Li Heng and his dust "drizzle"

Source: Economic Daily

On the towering tower crane arm, dozens of sprinkler heads are lined up, and as the crane arm rotates and moves, a "drizzle" on the construction site arrives unexpectedly. "This is the 'high-altitude spray dust suppression system' that I developed." Li Heng, founder of Wuhan Yuyu Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., pointed to the boom and said that by atomizing the water, the "high-altitude spray" adsorbed dust particles and impurities in the air at the construction site, which could not only moisten the wetland surface, but also prevent the dust from rising again.

Li Heng, who graduated from The Mechanical Engineering Department of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, when studying professional courses such as "Mechanical Principles" and "Fluid Mechanics" in the third year of college, thought of the dust flying on the construction site in front of his home, and germinated the idea of using the professional knowledge he learned to design the dust suppression device on the construction site.

In order to investigate the dust pollution, Li Heng ran back and forth to nearly 50 construction sites in Wuhan and found that most of them used sprinklers and ground sprinklers to reduce dust, covering a small area and the effect was not obvious. "Can't there be a 'rain' on the construction site anytime and anywhere?" Li Heng said. Once walking through the construction site and looking at the tower crane that was working, Li Heng suddenly had inspiration: why not start from the "high altitude" of the construction site?

With a large number of first-hand survey data as support, his research and development ideas gradually became clear: according to the characteristics of tower crane high-altitude operation, the water source on the construction site was pressurized to the sprinkler head of the crane arm, and the high-altitude spray dust was carried out, and the coverage was wide, and the effect could be good. However, after checking the data, Li Heng found that this idea seems simple, but it is not easy, because the tower crane is active, the parts design is very exquisite, and no one in China has ever made a similar device.

Although there was no reference, Li Heng decided to give it a bold try. When he interned, he deliberately chose to enter a design institute to learn techniques such as architectural design and water supply and drainage, and in his spare time, he plunged into the construction site, worshiped the workers as a teacher, used the construction site as a laboratory, and finally solved the problem of installing dust suppression devices on the boom.

Subsequently, Li Hengma began to tackle technical problems non-stop. He borrowed an idle factory building and immersed himself in experiments. Through simulation tests in the laboratory, Li Heng's design dust reduction rate reached 80%. "A tower crane installs a dust suppression system that consumes 2 tons of water in 1 hour. Three tower cranes operate together at the same time, and can be opened twice to three times a day to meet the dust reduction needs of the construction site. ”

In October 2012, Li Heng relied on patented technology to register and found his own company. He interprets "rain" as drizzle, "like my high-altitude spray dust suppression technique." I want to make the environment better with the products I develop. Li Heng said.

Research and development is difficult, and promotion is even more difficult. For two months, Li Heng ran to more than 20 construction sites, worn out several pairs of shoes, and did not sell a single set of products. Some small construction companies believe that dust pollution does not have much to do with themselves, and the purchase of dust suppression devices also needs to generate additional input, and the sales of dust suppression systems are not good.

Kung Fu pays off. One day, as an intern student, he entered a construction site, and after becoming familiar with the construction party, he tried to recommend his products to them. After the site tried the "high-altitude spray dust reduction system", the dust reduction effect was more significant. Fortunately, this scene was seen by the staff of the construction management station in Wuhan Qiaokou District, who was inspecting, "They suddenly convened more than 100 representatives of construction units to hold on-site meetings and let me give guidance." Li Heng said.

After that, the Wuhan Municipal Urban and Rural Construction Committee approached Li Heng and praised him for "doing a great good thing for the people of Wuhan." The review specially organized by the Wuhan Construction Science and Technology Committee believes that the technical achievement is the first in China, and in the case of wind speed below level 2, the concentration of particulate matter in the atmosphere of the construction site can be reduced by 84%, the temperature can be reduced by 3 degrees Celsius to 5 degrees Celsius, and the effect of maintaining concrete is better than that of artificial.

In 2014, the Wuhan municipal government promoted the technology to the whole city. This news gave Li Heng more hope. "New products from start-ups are not easily recognized and accepted by consumers. I have chosen to persevere in countless denials. Li Heng told reporters that for start-ups, in the process of promoting new products, there will definitely be a variety of problems, if the business operators are simply to make money, regardless of corporate image, product quality, it is easy to make the cause into a "hammer" deal.

"At present, Yuyu Environmental Protection has established the country's first 'Internet + building construction dust control' management system, and formulated the 'high-altitude intelligent spray dust reduction system' enterprise standard, and more than 500 construction sites across the country have used our haze reduction intelligent system." Li Heng said that while doing a good job in service, the company has also accelerated technology research and development and product upgrades, with a special scientific research team, "with the acceleration of smart city construction, we continue to improve products, from mechanization, intelligence to the cloud." (Economic Daily-China Economic Network reporter Liu Jie)