Polishing up to the Expo.
After COVID: Looking to the future society
Start-up companies in Kansai are refining their own technology in anticipation of the 2025 International Expo (Osaka • Kansai Expo). Expo Association and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) will co-sponsor an international symposium online on March 3 with an eye on the future society after the convergence of the new coronavirus, and will support this movement. With the theme of “designing a future society with shining life” the EXPO is also “A place that shows off the strengths of mid-sized and small and medium-sized companies in the Kansai region” (Mr.Kiyoshi Mori, Deputy Secretary-General of the Expo Association). From the concept of each company, I have drawn its future forecast map.
A spherical vehicle moves in a semi-circular tube. A future elevator by Kyoto University startup Linearity (Kyoto City) may be installed at the Expo site. Normally, an elevator moves up and down by hanging a “cage” from the top with a wire rope. If a linear motor with magnetic rails is installed in this space, many cages can move along it. The technology was established by repeating experiments with a prototype manufactured together with a Turkish company. An elevator that moves along a curved surface can also be installed. President Sandor Markon, who was a foreign student from Hungary at Kyoto University and has experience working at a major elevator manufacturer in Japan, is an expert in system technology that efficiently manages many elevators. If it is used in a high-rise building, it is not necessary to divide it into low-rise and high-rise blocks, and space can be effectively used. Even in a building, where elevator waiting time is too long and usability is bad, “it can be greatly improved by renovating with linear motor elevators and increasing the number of cages,” said President Markon. The basic technology has been established, and while promoting the development of renewal demand for existing buildings, the company aims to adopt it in new architectural projects for high-rise buildings.
http://linearity.co.jp/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Nikkei-newspaper_210225.pdf
Japanese Only