Behind the "Olympic Rings" fireworks: the weight is accurate to the milligram and there is zero residue

On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympic Games in Beijing was held at the National Stadium.

(Beijing Winter Olympics) Unveiling the "Olympic Five Rings" fireworks behind: the weight is accurate to milligrams, and there is zero residue in the discharge

China News Service Shijiazhuang February 11 Title: Behind the "Olympic Rings" fireworks: the weight is accurate to milligrams, and there is zero residue in the discharge

Author Zhao Danmei Hao Ye

At the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, dots of "starlight" gathered into the "Dream Five Rings" to amaze the world. After 14 years, the "Olympic Five Rings" fireworks bloomed brilliantly in the "Bird's Nest", pushing the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games to a climax. It is for this moment of blooming that Li Liangliang and the team "carefully calculated" for 8 months.

"The 'Olympic Rings' fireworks, it is difficult to make them bloom at the same height and the same façade at the same time." Li Liangliang from Anping Hebei Shenggu Fireworks Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is the chief engineer of the R&D, production and discharge of high-altitude special effect fireworks at the Beijing Winter Olympics. He explained that due to the different raw materials of the five colors of the "Olympic Rings", the lift-off height and combustion time are also different, and each launch point must be accurate to centimeters. At the same time, the weight of the high-altitude special effect luminous body must be accurate to milligrams to ensure the presentation effect.

To this end, they restored the firing environment of the Beijing Winter Olympics 1:1 in Anping County, and after repeated experiments, they finally exchanged for the perfect liftoff of the "Olympic Five Rings".

From the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, 29 huge "firework footprints" symbolizing the historical footprints of the Olympic Games, to the high-altitude special effect fireworks at the opening ceremony of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, Anping fireworks have been associated with the Olympic Games for a long time. Despite their experience, Li Liangliang and his team had been "pinching sweat" until a second before the fireworks took off.

"It must be successful once!" Since receiving the task of high-altitude special effect fireworks display at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in July 2021, Li Liangliang immediately set up an experimental research and development special group to continuously test the drug ratio and the color of the high-altitude special effect luminous pill ball in order to achieve the best results. At the same time, the team deliberately deployed a small smoke, zero residue of high-altitude special effects luminous body, after the fireworks hit, will not fall anything, while ordinary fireworks will fall after the explosion of paper scraps, wood chips and so on.

According to Li Liangliang, at present, there are very few teams in the world that can do this kind of high-altitude fireworks, and compared with medium and low-altitude special effect fireworks, high-altitude special effect fireworks are bigger and more spectacular. For example, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games "Ignition" the whole site of fireworks shape "Lichun", the height of the air is 280 meters, the width is more than 110 meters after unfolding, and the length is nearly 200 meters. Therefore, high-altitude special effect fireworks are an indispensable part of important celebrations.

In addition to the above problems, Li Liangliang's team also needs to face more challenges from the weather.

"The production of high-altitude special effect luminaires requires water and raw materials to roll together like a rolling lantern, and the raw materials are easy to freeze during winter production, and they are easy to crack after being sent to the drying room." Li Liangliang said that the best season for the production of fireworks is spring and autumn, and the minimum temperature of the high-altitude special effect fireworks at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics exceeds minus 10 degrees Celsius, and if the temperature difference is not handled well, it will affect the strength of the high-altitude special effect luminescence.

"If the strength is not enough, the boost with the force of the commissioning will not reach the expected lifting height." Li Liangliang said that it is not difficult to ensure the height of fireworks, and it is difficult to ensure the integrity of each high-altitude special effect emitter while ensuring the height. After countless experiments, Li Liangliang and the team finally solved the temperature difference problem by using the ladder heating and ladder cooling method.

When the "Five Olympic Rings" and "Li chun" meet, a vibrant Winter Olympics will also bring hope and strength to the world plagued by the new crown pneumonia epidemic. At present, Li Liangliang and his teammates are preparing for the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and the high-altitude special effect fireworks at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Paralympic Games. He laughed and said that he would not disappoint everyone. (End)