Wang Tianyou, dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering atTianjin University, was extremely excited when he was received by the state leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. On January 8th, Tianjin University as the first completion unit, has won the second prize of the National Technological Invention Award for Wang Tianyou team’s achievements of "Rapid Detection and Evaluation Technology of Internal Combustion Engine Airflow and its Application ". This honor is a great award for the researchers’ 20-year-long’cultivation and hardworking.
The combustion system is the heart of an internal combustion engine, and the fully efficient combustion of oil and gas is the key to energy saving and emission reduction. For a long time, foreign researchers have mainly focused on "oil" and adopted the fuel injection-oriented technological path of combustion, while Wang Tianyou’s team has made a major breakthrough concerning “gas”.
Just as using gas to cook, raw materials need to be mixed with oxygen to cause combustion. It remains a great challenge to produce the same power by less oil through controlling the quantity and way of air inflow in a narrow engine cylinder while minimizing the emission of harmful substances.
“The air port of an engine is like a person's throat which intakes air, thus it is the “throat” of the internal combustion engine. We can control the quantity and way of air inflow by a well-designed ‘throat’.” explained Wang.
In order to study the test, evaluation, and design of internal combustion engine airflow, Wang Tianyou's team has worked on the frontier of scientific research for 20 years. They have spent numerous vacations in doing research, keep working except for little naps.
"Once on my road to buy breakfast in the morning, I saw retired teachers playing Tai Chi and was envious of their life." Wang said. But still he worked all night in the big workshop with his team members and partners.
Wang Tianyou also felt depressed when there was no breakthrough in his research. Once he got nowhere after working for two days and nights, his partner sent a text message with comforting words which moved him to tears.
Through their unremitting efforts, the technology revealed the basic law of air motion in the cylinder of an internal combustion engine, and provided an airflow evaluation method during combustion process and a theoretical basis for the development of airflow-oriented combustion system. They also proposed a decoupling method for the combustion mechanism of high carbon fuel under high pressure at high temperature, developed a rapid combustion system with a high tumble speed and a swirl combustion system with high, medium and low mode, which promoted the positive development of airflow-dominated combustion system.
Besides, the team also invented many systems including cylinder head simulation, positioning and valve lift control and put forward an airflow test method using variable pressure difference, whose efficiency is 5 times higher than that of the traditional method using constant pressure difference.
Now, insiders will definitely think of Wang Tianyou's team when it comes to internal combustion engine airflow technology. The award-winning team has old, middle and young generations of researchers, among whom are university professionals and enterprise developers. "Depending on the State key Laboratory of Combustion Science of Internal Combustion Engine, some of us have been engaged in internal combustion engine research all life long. We are a team with a good platform, age structure and concept of inheritance." Wang said.
He told the reporters that in his team, “the old generation” is his doctoral adviser Liu Shuliang, an 81-year-old professor at Tianjin University and the founder of the project; “the middle generation” are those who aged 40 to 50 including Wang Tianyou, serving as the backbone of the team; while the “young generation” refers to the researchers born in 1970s and 1980s, and the youngest winner was born in 1987.
Since 1960s, the team has had a good partnership with the Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group Co., Ltd., the co-developer of the project. "I have worked there as a post-doctor from 2005 to 2007. The award-winning young scientific workers in the company were my apprentices, who did researches with us." said Wang proudly. Then from 2008 to 2016, he served as an external expert in the company. TJU and Guangxi Yuchai always support each other in basic research and applied research.
Today, their technology has been widely applied in over 100 auto companies, and its mechanism has been adopted by many international organizations such as Ford, Chrysler, Volvo and Argonne National Laboratory. Wang Tianyou's students who work in foreign companies are always “pried” about the latest research progress of the team by their peers.
"This award makes us shoulder more responsibilities. Our team will continue to serve the community and enterprises, and strive for a higher level of research in more areas. We may feel excited just for a few days and back to our work soon." said Wang humorously.
Original Source: China Science Daily
Translated by: Gong Yiwei
Editors: Yin Wei & Ross Colquhoun
