The hottest hydropower evaporative cooling technol

Hydropower evaporative cooling technology encountered difficulties in promotion

"buzzing..." placed above unit 29 of the underground power station on the right bank of the Three Gorges, the strong vibration generated by the generator transiently transmitted through the soles of the feet. Standing on unit 28, the tremor was not obvious

it is understood that the stability of unit 28 benefits from the adoption of the normal temperature pumpless self circulating evaporative cooling technology (hereinafter referred to as "evaporative cooling technology") with China's completely independent intellectual property rights. This technology, independently developed by Gu Guobiao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, has the advantages of high insulation, low boiling point, self circulation, economic efficiency and so on. Its effect is comparable to water cooling, and its reliability and maintenance cost are better than air cooling

"with the equipment of units 27 and 28 adopting evaporative cooling technology entering the stable operation period, the advantages of evaporative cooling system, such as convenient maintenance and economic operation, are gradually becoming prominent." Ye Huasong, deputy chief engineer of the Three Gorges hydropower plant, told the scene

evaporative cooling technology has been successfully applied in domestic 10 MW, 50 MW, 400 MW and 700 MW conventional hydropower units, among which the 700 MW evaporative cooling hydro generator of the Three Gorges underground power station has been in safe operation for more than six years

however, such a technology, which is the world's first, independent research and development, cost-effective, advanced and mature, and makes foreign enterprises compete to buy, is only applied in a small range in China

why can't independent technology be promoted? Can we find a suitable promotion mode? An interview was conducted on this

multiple factors make it difficult to promote

"many scientific research achievements in China can only be in the laboratory, and evaporative cooling technology has been regarded as a successful case of scientific and technological achievements entering the commercial market. Even so, its scale and industrialization are still far away." Xi Dahua, Deputy Secretary General of the China Electrotechnical Society, said frankly in an interview

"nobody knows Lansheng Valley", low promotion of manufacturing enterprises, owners' distrust of self-developed equipment, and no one dares to take responsibility for innovative applications have led to the limited promotion of evaporative cooling technology for many years

yaoruoping, a professor at shanghaijiaotonguniversity who once participated in the research work of Gu Guobiao's team, lamented that the Institute of electrical engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences once allowed domestic enterprises to use evaporative cooling technology for free, and only spent manufacturing equipment funds when implementing the application. At that time, domestic enterprises had to spend a lot of money to buy patents before they could buy the same level of technology from ALSTOM and abb

"the current situation, first of all, is that domestic enterprises still have the inertial thinking of introducing foreign advanced technology, digesting, absorbing and innovating again for high-end technology, while they always have 'colored glasses' for domestically developed advanced technology." A person from Guoxin Energy Holding Co., Ltd. who did not want to be named said frankly, "moreover, both owners and manufacturing enterprises have a picky attitude towards domestic equipment. It is normal for foreign equipment to have a problem. If domestic equipment has a small problem, everyone will 'pick a bone in an egg'."

the tortuous construction process of the 700 MW evaporative cooling unit of the underground power station on the right bank of the Three Gorges illustrates the above problems

according to guguobiao, due to the lack of technology and equipment abroad, evaporative cooling technology has been used for the first time in the Three Gorges Right Bank Power Station, and a total of 9 review meetings have been held. Moreover, in order to make the test run safe and reliable, the Three Gorges company has invested millions of yuan to make a 1:1 model, and carried out theoretical calculation and experimental verification at the same time. Finally, it is proved that the theoretical calculation is consistent with the experimental results. "This process consumes a lot of manpower and material resources, and the progress is also delayed."

"the difficulty of promotion lies in that policymakers do not know that the independently developed evaporative cooling technology is original, and the world's leading insurance companies have to consider the 70 year term of residential land first." Raoquanfang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, said in an interview, "many users are used to using air cooling technology and dare not use evaporative cooling technology. 4. Main functions and characteristics of domestic equipment: equipment manufacturers do not promote this technology for things that horizontal tensile testing machines cannot do. The communication and promotion of manufacturing enterprises are not strong, resulting in power station owners knowing nothing about this technology. Even if they know it, enterprises turn a blind eye to it."

the above unnamed person said that it is the key that no one is willing to take responsibility for innovative applications. Even if the self-developed model is selected, it will face the dilemma of no one making a decision. "We have repeatedly suggested using this technology on pumping and storage units below 800 MW, but no one dares to make a decision. Well done, nothing, who is responsible for the problem?"

restricted by system and talents

in addition to the above factors, the existing system and mechanism also lead to the slow scale application of evaporative cooling technology

Xi Dahua told: "at present, China has not formed a set of scientific and technological ecological rules conducive to independent innovation technology. While emphasizing the transformation of scientific and technological innovation achievements, there is a lack of substantive promotion measures. A scientific and technological research and development needs to be constantly tested and improved, and some new technologies need to be confirmed for a long time.

GU Guobiao is also deeply impressed by this: "In China, independent innovation technology must go up step by step, and each step needs to be recognized and supported by all aspects before it can take another step. Each step takes about ten years. It is not easy for an innovative technology to 'result' in decades."

"many graduates majoring in electrical engineering don't have solid basic skills and don't even learn mechanics well. From November 2 to 3, evaporative cooling technology is an interdisciplinary discipline integrating electrical engineering, thermal engineering and materials. The professional coverage involves electrical engineering, mechanical design, thermal engineering, measurement and control technology, organic chemistry, etc. the deep interdisciplinary intersection of multiple disciplines makes few people who really understand evaporative cooling technology." Raoquanfang said

guguobiao also told, "in the process of transforming technology into productivity, we must combine it with manufacturers and user units to really push technology from the laboratory into practice." However, the scarcity of talents forces researchers to carry out all-round tracking, supervision and guidance from the production, processing, installation, inspection and other links. "A small part should be 'watched' all the way."

it is precisely the full program tracking of researchers that promotes the evaporative cooling technology to be well integrated and applied to hydro generators. The actual application shows that the generator set using this technology shows good economy

"the water turbine generator unit of evaporative cooling system has operated for 18 years, and no unplanned unit shutdown, stator winding breakdown, component damage and other events have occurred due to the failure of evaporative cooling system." Suntianhu, senior engineer of Lijiaxia Power Generation Branch of the upper Yellow River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd., said, "in particular, the maintenance of the condenser of the water turbine generator unit is very rare."

"less maintenance of evaporative cooling technology can reduce the maintenance cost of enterprises, which has attracted the 'dissatisfaction' of maintenance personnel." A person familiar with the matter said bluntly, "and driven by interests, manufacturers prefer the owners of power stations to replace equipment regularly rather than use it permanently."

win-win production, study, research and use

evaporative cooling technology, which is "unpopular" in China, is a "sweet cake" in the eyes of foreign enterprises. German Siemens, weiyite and other enterprises have purchased it through various channels

"this is the first and unique technology in China. It is applicable to domestic pumped storage, thermal power and nuclear power units, as well as converters, supercomputing, servers and many other places. If it is easily sold to foreign enterprises and then resold back to China after improvement, the losses of the state and enterprises will be incalculable at that time." Guguobiao said

in this regard, many industry insiders suggested that the commercialization mode should be adopted, and a platform should be built to implement professional operation to promote this technology, rather than R & D personnel "selling" technology while doing scientific research

"China does not provide a tolerant use environment for completely independently developed technology products," raoquanfang suggested. "Relevant competent departments should design and establish an insurance system. In case of problems, the insurance company should compensate, so as to eliminate the owners' fear of accident risks, and also provide a guarantee for the promotion of scientific and technological achievements."

Xia Changliang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, also said that while vigorously promoting evaporative cooling technology, the key is to protect the core technology. Can we do large-scale work with manufacturing enterprises to establish entities and use the technology in a more reasonable way

for the commercial operation, guguobiao told: "previously, he had thought about the multi win model, so that the industry, University and Research Institute can form a new technology consortium and community of interests with clear needs, risk sharing and benefit sharing, so as to speed up the industrialization of evaporative cooling technology. For example, if there is no problem in the service life of the motor, the owner can give part of the profits back to the manufacturing enterprise, and the manufacturing enterprise will have the enthusiasm to promote technology."

Gu Guobiao said that to solve the problem of large-scale transformation of scientific and technological achievements, the government, colleges and universities, R & D institutions, and enterprises need to work at the same time. Only in this way can we fundamentally solve the substantive integration of industry, University, research and application