Fuji Electric's power generation division is engaged in the development of thermal power generation, hydropower generation and nuclear power generation, and is utilizing these various distinctive technologies to contribute positively to society. In the thermal power generation field, development is focused on medium-capacity thermal power generation and geothermal generation. In the hydropower field, development is focused on low-head power generation and pumped storage generation. In the nuclear power field, development is focused on fuel handling facilities and waste disposal facilities. Technical development for repowering and rehabilitation is also being advanced to improve the performance and reliability of existing power plant equipment. The development of these distinctive technologies is discussed herein.

Since delivering Japan's first practical geothermal power facility in 1960, Fuji Electric has continuously made efforts to develop new technologies for geothermal steam turbines. As the latest technologies, Fuji Electric has developed thermal spray coating and shot peening, and put them to practical use, in order to enhance reliability in highly corrosive geothermal steam environments. Fuji Electric also developed new-generation low-pressure blades and high-load, high-efficiency reaction blades, which have achieved a significant increase in turbine efficiency. Applying these new technologies, Fuji Electric has developed geothermal steam turbines capable of handling higher inlet steam pressure and multiple steam sources and of supporting diverse geothermal resources, and has brought them to successful operation.

Fuji Electric has applied global vacuum pressure impregnation systems to air-cooled generators of up to 300 MVA, and has achieved a record of excellent reliability based on many successful results. Having the same structure and manufacturing procedure as most of these aircooled generators, Fuji has also developed and completed factory testing for hydrogen indirect-cooled generators that can be used in a wider range of applications than in the past. This development work has realized improvements in optimization and reliability through computational fluid dynamics and other various analyses, experimentation and verification. Factory testing has yielded favorable results for various performance characteristics, including insulation characteristics.

Since launching its thermal power business in 1955, Fuji Electric has successfully delivered more than 500 units of thermal power generation equipment. Aging thermal power generation equipment delivered overseas has also been increasing recently. There is a growing need for the rehabilitation of this equipment to achieve higher efficiency, larger output and a prolonged lifespan. This paper presents examples of the recent rehabilitation of Fuji Electric's thermal power generation equipment that has been delivered overseas and also describes the maintenance service technology that Fuji Electric has managed.

The steam condensing system of the power station is usually operating in vacuum condition. When huge amount of air ingress is happened into vacuum line, the deterioration of plant efficiency and/or corrosion of the material are induced. In former time, it is very common to use either chlorofluorocarbon or smoke as leak testing methods. However, the use of chlorofluorocarbon is now prohibited to use of this method against Ozone layer depletion.
Under this circumstance, Fuji Electric has developed the alternative leak testing method with helium gas, which is called as "Leak Buster" The system has the advantages to be able to specify the actual location and each leakage rate so that helium gas method has the sensibility more than 100 times compared to the previous chlorofluorocarbon method.

Hydropower generation is still being developed overseas on a large scale. New technology is being developed in the wide-ranging fields of hydraulic turbine performance, construction and control. Meanwhile in the Japanese domestic market, large new development projects are disappearing, but repowering technology for improving the performance of existing power plants and various technologies for improving the maintainability and extending the service life of power plant equipment are being developed and applied. On the basis of such trends for hydropower generation technology, this paper describes CFD technology, which has advanced remarkably in recent years, and discusses the present status of hybrid servomotor systems and abrasion resistance coatings which are in high demand by domestic users.

Core technologies for electric machines have achieved noticeable progress over the past several years due to such developments as the establishment of a new insulation system having high electric field strength and a new method for simulating ventilation and cooling of electric machines through the coupled analysis of flow and temperature. By actively incorporating these technologies, Fuji Electric has realized a more compact size of its generator motors for overseas pumped storage plants, for which Fuji has been receiving orders since 2000. Details and application results of the latest hydraulic turbine generator technologies are described in this paper, which focuses on the particular technology used in the design and manufacture of the abovementioned generator motors.

In the radioactive environment of a nuclear facility, access to the work environment is restricted and therefore handling operations are performed using remote controlled devices. Fuji Electric has developed a remote-controlled auxiliary system that utilizes shape recognition technology to identify and visualize the location and orientation of target objects to be handled. By watching the operation screen of this system, an operator can easily control a manipulator or other handling apparatus. This paper presents an overview and describes details of the development of the system.

The targets and surrounding moderators exposed to high intensity proton beams at J-PARC, the high intensity proton accelerator facility of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, become highly radioactive and are replaced at intervals ranging from one-half to several years. From 2002 to 2007, Fuji Electric carried out the design, production and installation of a target trolley, moderator-reflector remote handling device and irradiated components storage facilities which are necessary for the replacing work. This paper presents an overview of the design, production and installation of these three pieces of equipment.

MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technology, which enables products to be made smaller and have lower power consumption, has been applied to various products. This paper describes the history of Fuji Electric's approach to MEMS products, and in particular, introduces examples of various applications of products that contribute to a cleaner environment and enhanced safety. Fuji Electric's future activities are also discussed.

Recent products incorporating MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technologies are attracting much attention. Fuji Electric has also commercialized various products that incorporate MEMS technology. This paper describes the micro-machining technology that supports these MEMS products and also discusses the outlook for such technology of Fuji Electric.

Aiming to solve such problems as global environmental pollution and human health issues brought on by the advent of an aging society, and with the keywords of green (environment) and safety (safety and security), Fuji Electric has been developing products that utilize MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) technologies. For the first keyword, "environment," a micro-pump used to measure small amounts of harmful substances and an injector used for gas chromatography to measure onsite distributions of environmental pollution are introduced. For the second keyword, "safety and security," a salivabased health-check chip and stress inspection technique that utilize inkjet technology are introduced.

Vision inspection apparatus has gradually come to require more detailed inspection images. Owing to advances in PCs and the image processing cards for installation in PCs, super-fine image processing can now be implemented on a PC. This paper presents an overview of PC-based super-fine image inspection apparatus, as well as MEMS wafer inspection system and medical-use granule fault inspection systems to which this PC-based super-fine image inspection apparatus is applied. The basic configuration and functions of super-fine image inspection apparatus and the configurations and main specifications of systems in example applications are also described.

In a ubiquitous computing environment, the realization of a measurement environment in which various field conditions can be monitored anytime and anywhere is eagerly anticipated. Such an environment can be realized by integrating various sensors and wireless communication technologies. To realize a ubiquitous computing environment, Fuji Electric is developing low-power wireless communication components that utilize various MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) sensors and miniaturization technology such as silicon interposer, of which Fuji Electric's product or technology is named IMM (Intelligent Micro Module).