The Tianzhou No.1, which is operating over nine days, is China's first cargo ship. From the perspective of its performance in April this year, Tianzhou No. 1 was perfect. It not only successfully validated the “space refueling” technology, but also carried out various experiments as planned, laying a solid foundation for China’s long-term manned space station. basis. The perfect performance of Tianzhou-1 is inseparable from China's advanced temperature control technology.
As a cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou No. 1 is no doubt doing the work of world logistics. As a special logistics transport “practitioner”, some of the cargos carried by Tianzhou No. 1 have special requirements for the storage environment, such as cryogenic preservation. However, in the vast space 400 kilometers away from the earth, the refrigerator compressor refrigeration methods that are commonly used cannot work in microgravity environments. Therefore, Tian Zhou No. 1 must find another way to carry a special "space refrigerator." Faced with scientific research problems, Chinese scientists set up a special research team to overcome the difficulties of low-power design, thermal design, structural optimization and weight reduction design, anti-mechanical environmental design, space environment adaptability design, and high-reliability design, and successfully upgrade thermal power. Refrigeration methods, which can only reduce the performance of such products to 0 degrees Celsius significantly reduced to -20 degrees Celsius, and finally created a "space refrigerator."
Special aerogel materials are an important basis for temperature control. Over the years, Chinese scientists have developed and developed a material called aerogel. This aerogel material is one of the lightest solid insulation materials known in the world today, with a very high specific surface area and a very low thermal conductivity. In the first launch mission of the 2016 Long March 5, the insulation felt made of high-performance nano-aerogel materials provided an effective method of thermal insulation for the rocket gas pipeline system and provided a powerful guarantee for successful launch.
China is at the forefront of the world in nuclear power technology. Especially since 2015, China's nuclear power generation technologies represented by Hualong No. 1, AP1000, and CAP1400 have led China's nuclear power development into a new phase. But for a long time, as one of the key technologies for nuclear power safety, cryogenic control technology and equipment have been monopolized by foreign brands. In August 2016, China's nuclear power refrigeration technology and equipment ushered in a major turning point. The millions of kilowatts of nuclear power equipment independently developed by Gree Electric, a well-known electrical equipment manufacturer, passed the scientific and technological achievements appraisal. Experts unanimously determined that the overall technology of millions of kilowatts of nuclear-powered air-cooled screw chillers has reached the “internationally advanced” level, among which the refrigeration technology is at the “internationally leading” level at the ambient temperature of -40 degrees Celsius; the nuclear power of millions of kilowatts is water-cooled. The overall technology of the chiller (frequency conversion) has reached the “internationally advanced” level, in which the permanent magnet motor frequency conversion technology is at the “internationally advanced” level. This marks Gree becoming the first company in the world to fully meet the needs of the planned CAP1000/CAP1400 third generation nuclear power plant chiller units, clearing the obstacles for the localization of nuclear power equipment and the future development of large central air conditioning units.
In winter and summer, people have been exploring ways to control temperature in the process of adapting to climatic conditions since ancient times, and have thus changed production and living conditions. After a long period of hard work, Chinese scientists and technicians have gradually explored and mastered a whole set of methods for warming up and cooling down, and developed a variety of temperature-controlled equipment to provide more solutions for understanding and transforming nature.