Utilizing production technology, engineering technology and know-how accumulated to date from a broad range of fields, including materials, such as steel and aluminum, machinery, and engineering, the Kobe Steel Group contributes to environmental protection through environmentally friendly products, technologies and services.
Kobe Steel has built a comprehensive test center for hydrogen stations at its Takasago Works, which is a manufacturing site for its Machinery Business. The test center can test a variety of operational patterns and filling simulations in a form that is close to the real operation of a hydrogen station. With the full-scale spread of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) in the future, we believe that the fill volume will have to be maximized by increasing the filling pressure, in order to extend the driving range. Using this center, which can test the operating state of equipment under various conditions, we will develop products that meet market needs.
We will also consider installing hydrogen production equipment, in order to conduct system-wide testing in the future.
Kobe Steel has a supply record of delivering compressors to 17 stationary hydrogen stations in Japan, making it a top-class manufacturer with a share of around 30 percent (as of January 2016). Moreover, the Company’s lineup includes compact heat exchangers (marketed under the product name DCHE) that are about one-tenth the size of conventional multitubular heat exchangers. Shinko Engineering & Maintenance Co., Ltd., a Group company with a variety of products and technologies, provides total engineering for hydrogen stations.
With the establishment of our comprehensive test center for hydrogen stations, we will contribute to the development of hydrogen infrastructure by pushing product development forward.
Water Electrolysis High-Purity Hydrogen and Oxygen Generation (HHOG) System:
An on-site hydrogen generation system for easily and safely obtaining high-purity hydrogen gas in the needed amount at the need time
Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells a system under the product name HHOG that generates high-purity hydrogen gas from pure water. It has delivered over 140 HHOG systems in and outside Japan.
Going forward, we will contribute to the creation of a hydrogen society by working on CO2-free hydrogen production using renewable energy and by facilitating its use in combination with hydrogen stations.
Kobe Steel developed a 7000 series aluminum alloy called 7K55 that offers both outstanding stress corrosion cracking resistance (SCC resistance*1) and high yield strength in the 400 N/mm2 class. 7K55 has already been adopted for use as an extrusion for bumper beams*2 by a Japanese automaker. Kobe Steel aims to expand the application of this new aluminum alloy in the future.
In the automotive sector, the need for lighter car bodies is growing due to stronger environmental regulations in recent years. Aluminum extrusions for bumper beams and the body framework are an effective way to lighten the weight of cars. As a result, demand for aluminum extrusions is expanding.
Bumper beams must have high strength, as they absorb the energy of a collision and serve to protect passengers from the impact. The 7K55 aluminum alloy, when used in bumper beams, provides a 30-percent reduction in weight, compared with 6000 series aluminum alloys.
Drawing on its half a century of involvement in the fields of motorcycles and rolling stock, Kobe Steel optimized the chemical composition and heat treatment conditions, and applied appropriate structural control, enabling it to succeed in developing 7K55 alloy with high yield strength in the 400 N/mm2 class that is about 30 percent stronger, while maintaining SCC resistance, compared with Kobe Steel’s conventional aluminum alloy products.
As environmental regulations for cars become stricter, the need for lighter cars is anticipated to grow. Based on its outstanding alloy development capabilities and design technologies, Kobe Steel can offer proposals for automotive weight savings, contributing to improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions.
*1 SCC resistance: Resistance to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). "Stress corrosion cracking" refers to the grain boundary brittle fractures that occur when metal is subject to tensile stress in a corrosive atmosphere. When stress corrosion cracking occurs, metals are less able of absorb energy. This becomes a problem from the standpoint of collision safety.
*2 Bumper beam: A bumper beam is a reinforcement mounted inside a bumper to reduce damage to the car body in the event of a collision.
Midrex Technologies, Inc., a US subsidiary of Kobe Steel, and its consortium partner Paul Wurth S.A., a Luxembourg-based engineering company, received an order for a MIDREX® Direct Reduction Plant with an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons from Tosyali Holding, for the Tosyali Algeria steelworks being constructed in Algeria. This will be Algeria’s first direct reduction plant and one of the world’s largest MIDREX® plants.
Going forward, Midrex will continue to contribute to the Kobe Steel Group’s global expansion through its direct reduction business. The company will steadily work on such business opportunities, aiming to secure more orders and pursue further growth.
Shinko Engineering Co., Ltd., has been manufacturing mobile power supply vehicles for over 50 years. The company has now developed a crawler-type mobile power supply vehicle called "Dokoden-kun" that will be launched in 2016, expanding its lineup of mobile power supply vehicles that stand out as emergency power sources for disaster countermeasures.
A crawler-type mobile power supply vehicle can drive on bad roads even when travel on access roads is difficult due to landslides or fallen trees, enabling support to secure lifelines quickly when rushing to an area that has lost power in sudden torrential rain or heavy snowfall.
Making use of its know-how as a pioneer of mobile power supply vehicles, Shinko Engineering will expand sales, including its airlift-type mobile power supply vehicle, which is transported by helicopter and is already finding wider use in the market, in addition to the new crawler-type mobile power station.
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