Industrial Products & Equipment

Hitachi has added a two-pole motor to its series of motors used to drive general industrial applications. This series was released in FY2015 and is already used in a wide range of industries.

The addition of the new model enables the series of models ranging from two-pole to multiple-pole types to be provided for welded steel frame motors. The two-pole model uses the following technology to enable a frame that is one size smaller while maintaining the same output as previous models:

1. An optimized design created using magnetic field analysis increases the magnetic flux density and capacity.
2. A vibration-dampening frame helps reduce weight and increase rigidity.

Motor dimensions and weight have previously been a problem when upgrading existing motors or installing new equipment on a site, making some motors difficult to install. The smaller dimensions and lighter weights of Hitachi's series of motors facilitate client engineering work when installing equipment.

Six casings for the main centrifugal compressors used in an ethylene plant have been delivered to Korea Petrochemical Ind. Co., Ltd. (KPIC). Start-up of the new equipment was completed in June 2017.

The delivered equipment replaces five existing centrifugal compressors that Hitachi delivered to the KPIC ethylene plant (located in Onsan, South Korea) in 1990. One new compressor has also been added. These replacements meet the customer's needs by debottlenecking from 470,000 to 800,000 metric tons per year.

The main features are as follows.

1. To accommodate dimensional restrictions by using existing foundations, 3D flow analysis was used to optimize intake flow channel shapes and attain the specified compressor performance.
2. New structures with reduced maintenance mass were used to improve maintainability.
3. The five replacement compressors use the existing foundations. The compressor gas seals for these casings were changed from the existing oil-film seals to dry gas seals, and a new seal gas control and monitoring system was installed.

Hitachi will continue to provide centrifugal compressor renovation and replacement solutions meeting a wide range of customer needs such as increasing compressor capacity and saving energy.

Hitachi has recently delivered a horizontal two-dimensional (2D) vibration table to a lab building at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo. A horizontal 2D vibration table is a device used in tests that vibrate test samples for applications such as earthquake resistance tests and behavior elucidation tests of vibrated structures. The delivered table can recreate seismic waves corresponding to the Kobe waves defined by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and Level 2 simulated waves defined by the Building Center of Japan (BCJ-L2 waves).

The table measures 5 meters square and has a maximum load mass of 10 metric tons. It can produce horizontal vibration with a maximum acceleration of 3.0 G (29.4 m/s², Y-axis direction), a maximum speed of 150 cm/s (X-axis direction), and a maximum displacement of ±300 mm. The unit has a floating foundation structure and a vibration damper that reduces the propagation of vibrations to the surrounding area as an environmental measure. It has been designed for lower-cost operation, with a power-saving mode that can be used during standby operation to reduce the power consumption to less than two-thirds of the amount used during rated operation.

Supplying this equipment lets Hitachi assist research designed to explicate the dynamic behavior and limit performance of structures.

The recent growth in the use of IoT applications for industrial equipment is creating a growing demand for cloud connectivity of plant equipment and device data. Hitachi has responded with the release of a pioneering series of air compressors that provide a function for communication with cloud servers as a standard feature. The series includes a total of 212 models released simultaneously in two sub-series, a series of oil-flooded rotary screw air compressors, and a series of oil-free rotary screw air compressors.

These new models come with a new communication board developed by Hitachi with a built-in mobile carrier communication function. They feature a color touch panel with a function for checking the intent of communications. The user can connect to a private Hitachi cloud server by operating the panel. The air compressors are designed to connect to the IoT simply and securely. They enable real-time, round-the-clock checking of site operational states from a personal computer (PC), smartphone, or tablet device. Stored operational data can be downloaded at any time, enabling predictive maintenance and early identification of failure causes. The air compressors can also be used with a cloud monitoring service, enabling equipment management time reviews, optimized repairs/servicing, and efficient operation proposals.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

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This product is available only in Japan.

In March 2017, Hitachi released a series (200 to 450 kW models) of air compressors with augmented control board IT functions. These new models were released as part of Hitachi's oil-free rotary screw air compressor series that provide clean compressed air for a variety of industries. The board used in these models is the type used in the 15 to 240 kW models to meet demand for air compressor operational state trend monitoring and manufacturer maintenance and management support. The use of this board has now been expanded to large models also. The release of the series has brought communication functions to Hitachi's lineup of oil-free rotary screw air compressors in the 15 to 450 kW output range.

The main features are as follows.

1. Modbus^* communication compatibility and other augmented communication functions
2. Energy-saving control with a terminal pressure controller
3. High-definition color touch panel providing better operability

Hitachi is planning to release another series of large (460 to 680 kW) models with expanded communication functions.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

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See the list of “Trademarks.”

Electric hoists are used with equipment such as ceiling cranes. An increasing percentage of models have inverters built-in to provide features such as making it easy to change the operating speed. Hitachi has developed inverter-driven electric hoists in response to recent growth in demand for greater ease of use and maintainability. Traditionally, when a suspended load being transported is stopped, load sway can result and must be dampened by operations performed by skilled workers (follow-up notch operations). The new models have automated these operations and have improved maintainability by enabling easy recording and display of operational information.

The main features are as follows.

1. A load sway reduction function is provided as a standard feature. The amount of load sway caused when stopping a suspended load that is being transported has been reduced to less than one-fourth the amount enabled by previous products.
2. Information such as load weight-specific operation times and error histories can be saved to the hoist's internal memory or USB memory. Data saved to USB memory can be freely processed in charts or graphs on a PC.

Hitachi has now started taking orders for hoisting/traversing equipment with rated load capacities of 1 to 5 metric tons, and is planning to progressively release a model series.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

Hitachi has added a hybrid model to its series of IoT-compatible industrial controllers. The new model features enhanced IoT functions and tightly couples a control system (manufacturing site) to an information system. It has the same control specifications as the current model, up to 32 MB of storage memory for information processing programs, 512 MB of operating memory, and a container platform that keeps control programs and information processing programs separate. It also provides an online modification function that enables the replacement of information processing programs while control programs are running.

Control operation processing and information processing that requires an information system are both software. Using software to perform these types of processing is a concept known as a software-defined controller (SDC). An SDC is defined as a controller that can flexibly modify its functions in response to the demands of a host system without affecting the control of devices. The hybrid model is a product that achieves this concept. It shares data with control programs to create on-premise data visualizations, provide data for use by various analysis platforms, and enable manufacturing site edge computing. It can be used for various industrial IoT aims such as productivity improvement, quality assurance, faster delivery, cost-cutting, and predictive maintenance.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

The hybrid vacuum circuit breakers (VCBs) made by Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems (HIES) enable grease-free operation by using solid lubricant bearings in a simple operation mechanism. High reliability and lower maintenance are the main benefits. Grease-free operation eliminates the operation problems encountered by VCBs with conventional electric spring operation when grease dries out or becomes sticky. Hybrid models also eliminate the need for periodic lubrication, reducing maintenance work and running costs.

HIES has recently developed a new hybrid VCB that maintains the benefits of previous hybrid VCBs while reducing the size and weight. The new model is 20% shorter and 30% lighter than current models. The height was reduced by using a smaller main circuit insulator. The weight was reduced by re-thinking the major components such as vacuum valves and hybrid electromagnetic actuators, along with nearly every other component.

The smaller and lighter design improves ease of use such as by facilitating multilayer stacking of VCBs in panels. HIES wants to exploit these benefits to boost sales of the new model for use in both Hitachi's and competitors' panels.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

Industrial ink jet printers are in high demand throughout the world. They are used in the food, beverage, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and other industries to mark products with quality control information such as manufacturing date, best-by date, and lot number.

To add to the UX series released in July 2015, Hitachi has recently developed a twin-nozzle model that has been refined for added reliability, attractiveness and simplicity.

The main features are as follows.

1. A dual-nozzle print head enables multi-level printing of up to 8 levels and double the printing speed^* of the single-nozzle models.
2. Can print large characters of 32 dots (with one nozzle) or 64 dots (with two nozzles). A function for editing 64-dot logos or symbols lets users print a wide range of designs.
3. A proprietary system keeps solvent consumption low by controlling ink recovery and managing the equipment temperature. It greatly reduces solvent consumption to help reduce running costs and reduce environmental impact.
4. A simplified screen configuration makes it easy to enter information for the two nozzles, improving operability.

(Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.)

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The speed gain is relative to UX series single-nozzle models (two-level printing), as determined by an in-house study.