Chapter 86 (Continued) China Aviation

  AVIC Group is the largest and most important aviation company in the autonomous region, but unlike AVIC Engine's wealth and arrogance, AVIC Group needs to take care of things that are not just a small company with research as its main purpose. From its birth to now, it has been a considerable period of time, although it has done well in the aviation industry, both projects have progressed rapidly, but there is still no economic benefit recovery, which proves that AVIC has not yet become another major heavy industry pillar in the autonomous region, with billions of investment still having no commercial value.

  The pressure on AVIC is not small. Even if it holds onto the air force, this iron rice bowl, who can guarantee that the air force will not be disgusted with AVIC for failing to deliver good results in time? Who can guarantee that there won't be intense competition between private airlines and AVIC in the future? And who can ensure that the government will allow AVIC to remain dominant? Perhaps breaking it up into three large airline groups plus a specialized aviation power research company is the right thing to do. As the group's scale becomes increasingly massive, dividing it into many groups with clear divisions of labor may be more beneficial for the overall development of the aerospace industry. Of course, this is not something they are considering at this time. It would be better to wait until the two aircraft projects currently underway are completed before discussing this further.

  "Hey, Nonda Ping, what brings you back to headquarters again? Is there something good happening in Yulin that needs to be reported?"

  As soon as he got off the car, Zhang Yu's excellent eyesight immediately saw Aida parking her car at the farthest end of Nanda Ping. Whenever she came to the headquarters for discussions, it was unknown when she would leave, so she parked her car in the most inconspicuous corner to avoid causing inconvenience to others. Today, it is estimated that she got up early and arrived at China Aviation Headquarters Park with Zhang Yu from Yulin, which shows that this guy is a top-notch workaholic.

  After being called, Nong Daping immediately revealed a smile and rushed towards Zhang Yu with his assistant, each carrying a large stack of documents. As soon as they arrived in front of Zhang Yu, they hadn't even caught their breath before speaking: "Minister, you don't know that the headquarters has been pushing us like we're racing against time, demanding that we come up with a four-type engine research plan. The task is heavy and the deadline is tight, I have no choice but to work non-stop..."

  "You have complaints, you should go to Wang Zhuo that kid, although his position is higher than yours, but he's younger than you. Don't even know how to respect the elderly and love the young, how can you be a technical director?" Zhang Yu said, letting Yan Ran and others wait in the car as usual, he didn't know how long they would stay in the China Aviation Group headquarters building, then he entered the China Aviation Group headquarters building with Nong Da and three others.

  "Wang Gong is still pretty good to us, but this time it's a collective decision from the headquarters' high-level executives. They demand that we, China Aviation Power, come up with a plan as soon as possible, saying it's a joint request from two project teams. Those two guys, Sikorsky and Cohen, are even more crazy when it comes to work than our own people... just like Wang Zhuo and Ba Yumo, they're geniuses but not human..."

  "Haha, you're not much better!" Hearing Nong Daping, this 'old madman', scolding the 'little madmen' with these words, each and every one of them are people who are exceptionally focused and hardworking in their fields of interest. They can still tell high from low, it's clear that China Aviation's tradition of producing workaholics will continue.

  In the not-so-spacious elevator room, Zhang Yu looked at Nong Da Ping and his assistant, both of whom had their hands full with two large stacks of documents. "Are you going to discuss the plan with Wang Zhu and the others later? If so, I'll go listen in too!"

  Zhang Yu was not participating in China Aviation's various meetings for the first time, of course he was not a useless bystander. Sometimes his opinions and suggestions were very insightful, often solving problems that others were struggling with. As the former Chief Technical Director of Asia America Group, he became the most powerful person in the autonomous region, still exuding an air of genius. Now, coming to China Aviation to discuss aviation business, everyone welcomed him with open arms. Suddenly, Nong Daping heard that Zhang Yu was going to attend the meeting and smiled even more happily.

  The research plan report meeting of China Aviation Power Company on the four major categories of jet engines was scheduled in a conference room on the fourth floor that can accommodate 120 people at the same time. Although there were not 120 people present today, the main tasks of the China Aviation Group were all present. Sikorsky and Cohen, as well as their translators, also attended. The gathering of so many characters made the importance of this meeting self-evident. However, Zhang Yu still found an inconspicuous corner to sit in, just like he did when he was a bystander before. He remained silent throughout the discussion phase, and would continue to be a silent listener until then.

  Regarding the ignition of turbine engines, our company has established some key and difficult points in the main research direction after a month of preliminary study. Of course, these problems are relatively thorny and are the focus of our company's research plan.

  The meeting had no host, as soon as everyone sat down, Nong Da Ping let his assistant distribute materials to the attendees, and he began to speak formally.

  "We all know that the engine composed of compressor, combustion chamber and gas turbine is called a gas turbine engine. Its advantages are naturally light weight, small volume and smooth operation. The air compressed in the compressor mixes with the injected fuel in the combustion chamber and burns to produce high-temperature and high-pressure gas to drive the turbine for high-speed rotation."

  "After that, the turbine gas engine that produces thrust by high-speed ejection of fuel gas through a nozzle is also called a jet engine. The turbofan engine that produces thrust by the joint action of the fuel gas ejected from the nozzle and the air blown out by the fan, the turboprop engine that uses a propeller to provide traction and a jet reaction to provide thrust, and finally, the turbine shaft engine that outputs power through a power turbine is called. Of course, these are the four major categories of jet engines, which are also the only four categories."

  "What we can recognize is that for a jet engine, the compression ratio of its compressor is very important." As he said this, Nong Da Ping gestured to his assistant to hang up the first conceptual design drawing, which was a conceptual design sketch of AVIC's turbojet engine.

  "We can see from the diagram that the compressor, combustion chamber and gas turbine driving the compressor are all extremely important. Let's call them the core engine from now on. Following my pointer downwards, you can notice that the exhaust gas of the core engine will directly enter the nozzle and expand, converting the available energy of the gas into kinetic energy of a high-speed jet flow, thereby producing a huge reaction thrust. If we add an afterburner to this engine, its power will increase greatly for a certain period of time, and the speed of the aircraft equipped with this engine will increase sharply, which is extremely important for fighter jets."

  "Of course, what I said earlier was still speculation and conjecture, and the things we proved theoretically may not necessarily be achievable in practice. However, we can notice that turbojet engines can have centrifugal or axial flow types, and of course, they can also be divided into single and double spool engines according to their rotor structure. But when evaluating the main performance indicators of an engine, it is always unchanged - thrust, specific fuel consumption, and thrust-to-weight ratio. To do a good job on this type of engine, we must go back to what I said earlier, the compression ratio of the compressor is very important, and the efficiency of other components is also crucial."

  After hanging the second painting, Nong Daping drank a sip of water to moisten his throat before starting: "According to this drawing, we can see that the turbofan engine consists of single-stage or multi-stage fans, compressors, combustion chambers, high-pressure turbines driving the compressor, low-pressure turbines driving the fan, and exhaust systems. Defining the compressor, combustion chamber, and high-pressure turbine as the core engine, it can be concluded that this type of engine will inevitably have two large air inlets."

  "The core is composed of the inner duct, surrounded by the outer duct. The exhaust gas from the core engine further expands and works in the low-pressure turbine behind the core engine to drive the fan of the outer duct, increasing the jet velocity of the airflow in the outer duct. The remaining available energy is converted into kinetic energy of a high-speed jet stream in the nozzle, producing thrust simultaneously with the two airflows. The ratio of the airflow through the two ducts is called the bypass ratio, which is inversely proportional to the specific fuel consumption. However, the larger the ratio, the larger the inlet area of the engine will be, and vice versa. It can be predicted that this type of engine will have a higher air mass flow rate, lower jet velocity, higher propulsive efficiency, lower specific fuel consumption, and greater thrust than turbojet engines, but its inlet area is always a problem, which means it can only be installed on large aircraft, rather than high-speed fighter jets."

  Before we dive into the topic of turboprop aircraft, I'd like to clarify some rumors circulating within my company. Let's put aside the pros and cons of these rumors for now, but what I must say is that it was precisely because of the research on turboprop engines that our technical personnel immediately had different opinions, leading to the establishment of more research departments, which sparked a flurry of gossip. However, let's set this issue aside for now and talk about why turboprop engines are so fascinating.

  "Like the first two, a turboprop engine also has a compressor, combustion chamber and so on, but what's special about it is that it needs to have a gearbox and propeller components. This type of engine relies on the power turbine converting most of the exhaust gas from the core engine into shaft power, which drives the air propeller to rotate, while a small portion of the exhaust gas is converted into kinetic energy in the nozzle, directly producing thrust. It's precisely because the power turbine speed is too high, while the propeller speed is relatively low, that a reduction gear with a ratio above 10 needs to be installed."

  "This type of engine is lighter and has less vibration compared to piston aircraft engines, especially at high altitudes. Although it has a slightly higher fuel consumption rate, its performance is far superior to that of piston engines. With the advent of turbofan engines for large aircraft, piston engines are now mainly used in small planes. As flying requirements become increasingly demanding, the prospects for piston engines will only continue to dim. In short, whether they are liquid-cooled or air-cooled, they will inevitably be outdone."

  "The turboshaft engine, which is basically the same as the turboprop engine in terms of structure and principle, differs from the turboprop only in that it provides all the usable energy contained in the exhaust gases to the power turbine. After passing through the main gearbox, the engine's output power can be transmitted to the rotor and tail rotor. This efficiency is definitely much better than that of a piston engine, with less weight, lower fuel consumption, and easier maintenance. It can meet the high-power working conditions of helicopters during takeoff, climbing, and hovering. Of course, this assumes that the helicopter structure researched by Sikorsky's team is designed in this way. If not, the engine power can also be transmitted to other components, not necessarily the rotor and tail rotor. In short, using a turboshaft engine on a helicopter is absolutely correct..."

  Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu almost couldn't help but burst out laughing. This Narda Ping doesn't even differentiate between the occasion and has started to show a tendency of promoting his own products. However, seeing Sikorsky also smiling and frequently nodding in agreement, Zhang Yu really felt that Narda Ping should be doing business instead of being the chief technical officer of China Aviation Power.

  "So, your plan is to actually build five major research departments and conduct a comprehensive study on the five major engines?"

  After listening for half a day, Wang Zhuo already had some doubts that he couldn't bear to keep inside, but was afraid that Zhang Yu would ask questions, so he held back. However, after glancing at Zhang Yu several times, he found that Zhang Yu sat there like a Bodhisattva, not interfering with their meeting, and only then did he start asking questions.

  "No, we just want to differentiate five research directions, not five major research departments. Of course, the piston type must be independent and self-contained, there are many people who have always focused on piston engines, and we have only recently embarked on the road of piston type, this field still has too many places that have not been explored, and there are still many topics that have not been conquered, I believe they will use time and energy to thoroughly study the field of piston type..."

  "On the other hand, as I just reported. Whether it's a turbojet, turboprop, or turboshaft, they all have many commonalities. We need to concentrate our strength to overcome key difficulties, such as core technology, and on the premise of having certain basic capabilities, we will transition to different development directions. In other words, our company plans for two technological systems and five development directions."

  Nong Daping's answer was very clear, and everyone present expressed their appreciation. However, Wang Zhiyu had more to say: "Originally, the group was considering this, but since you already have ideas in this regard, why not come up with a practical plan within a certain period? We can then review and approve it as soon as possible. Sikorsky and others have made significant progress in their research, and they hope to accelerate the development of the engine, which is the core of the aircraft."

  "I can arrange for Mr. Sikorsky and Mr. Kohn to come over and take a look, and it's also possible to set up the project team directly in our company. Anyway, these helicopters and jet engines are all major items in the group's long-term plan, since they won't be able to produce results in a short period of time, why don't we unite more closely, integrate aircraft theoretical research and engine technology development together, this way it will be more beneficial for mutual progress..."

  "You might as well say we should pay more expenses!"

  As soon as he said this, everyone burst out laughing. Nong Daping was a thoroughbred technical talent, but his mind was always full of the cunning and greedy little tricks of a businessman, who would not be satisfied with the best conditions and the most excellent talents, and would still say that he was hungry even if he were to die from overeating.

  PS: Recently, the update volume has decreased, not because of any river crab reason, but because I am also human and need to live. In the tense reality, it is really hard to find time to write, and even harder to find time to review and verify some things. After surpassing 500,000 words, I still have to persist, having paid out nearly three months of voluntary blood and sweat without giving up. This has proven my unwavering confidence in the book and my perseverance. I am very grateful for everyone's support along the way, and please continue to support me. Don't forget that tomorrow is Thursday again, and I will definitely fulfill my promise and deliver a double update. Today's 4,000+ words are really a bit too little, and it's still yesterday's leftovers, which makes me feel apologetic.

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