Quest For Motors' Hidden Abilities and New Potentials

In this series of columns, Takashi Kenjo brings you various stories related to motors. We will unravel the history of motors by focusing on the people and events that laid the foundation for today's motor technology. We hope you enjoy reading.

Supervision & Writing

Takashi Kenjo

Nidec Technical Adviser

1940	Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
1964	Completed Master's Program in Engineering at Tohoku University Graduate School and joined TEAC Corporation. Began design and research on precision small motors for magnetic recording equipment, adopted in high-end tape recorders in the fall of the same year. Published the core design methodology developed at this time in the German academic journal Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift in 1968.
1965	Full-time Lecturer at the Vocational Training College (now Employment and Human Resources Development Organization of Japan), starting student guidance in 1966. Shigenobu Nagamori was among his first students.
1970	Obtained Doctorate in Engineering from Tohoku University with a dissertation on electromagnetic field theory of rotating electrical machines for AC motors.
1971	Associate Professor at the Vocational Training College.
1976	Attended the world's first Small Motor Conference in London, gaining concepts for subsequent English publications and Small Motor Symposia/Exhibitions.
1977	Published "Precision Small Motors for Electronic Equipment" (Sogodenshi Publishing) Published "DC Servo Motors for Mechatronics" (Sogodenshi Publishing)
1980	Presented "Microprocessor control self-optimization drive of a step motor" at the Incremental Motion Control Systems and Devices Symposium at the University of Illinois. Triggered the start of the Kentac Series educational motor controller development project with Hisashi Takahashi (currently Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology). Kentac Mark II using Z80 became a standard model.
1981	Appointed Planning Committee Chairman for the Japan Management Association's "Small Motor Technology Symposium" (until 1990). Added exhibitions in 1983, growing into the world's largest scale. Professor at the Vocational Training College.
1984	Published "Stepping motors and their microprocessor controls" from Oxford University Press.
1985	Published "Permanent-magnet and brushless DC motors" (co-authored with Shigenobu Nagamori) from Oxford University Press.
1990	Published "Power electronics for the microprocessor age" from Oxford University Press, presenting digital control of motors using the Kentac series to the world.
1995	Published "Illustrated Electronic Circuits Made Easy" (Kodansha), based on research achievements in motor control technology at the Vocational Training College.
2000	Published "New Brushless Motors" (co-authored with Shigenobu Nagamori, Sogodenshi Publishing). Conducted research around 1995 on stably controlling mechanically flexible mechanisms using compact, lightweight brushless motors, which significantly contributed to linear actuator design. Revised English edition published in 2003.
2001	Published "Developing educational software for mechatronics simulation" in IEEE Transactions on Education. Published "Learning Motor Control through Experiments and Simulations" (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun), explaining detailed practical examples.
2005	Retired from Polytechnic University. Appointed Director of NIDEC Motor Foundation Research Institute. Declared the development of the world's No.1 performance brushless motor, achieving the goal at the 2010 F5B World Championship.
2007	Appointed Honorary Director of NIDEC Motor Foundation Research Institute.
2012	Nidec Technical Adviser. Published "SR Motors" (Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun).