Land Transportation Systems for a Sustainable Society

Our research focuses on (1) electric drive technology and the infrastructure for the next-generation electric vehicles and (2) railway systems as infrastructure for a sustainable society.
- We develop novel automatic driving and cost-saving maintenance technologies using AI, IoT, and sensor technologies, in order to improve convenience and reduce the costs of railed public transportation systems such as railways.
- Automobile manufacturers around the world are developing electric vehicles (EVs) in order to bring CO2 emission as close to zero as possible. However, the current EV system has a problem with the cruising range and its extension is hindered. To solve this problem, installing the equipment for dynamic wireless power transfer to EVs in motion on the highway would make it possible to extend the cruising range significantly even though EVs are equipped with small batteries. Hori and Fujimoto laboratories have developed a prototype of a wireless in-wheel motor system, in which the driving motor and the energy storage device are arranged in the wheel and the electric power is directly supplied from the road to the wheels in its ultimate form.

Through these researches, we aim to develop resilient public transportation infrastructure systems, promote their inclusive and sustainable commercialization, and expand the innovation of land transportation systems.

Department of Advanced Energy, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences
- Prof. Yoichi HORI
- Prof. Takeshi MIZUMA
- Prof. Hiroshi FUJIMOTO

- Shoichiro Watanabe, Takafumi Koseki, Keiichiro Kondo, Takeshi Mizuma: “Experimental Verification of Power-Limiting Brake: Energy-Saving Train Operation Assistance”, IEEJ Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol.134, No.8, 2014
- Tatsuhito Saito, Keiichiro Kondo, Takafumi Koseki, Takeshi Mizuma: “Simple Power Flow Control Method for Reducing the Power Source Capacity and Managing the Storage Energy for Hybrid Power Source Electric Vehicles”, IEEJ Transactions on Industry Applications, Vol.134, No.2, 2014
- Hitoshi Tsunashima, Akira Matsumoto, Takeshi Mizuma, Hideo Nakamura: “Condition Monitoring of Railway System by "Probe Vehicle" Technology”, Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan, Automatic Engineering, 61-2, pp.98-104, 2007
- Motoki Sato, Gaku Yamamoto, Daisuke Gunji, Takehiro Imura, and Hiroshi Fujimoto: “Development of Wireless In-Wheel Motor using Magnetic Resonance Coupling,” IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol.31, no.7, pp.5270-5278, 2016 (IEEE TPE Best Paper Award)
- Motoki Sato, Giuseppe Guidi, Takehiro Imura, and Hiroshi Fujimoto: “Development of Wireless In-Wheel Motor using Magnetic Resonance Coupling,” IEEJ Transactions on Industrial Applications, vol.137, no.1, pp.36-43, 2017
- Hiroshi Fujimoto, Motoki Sato, Daisuke Gunji, Takehiro Imura: “Development and Driving Test Evaluation of Electric Vehicle with Wireless In-Wheel Motor,” in Proc. International Electric Vehicle Technology Conference & Automotive Power Electronics Japan 2016, Yokohama, Japan, 2016

- International patent application PCT/JP2014/055592 (2014/3)
- Patent number 5531291 (2014/5)
- Patent number 5521143 (2014/4)
- Patent number 5458282 (2014/1)
- Patent number 5351219 (2013/8)