Chapter 1353: Let Human Technology Get Away from Boiling Water
Although Xing Muchun has already said that all the parameters for the first shot have been set in advance, the launching unit does not need to perform too many operations, just press the fire button and it will be done.
But in Liang Yangang's view, this can only be regarded as the minimum requirement of the task.
An excellent commander should never be satisfied with just this.
What's more, according to the other party, if the first shot is successful, the intervals between subsequent shots should be very short, and the difficulty will become increasingly higher.
If you wait until then to cram, it may be too late.
It is a small matter to bring shame to oneself or even to the 810th Brigade. However, if it affects the R&D department's strategy for equipment development, one will become a historical sinner.
Therefore, after discussing some details of the follow-up work with Xing Muchun, he led the troops to start both paper and practical special training.
Of course, Liang Yangang was not capable of giving his subordinates special training on paper.
Even he himself had to learn almost from scratch.
So, after a lot of pestering and asking for instructions from his superiors, Xing Muchun, who had originally planned to stay in Dingxin for only three days, was forced to extend his trip to one week.
On the other side, Chang Haonan in Huairou Science City also received good news.
A piece of good news that surprised him...
……
"Academician Chang, under the care and concern of the organization, and under your leadership and guidance... the short-discharge version of the magnetohydrodynamic power generation verification phase has been successfully implemented."
Han Chenfeng held a few inconspicuous A4 papers in his hand and spoke to Chang Haonan in an extremely calm tone.
The latter saw Han Chenfeng, who looked haggard, at the door of the office as soon as he got to work today. He thought that the other party came to ask him for some equipment or request some help.
As a result, I heard such sudden news before I even had time to take off my coat.
The whole person's movements stopped for a moment.
Then he subconsciously glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall.
It is now September 2007, and less than a year has passed since he and Han Chenfeng proposed the idea of a magnetohydrodynamic power station.
At a certain moment, Chang Haonan suddenly felt a sense of empathy.
No wonder when the seniors saw that I finished the project in just a few months, they all looked like they had seen a ghost.
The R&D personnel who are immersed in their work may not feel anything, but from an outsider's perspective, it is really a bit shocking.
Fortunately, he has done the same thing many times, so he doesn't express this emotion too obviously.
Taking advantage of the pause, Chang Haonan zipped up his coat again and acted as if nothing had happened:
“What are the operating parameters and how adaptable to the external environment?”
Perhaps because of his excellent acting skills, Han Chenfeng really didn't notice any clues. He thought that everything was calculated by Academician Chang, and he couldn't help showing a somewhat regretful expression.
But he quickly replied:
"Because it is just a proof-of-principle device, the peak power is only 170 megawatts, the single working time is 55-60 milliseconds, and the average power of the whole process is about 95-100 megawatts, which barely meets the design expectations... But there is still a lot of room for improvement in the future, which only requires a more professional platform and more adequate preparation, and of course more capital investment."
Saying "only" 170 megawatts is definitely not Han Chenfeng's Versailles.
Although this number looks scary and is almost equivalent to a medium-sized thermal power generator, it cannot produce output continuously. Instead, it can only hold up for a while and then enter a long window period.
There is still a long way to go before the concept of "cyclic operation and continuous power generation" can be achieved.
Even for purposes such as electromagnetic catapult or electromagnetic energy launch, which require pulsed discharge, a discharge time of less than 100 milliseconds is indeed too shabby.
If the working time is extended, the power parameters will drop exponentially.
It is indeed just an indicator for preliminary verification of the equipment.
Of course, compared with similar products in the past that could only be used as toys, there has been a qualitative leap.
At least it can be confirmed that this technology has potential in application.
"Let's go and take a look at your side..."
Chang Haonan pointed in the direction of the door and motioned the other party to lead the way.
Although most of Han Chenfeng's assets are in Shengjing, in order to obtain a sufficiently powerful detonation drive section to provide a sufficiently high-density plasma, the entire development of the magnetofluid verification equipment was completed in Huairou Science City.
Including the verification equipment itself, it was also placed in a nearby laboratory that was temporarily vacated.
So, in less than ten minutes, Chang Haonan saw the magnetohydrodynamic power generation system that Han Chenfeng had tinkered with.
Since the core of the entire device is a forward detonation drive section similar to a shock wave wind tunnel, from the appearance alone, it is no different from a small wind tunnel.
Its special features can only be vaguely seen through the vacuum tank of the load part and the power generation channel formed by strong magnets.
Han Chenfeng patted the flange at the front end of the equipment and introduced it to Chang Haonan.
"For the shock wave generating part, we directly borrowed the design of the JF14 wind tunnel and scaled it down proportionally... It turns out that it is completely an overkill. The other subsystems cannot match its performance at all. Even if the rated power is increased tenfold, it will be more than enough..."
In engineering, if a device is scaled up by an order of magnitude, all sorts of strange problems will inevitably arise.
But if it is reduced to one-tenth of its original size, it will usually save you a lot of trouble.
Moreover, the man-hours required for research and production are often less than one-tenth.
It’s just that in terms of cost, there will be some waste due to excessive use of materials.
But considering the efficiency of Han Chenfeng and others, this is understandable.
"We mixed argon and xenon as the working gas, and mixed some alkali metals into it as ionization seeds to increase its conductivity and reduce the demand for external magnetic fields under the same power generation. You know that our country is not at the forefront in terms of strong magnets, and considering the possible military use of this technology, we did not choose to import it..."
Hearing this, Chang Haonan suddenly raised his hand to interrupt:
"I remember what you just said was that the performance barely met the design expectations... In other words, you, or you personally, originally had higher expectations for the performance of this device, but the final test results did not reach this level, is that correct?"
Han Chenfeng was stunned for a moment, then showed an expression of "As expected of you" and nodded:
“Yes, in fact, I personally estimate that the peak power should be able to reach more than 250MW.”
"Have you ever analyzed what causes the gap?"
As he grows older, Chang Haonan has become more and more like the image of a "mentor" in the general sense.
“There are many factors, but the most important one should be that I underestimated the adverse effects of the power generation channel on the working fluid performance. Fortunately, Comrade Li Ziyin suggested that I leave enough margin, otherwise I am afraid that even the design target of 170MW cannot be achieved…”
Speaking of this, Han Chenfeng's expression became more serious:
"As for which part of the power generation channel has a problem, we are still tracing back the entire design process."
This time, Chang Haonan did not respond, but just walked to the load section and stared at the nameplate on it for about half a minute.
Then he turned around and asked again:
"Did you use the modified isothermal gas flow assumption during the design process?"
This sentence shocked Han Chenfeng so much that he even forgot to answer directly, and asked subconsciously:
"You know all this?"
Obviously, Chang Haonan's guess was correct.
"That's not surprising."
He pointed to the power generation channel wrapped in a thick insulation layer and explained:
"When the fluid flows through the wall of the power generation channel, a thin gas layer with a temperature gradient is formed near the boundary due to cooling. The temperature distribution of the boundary layer close to the electrode surface is uneven and far lower than the central mainstream, which changes the conductivity of the conductive gas between the electrodes. This is manifested in the macroscopic reduction of the performance of the working gas."
Han Chenfeng opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
This kind of operation, in which one could conduct attribution analysis just by listening to his description without even looking at the design process and experimental parameters, was really too challenging to his worldview.
After hesitating for a while, he asked tentatively:
"Academician Chang, you haven't... read our log files, have you?"
"That's not true."
Chang Haonan smiled and shook his head:
"Actually, before today, I didn't even know that your progress had reached this level..."
Compared with the hypersonic project, which requires submitting reports every week, Han Chenfeng's report is not the current focus, so the frequency and detail of the reports are not as good.
"That……"
"I encountered a similar situation when I was working on aeroengines..."
Chang Haonan patted the dust off his palms and continued:
"So the solution should be similar to that of the aeroengine... Open holes or grooves on the wall, arrange the suction electrodes symmetrically on the side of the power generation channel parallel to the magnetic flux lines, and seal and fit with the exhaust cover to form a suction vacuum chamber. The two sides of the bellows are connected to the insulating connection section and the exhaust connection section through vacuum flanges. The thin layer of gas that flows into the vacuum chamber, that is, the boundary layer, is discharged, and the mainstream high-temperature fluid can re-occupy the wall surface, increase the temperature of the fluid attached to the wall, and thus generate a larger induced electromotive force."
“As for whether it can reach your estimated 250MW or more… we will only know after we try it.”
