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March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent Giant Tsunami caused insufficient nuclear reactor cooling at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F), resulting in a catastrophe of hydrogen explosion. The development of long-term safe storage technology for high-dose radioactive fuel debris collected by the decommissioning of nuclear power plants is an urgent issue. Inside the storage canister, strong radiation from fuel debris decomposes water to generate hydrogen and oxygen. The research and development have been proceeding in order to secure safety by simply placing a catalyst in the canister for oxidizing hydrogen and returning it into water. The catalyst is called a Passive Autocatalytic Recombiner (PAR), and unlike catalysts for chemical plants, it is required to have robustness that can maintain its activity for more than 30 years in an environment where temperature, humidity, gas concentration, etc. cannot be controlled.

We have already reported that a LaFeCoPdO3 perovskite catalyst has the function for self-regeneration of Pd [1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6]. But cobalt was recognized as an environmental burden. In order to prepare for its practical application, we examined the composition of perovskite without cobalt. In this paper, we have investigated the catalytic activity, the structural durability and the regenerative ability of Co-free perovskites LaFePdO3, in comparison with LaFeCoPdO3 and Pd/Al2O3. As a result, the structural durability of LaFePdO3 is high, and the light-off performance is excellent even after aging. “Co-free Intelligent Catalyst” is regarded as the next technology for practical use especially as it is efficient in the reduction of emissions at cold starting.

We have reported the innovation of “An Intelligent Catalyst” which has the function for self-regeneration of Pd realized through the solid solution and segregation of Pd in a perovskite crystal. In this study, we did further research on regeneration for three different precious metals (Rh, Pd and Pt) in two types of perovskite systems (LaCeFeO3 and LaCeCoO3). In perovskite catalysts loaded with precious metals, the durability of the perovskite structure in redox fluctuation at high temperature is indispensable to suppression of the grain growth of precious metals. The key technology for the development of intelligent catalysts is considered to be the affinity of precious metals to durable perovskite oxides. In the six kinds of perovskite catalysts investigated here, only the Pd loaded LaCeFeO3 catalyst was considered “intelligent”.

It is significant for understanding the phenomena in a stratified charge engine and an SI engine with direct injection system to carry out the fundamental research. The experiments were conducted in a constant volume chamber with atmospheric condition. The pre-mixed charge composed of ethylene and air was charged with various equivalence ratio, the second charge with the same composition was injected into the chamber, thereafter, the combustion started by a spark plug. The phenomena were analyzed by use of the experimental results of shadowgraph, [OH] natural emission, pressure history and NOx and UHC in the exhaust gas.

The catalyst of the crystalline ceramics known as a perovskite-type oxide was designed and controlled at the atomic level in order to create a new function for self-regeneration of precious metals in a usage ambience without auxiliary treatment. We have already reported that a catalyst with Pd supported on the perovskite-type oxide has higher activity than a catalyst with Pd supported on alumina. It was also found that Pd supported on the perovskite catalyst is finely dispersed [1, 2 and 3] The object of this study was to investigate the mechanism of self-regeneration by using hyper-analytical facilities. XAFS analysis, at SPring-8 (8 GeV), revealed that Pd is in six-fold coordinations with oxygen in a perovskite crystal, which indicating that Pd occupies the B site of the unit formula of ABO3 in the perovskite crystal structure under oxidation atmosphere.

Two working groups in the JSAE Committee of Fatigue–Reliability Section1 are currently researching the issue of fatigue life by both experimental and the CAE approach. Information regarding frequent critical problems on arc–welded structures were sought from auto–manufacturers, vehicle component suppliers, and material suppliers. The method for anti–fatigue design on arc–welded structures was established not only by a database created by physical test results in accordance with the collected information but also with design procedure taking Fracture–Mechanics into consideration. This method will be applied to vehicle development as one of the virtual laboratories in the digital prototype phase. In this paper, both the database from bench–test results on arc welded structures and FEA algorithm unique to JSAE are proposed some of the analysis results associated with the latter proposal are also reported.