Recent Topics on Power Supply Technology

抄録

After the Tohoku-Pacific Ocean earthquake, all Japanese railway operating companies had to tackle the problem of energy saving, since Japan lost a major part of its electric power resources. It followed that RTRI R&D on power supply technologies should adopt a similar focus. In addition, in the first half of this 21st century Japan is being confronted with falling birthrates, an aging society, and a shrinking population, causing a rapid decrease in the labor population. Given these circumstances, maintenance-free technology is another priority for RTRI. This paper describes recent topics related to power supply technologies.