January 18, 2012 No.1492
Tokyo, January 18, 2012 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has selected 14 of the company's most notable technological advances or achievements of the past year and designated them to receive its "Best Innovation 2011" award. The list of recipients includes a 1,600 degrees Celsius class gas turbine boasting the world's highest power output and efficiency, and a forklift with a specially developed radiation-shielded cabin for handling contaminated debris resulting from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
The "Best Innovation" program is carried out
in-company to recognize outstandingly creative new
products, technologies or business operations of the
previous year. Awards are presented in four categories:
"Best New Product Award," "Best New Business
Process Award," "Special Award for Best New
Technology" and "Special Award for Best Company
Image Enhancer." This year 15 candidates for the award
were proposed by MHI's own departments and Group
companies, and the final selection was made based on
criteria including degree of innovative invention, scale of
business operation, level of technological advancement and
scope of image enhancement.
Five new products were cited for the "Best New Product
Award," which is bestowed on new products
demonstrating MHI's superlative technological
capabilities; among the recipients is a heat-pump water
heater enabling usage in ambient temperatures down to -25
degrees Celsius. The "Best New Business Process
Award," which recognizes new processes that contribute
to improvements in productivity or operational efficiency,
was likewise bestowed on four recipients, including
improvements to support on-site installation by the
customer of the company's gas turbines for use in
commercial power generation. The "Special Award for
Best New Technology," given in recognition of globally
unprecedented technological innovations, was awarded to
three recipients; these included a newly developed special
technology for measuring the world's most efficient gas
turbines. The "Special Award for Best Company Image
Enhancer," which cites major contributions to
enhancing MHI's technological status or corporate
image, was granted to two recipients, including a forklift
with a radiation-shielded cabin; two units of this
specially developed forklift played active roles in
restoration work at the Fukushima nuclear power plant after
the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The List of "Best Innovation 2011" award
"Best New Product Award"
• M501J Gas Turbine
• Pressurized Container Nozzle Repair Work
• CO2 Capture Plant for Coal-fired Electric Power
Station
• "Q-ton ESA30" CO2 Heat-pump Water Heater for
Commercial Use
• "ZE15/24B" Gear Grinding Machines
"Best New Business Process Award"
• Production Lead Time Reduction in the Impeller Factory
through Profit-planning and Value-chain Based IT
• Improved Support of On-site Installation by the
Customer of "DIAMOND SET" Gas Turbines for
Commercial Power Generation
• Traffic System Product Operation and Maintenance
Business in the U.S.
• Resident Engineer System and Proposal Services for
Large-scale Machine Tools Business
"Special Award for Best New Technology"
• Mercury Removal System by NH4CL Injection
• Development of the World's Most Efficient Gas
Turbine Measurement Technology (Patented) through Application
of State-of-the-Art Technology
• World's First High-precision Non-destructive
Inspection Technology for Power Generation Plants
"Special Award for Best Company Image Enhancer"
• RIKEN/HARIMA X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility
(SACLA)
• Forklift with Radiation-shielded Cabin
[A description of the 2011 recipients of the awards in each
category is given below.]
"Best New Product Award"
M501J Gas Turbine
(Power Systems, Takasago Research & Development Center)
The M501J is a gas turbine featuring the world's highest
efficiency and power output, with an inlet temperature of an
unprecedented 1,600°C. Power generation efficiency exceeds
61% in combination with a heat recovery boiler and steam
turbine, and exceeds 41% when the gas turbine is used as an
independent unit. The M501J enables a near 60% reduction in
CO2 emissions compared to conventional coal-fired thermal
power generation, thereby contributing significantly to
reducing burdens on the environment.
Pressurized Container Nozzle Repair Work
(Nuclear Power Systems, Takasago Research & Development
Center)
CO2 Capture Plant for Coal-fired Electric Power Station
(Machinery & Steel Infrastructure Systems, Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries America Inc. (MHIA), Hiroshima Research &
Development Center)
"Q-ton ESA30" CO2 Heat-pump Water Heater for
Commercial Use
(Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems, Nagoya Research &
Development Center)
Application of the world's first scroll-rotary
("Scrotary") two-stage compressor enabled the
achievement of a CO2 heat-pump water heater capable of
heating water to 90°C in sub-freezing temperatures as low as
-25°C with a coefficient of performance (COP) far exceeding
products available from other manufacturers.
"ZE15/24B" Gear Grinding Machines
(Machine Tool, Takasago Research & Development Center,
Hiroshima Research & Development Center)
The adoption of the world's first workpiece changer
system featuring a twin tailstock has shortened idle downtime
to 5 seconds. The result is a gear grinding machine achieving
productivity surpassing that of corresponding products of
both domestic and overseas manufacturers.
"Best New Business Process Award"
Production Lead Time Reduction in the Impeller Factory
through Profit-planning and Value-chain Based IT
(Hiroshima Research & Development Center, Machinery & Steel
Infrastructure Systems)
Production lead time and production costs have both been reduced through implementation of Value Stream Map (VSM) analysis of the flow of physical goods and information in the impeller production process, which has enabled the elimination of production bottlenecks. This has been complemented by the resolution of work process issues and the application of information technology (IT).
Improved Support of On-site Installation by the Customer of
"DIAMOND SET" Gas Turbines for Commercial Power
Generation
(Power Systems)
In cases where MHI gas turbines are to be installed on-site by the customer, MHI packs a bill of materials (BOM) for assembling each of the various parts (plumbing, etc.). The company also provides installation drawings showing overviews of each assembly, which makes it simple enough yet reader-friendly. Together these touches have enabled significant improvements in work performance. The company has also realized a system using portable computers that enables on-site search and display of drawings needed to perform installation work.
Traffic System Product Operation and Maintenance Business in
the U.S.
(Machinery & Steel Infrastructure Systems)
A full-fledged operation and maintenance (O&M) business was
developed for automated people mover (APM) systems in the
U.S., including the establishment of a new company: Crystal
Mover Services, Inc. The result is a highly reliable new O&M
business model that has contributed to expanded earnings from
APM system business operations.
Resident Engineer System and Proposal Services for
Large-scale Machine Tools Business
(Machine Tool, Takasago Research & Development Center)
A structure was set in place to assign resident engineers to collect and analyze information directly at customer sites and offer proposals responding to any issues at hand. Also, a scheme was developed for proposing, as a business, retrofitting proposals using a database. Together these events have reformed service operations and enabled improvements in quality, cost and delivery (QCD).
"Special Award for Best New Technology"
Mercury Removal System by NH4CL Injection
(Machinery & Steel Infrastructure Systems, Hiroshima Research
& Development Center, Yokohama Research & Development Center,
Nagasaki Research & Development Center, Power Systems, MHIA,
Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (MPSA))
The award-winning product is a hybrid combining the company's proven desulfurization and de-NOx technologies - which remove mercury contained in coal-fired boiler flue gas by injecting NH4CL (ammonium chloride) into the Selective Catalyst Reduction - with oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) control technology (patented). Full-scale verification testing has been implemented at the Miller electric power station of Southern Company in the U.S., and mercury removal performance was demonstrated above the planned level.
Development of the World's Most Efficient Gas Turbine
Measurement Technology (Patented) through Application of
State-of-the-Art Technology
(Takasago Research & Development Center)
In order to confirm the element performance of component parts exposed to high temperatures and high speeds, the latest measuring technology was employed to acquire performance verification data on the world's first gas turbine in the 1,600°C class. Also, information was distributed enabling accurate judgment of important GO-STOP actions during test operation. Together these advances have contributed significantly to final product verification testing.
World's First High-precision Non-destructive Inspection
Technology for Power Generation Plants
(Takasago Research & Development Center, Nuclear Energy
Systems, Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works)
High precision was achieved for inspection technology implemented when power generation plants are newly constructed or put through regular inspections. For inspecting new steam generators, the company developed an eddy-current flaw detection technology for detecting defects directly under the surface of seal-welded parts of steam generator heating tubes. For regular inspections, matrix phased array ultrasonic flaw detection technology was developed that enables highly accurate measurement of the depth of cracks in dissimilar metal weld not readily penetrable by ultrasonic wave. Together these new technologies have contributed to the achievement of ever higher safety and reliability in MHI plants.
"Special Award for Best Company Image Enhancer"
RIKEN/HARIMA X-ray Free Electron Laser Facility (SACLA)
(Machinery & Steel Infrastructure Systems, Nuclear Energy
Systems, Kobe Shipyard & Machinery Works, Mihara Machinery
Works)
MHI's name was widely introduced for its powerful
contribution to the creation of SACLA, Japan's first
x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) facility - operated by
RIKEN, Japan - which achieved the world's shortest laser
wavelength: 0.08 nanometers. The company manufactured a
400-meter-long, high-accuracy, high-electrical field C band
accelerating tubes, a core component.
Forklift truck with Radiation Shielded Cabin
(General Machinery & Special Vehicles, Nuclear Energy
Systems, Technology & Innovation Headquarters)
In response to the accident at the Fukushima No.1 nuclear
power plant, MHI undertook emergency measures and developed a
forklift truck featuring a cabin shielded against radiation
for removing contaminated debris on the plant premises, of
which two units were delivered. MHI's quick response soon
after the accident resulted in wide media coverage of the
company's contribution to dealing with the aftermath of
the accident.
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