Controls specialist EAO has enhanced its robust, modular and reliable Series 09 CAN modules with innovative product variants that offer IP67 front protection and white symbol illumination, all of which are on display at iVT Expo. 

The Series 09 Keypads and Rotary Cursor Controllers are available in a range of variants. They all have the flexibility of interchangeable legends but come with a choice of halo illumination features, communication protocols and connector types. 

As Matthias Mayr, business development manager at EAO, noted, the halo illumination results in a very simple and easy to read HMI that can guide operators through processes. For example, when moving through a sequence of commands, each button can illuminate green to indicate it needs to be pressed, then change color once that step is complete. A switch to amber or red illumination can indicate service issues or a fault. With a CAN connection, the function of each button is entirely customizable and this, combined with the use of removable icons, means that the same unit can be easily customized to a variety of applications. 

Robust construction is a key feature of the Rugged CAN Keypads, which are designed for out-of-cab use. The actuators and indicators are protected up to IP67 and work reliably at operating temperatures from -40°C to +85°C. The low back panel depth and robust clip-in or screw-in mounting allow easy, flexible installation, either vertically or horizontally.

Booth: 4025

Proper thermal management of an electric vehicle is much more complex than that of a conventional vehicle with a combustion engine. In electrified off-highway vehicles, the electric motor and power electronics must always be cooled, while the battery – depending on the outside temperature and load – must either be cooled or heated. For heating the cabin, which formerly used the waste heat of the combustion engine, electrical energy must be consumed from the battery. 

This is where Ymer’s thermal management system (TMS) comes in, on display at iVT Expo. As Josef Graubmann, director of thermal management systems at Ymer explained, in order to distribute the heat in the vehicle and provide the right temperatures, it is crucial that the cooling, heating and refrigeration circuits interact optimally to respond to different heating or cooling requirements and use existing thermal energy as efficiently as possible. 

“We have been active in the world of electrification for over five years now and we have seen a rapid growth in the market,” said Graubmann. “Five years ago, it was only really about exotic applications, but now it is spreading into more and more construction equipment. We are developing thermal management systems for those machines, to take care of battery and driveline heating and cooling in an intelligent way, reusing the waste heat, while also integrating cab heating and cooling. They are also modular solutions, based on a plug-and-play concept, which means we have standardized components, but the system is very adaptable to each and every application.” 

To this end, Ymer has a variety of newly developed, standardized modules including heating and cooling modules, a standard cooler module and a standard ECU module. 

Booth: 3030

Though the market is moving toward electrification, hydraulics remains a vital part of many industrial vehicles. They are hard to beat in terms of power density, as highlighted by Dynaset’s range of hydraulic-powered equipment on show at iVT Expo. 

“High-pressure compressors are one of our bestsellers, and our high-power water pumps, which can operate at 150 bar, have exceptional power density and are also very popular,” noted Henri Hypen, area sales manager for the company. “We have been developing our existing products and developing new ones. The possibilities for hydraulics are endless, beyond the basic applications of electricity generation, high-pressure water and air. You would be surprised what you are able to do with hydraulics.”

On display at Dynaset’s booth are a variety of offerings including the company’s HG hydraulic generator, capable of using the hydraulic power from any vehicle to generate electricity to run other off-vehicle equipment. Similarly versatile and also on show are the HPW high-pressure hydraulic water pumps – exceptionally compact units available in pressure variants up to 800 bar. 

Booth: 2050

Energy efficiency is a hot topic across the industrial vehicle sector, and iVT exhibitor GreenBrakes is looking to help manufacturers reduce energy consumption with its electromechanical brake systems. 

“The benefit of our system is the speed of actuation: it takes 75ms to lockup,” explained Markus Schiffer, the company’s CTO. “The technology we use is a non-linear gear drive and that gives us the advantage of really high speed at the start of the braking event, when braking forces are low. It costs us a little bit of speed when the forces increase, but it makes the brake much faster than hydraulics as braking begins.”

According to Schiffer, this speed of actuation results in a 60m reduction in stopping distance from a speed of 50km/h for a representative vehicle, compared with hydraulic brakes. Furthermore, the system provides a high degree of versatility compared with traditional systems. “We don’t need hydraulic fluids, lines or boosters. One of the biggest advantages is we can use these brakes on EVs without the need for other systems. The system can also work on voltages between 12V and 48V, and a full braking event only consumes around 100W of power.”

Booth: IVT24

Bluways, a developer of SiC-based inverters, high-power NMC batteries and electric motors used iVT Expo to debut its latest development, a 15kW permanent magnet, axial flux motor with fully integrated power electronics. 

“Each inductor on the motor has its own inverter,” explained Wim Vander Kuylen, project manager at Bluways. “What that means is that you have complete redundancy: even if one fails, the motor will still run.” 
The inverters and power electronics share a cooling circuit, while the use of SiC semiconductors means high switching frequencies for precise motor control and greater efficiency. “The integrated nature of the design means that instead of having two different devices to mount, you have just one with only three connections needed, DC+/- and the controller. Looking at the redundancy, it would be almost impossible, or at least impractical, to achieve using a separate motor and inverter system,” added Vander Kuylen

The development prototype shown at the expo weighs in at 10kg and operates at 650V with a 30A current draw.

Booth: 3027

Pankl is displaying its fuel cell air supply (FCAS) systems at iVT Expo, designed to support the next generation of high-performance fuel cells across a range from 30-300kW. The systems incorporate a variety of design innovations such as high-efficiency air foil bearings, ultra-high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) and leading-edge inverter technology, all of which contribute to increasing stack power density and netting significant power gains.

“We see at the moment a very strong demand for high-performance boosting in fuel cells. Manufacturers are looking for very efficient solutions for both large and small fuel cell systems, and each application has different requirements,” explained Rodrigo Costa, business development manager at Pankl Turbosystems.

For example, static power generation applications have very different demands to vehicle systems. “There are differences in the aerodynamics if you are running at a single operating point, where you can optimize the compressor for that one point,” continued Costa. “That is different from a truck application where quick response is required from the fuel cell. There are also different demands related to vibration and environment that have to be taken into consideration. 

Also on display are Pankl’s electrically assisted turbochargers (EAT), which deliver exceptional power density thanks to refined aerodynamics and electrical design, helping customers achieve the diesel and gasoline powertrain efficiencies required to meet the latest emissions standards. Pankl EAT technology uses advanced aerodynamic matchings to optimize the turbine for lambda 1 rated power.

Meanwhile, the company’s ultra-high-speed permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) and roller bearing system ensure exceptional transient response to powertrain torque demand. The addition of a wide-range compressor simultaneously improves low-end performance and expands high-end performance. Pankl inverters support advanced boosting and energy recovery strategies concurrently while its electric motor and inverter system designs support the implementation of FCAS and EAT units into a wide range of electric system architectures, from 48V to 800V.

Booth: 2120

Addressing a Year of Continued Crisis: Financial Results Announcement Q&A Session

Toyota announced its FY2022 financial results on May 11.

 

They showed record high sales and profits, despite the forecast of lower profits due to surging material prices and other forces.

 

See also: A 5-min Overview of the FY2022 Financial Results

 

Following the presentation, Toyota executives responded to reporters’ questions about a variety of topics, like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, production cuts due to parts shortages, soaring materials costs, the war in Ukraine, and slowdowns in various markets.

 

The variety of topics reflects the increasingly wide range of issues affecting Toyota's business.

 

How does Toyota view and plan to respond to this uncertain and increasingly harsh environment? Below is an excerpt of Toyota executives’ answers to key questions.

Masahiro Yamamoto, Accounting Group Chief Officer

Last fiscal year, we had to revise our production plan downward many times. Even so, our production members and suppliers continued to put all their heart and soul into producing each car. We are sincerely grateful for that.

 

We have set this year’s production plan at 9.7 million units. We have to ensure safety and quality above all else as we produce each and every car. We made the plan with these basics in mind.

 

We are starting the year with this plan as our basis, although we may face unexpected changes in the future.

 

In formulating this plan, we included the expected impacts of the COVID-19 and chip supply situations, as well as other known factors.

 

I recently visited our supplier’s worksites and learned how they had a hard time dealing with sudden production decreases; they have to replace people or move them to other jobs, or there may be a surplus of parts with no place to put them.

 

If we could let them know our adjusted plans earlier, they would be able to lower the cycle time and continue working without stopping manufacturing lines. That way, they could also continue investing in personnel by using spare time on kaizen activities.

 

I believe that manufacturing genba (worksite) is the source of our improved profit structure. With that in mind, we want to continue our efforts internally and with suppliers.

Kenta Kon, Chief Financial Officer

We are facing an unprecedented level of material costs for the ongoing fiscal year. Last year’s 640 billion yen was the largest impact in our history, but this year’s 1.45 trillion yen is more than twice that.

 

We have a rule with our suppliers that, in principle, Toyota bears the brunt of excess materials costs. Based on that rule, we have estimated an impact on a global basis in light of current market prices.

 

We have to work together as a team with suppliers in dealing with the rising material costs. We need a collaborative effort to reduce the amount of materials used or replace them with less expensive materials.

 

Of course, as an automaker, we must develop products that are appealing to customers.

 

We cannot simply raise prices across the board. As a company, we have to enhance cost competitiveness.

 

We need to accelerate efforts to achieve our long-standing annual cost improvement of 300 billion yen more seriously than ever.

Jun Nagata, Chief Communication Officer

Toyota is a company that offers a full lineup of passenger and commercial vehicles on a global scale.

 

We plan and price various products while considering diverse customer needs and situations in each market.

 

Some customers can afford a little higher cost in response to this inflation, but there are many customers who depend on their cars as a means of daily transportation.

 

It is not easy to ask them to pay more just because we are facing surging material costs and inflation.

 

Our basic stance is that we want to set prices based on a detailed examination of each region/line-up and whether or not a price increase would be acceptable.

 

Also, Toyota has many long-selling cars like Crown, Corolla, and Hiace.

 

Many customers have a strong idea of their product quality and price levels after long years of loving these cars.

 

We carefully consider these expectations when planning a model change, and that is why a sudden price hike during a model life is not an easy option.

 

We will try our best to meet customer expectations through long-term cost improvement efforts, rather than trying to absorb the cost in a single year.

Masahiko Maeda, Chief Technology Officer

I feel that the BEV trend has been accelerating quite quickly. This is partly due to expanded product lineups and more choices that automakers now provide customers, as well as strict new environmental regulations, particularly in the U.S.

 

The U.S. is the first country to set such strict regulations. This will be one of the biggest factors for automakers in accelerating BEV efforts.

 

Customer expectations are rising as I hear the preliminary reviews for Lexus RZ and Toyota bZ4X are good.

 

With the positive market response and strict regulations, more information suggests that BEV demand is growing.

 

However, I believe BEVs still face many uncertainties, including the impact of surging material costs. Customers are extremely sensitive to price increases and the benefits of government subsidies. We need to carefully watch those factors in each region.

#3 Digging Through Designs: The Transmission Team Starts from Scratch (Part 1)

Honda, in his seventh year at Toyota, currently designs drive units for hybrid electric vehicles.

Honda says his division manager offered the opportunity to work on the revival project. Like Asuka, he had a desire to see the whole car production process.

Ishida, in his 12th year, is in the prototype development division and responsible for prototype quality control, particularly of electrical components. He was previously in a design division, so he was assigned to design duties in this project.

Ishida had an interesting conversation with his manager when deciding to take part in this project.

A two-month struggle with the original blueprints

The project has a major guiding principle: the work is to be done by hand without relying too much on today’s technology, channeling the spirit of the car’s original makers.

And yet, time and budget are limited. The project members discussed and decided to divide revival work into parts that could be made quickly and cleverly at low cost and those that would be crafted with attention to detail.

The three-person transmission team chose to focus efforts on reconstructing the manual transmission according to 70-year-old design drawings. Generic components were used for parts such as the driveshaft and the differential.

For the engine itself, the initial plan was to restore and use an S-type engine that had been stored in the Toyota Automobile Museum, but it lacked a transmission. At this point, the only option was to build from scratch.

The trio’s first step was to gather and pierce together design drawings for the Toyopet Model SD, a base model of the Toyopet Racer.

However, as they delved deeper, the team ran into problems that the drawings alone could not solve, which they would have to figure out for themselves.

Original repair manuals which described the parts and how they were put together for those servicing the car also proved extremely helpful in verifying component structure.

Toyota's AI Basketball Robot CUE5: Developers Continue to Forge Ahead to Give Back (Installment Four)

CUE is Toyota’s AI basketball robot and member of the Alvark Tokyo, a team in the Japanese professional basketball league (B.League). In 2019, CUE set the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive basketball free throws by a humanoid robot.

Let’s begin with a brief recap of CUE’s development journey, as covered in the previous three installments on Toyota’s newsroom site linked below.

#1 An In-house Challenge: Novices embark on a new project from scratch

#2 CUE3 Shoots for a Guinness World Record™

#3 CUE4 Attempts to Join a B. League All-Star Game

Modeled after a comic book superstar

Toyota Engineering Society (TES), a group of volunteer engineers at Toyota, began a project to develop AI from scratch in 2017. They chose to build a humanoid robot driven by AI, naming it CUE in the hopes that the robot would encourage people to start something new.

The basketball journey all started when a team member repeated the words of Hanamichi Sakuragi, protagonist of the popular basketball comic SLAM DUNK: “Will 20,000 practice shots be enough?” This sparked an idea: “Wouldn’t it be amazing if we developed a robot that used AI to calculate the distance to the basket so that it never missed a shot?” So began the dream development of CUE, the AI basketball-playing robot.

*Toyota Engineering Society is a voluntary organization established in 1947 of approximately 30,000 Toyota employees. Its purpose is to improve technical knowledge and skills of members, promote teamwork, and contribute to technological developments at the company. It provides opportunities to learn about programming, image recognition, AI, car body manufacturing and other technologies through activities outside of work hours.

Sinking endless baskets with unrivalled accuracy, CUE3 made 2,020 shots and set a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive free throws by a humanoid robot (assisted). This attempt was deliberately stopped at 2,020 throws, falling short of the unbelievable human record of 5,221 free throws made in 1996. Even so, CUE’s record is astonishing considering the record of 80 consecutive free throws during a season made by renowned NBA sharpshooter Stephen Curry in 2020.

The latest CUE5 is even more advanced.

CUE5 during rehearsals for performance at the Ibaraki Robots game. Besides his proven shooting accuracy, CUE5 has newfound dribbling skills (7km/h), which he demonstrated alongside free throws, three-pointers, and shots from the midcourt line.

A new stage of dribbling prowess beyond just unmatched accuracy

CUE5 performed at the Ibaraki Robots match on December 18, 2021, demonstrating newfound dribbling skills alongside his acclaimed shooting skills.

Additional axes of movement in the left hand, which had remained locked in position up to CUE4, gave the new model a smoother, human-like motion. According to R-Frontier Division Project Manager Takayoshi Tsujimoto, this has “Enabled a dribbling action that had not been possible before.”

Takayoshi Tsujimoto (development manager, control systems)

We were able to eliminate unnecessary motion, reducing both the power needed to move the robot and vibrations during dynamic actions.

We also installed cameras in the feet, which greatly advanced sensing capabilities. A colored area resembling a thermographic image on the control screen is a new system that detects the distance from the palms to the ball and recognizes its exact position.

Though it may not be something you notice while watching a basketball game, each bounce of the ball actually differs slightly due to the ball’s air pressure and court conditions. A human can unconsciously adjust to the situation, but robots lack that capability.

Therefore, we programmed CUE to learn how to accurately read the ball’s position for each bounce and decide how to move his hand, giving him the flexibility to handle any venue. Although he currently uses his left hand, theoretically he could dribble just as well with the right.

CUE5 without his black body covering. The battery is housed in the chest. He has joints with a wide range of motion like a human and moves around on small spinning tires.

During CUE’s absence from the spotlight in the past year or so, developers worked tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve a major upgrade for the new version.

CUE5 was unveiled to the public through performances at Alvark Tokyo game venues, but before that he also took part in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 by request from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Although not broadcast on television, CUE starred in pre-game and halftime exhibition performances.

Those two weeks of performances were widely shared on social media, establishing CUE’s unmatched shooting ability around the world. Some international media even described a missed half-court shot (14m to basket) as a shock based on CUE’s previous successful record.

An amateur team that keeps stepping up to the plate

CUE now has the world’s attention, but as project leader Tomohiro Nomi shares, “Even when it all seems like smooth sailing, behind that lies countless hardships and failures.”

Tomohiro Nomi (project leader)

At TES, this began as a voluntary project with objectives we weren't sure we could achieve. We hoped that the challenge of trying different approaches would be an opportunity for people to grow, and have a positive impact on our acrual work.

Our initial goal was to show the robot at a free volunteer event organized by TES, so in the event of any mishaps, we could make the excuse that we were just amateurs.

Once CUE was registered as an Alvark Tokyo player, though, the project became a fundamental part of our job, it meant we also carried the reputations of Toyota and Alvark Tokyo. "We're just amateurs" would no longer be an acceptable excuse.

As the project shifted away from voluntary activity to work, a sense of professionalism naturally emerged among team members.

Tomohiro Nomi (project leader)

In the four years since beginning development, we also received many opportunities to push ourselves on the grand stage― from the Guinness World Record ti the B.League All-Star Game. We continued to take on these big goals with the mindset that, in order to make things happen, you nees to step up to the plate.

When the stage grew even bigger with the Tokyo 2020 Games, more people got involved and we took on greater responsibilities.

As responsibilities grow, failure becomes less of an option, which makes the challenge itself even greater. In the case of CUE, I feel that this is what made the project so difficult yet so rewarding.

When you continue to take on towering obstacles, failures are inevitable. From these you learn and keep working to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Even as the stage grew and the stakes rose, the development team’s unwavering commitment to the challenge brought CUE5 to where he stands today.

Giving back to basketball

Despite CUE’s progress and public appearances, the goal has never been to promote Toyota’s technology. Looking back on the early days of development, Nomi shares the intent behind the project.

Tomohiro Nomi (project leader)

When CUE first started appearing at Alvark Tokyo games, we were concerned whether a robot should stand on the hallowed ground of a basketball court, and were worried that our egos may be causing trouble for staff and players.

As CUE’s activities gained international attention, an Alvark player introduced the robot on social media as his teammate. After all our worry we were trouble for the players, I was really pleased to see that post.

At one point, an Alvark Tokyo associate told us, “In the past, the relationship between team and company had always been about sponsorship, but the joint development of CUE turned that into something unprecedented—the challenge of creating fresh value unique to Toyota and Alvark. This was only made possible by Toyota’s technical abilities.” Hearing this made me realize that our efforts were actually benefitting others.

Since then, CUE has received league-wide support, even transferring to other B.League teams.

Our participation in the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 was also possible due to the assistance of many people, including the Japan Basketball Association, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), and the IOC.

Even FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis came out to support CUE5 during a performance at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

As our activities at the Games gained global attention and social media comments said things like “Only Japan could put on such an incredible basketball show, "I felt that in some small way we were able to give back to everyone who had helped us come this far.

We will carry on the challenge so that we can give back to the basketball community that has stood behind CUE.

The next challenge: Zigzag dribbling

As CUE hones his new dribbling skills, the next goal is to gain a spot at the 2023 B.League All-Star Game Skills Challenge*.

*Skills challenges are popular exhibitions in professional basketball leagues, much like three-point contests and slam dunk contests. While navigating obstacles, players compete on speed and skills in dribbling, shooting, and passing.

Takayoshi Tsujimoto (development manager, control systems)

From a developer’s perspective, a year goes by in the blink of an eye. The next challenge is technically far more demanding than the B.League All-Star Game three-point contest we participated in before.

This contest puts players through their paces in every aspect of basketball – dribbling, shooting, and passing.

Whereas a shot essentially flies in a parabolic arc, a pass must take a more direct course. Right now, CUE can complete a pass as a single action, but trying to combine that smoothly with dribbling presents a mountain of challenges. We have to test whether it would be better to throw two-handed, or with one hand. If CUE is going to be in the contest, we want him on par with other athletes.

The goal is one minute—that’s the average time of top athletes in the B.League All-Star Game Skills Challenge.

That means CUE will have to run roughly twice as fast as he does now. He’ll also have to dodge obstacles and zigzag dribble, moving his body side to side, which adds further difficulty. I doubt we can break the one-minute mark without giving him a quicker shooting action as well.

“I believe there’s value in chasing a goal that seems beyond reach,” says project leader Nomi, revealing his strong determination. “No one thought an accurate three-point shot was possible until we did it. There’s no such thing as impossible.”

Having made many impossibilities possible, the project members and CUE are ready to take their next shot.

Breaking: FY2022 Toyota Financial Results and its Strengthened Profit Structure

• Feature: FY2022 Financial Results