• HISAMITSU Yutaka, SEKIMOTO Kiyohide, NAGATA Kouichirou, UEHARA Minoru, OTA Eiichi

Level crossing obstacle detection systems have been developed to prevent a train colliding with an object such as a vehicle stuck on the crossing. Increasing safety consciousness, however, has prompted railway companies to install more advanced systems than those that have been used conventionally. To cope with the demand for new devices, IHI developed a 3-D laser radar level crossing obstacle detection system which is not influenced by weather conditions or sunshine conditions, and which can accurately detect objects within the area of the level crossing in real time. Reliable detection can be achieved by installing just a single monitor that can cover the whole area of the crossing, thus surpassing the conventional system in sensing the obstacles in the crossing.

• SUZUKI Yasunobu, AKAMINE Kenichi, KANESAKA Kaoru, IMAZEKI Masanori

Marine steel structures are important infrastructures, so effective anti-corrosion methods are essential for maintenance management. IHI has developed a new anti-corrosion method, IECOS, which consists of two methods, "Electro-deposition" and "Cathodic protection." IECOS can achieve a long-lasting service life by providing super-long-term anti-corrosion for the marine structures. In the first stage of application, the electro-deposition film is increased to adequate thickness with an external electric power supply. As a result, the required current density for corrosion protection can be sharply reduced compared with the conventional cathodic protection method. IECOS was confirmed to be an excellent anti-corrosion method by tank tests and marine tests applied to steel pipe piles.

• TSUMITA Yoshimitsu, TAKAMI Akira, TODA Koji, FUJINO Yoshihisa, FUJII Keita

An IHI flue gas desulfurization (FGD) system was completed for 600 MW×2 coal-fired thermal power plant at Wangqu Lujin, China, in August 2006, which was one of largest-capacity plants in Shanxi province. This was constructed as the first FGD system in the province and is now operating smoothly and demonstrating superior SO2 removal efficiency with high operational reliability. The conventional design with proven technologies was applied to cope with the local stringent environmental regulations. IHI supplied the basic design for a local engineering company, which was in charge of the details and civil engineering design for the FGD system.

• INAMURA Wataru, FUJII Masakazu, MURAKAMI Hiroki, TOMIZAWA Masaaki

For development of a robot system, a modular approach by standardized technologies is expected to improve the compatibility and reusability of robotic functions. It is expected to contribute to industry progress because robot systems will be developed more rapidly and flexibly by integrating various modules in the near future. This paper proposes a distributed architecture for robot systems using standardized technologies. We constructed the distributed architecture based on both JAUS (Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems) as a specification for the application layer and RTM (Robot Technology Middleware) as a development framework. The architecture was applied to mobile robots. The experimental results show the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed architecture.

• HACHIYA Kazunori

• YAMAGAMI Junji, OKAJIMA Kazumichi, KOYAMA Osamu, YAMAMOTO Shuzo, OONUKI Hirokazu

For combined cycle gas turbine power plants, the gas turbine power plant control system has developed, as a result of extending the existing system which can control only the gas turbine. The developed system can control entire plants which incorporate waste heat recovery boilers, steam turbines, and auxiliary machines such as pumps. On the other hand, for medium and small gas turbines, a compact control system has also been developed to provide miniaturization and low price. Optimal control systems have become applicable according to the scope of target. The outlines of these systems are described.