Tokyo, Japan, May 20, 2014 - NSK Ltd. (NSK; Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO: Norio Otsuka) announced today that it will be exhibiting at the 2014 Automotive Engineering Expo to be held at the Pacifico Yokohama Expo Hall in Yokohama, Japan from Wednesday, May 21 to Friday, May 23. Displaying its vision for the future of today's automotive societies, NSK will exhibit a wide variety of state-of-the-art technologies and products, focusing on the theme of “NSK automotive technology for improving environmental performance and safety.”
In the display of products and technologies designed to improve environmental performance, NSK will use augmented reality*1 technology to help visitors see how the outer seal of NSK's hub unit bearing equipped with a high-reliability seal shaped sub-lip prevents the intrusion of muddy water. This product and technology improves sealing performance, which in turn improves durability, which results in a reduced environmental footprint over the life of the bearing.
NSK will also exhibit its highly reliable clutch pulley, highly efficient shell needle bearing and other products and technologies that improve the efficiency of conventional internal combustion engines, multi-speed automatic transmissions and continuously variable transmissions (CVT).
In addition, NSK will exhibit products and technologies such as its grease-lubricated ball bearings for high-speed motors and tandem one-way clutch, which are designed improve the efficiency of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV).
In the display of products and technologies designed to improve safety performance, NSK will exhibit its high-performance electronic power steering (EPS) modules, which meet the different high-performance needs of each world region with globally produced models while at the same time improving safety and achieving weight reduction without a major increase in cost.
NSK will also exhibit its mechatronics integrated column type EPS (a product currently under development), which integrates the motor, electric control unit (ECU) and gearbox for a more compact, lighter ECU with improved installation performance.
In the display of products and technologies designed to improve both environmental performance and safety, NSK will exhibit its wheel hub motor, which houses compact, light drive motors and a variety of bearings in the hub (center) of the wheel of an automobile. This original technology makes it possible to drive the tire directly, realizing superior efficiency in driving performance as well as improved environmental performance. It also achieves unprecedented safety by improving the capability to control the driving power of each tire.
NSK engineers will also be on hand to make presentations on products and technologies designed to improve environmental performance and safety at the NSK booth.
NSK will also provide lectures related to the improvement of efficiency for half toroidal continuously variable transmissions (CVT) at the Society of Automotive Engineers of Japan (JSAE) Spring Congress, which is being held concurrently with the Expo.
*1: Augmented reality is a type of virtual reality that provides additional information and modifications in order to enhance reality through the use of a mobile device such as an iPad.