Working shirtless in a factory sweat and working long hours in a dusty environment seems a far cry from the imaginary image of a scientist writing papers in an ivory tower and conducting experiments in a laboratory.
▲The picture shows Luo An, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at work
Recently, Xinhuanet and Science and Technology China jointly interviewed Luo An, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, expert in power electronics conversion and control, professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Electrical and Information Engineering of Hunan University.
"Face the real problem, solve the real problem"
"Doing scientific research should be oriented to the problems that enterprises need to solve urgently. This is the voice of Luo Ann repeatedly in the interview.
He recalled the experience of doing scientific research at the Shaoguan Smelter when he was young and solving the problem of automatic control of the company's electrical devices.
At that time, if the electric arc furnace of the smelter could be automatically controlled, it could reduce the labor intensity of workers and benefit their health.
"Because the dust in the smelter is very thick, I have been working on site for a long time, and I have coughed up blood from my throat. After more than three years of research and research, we finally completed the automatic control system of the electric arc furnace. Although it was difficult and the conditions were very harsh at that time, we were very pleased that through our technical research, the practical problems were solved, the labor intensity of the workers was greatly reduced, and the quality of the smelting products was also improved. ”
Luo An believes that the topic comes from the production line, and scientific research should face the real problem and solve the real problem.
For example, Luo An and his colleagues found at the Guixi smelter that the transformers in the factory were so hot that they needed several blowers to cool the transformers in the summer because the harmonics were exceeded.
"At that time, there were such devices abroad, but they were very expensive, and at that time they were sky-high, and companies couldn't afford them. We propose a hybrid active filtering device to solve the problem of harmonic control at a lower cost. ”
Luo An and his colleagues went through the arduous process of development, debugging, failure and improvement, and finally put the equipment into production and solved the problem of harmonic control in the factory.
"I remember when the harmonic control device was finally installed, it was summer, and it was also the time when the company urgently needed us to put the equipment into production to solve the problem of transformer heating. I took 8 male students to work shirtless on the site, covered with sweat, and installed it for more than 5 days, and finally solved the harmonic control problem of this smelter, the transformer heat generation was greatly reduced, the energy consumption was reduced, and the energy saving and product quality of the enterprise were guaranteed. ”
In Luo An's view, scientific research should not be for fame or profit, and the process is both hard and joyful. "To do scientific research, we must go to the enterprise, go deep into the problems that the enterprise urgently needs to solve, work hard, tackle key problems, constantly tackle key technical problems, condense the core technology, develop equipment, rely on equipment to change the quality of products, improve the competitiveness and efficiency of enterprises, and solve the problems of the country in the national economic construction through scientific research. ”
"Scientific research should not follow the crowd and find another way"
I'm not afraid that I can't do it, I'm just afraid that I can't think of it. "Scientific research must do some original work, and the spirit of daring to think, dare to do, and dare to be the first is crucial. Roan said.
Over the years, Luo An and his team have always adhered to the concept of "equipment changes quality, quality affects the world", and pursued to solve original or core technical problems for enterprises.
After nearly 8 years of unremitting research, the non-contact electromagnetic stirring has been realized, and the problem of electromagnetic metallurgy of the national high-quality steel has been solved, and the technology has been widely used in the special steel production of Wuhan Iron and Steel, Baosteel, Shougang and other enterprises, and has achieved a major breakthrough in the country's electromagnetic metallurgy technology.
Another example is the mobile phone that people use every day, and the printed plate in it needs thin copper foil. Originally, it was possible to use calendering technology to thin the copper strip layer by layer. However, if the copper foil is pressed below 16 μm, it is difficult to rely on calendering technology, and it is necessary to rely on electrolytic copper foil. To this end, the Luoan team has specially developed a high-current, high-current copper foil electrolytic power supply with high precision and high stability, so that the electrolytic copper foil can achieve 6μm. At present, this high-precision, high-stability high-current copper foil electrolytic power supply has been widely used in the copper foil industry.
As the director of the National Key Laboratory of Efficient and High-quality Conversion of Electric Energy, Luo An introduced the original work currently carried out by the laboratory.
First of all, through the research of electromagnetic high-efficiency and high-quality conversion technology, the purity of steel can be improved and the high-quality development of electromagnetic metallurgy technology can be promoted.
Secondly, in terms of high-efficiency and high-quality conversion of electric heat, high-frequency high-efficiency and high-quality conversion of electric heat is the core technology for the production of automotive sheets and some core materials, and the laboratory is carrying out core technology research in this regard, and is committed to meeting the technical requirements of the industry for the production of non-metallic materials.
Third, in terms of electroacoustic high-efficiency and high-quality conversion, after nearly 12 years of scientific research, the project team has made progress in high-power digital power amplifiers and high-power electroacoustic conversion equipment, and has realized some industrial applications.
In addition, chip-based sensing and high-precision measurements are a core part of the smart digital grid. The laboratory hopes to make the distribution network more transparent and intelligent through the research of chip-based miniaturized sensing technology, and truly realize the efficient and high-quality conversion of electric energy.
"Do scientific research should not follow the trend to do what everyone is doing, but find another way, for some problems that need to be solved, do original scientific research work, do not be afraid to sit on the cold bench, to persevere in tackling key problems, to develop some original or subversive technologies, when can solve practical problems, you can contribute to the national economy. Roan said.
Young science and technology workers must have "spirit"
Looking back on decades of scientific research, Luo An has an indissoluble bond with the world of electricity.
Born into a family of electric power, he was able to come into contact with engineers in electric power companies since he was a child. "When I was in middle school, electrical engineers would come to the school to teach us, and that's when I became fascinated by electricity. During the college entrance examination, I applied for the electrical automation major of industrial enterprises. People's success is inseparable from dreams, after being admitted to university, people have dreams, and dreams gradually become clear, I hope that in my life, I can learn professional knowledge well, serve the motherland. Therefore, when I was studying for university, graduate school, and even doctoral studies, I worked very hard, almost no weekends, and I was immersed in my studies and scientific research. After graduating, Luo An began to work deeply in the field of electric power scientific research, and has always been committed to putting scientific research results into practice.
Lu Yongxiang, a well-known fluid transmission and control scientist in mainland China, former president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former president of Zhejiang University, is Luo An's mentor. Now, Luo An, who is also a teacher, has long been full of peach and plums.
He put forward the "three-chain simultaneous - four-dimensional progressive" electrical "five haves" innovative talent training model and practice methods.
"Young talents must first have patriotic feelings, and have the spirit of 'doing a career for the country after graduation', which we call 'spirit'. Roan said.
Secondly, it is necessary to have good professional knowledge and a relatively broad range of knowledge, as well as a good ability to analyze and solve problems.
He also emphasized the importance of cultivating talents, "that is, for a large project, it can be broken down into multiple sub-projects, and there is a spirit of teamwork to organize collective research, form a multidisciplinary interdisciplinary, and solve some large projects or difficult technical breakthroughs." ”
"It is said that young scientific and technological workers should have ideals and ambitions. What are their ideals and aspirations? They hope that they can do one or two practical things for the country in their lifetime, solve some of the country's technical or economic problems, and truly serve the country's construction with what they have learned all their lives. Roan said.
At the same time, at a time when the mainland is vigorously promoting scientific and technological innovation and developing new quality productivity, Luo An believes that it is particularly important for scientific and technological workers to gradually cultivate the ability of team scientific research.
"Nowadays, scientific research is not so simple, many problems can not be solved by a single discipline, they are solved by multidisciplinary interdisciplinary problems, so we can't do it alone, we should lead the team to carry out scientific research through the gradual deepening of our own research, so that the strength of the team can be well exerted in scientific research work. Facing major problems, we achieve technological innovation and breakthroughs through multidisciplinary teamwork and collective research. He said.
Source: Xinhuanet