Daily life
The 2016 State Preeminent Science and Technology Awards were unveiled on January 9 in Beijing. Tianjin took home 12 awards for scientific and technological achievements in equipment manufacturing, bio-pharmaceuticals and new materials.
Innovative techniques and applications of the hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle Haiyan developed by the team headed by Professor Wang Shuxin from Tianjin University won a second level National Invention Prize."We spent more than 10 years researching small underwater vehicles, from basic theories, technologies, design and manufacturing to system integration to develop a hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle," Wang said. Having an advanced underwater vehicle is a sign of national power at sea. The observation system Petrel-II, for example, has made global-level breakthroughs in advanced technologies. According to data from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Petrel-II has the longest voyage duration capacity. Armada International magazine from the US listed the best underwater robots in October 2014; Petrel-II was the only underwater vehicle from China included.
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| The hybrid autonomous underwater vehicle Haiyan researched and developed by the Wang Shuxin team from Tianjin University.[Photo/enorth.com.cn] |
Hybrid optical fiber sensor and demodulation instrument
Hybrid optical fiber sensors are the core technology in monitoring infrastructure, and are an emerging strategic industry. Due to a shortage of efficient fiber sensors, many accidents cannot be prevented, and an efficient, stable, adaptable fiber sensor technology is needed in the development of national industries. The team of Professor Liu Tiegen has developed hybrid optical fiber sensors that have solved many problems in the optical fiber sensor area and are safeguarding major projects.
In the last ten years hybrid optical fiber sensor technology has been applied in 28 national space flights and aviation experiments, and accounted for over 30 percent of the discrete optical fiber sensor market in electric power and petrochemical industries. Its direct economic benefit has reached 240 million yuan ($34.8 million). In 2012, it was used to monitor temperatures in Dushanzi Petrochemical Corporation's 500 thousand tank field, successfully identifying potential dangers.
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| Hybrid optical fiber sensor and demodulation instrument. [Photo/enorth.com.cn] |
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| Wang Shuxin (L) and Liu Tigen (R) with certificates of the State Preeminent Science and Technology Awards. [Photo/enorth.com.cn] |
In the dispatch control center of State Grid Tianjin Electric Power Company's Chengnan branch, there are more than ten thousand sets of power distribution equipment handling 35 thousand voltage classes and with more than 5,000 kilometers of distribution line and more than ten thousand transformers.
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| Real time monitoring distributed generation ensures reliable power supply. [Photo/enorth.com.cn] |
A team has been built for this project with State Grid Tianjin Electric Power Company in charge of technical proposals, new technology testing and practice; Tianjin University in charge of theory development; China Electric Power Research Institute responsible for model building and simulations; NARI Technology Co Ltd taking the lead in manufacturing hardware and software products, and Tianjin University Qiushi Technology Co Ltd in charge of achievement publicity and marketization.
This achievement has recently been widely used in China to improve the reliability of the power supply in regional distribution networks. It has earned 3.75 billion yuan ($544.5 million), and saved more than 10 billion yuan ($1.452 billion) in operational costs.
The reliable distribution network technologies and engineering applications won the second prize of the 2016 National Prizes for Progress in Science and Technology.
Tianjin has completed its tasks set for 2016, and had a good beginning to the first year of the 13th Five Year Plan. The technological and engineering R&D is expected to account for 3.1 percent of Tianjin's GDP, ranking among the top in China; the city's index of technology improvement will increase to 81.43 percent, among the top three nationwide.
