Toshiba

ASU engineers to help develop next generation of power electronics

Arizona State University electrical engineers Srabanti Chowdhury and Raja Ayyanar will lead research for the university's role in a new national consortium formed to develop the next generation of power electronics for electric vehicles and electronic devices.

EnOcean strengthens sales activities in China and Taiwan

EnOcean and Advanced Devices have started an in-depth collaboration in China and Taiwan, leveraging Advanced Devices' application and technical sales team in the region.

EnOcean Alliance grows to 350 members with industry leader LIXIL

The EnOcean Alliance continues its growth path and welcomes LIXIL Corporation as its 350th member.

International Display Workshop IDW Japan 2013: Conference Findings

IDTechEx has spent ten days in Japan this month in order to meet with companies to learn of the latest progress with printed electronics and related technologies. We also attended the IDW 2013 conference in Sapporo, Japan. This article summarises some of the relevant presentations given.

Supercapacitors II - market forecasts

In a recent premium article, IDTechEx Research gave an initial assessment of the supercapacitor market globally. In the second part of this article series, IDTechEx Research offers its market projections for this fast-growing technology. As always, IDTechEx Research provides detailed reality checks on its forecasts.

Printed Electronics in Japan (part I)

From July through September 2013 we have visited 35 companies and interviewed many delegates at our Printed Electronics Asia event in Tokyo as well as reviewing the lectures and talking to the lecturers. This article shares some of the trends in Japanese printed electronics and allied subjects that have emerged. It is only a taster from the huge database of information acquired and interpreted by IDTechEx analysts. Over the years, the task has been made difficult by the Japanese predilection for changing company names and this cannot help their business activity.

Lithium-ion batteries: Further GS Yuasa troubles

Toyo-keizai Online, Yomiuri-online and Livedoor Online News in Japan have recently reported in Japanese on further problems with the large lithium-ion batteries produced by GS Yuasa, the Japanese company involved in the grounding of the Boeing Dreamliner worldwide due to fires in its lithium-ion batteries but also supplying lithium-ion batteries to the International Space Station.

OLEDs and the beginning of the end for LCDs

LCD panel makers in Taiwan, Japan and Korea have been suffering. Despite the growing demand for LCDs the high number of panel makers and new competition from China has resulted in tough price competition for panel makers, to the point that many panel makers are no longer profitable.

Display Trends: OLEDs, LCDs and E-Readers

LCD panel makers in Taiwan, Japan and Korea have been suffering. Despite the growing demand for LCDs the high number of panel makers and new competition from China has resulted in severe price competition, to the point that many panel makers are no longer profitable.

IDTechEx presented at PE12

IDTechEx was one of the speakers of the recent Plastic Electronics 2012 OLED session in Dresden, Germany, alongside the SEMICON Europe exhibition. Cathleen Thiele, Technology Analyst at IDTechEx GmbH, presented IDTechEx forecasts for OLED Lighting compared to LED lighting.

Big future for titanium compounds in the new electronics and electrics

This article shares some of the research carried out for a new IDTechEx report requested by several of the world's largest chemical companies.

Toshiba design around the Chinese induced shortage with new technology

Toshiba has developed a high-iron concentration samarium-cobalt magnet that is free of dysprosium, a rare earth mineral that is in extremely short supply and increasingly expensive.

Big disagreement on where lithium-ion batteries are headed

Lithium-ion is the winning type of rechargeable battery for the decade - there is almost a consensus. You can count about 150 manufacturers of these and IDTechEx has profiled nearly all of them.

The Dilemma of Fast Charging of Electric Vehicles

Many companies now offer fast chargers for on-road vehicles though very few have been installed. For instance, Japan has only installed 80 across the whole country.

Blunt motor and battery talk at EV Japan

The conference speakers were surprisingly blunt in their appraisal of batteries and motors for electric vehicles at last week's EV Japan conference. Batteries control the cost of pure electric vehicles by a big margin and they are the largest part of the cost of hybrids, though a lesser percentage.

Can Sony Li-ion batteries recover market share?

Sony was once the leader in the lithium-ion "Li-ion" battery market. In 1991, it was the first in the world to commercialize them. It has focused mainly on compact batteries for PCs and mobile phones. The lithium-ion battery market continues to expand, driven by strong demand for mobile phones, PCs and now electric vehicles. For example, such batteries are seen in an increasing minority of pure electric forklift trucks and boats, in most off-road electric vehicles and in virtually all Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs, electric aircraft and electric airships, not just in on-road electric vehicles from buses to trucks, cars and some e-bikes. Sony is noticeably absent from all this vehicle activity, despite Sony CEO Howard Stringer announced plans, in 2009, to enter the automotive battery business.

Two devices will replace lead acid traction batteries

It is like waiting for a bus. You wait and wait then two come at the same time. Alternatives to short lived, toxic lead acid traction batteries, with their indifferent performance, have been sought for over 100 years. Now both lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors are near to replacing lead acid traction batteries in the many traction applications where they are still used.

Report on advanced energy storage technology highlights big changes

A report covering the analysis of over 40,000 patents granted in the last five years in the field of energy storage technologies for electric vehicles - meaning e-mobility - shows that two Japanese players - Panasonic and Toyota now dominate the scene closely followed by two Korean firms - Samsung SDI and LG Chemical.

Report on advanced energy storage highlights big changes in five years

A report covering the analysis of over 40,000 patents granted in the last five years in the field of energy storage technologies for electric vehicles - meaning e-mobility - shows that two Japanese players - Panasonic and Toyota now dominate the scene closely followed by two Korean firms - Samsung SDI and LG Chemical.