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China develops first homegrown cryogenic cooling unit
2015-05-07
Researcher Li Qing shows off the cooling technology. (Internet photo)
China has finally developed its own megawatt-class cryogenic cooling unit, providing a breakthrough boost to the country's aerospace program, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.
Megawatt-class cryogenic technology is a pivotal requirement for carrier rockets, though China's advancements in this area have long been restricted due to monopolization of the global market by Switzerland and France and export bans instituted against China by developed countries, the news outlet said.
On Wedneday, the Technical Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) declared that it has successfully created a three-by-six meter, 15 ton, -253-degrees-Celsius cooling unit, the first of its kind in the country.
Li Yanzhong from Xi'an Jiaotong University, a member of the project's inspection team, says domestic companies almost never win tenders for cryogenic equipment because of the Swiss and French monopoly and the lack of a homegrown model. This problem has developed into a bottleneck for China's cutting-edge scientific and technological research, aerospace sector, and high-tech industry applications.
Of the 16 confirmed major projects under the Medium- and Long-Term Plan on Infrastructure Construction for China's Major Science and Technology Projects (2012-2030), eight are related to cryogenic equipment, especially megawatt-level cooling technology required for carrier rockets.
To break the long-term problem and satisfy a pressing need, China's Ministry of Finance approved in October 2011 a major project for developing the technology, though it would take top Chinese scientists more than four years to develop the so-called "10kW/20K horizontal high-vacuum insulating cold box."
Li Qing, a CAS project researcher, said cooling is much more difficult than heating because there is a limit for the thermodynamic temperature scale known as absolute zero, –273.15 degrees Celsius. China however had no choice but to develop the technology in order to build a new generation of carrier rockets, especially since liquid hydrogen is required as traditional fuels can no longer support the larger loads, he added.
Li Yanzhong and other experts believe that the breakthrough will inevitably lead to the development of homegrown cryogenic products that will allow China to overcome the current bottleneck. CAS already has around five or six science units that have signed strategic cooperation framework agreements to bring the new technology in their own research areas.
2015-05-07
Researcher Li Qing shows off the cooling technology. (Internet photo)
China has finally developed its own megawatt-class cryogenic cooling unit, providing a breakthrough boost to the country's aerospace program, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.
Megawatt-class cryogenic technology is a pivotal requirement for carrier rockets, though China's advancements in this area have long been restricted due to monopolization of the global market by Switzerland and France and export bans instituted against China by developed countries, the news outlet said.
On Wedneday, the Technical Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) declared that it has successfully created a three-by-six meter, 15 ton, -253-degrees-Celsius cooling unit, the first of its kind in the country.
Li Yanzhong from Xi'an Jiaotong University, a member of the project's inspection team, says domestic companies almost never win tenders for cryogenic equipment because of the Swiss and French monopoly and the lack of a homegrown model. This problem has developed into a bottleneck for China's cutting-edge scientific and technological research, aerospace sector, and high-tech industry applications.
Of the 16 confirmed major projects under the Medium- and Long-Term Plan on Infrastructure Construction for China's Major Science and Technology Projects (2012-2030), eight are related to cryogenic equipment, especially megawatt-level cooling technology required for carrier rockets.
To break the long-term problem and satisfy a pressing need, China's Ministry of Finance approved in October 2011 a major project for developing the technology, though it would take top Chinese scientists more than four years to develop the so-called "10kW/20K horizontal high-vacuum insulating cold box."
Li Qing, a CAS project researcher, said cooling is much more difficult than heating because there is a limit for the thermodynamic temperature scale known as absolute zero, –273.15 degrees Celsius. China however had no choice but to develop the technology in order to build a new generation of carrier rockets, especially since liquid hydrogen is required as traditional fuels can no longer support the larger loads, he added.
Li Yanzhong and other experts believe that the breakthrough will inevitably lead to the development of homegrown cryogenic products that will allow China to overcome the current bottleneck. CAS already has around five or six science units that have signed strategic cooperation framework agreements to bring the new technology in their own research areas.
