Abstract: With a view to preventing increases in forward voltage due to a change with the lapse of time of a bipolar semiconductor device using a silicon carbide semiconductor, a buffer layer, a drift layer and other p-type and n-type semiconductor layers are formed on a growth surface, which is given by a surface of a crystal of a silicon carbide semiconductor having an off-angle ? of 8 degrees from a (000-1) carbon surface of the crystal, at a film growth rate having a film-thickness increasing rate per hour h of 10 ?m/h, which is three times or more higher than conventional counterparts. The flow rate of silane and propane material gases and dopant gases is largely increased to enhance the film growth rate.

Abstract: With a view to preventing increases in forward voltage due to a change with the lapse of time of a bipolar semiconductor device using a silicon carbide semiconductor, a buffer layer, a drift layer and other p-type and n-type semiconductor layers are formed on a growth surface, which is given by a surface of a crystal of a silicon carbide semiconductor having an off-angle ? of 8 degrees from a (000-1) carbon surface of the crystal, at a film growth rate having a film-thickness increasing rate per hour h of 10 ?m/h, which is three times or more higher than conventional counterparts. The flow rate of silane and propane material gases and dopant gases is largely increased to enhance the film growth rate.

Abstract: With a view to preventing increases in forward voltage due to a change with the lapse of time of a bipolar semiconductor device using a silicon carbide semiconductor, a buffer layer, a drift layer and other p-type and n-type semiconductor layers are formed on a growth surface, which is given by a surface of a crystal of a silicon carbide semiconductor having an off-angle ? of 8 degrees from a (000-1) carbon surface of the crystal, at a film growth rate having a film-thickness increasing rate per hour h of 10 ?m/h, which is three times or more higher than conventional counterparts. The flow rate of silane and propane material gases and dopant gases is largely increased to enhance the film growth rate.

Abstract: An object is to provide a gate valve capable of preventing operational deficiencies caused by particulate materials accumulating in a valve box, thus providing superior sealing properties and high durability, having a simple structure, and allowing inspection and maintenance to be performed easily.

Abstract: Gas discharge ports are provided in almost the entire area of a layer surface of a separator, and a gas for reaction is discharged like a shower from the separator toward a power generation cell. The separator is constructed by layering plate-shaped members containing iron-base alloy, nickel-base alloy, or chrome-base alloy as the base material. Silver, silver alloy, copper, or copper alloy is plated on both sides or one side of the base material of the plate-shaped member. The construction above can increase durability of a separator and enables the separator and a solid oxide fuel cell to be stably used for a long period.

Abstract: The outer surface of a wide-gap semiconductor device is coated with a synthetic polymer compound containing one or more silicon-containing polymer having a bridged structure formed by a siloxane (Si—O—Si bond structure). The synthetic polymer compound may include, for example, a silicon-containing polymer which has one or more reactive groups (A?) selected from Si—R1, Si—O—R2 and Si—R3—OCOC(R4)?CH2, has a bridged structure formed by an Si—O—Si bond in one or more locations, and contains components having weight average molecular weights of not more than 1000 in an amount of 20% or less by weight.

Abstract: An absorbent according to the present invention absorbs CO2 or H2S contained in flue gas emitted from a power generating plant such as a thermal plant, and contains three or more amine compounds selected from linear or cyclic amine compounds having a primary amino group, and linear or cyclic amine compounds having a secondary amino group. By way of a synergetic effect of the mixture of these compounds, the absorption speed of CO2 or H2S absorption is improved. A small amount of CO2 contained in a large amount of boiler flue gas can be absorbed efficiently.

Abstract: A solid oxide fuel cell provided with a power cell (1) in which a fuel electrode layer (4) is arranged on one surface of a solid electrolyte layer (3) and an air electrode layer (2) is arranged on the other surface thereof, wherein the solid electrolyte layer (3) has a two layer structure including a first electrolyte layer (3a) made of a ceria based oxide material and a second electrolyte layer (3b) made of a lanthanum gallate based oxide material, and the second electrolyte layer is formed on the side of the air electrode layer. Preferably, the material composition for the fuel electrode layer (4) is a mixture of Ni and CeSmO2, wherein the composition ratio of component materials is graded along the thickness thereof in such a way that the quantity of Ni is made less than the quantity of CeSmO2 near the boundary interface with said solid electrolyte layer, and the mixing ratio of Ni is gradually increased with an increasing distance away from the interface.

Abstract: A CO2 reducing system (10A) is constituted by a low-temperature CO2 reducing apparatus (11-1) that includes a low-temperature absorber (1006-1) that reduces at least one of CO2 and H2S by bringing flue gas (1002) including at least one of CO2 and H2S into contact with a low-temperature absorbing solution (1005-1), a low-temperature regenerator (1008-1) that regenerates a low-temperature rich solution (1007-1), a low-temperature rich-solution supply line (12-1) that feeds the low-temperature rich solution (1007-1) to the low-temperature regenerator (1008-1), and a low-temperature lean-solution supply line (13-1) that feeds a low-temperature lean solution (1009-1) to the low-temperature absorber (1006-1) from the low-temperature regenerator (1008-1); and a high-temperature CO2 reducing apparatus (11-2) that is arranged on a side at which the flue gas (1002) is discharged, and that has the same configuration as the low-temperature CO2 reducing apparatus (11-1).

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of designing a redox flow battery system that can prevent system efficiency loss caused by weak generation power or load power at the time of electric charge or discharge, without using any lead storage battery, and can also provide further improved system efficiency. In the present invention, generating equipment that varies irregularly in output of power generation is provided with the redox flow battery to smooth the output of power generation. An average value of output distribution of the battery with respect to the smoothed output of power generation and standard deviation are determined. Then, at least either of a specified output of the battery and a specified output of the converter for converting the battery output is determined based on the standard deviation.

Abstract: This invention provides a cell frame for a redox flow battery that prevents leakage of electrolyte out of the cell frame and also provides a good workability in assembling the redox flow battery. Also, this invention provides a redox flow battery using the cell frame. In the cell frame 30 for the redox flow battery 30 comprising a bipolar plate 21 and a frame 31 fitted around a periphery of the bipolar plate 21, the frame 31 has, on each side thereof, an inner seal and an outer seal to press-contact with a membrane and also seal electrolyte. The frame 31 has, on each side thereof, an inner seal groove 34 and an outer seal groove 35 for placing therein the inner seal and the outer seal, respectively, to prevent the electrolyte from leaking out, and O-rings are placed in the respective seal grooves.

Abstract: Bipolar semiconductor devices have a Zener voltage controlled very precisely in a wide range of Zener voltages (for example, from 10 to 500 V). A bipolar semiconductor device has a mesa structure and includes a silicon carbide single crystal substrate of a first conductivity type, a silicon carbide conductive layer of a first conductivity type, a highly doped layer of a second conductivity type and a silicon carbide conductive layer of a second conductivity type which substrate and conductive layers are laminated in the order named.

Abstract: A transmission probe and a reception probe for transmitting and receiving a wideband ultrasonic wave are provided. Each time when the locations of the probes and are moved, a received wave Gj(t) is obtained. Based on a spectrum Fj(f) corresponding to the received wave Gj(t), a narrowband spectrum FAj(f) is extracted. A component wave GAj(t) corresponding to the narrowband spectrum FAj(f) is found by inverse Fourier transformation. A longitudinal wave primary resonance frequency f1 having a relationship with a thickness W (mm) of an inspection target and a primary resonance frequency fS1 of a transverse wave generated by mode conversion are calculated. A comparative display of the component waves GAj(t) is presented using f1, fS1 and sizing coefficients ns1, ns2, ns3 and ns4 for high precision inspection.

Abstract: A system for collecting carbon dioxide in flue gas includes a stack that discharges flue gas discharged from an industrial facility to outside, a blower that is installed at the downstream side of the stack and draws the flue gas therein, a carbon-dioxide collecting device that collects carbon dioxide in the flue gas drawn in by the blower, and a gas flow sensor arranged near an exit side within the stack. A drawing amount of the flue gas by the blower to the carbon-dioxide collecting device is increased until an flow rate of the flue gas from the stack becomes zero in the gas flow sensor, and when the discharged amount of flue gas from the stack becomes zero, drawing in any more than that amount is stopped, and the carbon dioxide in the flue gas is collected while the flue gas is drawn in by a substantially constant amount.

Abstract: In a bipolar silicon carbide semiconductor device in which an electron and a hole recombine with each other during current passage within a silicon carbide epitaxial film grown from a surface of a silicon carbide single crystal substrate, an object described herein is the reduction of defects which are the nuclei of a stacking fault which is expanded by current passage, thereby suppressing the increase of the forward voltage of the bipolar silicon carbide semiconductor device. In a method for producing a bipolar silicon carbide semiconductor device, the device is subjected to a thermal treatment at a temperature of 300° C. or higher in the final step of production. Preferably, the above-mentioned thermal treatment is carried out after the formation of electrodes and then the resulting bipolar silicon carbide semiconductor device is mounted in a package.

Abstract: The present invention provides a mercury removal system and method for effectively removing a mercury component, which is present in a gas stream in an extremely small amount in wet gas cleaning used for coal or heavy oil gasification, petroleum refining and the like. The mercury removal system in wet gas cleaning comprises a water washing tower for introducing therein a target gas containing a mercury component and transferring the mercury component into an absorbing solution, a flush drum (10) for flushing the absorbing solution discharged from the water washing tower to separate the absorbing solution into a gas component and waste water, an oxidation treatment means (1) for adding an oxidizing agent to the absorbing solution at the preceding stage of the flush drum, and a waste water treatment means for subjecting to coagulation sedimentation treatment the separated waste water containing the mercury component at the following stage of the flush drum to dispose of the mercury component as sludge.

Abstract: SiC-IGBTs, which have an inversion-type channel with high channel resistance and have high on-voltage due to an influence from the surface state of the interface between a gate insulating film and a base layer, are required to decrease the on-voltage. An embedded collector region is partially formed in a base layer which is formed on an emitter layer of a SiC semiconductor. A channel layer is formed on the base layer and the embedded collector region to constitute an accumulation-type channel. Consequently, at on time, holes are accumulated in the upper layer portion of the channel layer so that a low-resistant channel is formed. Current by the holes flows to the emitter layer through a channel from the collector region and becomes a base current for an npn transistor composed of the embedded collector region, the base region and the emitter region.

Abstract: An overhead cable including a plurality of element wires stranded to form a naked stranded cable, which has a cross-sectional shape of an equilateral polygon inscribed in a circle having a diameter of 18.2 mm to 38.4 mm as a fundamental cross-sectional shape, in which two sides of this equilateral polygon that are located at positions farthest from each other are outwardly projected, has two flat-plate-shaped projections corresponding to the two sides, wherein the number of angles of the equilateral polygon is set depending to the diameter of the circle.

Abstract: An absorbent liquid according to the present invention is an absorbent liquid for absorbing CO2 or H2S or both from gas, in which the absorbent liquid includes an alkanolamine as a first compound component, and a second component including a nitrogen-containing compound having in a molecule thereof two members or more selected from a primary nitrogen, a secondary nitrogen, and a tertiary nitrogen or a nitrogen-containing compound having in a molecule thereof all of primary, secondary, and tertiary nitrogens. The absorbent liquid has an excellent absorption capacity performance and an excellent absorption reaction heat performance, as compared to an aqueous solution containing solely an alkanolamine and a nitrogen-containing compound in the same concentration in terms of wt %, and can recover CO2 or H2S or both from gas with smaller energy.

Abstract: A flaw Z with a long probing length inside a probing target is allowed to be probed. The waves other than the probing target waves are removed or reduced, so that the individual difference in the sizing result due to the ability of the measuring personnel is eliminated to improve the precision of the probing. A transmission probe 31 and a receiving probe 32 for transmitting and receiving a wide band ultrasonic wave are included. Each time the positions of the probes 31 and 32 are moved, a received wave Gj(t) is obtained. From a spectrum Fj(f) corresponding to the received wave Gj(t), a narrowband spectrum FAj(f) is extracted. A component wave GAj(t) corresponding to the narrow band spectrum FAj(f) is obtained by inverse Fourier transformation. The component wave GAj(t) is provided for a comparative display using a predetermined sizing coefficient.