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Study offers verdict for China’s efforts on coal emissions

Researchers from China, France and the USA have evaluated China’s success in stemming emissions from its coal-fired power plants (CPPs). China’s efforts on emission reductions, air quality improvement and human health protection were effective and similar measures could be used in countries such as India, to help them reduce emissions alongside rapid economic growth, the researcher suggests. (Image added by Asia Research News) CPPs are one of the main contributors to air pollution in China, and their proliferation over the last 20 years has had significant impacts on air quality and public health. These impacts led authorities to introduce measures to control emissions from CPPs and reduce their effects. Writing today in Environmental Research Letters, researchers examined if these policies have been effective, and measured their benefits. Dr Qiang Zhang, from Tsinghua University, China, is the study’s lead author. He said: “Between 2005 and 2015, the coal-fired power generation of CPPs in China grew by more than 97 percent. In 2010, CPPs’ sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions accounted for 33 per cent, 33 per cent and 6 percent of China’s total national emissions, respectively. “The large amount of air pollutant emissions from CPPs causes fine particulate air pollution, which contributed 26 percent of the fine particulate nitrate and 22 percent of the fine particulate sulphate ambient concentration in 2012. “To combat this, China introduced three primary policies for CPPs during 2005-2020. They aimed to improve efficiency energy by promoting large CPPs and decommissioning small plants during 2005-2020; brought in national emission cap requirements by installing of end-of-pipe control devices during 2005-2015; and introduced ultra-low emission standards between 2014-2020.” To measure the effect these policies had on emissions, the team developed two retrospective emission scenarios based on a high-resolution coal-fired power plant database for China. They also developed two emission prediction scenarios […]

ATP launches SLC-Based E800Pi e.MMC with premium endurance of 60K P/E Cycle

ATP Electronics, the leading manufacturer of industrial-only memory and storage solutions, is launching E800Pi, its first embedded multimedia card (e.MMC) based on native single-level cell (SLC) flash with a very high endurance rating of 60K program/erase (P/E) cycles. “Embedded storage devices operate in challenging environments, are usually placed within very limited spaces and are expected to function reliably over extended periods of time. ATP addresses the high reliability needs of industrial applications through its latest e.MMC, the E800Pi, which packs native SLC flash within its compact form to provide ultra-high endurance and trustworthy performance for the most rigid industrial requirements,” said Marco Mezger, ATP Vice President of Global Marketing. “SLC is widely recognised as ideal for applications requiring high reliability due to its unparalleled endurance, lowest read disturb and highest data retention capability. With ATP’s SLC-based E800Pi e.MMC, our customers can be assured of the most optimal total cost of ownership (TCO).” Aside from its superior endurance, the SLC-based E800Pi e.MMC offers strong resistance against high and cross temperatures with its ability to operate in extremely hot or cold settings from -40°C to 85°C (industrial temperature rating). It is designed according to JEDEC e.MMC v4.41 standard with support for enhanced features such as Health Report, Field Firmware Update (FFU) and Fast Boot operation. The S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) feature monitors various parameters of endurance and reliability, indicating activity that is out of the normal range to help predict storage failure for preventive action. ATP e.MMC employs Advanced Global Wear Leveling to maximize flash life, Page Mode FW architecture technology to improve Random performance, Dynamic Data Refresh and AutoRefresh to sustain data integrity in seldom-accessed and read-only areas, and the Early Retirement technology to prevent data loss from weak blocks. The Sudden Power-Off Recovery (SPOR) firmware backup mechanism ensures […]

Wencor Group and GMF AeroAsia announce cooperation agreement

Wencor Group (Wencor) and PT Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero Asia Tbk. (GMF) have signed a cooperation agreement to develop a Total Material Solutions Program. “This new agreement with GMF aligns with Wencor’s mission to provide engineering, program management and material services necessary for MRO facilities to effectively serve their customer base,” said Wencor CEO Chris Curtis. “We look forward to engaging with the GMF team and welcome the opportunity to help them support their customer’s needs.” The agreement between Wencor, a leading solutions provider to the aerospace aftermarket, and GMF, a world class MRO and internationally certificated repair station, outlines the general framework for the development, adoption, and maximisation of alternate parts usage, DER repairs and maintenance kits. Long-term, the program will result in greater cost savings and more efficient business practices that will enhance the bottom line and process flow for GMF, its subsidiary and affiliated company’s operations. “Wencor has been one of our close partners for more than 10 years with on-site consignment and component maintenance and repair kitting services,” said GMF CEO Tazar Marta Kurniawan. “This cooperation agreement signals an important step in GMF’s strategic transformation towards market leadership in the Asia Pacific. Through this collaboration, we hope to aim to develop our capability of manufacturing PMA parts and enhance the usage of PMA parts. We look forward to working closely with Wencor to jointly find ways to reduce aircraft maintenance costs and improve reliability.”

Siemens partners with TIES to develop technologies for electric vehicle batteries

Siemens Digital Industries Software has partnered with Tianmu Lake Institute of Advanced Energy Storage Technologies (TIES), a major Chinese energy storage research and development centre, to build an Advanced Battery Technology Innovation Centre. The Innovation Centre, to be located at the 500 million-yuan, 51,000 square meter TIES facility in Liyang, China, will be dedicated to transforming and upgrading the advanced battery industry, including nurturing advanced battery technology research and development, and the development and introduction of high-end talents in this growing area. Meanwhile, the Innovation Centre will also provide manufacturing enterprises, both domestic and abroad, with high-quality professional digital transformation services, including digital construction and digital manufacturing construction consulting services for medium- and large-sized enterprises, implementation of complete solutions for digital enterprises, as well as the development of digital capabilities for and shared lab leases for small and micro businesses. In doing so, this centre can enable advanced research in battery technology, drive collaboration throughout the supply chain, and allow partners to develop the leading-edge battery technologies required for enhanced range with future electric vehicles. “As the first digital innovation center in battery field we aim to provide comprehensive digital solutions for the innovation chain and production chain, from first principle calculation to digital twin factory, from materials to systems,” said Professor Hong Li, Chief Executive Officer, at TIES. “This target is difficult to be realised but certainly worthy for long-term effort. Based on digital solutions, we believe we can understand the complex batteries and their processing precisely and produce the new batteries with unprecedented quality and reliability.” “China is fast emerging as a peer to those countries long known as leaders in battery innovation, in part due to much concerted government and private investment, of which this Siemens-TIES partnership is a prime example,” said Pei Huang (pictured), CEO and […]

Halton Group expanding factory operations in China

Halton has opened a new production unit of about 7,500 sq. meters close to their existing factory, with a floor area of 3,000 sq. meters, in the Lingang area, in Shanghai. The manufacture of Halton’s professional kitchen solutions such as kitchen hoods, ventilated ceilings and pollution control systems will transfer from the existing factory to the new one. The former will focus on the manufacture of solutions provided by Halton’s other business units for the Chinese and Asian markets, such as Halton Marine’s fire dampers and demisters and Halton Health’s laboratory solutions. With the new factory, Halton aims at doubling its sales in China by 2025. Halton has been expanding its operations steadily in China since 2005 when it opened its first manufacturing operation in the country. The current factory was opened in 2010 and it hosts one of Halton’s seven R&D centres, Halton Innovation Hubs. \The Hub is planned to be moved to the new factory premises during 2020. “The Chinese and Asian markets are huge and there is strong demand for pollution control systems aimed at professional kitchens, for instance, as well as for high-quality indoor environment solutions. Besides restaurant market, we see interesting opportunities in the corporate catering sector,” says Georges Gaspar, Director of Halton Foodservice. The new factory facility already hosts a new show room demonstrating Halton’s commercial kitchen solutions such as the mobile cooking station, Halton MobiChef, pollution control system, Halton PolluStop, and the demand-based ventilation control system, Halton M.A.R.V.E.L, as well as the ventilated ceiling and different hood technologies, such as the Halton Capture Jet. ”It is important to us that we can demonstrate our technologies and to develop them close to our customers, and also together with them. It is important to our customers that we can offer them state-of-the-art solutions that also […]

Grundfos launches Distributed Pumping System to meet Asia’s sustainable cooling needs

Anders Christiansen, Regional Business Director, Building Services for Grundfos Asia Pacific with Distributed Pumping System. Rising temperatures across the world has cast a spotlight on the need to provide cooling in cities without overburdening urban power grids and in turn further contributing to climate change. In response, Grundfos has launched its Distributed Pumping System in Asia, which aims to help air-conditioning systems consume up to 50 per cent less energy than current conventional methods. Conventional systems often use up a high level of energy due to issues such as over-pumping to compensate for discrepancies between the chilled water supply and return temperatures. In addition, they have the tendency to run at constant speed and pressure throughout its operations, regardless of fluctuating cooling demands. The systems’ high energy consumption ultimately contributes to greater carbon emissions, driving climate change. A first in Asia, Grundfos’ Distributed Pumping System is a novel system capable of operating in optimised conditions at any time. It achieves this by intuitively regulating the water flow based on feedback from temperature sensors, meeting the exact requirements of different building zones, and intelligently controlling energy consumption by delivering the right flow at all times. On top of reducing energy consumption and operational costs, this new system achieves comfort for users of the building by ensuring a consistent building temperature at all times. This revolutionary approach to optimum water distribution is made possible by Grundfos’ MAGNA3 and TPE3 pumps – both ranges feature compact, intelligent circulator pumps fitted with built-in sensors, variable speed drive, controller and communication module, and state-of-the-art IE5 motors ensuring the highest efficiency. TPE3 is a dry-runner, vertical, in-line pump used as the primary pumps, while MAGNA3 is a wet-runner circulator used as the secondary pumps. The self-balancing nature of Grundfos’ Distributed Pumping System also means that control […]

ANCA Motion opens new technology centre in Taiwan

ANCA Motion has officially unveiled its new and expanded facility in Taiwan to service a growing market. A designer and manufacturer of flexible control systems; specialising in high precision solutions for CNC machines, ANCA Motion is a global leader in motion control systems. The company has deep industry knowledge with over 45 years’ experience and operates in more than 40 countries, with their head office in Melbourne, Australia. Dr Roy Ko, ANCA Motion Taiwan Branch Manager, said: “ANCA Motion has been operating in Taiwan for 14 years and have expanded over this time from just a few staff to a committed team of 40 people. We specialise in providing a range of customised products and solutions and have world-class teams in engineering, quality and supply chain roles.” On September 11th, ANCA Motion welcomed key government officials, customers and other valued guests to the grand opening of the new dedicated technology centre in Taichung City. Dr Ko continued, “This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate our unique solutions, commitment to our local market and customers, and the energy of our vibrant team. In our demonstration room customers can experience personalised demonstrations of our latest products and an in-depth look at ANCA Motion’s technology.” Paul Bocchi, ANCA Motion General Manager, said: “Having this new technology centre in Taiwan, not only geographically places us in our largest market segment—but offers unique advantages. The new facility represents an expansion of ANCA Motion’s manufacturing capabilities, and importantly, marks the beginning of a new stage of growth for us. Over the coming years, our plan is to invest further in our Research and Development capabilities in Taiwan. This will create new engineering jobs and enable us to work more closely with Taiwan’s machine tool industry.” Recently ANCA Motion Australia and ANCA Motion Taiwan have become ISO9001:2015 […]

Australia’s first electric motorbike launched in Adelaide

The Fonzarelli NKD electric motorbike and its charging stations will be manufactured in Adelaide, South Australia. Michelle Nazzari and Simon Modra met at a wedding several years ago in Sydney and spent the evening engrossed in conversation about motorbikes. The pair of entrepreneurs stayed in touch as each went their separate ways, Simon back to Adelaide and various startups in the sustainability sector, and Michelle into her own electric vehicle company called Fonzarelli. “I had been working in automotive manufacturing with electric and hybrid buses,” said Nazzari. “That’s where it all started, but I looked at the powertrain and it’s very simple and thought, ‘yeah, I might give this a go,’ and so set up the company and started tinkering.” Nazzari launched her first electric scooter in 2012-13 under the brand Fonzarelli and has grown the business from there. Always with the push to increase mileage and with a dedication to motorcycles still in her heart, Nazzari reconnected with Modra to tackle the issue of charging stations for her NKD electric motorbike. The electric dual-sport mini motorcycle has a range of up to 120kms and can produce 6000 RPM and a top speed of 100 km/h. Modra, who is also an architect and Future Submarine design researcher at the University of South Australia, jumped at the chance to collaborate with Nazzari on the NKD project and convinced her to manufacture the charging stations and bike in South Australia. “It’s a legitimate form of transport – there are many motorcyclists out there who don’t have a car and we’re lucky battery power has become so reliable now and Peter [Coombs – Chapter president of Design Institute of Australia] did give the hat-tip to Tesla,” Modra said. “Now we’ve got this incredible range with the vehicle and we’re getting further and further out.” […]

Is technology making us less productive?

Technology might actually be killing productivity according to a new study – and an old piece of wisdom called Metcalfe’s Law. A team at Bain & Company analysed data on how people are spending their time at work. By combining this with productive output and total headcounts, they were able to see the impact of technology at work. “Technology can have enormous benefits in the workplace,” said Michael Mankins, a partner at Bain & Company, in an article for the Harvard Business Review. “But it’s fair to ask whether we have reached the point of diminishing returns in some areas.” Why is technology slowing us down? Tech pioneer Robert Metcalfe predicted that the value of a network increases with the square of the number of users. However, his law has a downside as well. As the costs come down, the number of interactions rises exponentially. All of these interactions take time. Consider the situation 30 years ago. If a manager was away from their desk, they’d get a note saying they missed a call – perhaps 1,000 a year. This then become a voicemail – perhaps 4,000 a year. Now, with the vast array of communication possibilities (email, Skype, instant messengers, phone) this has expanded to 30,000 communications. This is equally true of meetings. Setting up meetings before digital calendars was a far more complex task. Now, data suggests that 15% of a business’s collective time is spent in meetings. A percentage that has increased every year since 2008. All of this points to technology actually being a drain on productivity, rather than aiding it. What does the data say? Bain & Company’s research backs this up. Assuming a 47-hour working week, a typical supervisor or mid-level manager was estimated to have less than seven hours a week of uninterrupted work time. How is this […]

Powerful tube bending machines for Southeast Asia’s future

Powerful tube bending machines for Southeast Asia’s future The Southeast Asian economy is booming: countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are increasingly becoming production centres for companies from across the world. Investments and spending on infrastructure are on the rise in the region. Against this backdrop, Schwarze-Robitec will be at the Tube Southeast Asia trade fair in Bangkok from September 18th to 20th. This is the first time that the German tube bending specialist will showcase its powerful tube bending machines at the Thai event, which is an offshoot of the Tube trade fair in Düsseldorf. Under the “Made in Germany” umbrella, the Cologne-based company will be located in the “German Pavilion”, the official joint exhibition stand of German companies that is being supported by the Foreign Trade Fair Participation Programme of Germany. The “Made in Germany” seal stands for the quality and tradition of German engineering, both of which Schwarze-Robitec embodies. Schwarze-Robitec’s powerful tube bending machines are used in many different fields. In the automotive industry, for example, the High Performance machines enable extremely high production speeds. This is largely thanks to their intelligent NxG control system, which enables almost all CNC axes to be operated simultaneously during the bending process. This helps reduce production times by up to 40 percent depending on the tube geometry. Schwarze-Robitec’s Heavy Duty machines, meanwhile, offer highly precise bending results even for very small radii and challenging tube and pipe geometries, which is a demand of the shipbuilding industry. The booster bending machines are able to bend – with or without a mandrel – even high-strength materials with minimal wall thinning and optimal ovality. This is a particular requirement of the boiler and power plant industry, which Schwarze-Robitec is able to fulfil with its Boiler & Power series. High Performance for the […]

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