On April 20, Weichai Power released the world's first diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of 53.09% during the 2024 World Internal Combustion Engine Conference.
This is the fourth time in four years that Weichai Power has set a new world record for diesel engine thermal efficiency set by itself since the release of the world's first diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of more than 50% on September 16, 2020, and it is also the first time in 149 years since the German Otto manufactured the world's first 4-stroke internal combustion engine with a thermal efficiency of 14% in 1876, in the long history of 149 years, Weichai Power has taken the lead in breaking through the bottleneck of 50% thermal efficiency of internal combustion engines.
The release of this milestone of the latest technological achievements in the world's internal combustion engine industry not only fully demonstrates the "madman spirit" of Weichai Power's scientific and technological innovation, but also verifies the assertion of Tan Xuguang, chairman of Weichai Power, that "diesel engines will never disappear", and further expands the boundaries of great expectations for the application of internal combustion engines.
Use a breakthrough to justify the name of the diesel engine
In recent years, new energy and diesel engines have become an increasingly fierce pair of propositions in the commercial vehicle industry. Some people think that diesel engines can only continue to exist for 20 years before withdrawing from the historical stage, but Tan Xuguang has always insisted that "the future must be a multi-energy strategy, and new energy will not 'dominate the world'." ”
Words are useless, practice is true. Since 2015, Weichai Power has set up a high-thermal efficiency engine research team composed of hundreds of young doctors and 1,000 engineers, relying on the National Key Laboratory of Internal Combustion Engine and Power System, with the support of the National Key R&D Program, and linking the strongest brains and industry-university-research partners at home and abroad to carry out technical research around efficient combustion, low resistance and low loss, so as to continuously improve the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine body without any waste heat recovery device.
Thermal efficiency is the standard for measuring the fuel utilization efficiency of internal combustion engines, the higher the thermal efficiency, the lower the fuel consumption, and the more significant the effect of energy saving and emission reduction. According to the current calculation of China's diesel engine ownership, compared with the 45%~46% thermal efficiency level, the economy of 53% thermal efficiency diesel engine is increased by about 14%, which can save about 31 million tons of fuel and reduce carbon emissions by about 97 million tons per year. It can be said that through Weichai Power's breakthrough in the thermal efficiency of diesel engines, it has demonstrated to the outside world the huge potential of internal combustion engines in terms of fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
Gather global competitiveness with innovation
From 50.23% to 51.09% to 52.28% and then to 53.09%, why is Weichai Power the first to break through the thermal efficiency limit of the world's internal combustion engines?
It is the determination to attack the main business without distraction. In the past two years, Weichai has invested a total of 17 billion yuan in R&D, and the R&D investment intensity of the engine sector is as high as 7.4%. According to the 2023 global automotive research and development (R&D) spending public report, the top 10 automakers on the list have the highest proportion of R&D investment in revenue, accounting for only 6.2% of revenue. Weichai Power focuses on the core technology and cutting-edge technology of the engine, conducts special research on the thermal efficiency of diesel engines, and creates five proprietary technologies - co-combustion technology, coordinated design technology, exhaust energy distribution technology, zonal lubrication technology, and intelligent control technology, which solves a series of world-class problems such as efficient combustion, low heat transfer, high reliability, low friction loss, low pollutant emissions, and intelligent control, and makes the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine body exceed 50%.
It is the integration of global superior resources. Diesel engines are composed of thousands of parts, and the improvement of thermal efficiency is a huge system project. In the R&D process, Weichai leveraged the synergistic advantages of the entire industry chain and cooperated with global suppliers, R&D institutions, colleges and universities to overcome this difficulty, so that the engine achieved world-class thermal efficiency and lower emissions.
The spirit of a "madman" who does not give up until he achieves his goal. Tan Xuguang repeatedly emphasized that "Weichai must have the core technology recognized in the world, which others cannot take away, and the industry depends on us, which is our goal!" In his view, innovation is not the icing on the cake, but to break the mindset, break the path dependence, break the rules and regulations, do what others dare not do, and take the road that others have not taken.
As we all know, even if the thermal efficiency of a diesel engine is increased by 0.1%, it is necessary to re-optimize the system and materials of various components and materials such as air intake, combustion, heat dissipation, fuel injection and friction of the engine. However, Tan Xuguang took the lead and led thousands of Weichai engineers to successfully break through the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine by 53% in 4,000 days and nights, completing a major innovation in the history of internal combustion engines in the world.
"Innovation is the soul of an entrepreneur. In the equipment manufacturing industry, strategic entrepreneurs are first of all strategic scientists, and they must have a strong ability to innovate in system engineering, a strong "crazy" spirit of scientists, and a strong philosophical and logical method. ”
Regardless of the West and the East, with perseverance and tenacity, we have the world's first diesel engine with a thermal efficiency of 53.09%. Weichai Power continues to break through the thermal efficiency limit of diesel engines, leading the technological upgrading of the global internal combustion engine industry, and precipitating its unique competitiveness with scientific and technological innovation as the core, which will further internalize into a powerful driving force to enhance the comprehensive strength of the internal combustion engine industry in mainland China and lead the high-quality development of the entire industrial chain.