Ground central lift platform Courtesy of Long March Tianmin Company
Beijing, February 21 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Winter Olympics came to a successful conclusion on the 20th, and the space technology of this Winter Olympic Games participated in them on a large scale. The ground stage system and the ice cube (including the five rings) system, which are generally undertaken by Beijing Changzheng Tianmin High-tech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianmin Company"), which are affiliated to the 15 institutes of the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, accurately completed important ceremonial performances such as the main torch display, the ice and snow five rings and the star five ring display at the opening and closing ceremonies, which made people shine.
As a well-known stage machinery and special effects equipment development and production unit in China, Tianmin Company has successively undertaken the equipment production and guarantee work of well-known large-scale projects/activities in China such as Universal Studios Beijing, Shanghai Disney Resort, and the 70th Anniversary celebration of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Motor drive system Courtesy of Long March Tianmin Company
In December 2020, Gao Jun, deputy general manager of the special mechanical and electrical division of Tianmin Company, Shen Jigang, director of stage design for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games, and He Zhishan, director of construction, formed an "advance team" to conduct field research on the "Bird's Nest", communicate with other units about the construction of the ground stage system, and prepare for the efficient work after the large troops entered the field.
As the core equipment of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games, the ground stage system undertaken by Tianmin Company is the space and carrier for implementing the requirements of the Competition and realizing the director's creativity. Shen Jigang, who has more than 20 years of work experience and has participated in the stage design of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, is not afraid of difficulties, through many brainstorming with Zhang Yimou's main creative team, he led the project technical team to iterate more than 20 versions, and came up with the final plan - the complex stage engineering system equipment is completely placed under the calm "ice surface", the main stage area is 3528 square meters, the total mass is about 5000 tons, through the precise control of nearly 100 motors, more than 150 rigid chains can drive more than 30 sets of large lift platforms, car platforms, Tilt board and other activity equipment, complete all kinds of lifting, panning, flipping and other actions...
At the opening ceremony, pieces of snowflakes were placed on the "ice surface", and immediately and quietly transformed into a large snowflake slowly rising. This flowing transition comes from the "small opening and closing" method of "sinking first, then panning, and finally rising" adopted by the central lifting platform on the ground. According to Zheng Yingwen, marketing director of Tianmin, this innovative approach can reduce the abruptness caused by the large movement of the stage, so that the artistic performance and process ceremony become more smooth and smooth.
It should be pointed out that all these ideas are inseparable from three-dimensional modeling. As the only person in Tianmin to undertake this work, Yan Lieguo put all his passion into the production of three-dimensional animation. Turning on his computer, he can see hundreds of gigabytes of data, which are different versions of the animation, but all exquisite. It is also through these animations that the responsible persons at all levels, including Zhang Yimou, intuitively feel the agility of the main stage.
In this visual feast, the huge ice cube condensed by the "water of the Yellow River" allows the audience to harvest the ultimate visual experience. This ice cube with a total weight of about 400 tons, a lifting weight of 180 tons, and a lifting load of more than 8 times that of the large lifting platform of the general theater, is the maximum power of the entire opening and closing ceremonies. Lifting it were 16 aerospace "Hercules" hidden under the stage.
Gao Jun introduced that the team members borrowed the design concept of the rocket launch tower and independently developed a new motor drive system - 16 sets of mechanical structures composed of chains, wire ropes and guide rails were arranged at the bottom of the ice cube, just like 16 "Hercules", cooperating with each other to lift the "Ice Cube" steadily from the stage plane.
The cooperation between the 16 "Hercules" and the synergy of the force is the test of the software research and development ability of the "Ice Cube" team. Liu Wenyue, who is in charge of electronic control design of Tianmin Company, said that under the stage of the opening ceremony, there are thousands of sensors that monitor the operation of the "Ice Cube", which can analyze the force situation in real time, so that the "Hercules" can obey the command of a brain, ensure the stable force during the ascent process, and obediently stop when reaching the designated position.
Aerospace technology guarantees the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics Long March Tianmin Company
Before the Ice Cube officially entered the bird's nest assembly, Tianmin Company also made a set of equal-scale prototypes in the laboratory, testing and debugging day and night to ensure that nothing was lost. Tianmin Company's implementation of the "Ice Cube" is a military acceptance standard, just a control switch knob, to accept more than 40 standards of rigorous testing.
Not only that, the "belly" of the Ice Cube also contains Qiankun, hiding the five Olympic rings. In the opening ceremony, brilliant lasers carved crystal clear five rings on the ice cube, and under the background of music, the five rings rose slowly in the broken ice, like brilliant stars in the night sky, pushing the atmosphere of the opening ceremony to a climax. The five rings of stars in the closing ceremony were also designed by Tianmin Company. The five rings take the audience back to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, paying homage to the "City of The Two Olympics".
In addition, in response to the call of "thrifty Olympics", Tianmin Company also gave full play to the housekeeping skills in the aerospace system engineering management mode - "cost reduction and efficiency increase", and cooperated with Zhang Yimou's main creative team to complete more than 20 rounds of continuous adjustment and optimization of creative programs, saving nearly 10 million yuan in costs. (End)