Tag: ‘Transportation’

Dual-mode vehicle: half train, half bus

27 Nov 2006

Dual-mode vehicle (DMV) -- A dual-mode vehicle (DMV) that looks like a minibus and runs both on conventional railway tracks and paved roads was tested on the Gakunan railway in Fuji city (Shizuoka prefecture) on the night of November 24. The 28-passenger test vehicle was developed by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in a project that began in 2000.

Technicians aboard the DMV evaluated the safety and ride quality during the series of tests on rail and road. After the 3-km railway portion of the test course, the vehicle stopped at a railroad crossing, retracted the railroad wheels and switched to street mode in a mere 10 seconds.

A number of local governments around Japan have shown interest in introducing DMVs because they are inexpensive to manufacture and run. In addition, DMVs conveniently allow passengers to travel from train stations to their final destinations without having to transfer vehicles. DMVs appear to be particularly attractive in rural areas with limited public transportation because they allow railways to offer more versatile and efficient services.

In April 2007, JR Hokkaido will begin operating DMVs along part of the Kushiro line in eastern Hokkaido.

[Source: Nikkei Net]

Dekotora photo galleries

20 Nov 2006

Dekotora --

Dekotora --

Dekotora --

Dekotora --

Dekotora --

They're big. They're bad. They're dekotora ("decoration trucks"). Explore some of the internet's best dekotora photo collections here: Link 1, Link 2 (third button down, on the left), Link 3, Link 4, Link 5, Link 6, Link 7. And for a small dose of dekotora history, check out this intro to one of the Torakku Yaro ("Trucker") movies, the 10-part series released by Toei in the late 70s that spawned Japan's dekotora boom.

Keep on truckin'...

Spacewear fashion show: looking fly in zero-g

02 Nov 2006

Spacewear -- A spacewear fashion show featuring clothing designed for travel in weightless conditions was held at the University of Tokyo's Hongo campus on November 2.

The show was held by Rocketplane Kistler -- a US company that plans to begin offering space tours in two years -- and a group of Japanese fashion designers, as part of the Hyper Space Couture Design Contest. Winners of the contest, which is organized by Tokyo-based fashion designer Eri Matsui with the support of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and many others, will help design the clothes for use on Rocketplane's space tourism flights set to begin in 2008.

The 11 garments appearing in the show were selected from over 880 designs submitted by college students. The clothes incorporate a variety of features designed for zero gravity, such as ruffles that expand under weightless conditions or small air-jet propulsion systems in the sleeves to help you change direction while floating.

[Source: Yomiuri Shimbun]

JR tests fuel cell hybrid train

19 Oct 2006

NE Train -- On October 19, East Japan Railway Company (JR East) made a test run of its NE Train (New Energy Train) -- the world's first fuel cell hybrid train -- in Yokohama's Kanazawa ward.

With two 65-kilowatt fuel cells and six hydrogen tanks under the floor and a secondary battery on the roof, the clean train emits only water and runs without receiving juice from power lines. The train can travel at a maximum speed of 100 kph (60 mph) for 50 to 100 km (30 to 60 miles) without a hydrogen refill.

Thirty passengers boarded the train for the test run, which consisted of a series of back-and-forth jaunts along a 300-meter test track. The train smoothly accelerated to a maximum speed of 50 kph (30 mph), providing a ride quality no different from an ordinary train.

A separate fuel cell train is under development by the Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI), but the NE Train differs in that it is a hybrid relying on a secondary battery that stores electricity generated during braking. The secondary battery provides auxiliary power during acceleration or when fuel cell power is insufficient.

JR East hopes to see hybrid commuter trains in widespread use in 10 to 20 years. Lowering the cost and improving the mileage of fuel cells is a serious challenge, but the effort is not without reward. In addition to environmental benefits, eliminating the need for unsightly power lines means lower infrastructure costs and a prettier landscape to look at from the train window.

Testing of the train on public tracks will begin next April.

[Source: Chunichi Shimbun]

Intelligent wheelchair sees all

21 Sep 2006

SOS: Stereo Omnidirectional System --

On September 20, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) unveiled an intelligent wheelchair that relies on an omnidirectional camera for a view of its surroundings, avoids collisions with people and obstacles, and knows when something is wrong with the chair's occupant. Developed with the cooperation of the National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, the new technology is expected to improve the safety and security of electric wheelchairs for the disabled and elderly.

While the increased prevalence of electric wheelchairs has improved the mobility of persons with serious disabilities, they have also resulted in an increased number of collisions and accidents. To boost wheelchair safety, AIST engineers incorporated elements of intelligent automotive systems, which are capable of calculating the risk of collisions before they happen and automatically applying the brakes when necessary.

The prototype wheelchair is equipped with a camera system -- interestingly dubbed Stereo Omnidirectional System (SOS) -- whose 360-degree field of vision has no blind spot. Relying on the camera images, the chair detects potential hazards that arise while in motion and decelerates or stops accordingly. The chair also checks the occupant for signs of abnormality (unusual posture) and is equipped with a function that allows the occupant to control the chair by gesturing (pointing). Check out the AIST press release for videos of the chair in action.

The wheelchair is currently equipped with a function for transmitting the camera's color video via wireless LAN, and AIST is investigating the possibility of enabling the video to be delivered via cellular phone and providing support for remote-control functions. AIST will soon subject the prototype to rigorous testing and continue upgrading the functions.

This intelligent wheelchair technology will be demonstrated at the 2006 Home Care and Rehabilitation Exhibition scheduled for September 27 to 29 in Tokyo.

[Sources: MYCOM Journal and AIST press release]

Bento-flavored biodiesel

08 Sep 2006

Plenus

Plenus Co., Ltd., which operates Japan's nationwide take-out bento chain Hokka Hokka Tei (a.k.a. Hokka Hokka Bento, or Hokka-ben) and Yayoiken restaurants, has unveiled plans to begin recycling the used cooking oil from its 2,400 branches into fuel for its delivery vehicles. According to the plan slated for launch in January 2007, the company will establish 6 refining facilities in 3 years with the capability of producing 3.3 million liters (870,000 gallons) of fuel from 3.7 million liters (975,000 gallons) of used cooking oil -- enough to fuel its entire fleet of delivery vehicles, Plenus claims.

Discarded cooking oil makes for a viable alternative to diesel once it is mixed with methanol and refined into biodiesel. After the refining process, the fuel will be supplied to the company's 300 diesel delivery trucks through a network of independent filling stations.

Plenus will establish the initial refinery base in Fukuoka in January 2007 with 130 million yen (US$1.1 million) in capital. Subsequent refineries will be established in Saitama, Yamanashi and Miyagi prefectures, and in Hokkaido and Osaka. The company hopes to establish an efficient fuel supply system and cut overall fuel costs.

[Source: Nikkei Net]

Edo-period UFO

07 Sep 2006

The Iwase Bunko Library has in its possession a document entitled Hyouryuukishuu ("Tales of Castaways"), which was printed during the late Edo period (1603-1868).

Utsuro-bune scroll

The document recounts the stories of Japanese sailors who find themselves in foreign lands after becoming lost at sea, as well as castaway foreigners washed ashore on the beaches of Japan. To the Japanese people, who at the time had been living in a prolonged period of national isolation, these exotic tales must have seemed very fantastic.

Among these stories is the account of a wrecked ship with a very mysterious appearance.

Edo-period UFO scroll

According to the document, this vessel washed ashore at Harashagahama in Hitachi-no-kuni (present-day Ibaraki prefecture). The body of the ship, described as 3.3 meters tall and 5.4 meters wide, had been built from red sandalwood and iron and was fitted with windows of glass or crystal. The mysterious characters of an unknown alphabet were found inscribed inside the vessel.

Edo-period UFO scrollAboard the drifting vessel was a finely dressed young woman with a pale face and red eyebrows and hair. She was estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old. Because she spoke an unfamiliar tongue, those that encountered her were unable to determine from whence she came. In her arms she clutched a plain wooden box that appeared to be of great value to her, as she would allow nobody to approach it.

The document shows a portion of the text found inside the ship (see left).

Other Edo-period documents describe variations of this mysterious encounter. Toen Shousetsu (1825), a book by Kyokutei Bakin (who is most famous for his 106-volume samurai epic Nansou Satomi Hakkenden) tells the story of the same encounter, referring to the strange vessel as the utsuro-fune ("hollow ship"). Another variation of this tale appears in Ume no Chiri (1844), penned by a relatively unknown author named Nagahashi Matajirou. A thorough analysis of these two variations of the story can be found in a translated article by Kazuo Tanaka titled "Did a Close Encounter of the Third Kind Occur on a Japanese Beach in 1803?"

Contemporary fans of the paranormal know this ship as the Edo-period UFO.

[Link: Hyouryuukishuu in the Iwase Bunko Collection]

Pimp my Dream Tanker

05 Sep 2006

Dream Tanker

The Dream Tanker, one of the largest liquified natural gas (LNG) tankers in the world, now travels in style. Comedian-turned-painter Jimmy Onishi and 40 elementary school students have designed monster-sized psychedelic murals for the ship's spherical tanks. The total area covered by the murals is large enough to cover 100 buses.

The 120,000-ton Dream Tanker, owned by an affiliate of Osaka Gas, measures 289.5 meters (950 feet) long and 49 meters (160 feet) wide. With 4 independent spherical tanks measuring 43 meters (140 feet) in diameter, the tanker can hold up to 67,000 tons of LNG.

Osaka Gas decided to decorate the tanker with graphics in celebration of the company's 100th anniversary. The company asked Kansai-area elementary school students to draw pictures, which Jimmy Onishi then incorporated into his giant images of a fish, crab, shrimp and turtle. Sumitomo 3M Ltd. then used computers to process the images and printed them onto a special adhesive film, which was attached to the tanks.

The total surface area of the images amounts to about 4,000 square meters (43,000 square feet, or 1 acre), prompting Sumitomo 3M to submit an application to the Guinness Book of World Records to officially establish the work as the world's largest graphic design on a mode of transportation.

For more images, visit the official Dream Tanker website (Flash alert!). After you get past the Flash introduction, click on the second button on the right. That will take you to a control interface where you can zoom in on the ship and view it from different angles.

[Source: Garbagenews]

Intelligent road system to boost traffic safety

17 Aug 2006

Driving Safety Support System

Japan's National Police Agency is moving forward with plans to introduce a road safety system that alerts drivers to potential hazards through audio and visual notifications on in-vehicle navigation systems. With testing scheduled to begin in Tokyo this year, the system is expected to be rolled out in 2008 after the test results are verified.

The system, developed by the Universal Traffic Management Society of Japan (UTMS), is known as the Driving Safety Support System (DSSS). The system relies on networks of two-way communication devices called infrared beacons installed at a height of 5.5 meters above roadways, particularly in accident-prone areas. These infrared beacons detect the presence of vehicles and pedestrians in hard-to-see locations and communicate this information to drivers through their in-vehicle navigation systems.

As many as 20 different subsystems, each designed to prevent a specific type of accident (rear-end collisions, head-on collisions, right-turn collisions, etc.), are being studied. Of these subsystems, 5 are expected to be rolled out in 2008 and are being tested in Tokyo -- including one that alerts drivers to the presence of pedestrians when turning left through intersections, one for highways that provides information about merging traffic, and one that provides information about traffic snarl-ups to prevent rear-end collisions.

DSSS is similar to the Vehicle Information and Communication System (VICS), an existing system that also relies on infrared beacons to communicate traffic information to in-vehicle navigation systems, but only about 10% of all vehicles in Tokyo make use of this system. Future studies will focus on developing ways to popularize this type of system.

The tests in Tokyo are designed to provide a detailed investigation of the effectiveness and impact on the safety of ordinary drivers. When experimental testing of the 5 systems was carried out in Toyota City in Aichi prefecture from 2002 to 2004, more than 80% of users thought they were effective.

[Source: Corism]

« Older
Newer »