Text | China Science Daily reporter Wang Haohao
On April 7, 2021, when the "Manatee II" submarine large-hole deep pressure-holding core drilling rig system successfully drilled 231 meters under 2,000 meters of water in the South China Sea, Wan Buyan breathed a long sigh of relief. This means that "Manatee II" has achieved a major technological breakthrough, reaching the world's leading level, and setting a new world record for the actual drilling depth of a subsea drilling rig at sea.
Wan Buyan is the chief scientist of the Manatee II project and the director of the Marine Laboratory of Hunan University of Science and Technology. For more than 30 years, he has led the team to focus on the major strategic needs of the country, rooted in the research of marine resources exploration technology, made every effort to break through key core technical problems, and made pioneering contributions to the research and development of marine mineral exploration technology and equipment in the mainland. Recently, he was awarded the title of "National Outstanding Engineer".
Wan Buyan at work.
Use the Chinese's own drill to drill out the "Chinese hole"
Wan Buyan grew up listening to his grandfather's stories. My grandfather was a martyr, and because of this, the state gave his family 600 catties of millet every year. In that era of material scarcity, this ration became the most tangible and warm memory of Wan Buyan's growing years, and the word "country" was deeply rooted in his heart.
In order to become a useful person for the country, he studied diligently, and at the age of 14 he was admitted to university with excellent grades, pursuing a bachelor's and master's degree in prospecting engineering. After graduation, Wan Buyan entered the Changsha Mining Research Institute to work.
At that time, developed countries were "staking their ground" on the international high seas, while continental marine exploration technology had just begun. The Changsha Mining Research Institute set out to set up a marine mining research laboratory, and Wan Buyan did not hesitate to sign up. "I will do whatever the country needs me to do. He said.
In 1992, Wan Buyan went to Japan for a one-year cooperative research. Before returning to China, the Japanese side offered him a salary 100 times higher than the domestic salary to retain him, and he was not tempted at all. The technological blockade of China by Western countries and the arrogant attitude of foreign scientists towards Chinese researchers pierced his heart like a spike, and Wan Buyan resolutely returned to China and secretly vowed to make achievements.
In 1998, Wan Buyan boarded the ocean-going research ship for the first time and found that almost all the drilling equipment on the ship, from small sample tubes to large samplers and geological winchs, were all "foreign brands", especially deep-sea drilling rigs, which had to be rented at high prices from abroad. After two or three months at sea, he didn't get a single sample. Wan Buyan was determined to build Chinese's own deep-sea drilling rig.
In 1999, the China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association invited bids for the development of submarine drilling rigs across the country. Wan Buyan led the team to take the initiative to bid and took on this arduous task.
Everything started from scratch, without any technical information and experience to learn from, Wan Buyan painted, designed, produced, processed, assembled, and tested by himself, failing again and again, and starting again and again. In 2003, the mainland's first deep-sea shallow formation core sampling drilling rig drilled 0.7 meters on the seabed, drilled the first "China hole", and retrieved core samples, realizing the leap of the mainland's seabed drilling rig technology from scratch.
After that, Wan Buyan and his team successively developed the subsea medium and deep hole drilling rig, the "Manatee I" subsea multi-purpose drilling rig system, and the "Manatee II" subsea large-hole deep pressure holding core drilling rig system. From the initial 0.7 meters to 5 meters, 20 meters, 60 meters, 90 meters, and now to the world's leading 231 meters, they have refreshed the drilling depth record of the submarine drilling rig again and again, and witnessed the transformation of the mainland's marine resources exploration and mining equipment from scratch, from backwardness to catching up and then surpassing.
At present, the "Manatee" series drilling rig has drilled more than 2,000 "Chinese holes" in the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and other oceans, as well as the South China Sea and the East China Sea. The Wanbuyan team has more than 150 national patents and 16 international invention patents, firmly grasping the relevant key core technologies in the hands of Chinese.
"What others can do, we Chinese will definitely be able to do; what others have not yet done, we Chinese may also be able to do it first." Wan Buyan said firmly.
Like a "manatee" drill bit, drill through all difficulties
Wan Buyan's WeChat name is "Undersea Robot". As his name suggests, he used the deep seabed as a battlefield of struggle.
Dizziness, nausea, typhoons, huge waves, deep-sea diving, subsea drilling, pressure coring...... For the daily life of ocean exploration, Wan Buyan is as sweet as food. He often said that after so many years of crawling and rolling on the sea, the last thing he is afraid of is difficulties, and the more difficulties he encounters, the more he must drill through all difficulties.
Why is it named "Manatee"? On the one hand, it is the "cow" spirit of "Manatee" itself, and on the other hand, it is the kind of "cow" energy in Wan Buyan.
In the deep sea of several thousand meters, how can the drilling rig withstand high pressure? How can the drilling rig be safely lowered and retracted? How to power supply, communicate, and operate? How to ensure the accuracy and reliability of coring? For these problems, Wan Buyan led the team to overcome them one by one. "Manatee II." looks like a behemoth, but when it reaches the bottom of the sea, it is as flexible as a loach, light weight, multi-functional, high efficiency and low cost.
In March 2021, just before the acceptance of the "Manatee II", when the sea trial was completed and the return trip was ready, the imported supporting retraction and release winch system failed. The drilling rig is suspended under 1,000 meters of water and cannot be recovered or put down. They urgently asked foreign manufacturers for help, and the reply they received was that they could not help, and they contacted domestic agents to repair the ship, but the response was that they could not do anything. If the cable is cut, the rig will sink into the sea, and the damage will be huge, and everyone will be reluctant to do so.
"We have experienced many winds and waves, and we must not be intimidated by this little difficulty. Let's fix it ourselves!" Wan Buyan led the team to try various methods, and finally decided to build a temporary hydraulic system. After nearly 30 hours of hard work, they finally recovered the rig intact before the typhoon arrived.
Over the past decades, Wan Buyan has presided over the research and development of the "Manatee" series of submarine drilling rigs, which has achieved a breakthrough in the technology of mainland submarine drilling rigs "from 0 to 1", and a leap from following to leading. "Manatee II" has set a new world record, solved the problem of "stuck neck" in key core technologies such as drilling of continental ocean resources, deep seabed engineering geological exploration, and seabed natural gas hydrate macroporous deep pressure coring, and provided key technical and equipment support for the development and utilization of mainland marine mineral resources and the application to the International Seabed Authority for confirmation of the rights of international seabed mining areas.
Students become "diamond diamonds"
In the "Manatee" team, some are masters who have followed Wan Buyan for decades, and some are novices who have just graduated with a doctorate. "It's not just about doing things, it's about being people. My basic requirement for my team members is to be a 'worker-type scholar', who must not only master theoretical knowledge, but also be able to use it hands-on and operate. Wan Buyan said.
Wan Buyan trained students to have a "hard bar", whether it was an undergraduate, a master's student or a doctoral student, when they went to the sea and entered the laboratory, they had to pick up a hammer, a wrench, and an electric welding gun, and follow him to work like a worker.
Over the years, Wan Buyan and his team have trained 8 doctors and 42 masters. Currently, he is also the class teacher of the 29 undergraduate students in the "Future Technology Experimental Class". His master's student Tang Wenbo participated in the whole process of the "Exploration No. 1" scientific research ship TS21 voyage scientific research operation, and also became the 19th member of the "Struggler" manned submersible diving scientific expedition, and entered the Chinese Academy of Sciences after graduation.
"What is more valuable than the drill rig is that my students have become 'diamond diamonds', and I am proud of their excellence. Wan Buyan said.
The research ship "Manatee II" sailed to the deep sea. Courtesy of Hunan University of Science and Technology