"Japan's Top Inventions"

The behind-the-scenes tales of hit products and creations from Japan.

This is "Japan's Top Inventions."

On today's show, a device which holds a world record.

It was developed using this tower.

Just what could it be?

Stay tuned to find out.

Later on the show, this special machine.

It's rapidly preparing something familiar.

Drink cartons.

These machines are used around the world.

We'll show you how they work.

Hello. Welcome to "Japan's Top Inventions."

I'm your host, Jason Danielson.

In the first half of the show, we take you "Behind the Creation."

Today's topic is this.

An ultra-high-speed elevator,

the fastest in the world.

It's installed inside of a skyscraper in the city of Guangzhou,

in Guangdong Province, China.

The elevator can reach the 95th floor,

440 meters up, in just 42 seconds.

With a rated speed of 21 meters per second,

it broke the record in 2019 for world's fastest elevator.

But creating something both fast

and comfortable to ride was no easy task.

The production center of a major elevator manufacturer in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Once on the premises, it's hard to miss this giant structure.

It's a research tower that was used to develop the world's fastest elevator.

The tower stands 213 meters tall.

Countless trials were held inside here.

Displayed at the entrance of the company offices...

is this record for world's fastest elevator, set in 2019.

The speed is 75.6 kilometers per hour,

or 1,260 meters per minute.

The record still stands today.

Our story begins in 1968.

A building had just gone up in Tokyo,

the first modern skyscraper in Japan,

the Kasumigaseki Building.

A 36-story building which stands 147 meters tall.

The observation deck was popular, drawing a constant crowd.

And the company which provided the elevator?

The manufacturer in Ibaraki.

Development was carried out with a 90-meter tower.

They delivered the fastest elevator in Japan at the time,

capable of travelling 300 meters per minute.

Japan was in a period of rapid economic development,

and high-rise buildings were going up one after the other.

As buildings got taller,

the speed of the elevators started being called into question.

How quickly could the lift get to the upper floors?

The team in charge of developing elevators constantly ran trials,

improving the speeds.

Then in 1974,

an elevator in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo

became the fastest in the world,

travelling 540 meters per minute.

Fast-forward 30 years later to the 2000s.

Another rapidly developing nation was building many skyscrapers.

China.

2012. The city of Guangzhou, in Guangdong Province.

Plans were in place to create a 111-story building.

And the company that won the contract to create its elevator?

That same major elevator manufacturer from Japan.

A new team was formed to tackle the project.

One of the members was Abe Takashi.

Here's how he remembers things.

For the company, it was a great opportunity to show

what we could do with our expertise.

For me personally, it was something like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I felt extremely lucky to be part of the project.

An elevator for one of the tallest buildings in the world.

The team set a goal to make it capable

of running 1,260 meters per minute.

It was to be the world's fastest.

The team wasted no time getting started.

But almost immediately, there was a large hurdle.

The elevator's wire rope cable.

The higher the building, the longer the cable needs to be,

and the cable itself becomes increasingly heavy.

The wire rope cable is attached to the elevator car.

A traction machine near the top floor spins,

pulling the rope, moving the car up and down.

But the building in Guangzhou was to be 111 stories tall,

530 meters high.

A cable that long and heavy would be an extreme burden on the traction machine.

The team knew that they had to make the cable lighter.

They would use a strong material and improve how the cable was wound.

They were able to reduce the thickness as much as possible,

resulting in a cable that was 30% lighter.

It wasn't enough just to make the cable lighter.

It had to be both strong and light.

We needed something that was flexible

so it could wrap around the traction machine's wheel,

and something which was strong and could last a long time without tearing.

The next issue was the shape of the elevator car.

At 1,260 meters per minute,

a standard box shape would encounter a great deal of air resistance,

resulting in a lot of noise in the car.

The developers determined it would reach 70 decibels,

or as loud as being next to vehicles on a major road.

What could be done about the shape of the car?

The team searched for answers.

Inspiration came from an unexpected source.

Another subsidiary of their parent company worked on bullet trains.

These had streamlined bodies

which drastically reduce drag and noise.

Could this be applied to the elevator?

One of the developers working on the car was Kawamura Yosuke.

Here's what he has to say about that time.

The front car of a bullet train has a streamlined shape.

A regular elevator car is boxy, with pronounced edges.

We needed to figure out how much to smooth out the edges

in order to reduce turbulence.

The team got to work, creating a model of a streamlined elevator car.

They decided to encase the standard box inside a rounded capsule.

How much of an effect would this have on the noise?

They set up their model in a wind tunnel for testing.

The capsule was buffeted by air.

A teammate measured the noise level.

It worked.

The rounded shape produced less noise.

The team continued the wind tunnel testing,

adjusting the shape of the capsule until the noise level was minimized.

Then, a full-size prototype was created.

It was time for testing at the research tower.

The engineers were aiming to create the fastest elevator in the world.

They had the idea to imitate the design of bullet trains

to reduce air resistance on the elevator car.

But when it came time for testing in the company's research tower,

the team faced some unexpected challenges.

One night, Kawamura was riding the elevator in the research tower.

He readied the noise measuring device, and activated the lift.

The traction machine began pulling the cable.

The streamlined car slipped quietly upwards.

But then, suddenly,

the measuring device caught a loud noise.

Kawamura immediately stopped the elevator.

But before he could start investigating, he discovered the source.

Fireworks.

Kawamura could see colorful flashes of light outside the tower's windows.

A local fireworks display was happening near the company premises.

At first, I thought the noise was coming from somewhere inside the tower,

but it kept on happening.

That's when I remembered there was going to be fireworks nearby that day.

One hour later.

Kawamura resumed testing.

As the elevator rose, he measured the noise level.

It was just like the tests in the wind tunnel.

The noise level was acceptable.

But as he breathed a sigh of relief, something started happening.

The elevator was shaking slightly in every direction.

The shaking was more like a vibration.

Horizontally, 2 or 3 millimeters.

But if the car was to be travelling at the fastest speeds in the world,

the shaking would get larger,

and the movement pattern could become complex.

Even if the elevator was the fastest in the world,

it wouldn't matter if it was unpleasant to ride.

The team had hit another hurdle.

Why was the elevator vibrating?

The developers investigated day after day.

Eventually, one element caught their attention.

The elevator's guide rails.

These metal bars are connected one by one

over the full height of the building.

However, there's a slight bump where the bars connect.

That was causing vibrations

as the elevator car travelled over them at high speeds.

How could this vibration be reduced?

The team looked into their options.

They decided to add something to the car.

Guide units, with rollers and springs.

These units were installed in four locations on the elevator,

two on the top and two on the bottom.

The rollers would ride along the guide rails

and absorb the vibrations with springs.

But would it actually work?

The elevator was to be tested on location in Guangzhou, China.

The massive 111-story building was being built.

The large elevator traction unit was hoisted up using a crane.

They would be testing with the final machine.

If the dreaded vibrations occurred here,

they wouldn't be able to deliver their elevator.

Nervously, the team members boarded and began the test.

The elevator started to rise.

The car accelerated.

1 meter per second, 2 meters per second...

In about 10 seconds, the speed rose to 10 meters per second.

The elevator continued to accelerate.

Finally, it hit 21 meters per second,

equal to their target speed of 1,260 meters per minute.

The noise levels were good.

But what about the vibrations?

The team members held their breath,

and checked the measuring device.

This is the graph of the vibrations from the actual test.

Even when the elevator reached 1,260 meters per minute,

the vibrations were less than 3 millimeters.

The shaking was minimal.

The fluctuations on the graph were within acceptable ranges.

This result was thanks to the hard work

of many team members on this project.

We felt a lot of satisfaction and relief.

Our efforts had finally taken form.

And so, the world's fastest elevator was completed.

Today, it continues to bring visitors

to the top of the building at record speeds.

The engineers overcame countless challenges

in order to create the world's fastest elevator.

How do experts view this invention?

We're joined by Aoki Yoshio to learn more.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

It's an elevator which can travel 1,260 meters per minute.

How do you view this achievement?

It really is a groundbreaking achievement.

Reaching that speed while maintaining safety and stability

required a very high-level development process.

That much is clear.

What kind of reputation do Japanese elevators have globally?

I think they have a very good reputation.

If we look at this building in China,

it speaks to the strength of Japanese manufacturers

that one was asked to deliver

such a fast and quiet elevator for a large skyscraper.

It's clear their expertise is valued.

I think Japanese companies are a step ahead.

How do you see the role of Japanese manufacturers in the global elevator industry?

Well, I believe Japanese companies are far in the lead

in terms of precision.

They gather data for who comes at what times

on any given day in a building.

AI is used to determine the most efficient place

for the elevator to be waiting for people.

And now this has become standard in the industry.

I think that, going forward,

Japan will continue to lead the way with elevators.

Thank you for your time today. Good speaking with you.

Same here, thank you.

Top Niche Creations.

Our next segment is "Top Niche Creations."

Today we're looking at these.

Drink cartons, found in supermarkets around the world.

If you look on the bottom of this particular carton,

you'll see a symbol which looks like a lightning bolt.

Just what is the meaning of this mark?

We sent our reporter to find out.

Hey everyone, this is Cyrus Nozomu Sethna.

Today I am in Tokushima Prefecture on the west side of Japan.

There is a company here which is connected to the symbol on the drink carton.

Let's pay them a visit.

We're at the factory of a company which helps make drink cartons.

Hello. I'm Cyrus.

I'm Ueda. Welcome.

Ueda Shunsuke, who helps runs the company, is here as our guide.

First, we're brought to this room.

Wow! Would you look at that.

It's like a museum for drink cartons.

Thank you.

There are cartons for juice and milk sold in various countries.

These are Japanese alcoholic drinks.

Drink cartons are a common sight for many people.

If we look at the bottom of one...

Bingo. There's the symbol.

What is this mark here? It kind of looks like a lightning bolt.

That means it was made with one of our filling machines.

They're used in over 60 countries and regions,

so juice boxes and milk cartons worldwide are filled with these machines.

But what exactly does a filling machine look like?

We were guided to the factory floor.

Oh. So this is all ready to go?

Yes, a carton filling machine.

The machine is about 10 meters long and 3 meters tall.

This particular model is scheduled to be shipped

to a drink manufacturer in the Netherlands.

The empty cartons are loaded onto the front.

Then, just hit the button,

and the cartons are automatically filled and sealed.

Let's take a look.

The cartons enter the machine.

First, the bottom is sealed up.

There is a layer which seals the carton when pressed and heated.

If we take a closer look,

we can see that the bottom has a slight indent.

Why is there an indent on the bottom?

The carton is still relatively thin paper,

so as it gets filled,

there's pressure which causes the carton to bulge.

This indent helps prevent some of that bulging,

so the carton doesn't fall over as easily.

I see. So it can't be flat?

Yes, it could fall over, in your fridge.

The cartons continue their journey through the machine.

After disinfection comes the filling.

We can see the cartons quickly moving up and down,

but how are they being filled?

There are two nozzles.

We can't see the actual filling, but the carton gets raised up.

At the top, the filling starts,

and as it reaches the bottom, the filling is done.

Let's see the action in detail.

These are the two filling nozzles.

The cartons are raised up.

The nozzles enter the cartons.

They're in position.

That's when the filling begins.

As the carton is lowered, 1 liter of liquid is dispensed in just a second.

This speed is what clients are after.

It's so fast! How many thousands of cartons can be filled in a day?

At max speed, 14,000 cartons in an hour.

An hour?

That makes it one of the fastest machines in the world.

Amazing.

The last step is to close off the top like a roof.

And voila.

There's that familiar drink carton shape.

How interesting. It just came off the line, so the top here is a bit warm.

Ah yes, where it was sealed.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bottom seal is already cooled off.

Impressive stuff.

The company owns 70% of the market share in Japan.

Its machines are used in over 60 countries and regions.

It was founded in 1961.

Originally, it made tanks for food manufacturers.

Its first filling machine was for probiotic milk drinks in plastic containers.

Afterwards, it turned its attention towards the ubiquitous milk carton,

and started developing its own carton filling machine.

But the company experienced problems during development with splashing.

As the cartons were filled, a small amount of milk would splash up.

These drops would stick to the carton and prevent it from sealing properly.

What could be done to prevent the splashing?

Developers focused on the distance

between the nozzle and the surface of the liquid.

Let's look at a 3D model of what goes on inside the carton.

Here are the nozzles that go inside the carton.

The key was to make it so that the nozzle and the surface

of the liquid are nearly touching.

With the nozzle close to the surface, splashing is prevented.

Here are pictures that were taken of the filling in action.

The liquid is rapidly dispensed from the nozzles.

And it's done. We can see there are no droplets

on the sides of the carton.

It's been over 50 years

since the development of the company's first milk carton filling machine.

I asked about what the company has been focusing on lately.

This is what I was shown.

At first glance, it looks just like a regular juice box.

Actually, this is a pack of tofu.

We realized that the same container as a juice box

could be used for tofu, and developed this product.

We keep looking to improve our carton filling technology.

We're moving beyond liquids,

and exploring what other possibilities there are.

It's time for a pop quiz!

The company's tofu packed in paper cartons has an extended shelf life.

For how long does this tofu keep?

Pick from one of these three choices.

(1 month 3 months 5 months)

The answer is 5 months!

The special paper cartons keep oxygen, light and microbes away,

so the tofu has an extra-long shelf life.

Who would have thought the carton filling machines

could be used to help tofu last longer.

That's all for this episode of "Japan's Top Inventions."

We'll leave you with more from one of the developers of the elevator

from the first half of the show.

See you next time! And stay inventive.

(The world's fastest elevator at 1,260 m/min.)

(Abe Takashi helped develop the machine.)

(There's something displayed inside the company research tower.)

(Japan's fastest elevator traction machine from 60 years ago.)

(It could run 300 m/min. The new machine is over 4 times quicker.)

The elevator is thanks to the work of people who came before us,

and many other engineers.

With office buildings becoming increasingly taller,

we see more and more that elevators are a vital piece of infrastructure.

They're going to continue to be invaluable around the world.