On July 31st, a team of NPUST professors including Dr. Chang-Hsien Tai, Dr. Uzu-Kuei Hsu, Dr. Yao-Nan Wang, and Dr. Chin-Lung Chang met with professionals from Phihong Technology Co. to discuss topics related to smart grids and rapid charging technology for electric vehicles. The university will build a demonstration charging station that integrates wind energy, solar energy, biogas, biomass energy and other hybrid-energy energy-storage mechanisms.
Chang-Hsien Tai, professor and president of the university, explained that “NPUST occupies the largest unified campus in the country. In the past, it based its development on agriculture and animal husbandry technology, but in the past 10 years it has been putting heavy emphasis on the integration of Industry 4.0 and AI artificial intelligence. Through coordinated efforts by the university’s seven colleges, the university is giving focus to smart agriculture, ecological industries, platinum societies and sustainable economies as it works towards the goal of becoming a world-renowned green university. Cooperating together with Phihong Technology, we are certain to be able to make a contribution towards energy technology and environmentally sustainable development”.
Jiun-Cheng Chen, the vice president of Phihong, made some comments, pointing out that Phihong “currently operates two factories in Taiwan, two in mainland China, and two in Vietnam—with more than 6,000 employees. We hope to establish a long-term industry-university cooperation model with NPUST and work together on the development of new energy-system technologies and hybrid smart grids”.
The NPUST team has been engaged in energy technology research and development for many years. Working to break away from traditional green-energy generation and storage models, they are using low-cost high-pressure air energy storage methods to store electricity and already have developed innovative designs for wind and solar thermal power generation. Their patented technologies have repeatedly won international invention awards and been published in international journals. Their research performance has caught the attention of Phihong Technology, an internationally-renowned listed company, which has recently published on related technologies for rapid charging for electric vehicle. Jiun-Cheng Chen serves as the company’s supervisor for software and hardware R&D and is the project manager for business and cooperation with the university.
Phihong Technology was established in 1972 and over the years has become a leading power supply manufacturer. The company is the owner of world-renowned power conversion technology, and is making great contributions to the electric vehicle charging station market.
In 2018, Phihong made significant incursions into European and American markets and is now successively cooperating with major car manufacturers in Europe, the United States, and mainland China. It has had eye-catching research and development results at home and abroad, and in 2020 was the recipient of the Gold Medal Award at the “Thirteenth Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards”. Hopes are that in the future, through the promotion of SGDs, NPUST and Phihong Technology will be able to achieve their goals together.