The torch of the Beijing Winter Olympics is revealed: collaborative innovation is tackled, and the "flying" torch shines the light of Chinese science and technology

Based on the auspicious cloud pattern, it gradually transitions from bottom to top to a paper-cut style snowflake pattern, swirling and rising, like a ribbon fluttering, and finally transforming into a flying flame at the top... On the morning of February 2, the Beijing Winter Olympic Torch Relay was launched in the Olympic Forest Park, and more people could feel the charm of the "flying" torch at close range.

Beijing Winter Olympic Torchbearers hold torches in their hands

Ice and fire meet to warm the world

As the most important element of the Winter Olympic Games besides the emblem and mascot, the design and manufacture of the Winter Olympic torch has been listed by the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee as the key content to show the winter Olympics of science and technology. In April 2020, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee opened its call for torch designs from the whole society, and the plans provided by Alibaba's design team stood out from 182 effective solicitation plans for the whole society.

"The silver and red of the main body of the torch symbolize the meeting of ice and fire, and the passion soars to illuminate the ice and snow and warm the whole world. Beijing Winter Olympics torch appearance designer Li Jianye said.

The appearance of "Flying" is extremely simple, with a dynamic, flowing red line running up and down around the torch, symbolizing the passion of the ice and snow track, but also alludes to the bright, beautiful and vigorous vitality, expressing the expectation of human beings to live endlessly, yearn for peace, the pursuit of excellence and the power of the Olympic Movement. Li Jianye introduced that the overall appearance of the torch echoes the form of the main torch tower of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, reflecting the inheritance and development of the City of Beijing's Double Olympic Games.

When the two torchbearers hand over, the two "flying" snuggle up to each other, slightly crossed, like a handshake, showing the vision of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics that makes the world more aware and harmonious. "We also thought about the meaning of the torch when we designed it, and I think that in the face of the global epidemic, the torch may be like IOC President Bach said: she is the light at the end of the dark tunnel." Li Jianye said.

The reporter learned that most of the design team of the Ali torch project is an industrial designer from the field of electronic consumption, but the design requirements of the torch must first jump out of the trap of industrial design. Under the careful guidance of Lin Cunzhen, cultural activity department and artistic director of the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, the team quickly learned and deepened their understanding of the field of Chinese culture and humanistic design. According to statistics, the team completed more than 40 versions of the internal revision plan and officially submitted 11 versions of the plan to the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee. The project team was stationed in Beijing in the later period, completed nearly 10,000 hand-drawn sketches, and finally formed a document that was nearly 2 feet thick, and "Flying" finally realized the transformation from industrial design to national ceremonial instruments.

Carbon fiber weaving "flying" dreams

"Feiyang" not only has a flexible and novel appearance, the shell and core of the torch, but also infiltrates the spirit of continuous innovation and the pursuit of excellence, and reflects the light of science and technology.

After the exterior styling was finalized, the carbon fiber material was quickly locked in as the preferred material for making torches. Because carbon fiber is only about a quarter of the quality of steel, but the strength is 7 to 9 times that of steel, it is lighter and stronger to make torches.

Previously, carbon fiber has been widely used in the aerospace field and is known as "black gold". Since 2008, Sinopec's Shanghai Petrochemical has carried out carbon fiber technology research, forming an innovative ability from the primary silk, pre-oxidation, carbon fiber to composite material industry chain, and has a complete set of technologies with independent intellectual property rights. The great mission of manufacturing carbon fiber torches naturally fell on the shoulders of Shanghai Petrochemical.

The irregularity of the torch shell is the first major difficulty in the manufacture of torches. The research team decided to use three-dimensional weaving, which is a high-tech. Each bundle of carbon fiber, composed of 12,000 carbon fiber filaments, is three-dimensional weaving, that is, from three dimensions, the carbon fiber is directly woven into a torch shape, and then molded with a special resin. After three-dimensional weaving, the final woven torch shell can not see any seams and pores, and the whole shape is integrated. The three-dimensional weaving not only greatly increases the strength of the torch, resistance to impact and impact, but also has a more three-dimensional appearance.

It can withstand baking at a high temperature of 800 °C

Allowing the torch to withstand 800 ° C is the second major difficulty in the manufacture of torches.

Carbon fiber material can withstand high temperatures and is also very soft, but only after composite with resin material, can it be as strong as steel. However, most of the resin materials cannot withstand the flames, and the temperature reaches 500 ° C and will turn into ashes. What's more, the flame outlet temperature of the Winter Olympic torch is close to 800 ° C. At a time when there was no way out, a small and micro enterprise in Jinshan District, Shanghai entered the vision of the torch manufacturing team. They have developed a third-generation resin material that combines strong adhesion to inorganic matter and high temperature resistance of inorganic matter. After repeated firing tests, the Shanghai petrochemical team finally successfully solved the major problem of carbon fiber composites that are resistant to combustion and high temperatures.

At the Winter Olympics, the fuel for the flare burning was changed from propane to hydrogen. Hydrogen, as a clean energy, will only produce water after combustion, which is green and environmentally friendly. However, to maintain the same burning time, the storage space of hydrogen is twice as large as propane. The "flying" torch is composed of an outer streamer and an inner streamer, and the internal space is small. To place a hydrogen storage tank and a complete set of burners in the torch, the hydrogen storage tank must be made as small as possible, and the torch must be ensured to burn for a long time. After countless repeated research and experiments, the aerospace science and technology team finally found a solution to the "mini" fuel system. They made the hydrogen storage tank smaller and increased the storage pressure to increase the hydrogen capacity. At the same time, the miniature pressure reducing valve is matched, which opens the pressure reducing valve when in use, and the pressure of 420 kg is reduced to one kg.

The "flying" that contains a lot of Chinese scientific and technological wisdom finally appeared in a perfect posture and became the most beautiful scenery that ignited people's passion for the Winter Olympics in winter.