigation system for these years.

Launching cutting-edge research on human resource development in regional government for regional revitalization strategies

T h e " L a w o f R e v i t a l i z i n g t h e Community, People and Work" was established in November 2014. The law aims at mitigating the excessive concentration of the population in the Tokyo metropolitan area, creating comfortable living environment in every region, and realizing vital Japanese society in the future. The law also requests regional governments to draw up and implement the “Strategic Plan for Revitalizing the Community, People and Work.”

The Tama region where TMU bases has various municipalities, and few policy collaborations on regional revitalization among them have been investigated. In addition, few innovative policy measures have been proposed by those municipalities. However, I believe that the region has a lot of possibilities to implement innovative regional revitalization measures if we take into account

high-level local resources of the region.The most critical issue seems to be how

we develop human resources who are responsible for regional revitalization policy in local agencies. Therefore, TMU launches the training program for officer candidate in regional governments on planning of regional revitalization policy in scientific base, supported by the Tama Shinkin Bank and Tokyo Metropolitan Government. I am responsible for the program development and implementation, and around ten TMU academic staffs with various study fields such as regional and city planning, urban policy, transport planning, economic analysis and tourism study join the program as lecturers.

In the program, participants learn the use of a various analytical methods on such as GIS system and statistical software, as well, policy evaluation methods based on key performance index. Finally, they should develop a tender specification on regional revitalization project in their governments, and the proposal is severely evaluated through discussion among participants and lecturers.

After running the program for several years , TMU wil l create a platform of human resource development in regional governments of the Tama region, in which officer candidates collaborate each other in multi-municipality revitalization projects not in impression base but in scientific base.

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Yanaka, popular area for foreign tourists. What is the key to sustainable promotion?

Shirakawa-go village succeeded in increasing its attractiveness owing to expressway development and parking management scheme

Professor Tetsuo SHIMIZU Dr. EngineeringDepartment of Tourism Science,Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences

Use of Big Data and Open Data of Travel Behavior for Tourism Strategies and Regional Revitalization Strategies

Creating a new urban/regional transport system in “tourism era”

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Utilization of Sophisticated Metal Processing Technology in MEMS

Micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS), where there is integration of machine element parts, sensors, actuators and electronic circuit parts on a board consisting of silicon, glass or organic materials etc. are essential devices for supporting the increased added value of a variety of products in a wide range of fields. In recent years, this has drawn particular attention for applications in the bio and medical fields.

In my laboratory, we have focused on technology for creating MEMS using a different technology from semiconductor processing, and we have taken “Research into multiscale processing technology using for bio/medical devices” which uses self-organization of nano-materials and sophisticated micro metal processing technology. In concrete terms, this involves research into devices using carbon materials, research into biosensors and fuel cell electrodes with an array of nanomaterials, research on minimal, high precision metal press technology and research into computer simulation of processing technology. For example, the development of a Drug Delivery System (DDS) requires hardware such as micro-size drug dispensing devices that can be embedded in the body, high sensitivity biosensors that can sense environments and states both inside and outside the body and long life/ biologically safe

batteries/power devices, and we are researching the manufacture of the micro devices required to achieve this.

Metal is superior to resins in terms of strength, accuracy and mass productivity. Further, the metals of stainless steel and titanium, with their strong affinity to the human body, are very attractive. Of course, the difficulty of machine processing on the micrometer level or nanometer level cannot be compared to the millimeter level. Moving forward, we aim to establish high value-added technology in manufacturing, and promote research and development of more accurate mold manufacturing technologies and machining processes suited to micro forming.

Development of cutting edge devices that can be used in advanced medical care

In concrete terms, we have succeeded, through collaborative research with a corporation, in the commercialization of an ultra-small micro pump with a size of approximately 10 mm. Further, in order to manufacture this micro pump, we developed a micro press system that enables the integrated molding of micro unit parts within a bench type, compact servo process.

Further, we have also developed, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, a nano-micro bio analysis device for inspecting and preventing influenza, as well as a general infection prevention system, and moving forward we are promoting a concept for providing information on infections in Japan and South-East Asia, etc. over the network.

The development of these kinds of cutting edge devices that can be used in advanced medical care contributes to

a reduction in the physical burden on patients and achieving high precision medical care. For high value-added manufacturing technology, represented by MEMS, approaches involving medical-engineering collaborations linked to the field of medical care are already taking place at many universities, and we take proud that this is a field of research in which Japan with its increased aging and long lifespans is becoming a world leader. Moving forward, we shall carry out research and development into high precision, high quality and low price cutting edge devices using micro forming processing technologies.

Professor YANG Ming, Dr. Engineering.Department of Intelligent Mechanical Systems,Graduate School of System Design

High Added Value Manufacturing Using Micro-forming Technologies―Development of Cutting Edge Devices Supporting Advanced Medical Care, Through Linkups Between Industry, Academia and Medicine―

Development of Multi-scale Processing Technologies for Bio/Medical Application Devices

micro press system

an ultra-small micro pump

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Manufacturing with field needs added to technical seeds

In my laboratory, we are carrying out, from the perspective of physiotherapy, research into methods of evaluating functionality in children (people) with developmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, the development of rehabilitation programs, research into the burden of nursing care for children (people) with disorders, research into the establishment of an environment and assistive tools for children (people) with disorders and research into disaster measures for people with disorders and elderly people living in large cities. In concrete terms, we are researching under the main themes of “Research into physiotherapy on the fi eld of children and motor retardation”, “Development into equipment required for rehabilitation” and “Development of core abdominal training and equipment for preventing lower back pain and neck pain.”

When developing medical equipment, a s s i s t i v e e q u i p m e n t a n d h e a l t h equipment, it is important to correctly understand the needs of the people using it. With only the technical seeds, we cannot create truly useful equipment. As the area requiring support differs according to the person using it, it is important to develop equipment that can provide care in line with the strength and movement of that person. As physiotherapists, we face people on a daily basis in the clinical field who require our support, and are constantly considering the functionality and roles required of such equipment.

B a s e d o n t h i s e x p e r i e n c e a n d

knowledge, we have collaborated with corporations and other researchers within the university to plan and design a wide variety of support equipment and health-related products, and by actually taking the finished prototypes to the clinical field, we can monitor and make improvements, thus producing final products that match the needs in the fi eld.

For example, there is the shoe brand series “Primastyle”, which we developed in collaboration with Cony Co., Ltd. in Tokyo. I think this strong product is a good example of how we added ease of use and functionality to the excellent strengths of concept and design brought by the corporation.

Manufactur ing that provides support for everyday life from the perspective of rehabilitation

One of the devices we are currently developing is the “intelligent handrail : a Sit-to-Stand Assistance System” aimed at people who feel difficulty getting to their feet. This handrail synchronizes its behavior with the standing user, in other words it reacts to movement speed and load, and automatically through computer control, aids the standing operation of the user fi rstly forward and then upward. That is to say, it does not assist the standing operation itself, but is a tool that draws out the latent potential residing in the person standing up,

When helping the user to stand up, there is a tendency to think technically in terms of applying a large degree of force in the standing direction, which is to say upward. Motorized toilet seat elevators can be said to be a good example of this.

However, in physiotherapy, we consider how to use the strength of the person receiving the care, and only support the areas in which they are lacking. If we use the potential strength of the cared for person, it will not require a large amount of force to get him/her to stand up. Th e use of equipment utilizing potential capabilities in this way can prevent disuse syndrome caused by not using the body,

and can lead to the extension of daily lives in which the user is independent both physically and mentally.

Further, there has been a lot of attention focused on nursing robots, but a l i t t le more t ime is required on funct iona l i ty, s a f e ty and cos t perspectives for the spread of robots providing physical support. We have been developing communication robots supporting links between people.

If the elderly community can be enlivened by communication robots, and this promises to improve the health of elderly people, and provide a link to rehabilitation. In order to develop these kinds of robot, it is necessary to fuse knowledge and information in a wide variety of fields, such as social sciences, psychology, communications, engineering and medical care. A major advantage of the Tokyo Metropolitan University is that this kind of cross-sectional research and development is possible, and I would like us to continue manufacturing, while playing this fusion role moving forward.

Supports standing by veteran caregivers(Citation) “Rehabilitation that can be

performed in the home, series 1” Japanese Physical Therapy Association

Intelligent handrails

Take a bow

Pull

Put your weak foot forward

Pull back your good foot

Professor Osamu NITTA, Dr. Engineering.Department of Physical Therapy,Graduate School of Human Health Sciences

The Practice of “Integrated Manufacturing from the Perspective of Physiotherapy” Combining Needs in the Clinical Field and Technical Seeds”

Aim to support for daily life utilizing potential capabilities in nursing care receivers

PrimastyleFootbed shoes/ballet ribbon

PrimastyleFootbed shoes/moccasins

2016 Vol.3

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