Winter Olympic torch. Courtesy of respondents
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics torch has a dynamic name – "Flying". The shape resembles two intertwined and dancing ribbons, which not only has beauty and strength in design, but also relies on the deep research and development and ingenuity of Chinese enterprises.
The torch "Flying" uses three-dimensional weaving technology, which is a technological breakthrough in the carbon fiber molding process. Huang Xiangyu, deputy general manager of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company and deputy head of the leading group of the Winter Olympic Torch Mass Production Project, told the Beijing News Shell financial reporter that in the production workshop, there are black tows, each bundle contains 12,000 carbon fiber filaments. After three-dimensional weaving, it is finally woven into a torch shell like a "knitted sweater".
The innovation breakthrough of Chinese enterprises is far from this. 3D printing, high-pressure hydrogen storage, flame color rendering... A small torch condenses a large number of scientific and technological and engineering achievements, reflecting the concept of green and low-carbon environmental protection.
Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Carbon Fiber Production Workshop. Courtesy of respondents
"Flying" is light and beautiful
The torch relay heralds the beginning of the Olympic Games and is an important element of the Olympic Games. Ignition, high-fives, starting, torchbearers continue to relay, hand "flying", running through the Beijing Olympic Forest Park, Beijing Winter Olympic Park, Shougang Park, Yanqing Badaling Great Wall, Hebei Zhangjiakou Yangyuan Nihewan Heritage Park...
Chen Xiaobing, the 260th torchbearer in the Winter Olympic Park, told the Beijing News shell financial reporter that the torch "flying" material is lighter and it is not difficult to hold it with one hand. This is the credit of the "flying" barrel black technology - carbon fiber composite materials, and the Beijing Winter Olympics is also the world's first carbon fiber composite material to make the Olympic torch shell.
At the Beijing Winter Olympics, Sinopec took the lead in the research and development of the torch shell and the mass production of the torch, and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical undertook the production. Huang Xiangyu recalled in an interview with the Beijing News Shell Financial Reporter that in the process of finding torch shell materials, in order to fit the concept of "green Olympics" and reflect the perfect integration of art design and scientific and technological innovation, the research and development team turned its attention to carbon fiber.
The density of carbon fiber is only about 1/4 of steel, but the strength is 7-9 times that of steel, the torch made of carbon fiber is very light, the weight of the torch shell is more than 20% lighter than the aluminum alloy shell, and it is very strong, "no matter how you fall, you can't break it."
However, although carbon fiber has the advantages of light and strong, it also brings some difficulties, including not being resistant to high temperatures. The "flying" combustion port is between the inner shell and the shell, which requires the shell to be able to withstand high temperatures above 800 ° C.
Huang Xiangyu told Shell Financial Reporter that the carbon fiber composite material itself has high strength and small coefficient of thermal expansion, but the temperature resistance generally does not exceed 250 ° C, so how to ensure that the torch is resistant to combustion and the surface does not crack and bubble, has become a major difficulty.
Through the introduction of the Materials Department of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, the R&D team of Shanghai Petrochemical Torch found a breakthrough - a company in Jinshan District, Shanghai developed a resin, fire-resistant and high-temperature resistant, and the R&D team made carbon fiber composite materials together with carbon fiber after some testing and analysis. Finally, through repeated adjustment of the process, the torch shell material has reached the requirements of both high temperature resistance and fire resistance, and can be used normally in the combustion environment of 800 °C and 900 °C.
The torch "flying" achieves the irregular shape of rotation and rise, which is also a technological breakthrough in the carbon fiber molding process. Huang Xiangyu said that "Feiyang" uses three-dimensional weaving technology, and in the production workshop, there are black tows, each of which contains 12,000 carbon fiber filaments. After three-dimensional weaving, it is finally woven into a torch shell like a "knitted sweater", and no seams and pores can be seen, and the whole shape is integrated.
Sinopec's Winter Olympic Torch team is assembling the torch to provide support for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Courtesy of respondents
Mass production of 1,200 torches lasted nearly 5 months
The torch was unveiled, condensing the wisdom and painstaking efforts of researchers and engineers.
The internal space of the torch is relatively small, and to load hydrogen that guarantees a long enough burning time, it is necessary to achieve a large proportion of decompression of up to hundreds of times. To this end, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and others have developed a lightweight and miniaturized hydrogen pressure reduction device. In addition, the hydrogen combustion flame is light blue, which is not easy to show color in daylight, and the research and development team has developed a formula that can adjust the color of the hydrogen flame, so that it has a visible reddish yellow in daylight.
Huang Xiangyu technically dismantled the shell financial reporter, and the torch was divided into three components: the outer streamer, the inner streamer and the hydrogen combustion device, each part has a large number of scientific and technological achievements. The outer streamer mainly adopts ceramic molding technology, three-dimensional weaving technology, RTM molding technology, radium carving technology, automatic spraying technology, etc. The finished product of the torch inner streamer requires silk flowing texture, nano-scale ceramic coating thickness, withstanding high temperature of 800 °C-1000 °C, mainly using 3D printing, sandblasting, sandblasting and other technologies. The torch burning device was developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which solved many technical problems such as flame color and stability, high-pressure hydrogen storage, and safe utilization of hydrogen energy.
Research and development is only the first step in the production of torches, and mass production also starts a protracted battle.
Lin Shengbing, general manager of Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Advanced Materials Innovation Research Institute, told Shell Financial Reporter that after carrying out a lot of deepening design and product verification in the early stage, in August 2021, Shanghai Petrochemical officially started mass production, and basically completed the mass production task by the end of December of that year, and the entire mass production process took nearly 5 months. On January 27, 2022, 1,200 Beijing Winter Olympic torches were officially delivered to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee.
By this time, the task of Shanghai Petrochemical was not over. Lin Shengbing said that from February 2 to 4, during the three-day torch relay, the Shanghai Petrochemical Winter Olympic torch team participated in the torch relay support work throughout the process, and the whole team was divided into two teams: assembly and on-site service support.
The torch is passed among each torchbearer, and there is a little-known journey: at the torch assembly base, the assembly team of Shanghai Petrochemical began assembling the torch from January 28, and after each torch was assembled, it was lit for about 10 seconds to detect the leak to confirm that the hydrogen did not leak. Every day, the torch used for the relay is shipped in the early morning of the same day, and it is transported from the torch assembly base to each relay point. After each torchbearer is passed, the on-site service support team will disassemble and recycle the combustion device. Thereafter, the torch is presented to the torchbearer as a souvenir, and the burning device is transported back to the torch assembly base for recycling.
Hydrogen fuel "time": daily hydrogen supply capacity of 5000 kg
Previous Olympic Games have used a lot of gases such as liquefied natural gas or propane, and the Beijing Winter Olympics is the first time in the history of the Olympic Games that hydrogen energy has been used as a torch fuel.
The main torch hydrogen fuel for the Beijing Winter Olympics is supplied by Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical. Li Junliang, chief expert of Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical and director of the new energy office, said in an interview with Shell Financial Reporter that hydrogen is the cleanest and most environmentally friendly fuel. The main components of traditional LNG or fuels such as propane are low-carbon alkanes such as methane, ethane, and propane. In contrast, when hydrogen is burned, it only produces water, does not produce carbon dioxide, and does not burn insufficiently and smoke, which can achieve completely zero emissions. At the same time, the boiling point of hydrogen is very low, which can be stably burned at extremely low temperatures. The selection of hydrogen as the Olympic torch fuel can truly reflect the green, low-carbon and sustainable principles of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, and truly realize the further combination of the Olympic spirit and "green" and "environmental protection".
In addition to providing hydrogen fuel for the main torch, Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical also guarantees hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for the Winter Olympic Games. Li Junliang introduced that in order to serve the supply of hydrogen at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Yanshan Petrochemical has built a new hydrogen new energy device. Yanshan Petrochemical Hydrogen New Energy Plant was approved by Sinopec in March 2019, completed the basic design approval in August, entered the site in October to carry out construction preparations, delivered in the middle of January 2, 2020, and achieved a successful start-up on March 27. The device is designed to be 2000 standard cubic meters per hour and uses a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) process to produce hydrogen that can meet the needs of fuel cells with a purity of 99.999%.
At that time, the mainland hydrogen market was still in its infancy, the market demand was small, and the industry experience was relatively small, and the construction process of Yanshan Petrochemical Hydrogen New Energy Device needed to overcome many technical difficulties. Li Junliang said that in order to complete the construction as soon as possible, the device adopts a modular design to shorten the on-site operation time. Since the unit cannot operate for a long period of time at the beginning, a quick start-stop program is also set up during the design. In addition, the quality of hydrogen used in fuel cells is high, and the specific impurity content should be controlled at the PPm (milligram level) or even PPb (microgram level) level, and the product filling is continuous, which puts forward higher requirements for analysis and inspection. To this end, the device is equipped with an advanced online analyzer to track product quality at any time to ensure product quality.
Talking about the production and transportation of hydrogen required for the Winter Olympics, Li Junliang told Shell Financial Reporter that Yanshan Petrochemical's hydrogen new energy device purified crude hydrogen and obtained hydrogen for fuel cells with a purity of 99.999% and specific impurities that meet the standard. The hydrogen is charged into a special long-tube trailer by pressurizing to 20 megapascals, and is closely linked to the hydrogen refueling station, working day and night to ensure that the hydrogen is transported to the hydrogen filling station of the Olympic vehicle on time. Sinopec has built four hydrogen refueling stations in Beijing and Hebei to serve the Winter Olympics, with a total daily hydrogen supply capacity of 5,000 kilograms. Taking Qingyuan Street Hydrogen refueling Station as an example, covering an area of 2500 square meters, with a daily hydrogen supply capacity of 1500 kg, it can provide hydrogenation services for 80 12-meter buses per day, and is an integrated energy service station that integrates hydrogenation, photovoltaic, convenience store and easyJet coffee jointly built by Sinopec and Beijing Bus Group.
Beijing News shell financial reporter Gu Zhijuan Editor Wang Jinyu Proofreader Zhang Yanjun