Abstract: A small fuel cell capable of realizing stable output and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A fuel cell 1 includes a Membrane Electrolyte Assembly (MEA) 13 in which a fuel electrode 16 and an oxygen electrode 14 are oppositely arranged with an electrolyte membrane 15 in between; a first pressing plate 10 and a second pressing plate 11 arranged oppositely to the MEA 13 and a peripheral region 13D; a through hole 12 provided to penetrate from the first pressing plate 10 to the second pressing plate 11 through the peripheral region 13D; and a resin layer 20 embedded in the through hole 12. By the resin layer 20 formed in the through hole 12, the MEA 13 is held under pressure between the first pressing plate 10 and the second pressing plate 11. Compared to a case using a metal screw, a fastening space is decreased, and a space for securing insulation is not necessitated. Due to the elasticity of the resin layer 20, pressurization state is easily retained.

Abstract: A three-level PWM converter (3) includes first to third fuses (F1R to F3R) having one terminals connected to a DC positive bus (13), a DC negative bus (14) and a DC neutral point bus (15), respectively, first and second IGBT elements (Q1R, Q2R) connected between respective ones of the other terminals of the first and second fuses (F1R, F2R) and an AC line (RL), an AC switch (Q3R, Q4R, D3R, D4R) connected between the AC line (RL) and the other terminal of the third fuse (F3R), first and second diodes (D1R, D2R) connected in anti-parallel to the first and second IGBT elements (Q1R, Q2R) respectively, a first capacitor (C1R) connected between the other terminals of the first and third fuses (F1R, F3R), and a second capacitor (C2R) connected between the other terminals of the second and third fuses (F2R, F3R).

Abstract: In an uninterruptible power supply apparatus, a common mode current flowing from nodes (N1 to N3) to a line of a ground voltage (GND) through a stray capacitance (41) of a battery (40) is limited by a common mode reactor (34), and the low-level common mode current passing through the common mode reactor (34) is caused to flow to a virtual neutral line (NL) through a common mode capacitor (37). Therefore, the level of noise caused by the common mode current can be reduced.

Abstract: A battery pack 1 includes a battery 10, thickness detection means 11, cycle number detection means 12, and first determination means 13. The battery 10 is an alloy-type secondary battery having an electrode assembly 20 which includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode including an alloyable active material, and an insulating layer. The thickness detection means 11 detects the thickness of the electrode assembly 20 of the battery 10. The cycle number detection means 12 detects the number of charge and discharge cycles of the battery 10. The first determination means 13 determines the replacement time of the battery 10 according to the detection results by the thickness detection means 11 and the cycle number detection means 12. This configuration allows the battery pack including the alloy-type secondary battery to estimate the replacement time of the alloy-type secondary battery almost accurately, thereby enhancing the convenience of the battery pack.

Abstract: Provided are a negative electrode 1 for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery including the negative electrode 1 for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery, the negative electrode 1 including: a negative electrode current collector 10; and a plurality of columns 13 of alloy-formable active material being capable of absorbing and desorbing lithium ions and being supported on the surface of the negative electrode current collector 10 so as to extend outward; a polymer layer 15 including a lithium-ion permeable resin and being formed on the outer surface of each column 13 of alloy-formable active material, the polymer layer 15 having a thickness capable of leaving gaps 17 between the columns 13 of alloy-formable active material adjacent to each other unfilled.

Abstract: In a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery 1 including a positive electrode 11, a negative electrode 12, a separator 14, a positive electrode lead 15, a negative electrode lead 16, a gasket 17, and a housing case 18, the negative electrode 12 including a negative electrode active material layer 12b including an alloy-formable active material, a resin layer 13 is formed on the surface of the negative electrode active material layer 12b. The resin layer 13 includes a resin component with lithium ion conductivity and an additive for non-aqueous electrolyte. This configuration enables the battery performance to be maintained at a high level and the battery swelling to be suppressed, even when the number of charge/discharge cycles is increased, providing the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery 1 with a high level of safety.

Abstract: Provided is a process for producing an amide (A): by hydrating a nitrile (B) at high conversion in relatively short period of time even without use of high-capacity cooling apparatuses (25, 35) and a large amount of inorganic acid (D). In the process for the present invention, a nitrile (B) is hydrated in continuous mode in the presence of an inorganic acid (D) so as to give a conversion of 80% to 98%, and the unreacted nitrile contained in the resultant hydrated reaction liquid (E) is hydrated in batch-wise mode so as to give a conversion of 99.9% or more, thereby producing an amide (A). For example, the inorganic acid (D) is sulfuric acid and the use amount thereof is 0.5 to 1-fold mol with respect to the nitrile (B), and the temperature in hydration is 40 to 70-C, and hydration is performed in continuous mode using a tubular reactor (2c), loop reactor (2d) and the like. The resultant amide (A) can be hydrolyzed to produce a thiobutanoic acid (G).

Abstract: A lithium ion battery includes: a positive electrode; a negative electrode that includes a negative electrode active material layer that contains an alloy-formable active material; an ion permeable insulating layer that is interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and an ion conductive polymer layer that is interposed between the negative electrode and the ion permeable insulating layer, in which the ion conductive polymer layer is configured to include a negative electrode-side portion and an ion permeable insulating layer-side portion that have different compositions, and the ion permeable insulating layer-side portion is configured to have higher ion conductivity than the negative electrode-side portion. With such a lithium ion battery, charge/discharge cycle characteristics and rate characteristics can be improved.

Abstract: Disclosed is a lithium ion secondary battery including: a positive electrode including a positive electrode active material layer containing a positive electrode active material, and a positive electrode current collector; a negative electrode including a thin film negative electrode active material layer containing an alloy-based negative electrode active material, and a negative electrode current collector; a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode; and an ion-permeable resin layer formed on a surface of the thin film negative electrode active material layer. In this lithium ion secondary battery, despite the use of the alloy-based negative electrode active material, the deterioration in battery performance such as cycle characteristics and output characteristics is prevented.

Abstract: A nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery includes an electrode group in which a positive electrode plate including a positive electrode active material formed on a positive electrode current collector and a negative electrode plate including a negative electrode active material formed on a negative electrode current collector are wound with a separator interposed therebetween, and a tensile elongation rate of the positive electrode plate is larger than a tensile elongation rate of the negative electrode plate.

Abstract: To detect a position an object is brought into contact or brought into proximity of the contact regions arranged with a capacitance sensor at high precision by successive values with a small number of capacitance sensors. An intensity acquiring unit acquires intensities of change in capacitance detected by capacitance sensors as detection results of when annularly arranged with respect to a first quadrant to a fourth quadrant. A horizontal calculation unit calculates a detection position in a horizontal direction of a position an object is brought into contact or brought into proximity. A vertical direction calculation unit calculates a detection position in a vertical direction of a position an object is brought into contact or brought into proximity. A position output unit outputs positions in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the position the object is brought into contact or brought into proximity.

Abstract: Human contact/non-contact is detected speedily and accurately. A measurement section measures capacitance of each of sites to which a plurality of electrodes are connected where a human body touches, a comparison section compares the capacitance with a threshold value for each contacting electrode, and a control section determines whether a human body has come in contact based on the comparison result.

Abstract: A driving support equipment for a vehicle is provided, the equipment comprising a frontward information recognition unit for recognizing environs information at the front of the vehicle; a preceding vehicle information detection unit for detecting preceding vehicle information from the environs information at the front of the vehicle; an eye motion detection unit for detecting an eye motion of a driver who drives the vehicle; a dispersion value processing unit for processing a value showing a dispersion of the eye motions regarding the preceding vehicle, detected by the eye motion detection unit; an attention state estimation unit for estimating an attention state of the driver regarding the preceding vehicle, using the value showing the eye motion dispersion; and an alarm control unit for varying a vehicle alarm according to the estimated attention state of the driver.

Abstract: Whether a human body is touching or not is detected highly accurately at high speed. Switch SW1 is turned on to charge condenser Ca by power supply Vcc. The switch SW1 is turned off to transfer the electric charge charged in the condenser Ca to condensers Cs and Cx. The switches SW2 and SW3 are repeatedly turned on and off for a predetermined short time, and thus the electric charge charged in the condenser Ca is slowly discharged through resistor R. The unknown charging voltage Vx of the condenser Cx is compared with the reference voltage Vref by comparator Comp, and the unknown capacitance of the condenser Cx is computed based on the number of times to count turning on and off until it is smaller than the reference voltage Vref. When the computed unknown capacitance of the condenser Cx is the value near the capacitance of a human body, it is determined that a human body is touching. The invention can be applied to a touch sensor.

Abstract: A driving support equipment for a vehicle is provided, the equipment comprising a frontward information recognition unit for recognizing environs information at the front of the vehicle; a preceding vehicle information detection unit for detecting preceding vehicle information from the environs information at the front of the vehicle; an eye motion detection unit for detecting an eye motion of a driver who drives the vehicle; a dispersion value processing unit for processing a value showing a dispersion of the eye motions regarding the preceding vehicle, detected by the eye motion detection unit; an attention state estimation unit for estimating an attention state of the driver regarding the preceding vehicle, using the value showing the eye motion dispersion; and an alarm control unit for varying a vehicle alarm according to the estimated attention state of the driver.

Abstract: A thickness detecting sensor can widely set a dynamic range for detecting the thickness of a medium, and exactly detect the thickness of the medium even when the dynamic range is widely set in this way. Therefore, the thickness detecting sensor has a fixing electrode and a movable electrode arranged so as to be opposed to each other, a plunger for changing the gap between the electrodes by coming in contact with the medium, and a CR oscillating circuit and an FV converting circuit for converting electrostatic capacity stored between the electrodes into an electric signal for detecting the thickness of the medium. The rear end portion of the plunger comes in contact with the electrode face of the gap side of the movable electrode. The movable electrode is displaced in the direction separated from the fixing electrode correspondingly to the thickness of the medium.

Abstract: An input device, which is small-sized and inexpensive in spite of being simple in construction and thin, comprises at least one primary electrode and a plurality of secondary electrodes, both electrodes being formed in the same plane. A position of a dielectric is identified on the basis of differences in electrostatic capacity between the primary electrode and the secondary electrodes, which electrostatic capacity is changed by the dielectric positioned on a surface side of the both electrodes.

Abstract: Whether a human body is touching or not is detected highly accurately at high speed. Switch SW1 is turned on to charge condenser Ca by power supply Vcc. The switch SW1 is turned off to transfer the electric charge charged in the condenser Ca to condensers Cs and Cx. The switches SW2 and SW3 are repeatedly turned on and off for a predetermined short time, and thus the electric charge charged in the condenser Ca is slowly discharged through resistor R. The unknown charging voltage Vx of the condenser Cx is compared with the reference voltage Vref by comparator Comp, and the unknown capacitance of the condenser Cx is computed based on the number of times to count turning on and off until it is smaller than the reference voltage Vref. When the computed unknown capacitance of the condenser Cx is the value near the capacitance of a human body, it is determined that a human body is touching. The invention can be applied to a touch sensor.

Abstract: In a vehicle driving assist system, an external environment recognition unit detects a 3-D obstacle inhibiting the driving direction of the vehicle based on an image captured by a stereo camera and determines whether the image ahead of the vehicle is in a condition that makes visual perception of the 3-D obstacle difficult. A controller calculates a required alarm working distance between the vehicle and the 3D obstacle, at which an alarm unit is worked when the vehicle approaches the 3D obstacle, and a required brake operating distance, at which a brake is operated by a brake applying unit, based on a vehicle traveling speed. If it is determined that an external environment is in a condition that makes visual perception difficult, the required working and operating distances are extended by predetermined values to set the working and operating timings earlier.

Abstract: A conductor detecting switch is provided in which the occupied area on an operating panel can be reduced and high detection sensitivity to a conductor can be realized even when the occupied area is thus reduced. An electrode provided on a control board, and a control IC chip having an electrostatic capacity detector circuit for detecting electrostatic capacity stored in the electrode are provided on the inner side of an operating panel. On the electrode, an LED, which is a dielectric member, and a dielectric member made of synthetic resin are provided to overlap each other. The control board is attached to the inner side of the operating panel, sandwiching the dielectric member between them.