You promised to build cars, so why did you go into the military industry?

Chapter 69 The land area is a bit small

The following morning at 10:00 AM, in the conference room on the second floor of United Industrial Building.

Professor Wang Lijian was pointing at the PowerPoint presentation and explaining something to the five managers and Li Ran present.

The 10MW tower solar thermal power plant, also known as a molten salt energy storage solar thermal power plant system, started construction in Aksai in 2011 and is currently more than halfway complete.

But now we've encountered a problem—

A picture was released.

"This is a dual-tank thermal storage structure with separate hot and cold storage. Due to insufficient mechanical property data of the metal used to forge it at high temperatures, it faces the risk of fatigue failure under hot and cold cycles."

Therefore, in order to maintain stability, the entire system has made some compromises, which results in its effective heat storage time being only 4-5 hours.

.

Here's another picture.

"Extra carbon?!" Zhang Chengyuan exclaimed in surprise.

"That's right, it's super carbon."

Wang Lijian nodded.

"At night or in low temperatures, the temperature of molten salt drops significantly, and it will solidify and block the pipes when the temperature is below 242°C."

The original solution was to provide heat tracing and insulation for the entire pipeline, but this would result in a significant loss and waste of heat energy, since heating is required for half of the night to prevent the molten salt from solidifying.

However, after visiting the construction site of the 50MW ultracarbon generator set a while ago, Xie Lijun, the chief designer of the project, learned that one of its critical conditions only requires a temperature of 31℃, and he had an idea.

Therefore, on Academician Huang's recommendation, Chief Designer Xie would like to invite you to participate in the design and construction of this project.

50MW?! Li Ran, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly perked up. Did that mean he would be able to complete this side quest soon?

No, Zhang Chengyuan only contributed technically, but no one else was involved in the construction of the joint industrial park. It's just unknown whether the system will recognize it after the project is successfully completed.

As for Chief Engineer Xie's thoughts, everyone present had their own guesses.

Given that the project is more than halfway through, it is highly likely that the steam generator of the main power generation unit will remain unchanged, and the medium will still be water.

The simplest and most direct way is to connect an external supercarbon generator set in a suitable location and use waste heat to generate electricity.

At that time, only an electric heating device needs to be added outside the cold molten salt storage tank. A portion of the electrical energy produced by the supercarbon can be stored and used to power the electric heating device system when necessary, thus ensuring the fluidity of the molten salt.

According to the information in the PPT, even for cold molten salt storage tanks, the temperature needs to be maintained above 290℃.

As for the high-temperature molten salt storage tank, it stores molten salt at 565℃.

For thermal power generation, when the medium is water, 290℃ is actually far below the operating temperature.

But if you switch to burning supercarbon, that would be far too much.

Using the 290°C waste heat that water cannot utilize to generate electricity is a way to indirectly improve the overall power generation efficiency!

Conservative estimates suggest that overall power generation could increase by more than 40%.

At that time, the redundant heat tracing and insulation system can also be eliminated.

At this moment, Zhang Chengyuan had some doubts, because he had not received any information recently.

Wouldn't it have been better for Academician Huang to contact me directly about something like this? Was some information missed?

But my phone is still at the door; I didn't bring it in.

There was no way to verify it on my phone for the time being.

Seemingly sensing Zhang Chengyuan's doubts, Professor Wang Lijian explained: "Actually, when you took out the forging press, for the purpose of protection, some of your key information was deliberately obscured."

Especially after the ultra-carbon testing unit rolled off the production line, as one of the main forces in research and development, your information, Manager Zhang, was once again confused.

Even if Academician Huang wants to share your contact information, you have to submit a report.

Chief Engineer Xie Lijun was extremely surprised when he got your contact information. He never expected that your company was United Industries, which had recently caused a great stir throughout the country.

And unfortunately, it happened right around the time your rocket recovery was successful. Maybe to keep things quiet, your phone was put on the whitelist.

Upon hearing this, Li Ran understood. It was all happening within the past week. What a coincidence, they all happened at the same time.

Then, with his eyes closed, he searched the side quest list using the keywords "molten salt" and "energy".

Great, found it.

[Clean Energy (V): Construct and put into operation molten salt solar thermal power generation systems with a capacity of 10GW or more.]

Afterwards, Li Ran searched for solar power and wind power.

[Clean Energy (Part 1): Construct and put into operation solar photovoltaic power generation arrays with a capacity of 50GW or more.]

[Clean Energy (II): Construct and put into operation wind power generation systems with a capacity of 40GW or more.]

If I remember correctly, 1GW can be converted into 1000MW, right?

Yesterday, I heard Professor Wang Lijian say that the photovoltaic project should be the final phase of the third phase? That would be around 20GW?

Does that mean it will take another four to five years to achieve the mission objective?

"The land area is a bit small. If we expand these projects in the Gobi Desert, we might run into situations where we can't find suitable sites."

After rubbing his temples, Li Ran felt that his blood pressure was a little high.

Sitting to the side, Zhang Chengyuan smiled somewhat awkwardly: "So, I'm asking you to act as the mediator?"

Wang Lijian shook his head and handed a business card to Wang Bing sitting next to him: "No, I'm injured."

Although I didn't want to leave the front line, Director Liu insisted on arranging for me to return to the Northeast Military Region for a period of rest and recuperation.

The final compromise was that I would go to our sister institution, Northwest University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, to be a visiting professor for a while and give some easy lectures.

I met Chief Designer Xie at Northwest University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, but we were just nodding acquaintances.

Fortunately, I had worked with you all before, which allowed me to learn this information before my departure.

Chief Engineer Xie didn't want to put me in a difficult position; he simply asked me to introduce the project to you all and said that if you were interested, you were welcome to join.

"Playing hard to get?" Zhang Chengyuan joked, taking the business card that had been passed around. "Your serious expression last night didn't seem as relaxed as you're making it sound."

If this task can be taken on, perhaps the opportunity to complete the sub-task of "Clean Energy (V)" lies in this scientific research breakthrough.

In addition, this is also a new energy technology reserve, which will be useful on some extraterrestrial planet in the future. The more of this technology, the better.

Having figured things out, Li Ran interjected, "We'll take on this task with United Industries."

Seeing that Li Ran had agreed, Zhang Chengyuan stopped arguing and nodded to Wang Lijian in agreement.

Unexpectedly, Wang Lijian laughed awkwardly twice, waving his injured left arm: "No, no, no, Mr. Li, it's a misunderstanding. There's a mission, a real mission."

Wang Lijian took a new USB flash drive out of his pocket.

Soon, the content of the projected PPT changed.

"Our third phase of the solar photovoltaic power generation array project is nearing completion, and the economic benefits it has brought are somewhat unexpected, allowing the country to see the enormous help these types of projects have provided in poverty alleviation."

Therefore, it was decided to spend four to five years to develop Dunhuang into a pilot city for 100% green electricity, in order to promote the national "dual carbon" process.

The molten salt solar thermal power plant and our photovoltaic sheep, mentioned earlier, will not only serve as energy supply centers but also as city landmarks, opening themselves to the public as tourist attractions.

Li Ran asked curiously, "Dunhuang? Wasn't that in Aksai before?"

"The Aksai project is experimental in nature." After saying that, Wang Lijian smiled slyly, "So I'm here on behalf of the Dunhuang project team to invite Supervisor Zhang and Supervisor Gao to lead their teams to join us."

Seeing the scrutinizing gazes of everyone in the conference room, Wang Lijian stopped being mysterious and said, "Whether Supervisor Zhang's team joins Chief Engineer Xie's project or our project, the work they do is no different."

But I personally recommend coming here.

One job, two friendships—I'm not losing out.

After listening to Wang Lijian's explanation, Li Ran deduced a timeline in his mind.

The Dunhuang project must have come first. Before the trip, Chief Engineer Xie approached him. The two were already nodding acquaintances. Faced with this seemingly competitive but actually cooperative situation, Chief Engineer Xie was not confident that he could snatch the person from Wang Lijian, who was already familiar with United Industries.

It seems that Chief Engineer Xie's words about not making things difficult or forcing things were true. He wasn't playing hard to get, because cooperation was ultimately the goal.

Whether it's direct cooperation or secondment, it makes no difference to him, as long as the mission is successfully completed.

Looking at the hundreds-of-meters-high molten salt tower and the city that never sleeps in the rendering, Su Qing couldn't help but complain: "Isn't this exactly how the Germans imagine themselves?"

Looking at Professor Wang Lijian, who was sipping tea to soothe his throat, Su Qing asked suspiciously, "You, the elder from Dunhuang, came despite your injury, bringing sheep and telling stories while showing photos. Could it be that you're taking the sentimental route?"

"If I said it was all a coincidence, would you believe me?"

Professor Wang Lijian spoke these words with sincerity, but it still failed to dispel the doubts of the crowd.

Because of his dark complexion, even if he blushed, no one could tell.

However, that didn't matter, because Li Ran extended his left hand: "Pleasure doing business with you. Is this pre-arranged? No bidding required?"

"Hehe, Mr. Li, it's a pleasure doing business with you. This isn't a pre-arranged deal; it's a special case, a designated supplier—"

Wang Lijian swiftly extended his left arm, which was in a cast, and shook hands.

Stare at "Ha~ha~ha~"

It must have been quite a feat for the old man; his dark complexion was surprisingly flushed.

"It's really injured. Although it's almost healed, I won't be able to lift heavy objects anymore," Wang Lijian sighed. "It's getting old after all."

It seemed that Zhou Rui found Professor Wang Lijian's temperament agreeable, and he walked over to Li Ran and whispered a few words in her ear.

Seeing that Li Ran agreed, Zhou Rui looked at Professor Wang Lijian, who seemed somewhat saddened, and said, "Professor Wang, we have a newly developed passive robotic arm. Would you like to try it out?"

"A robotic arm?"

Half an hour later, the crowd escorted Professor Wang Lijian into Zhou Rui's laboratory.

The difference this time is that there are more people in the team.

It turned out that the group had been ambushed by reporter Yang on their way.

"I understand that we couldn't film the confidential meeting just now, but will the upcoming activities also be kept secret?"

Zhou Rui thought about it and felt there was nothing to keep secret, since in his opinion, what he was going to take out later wasn't anything particularly impressive.

Moreover, a full-scale test will be conducted within a month at most.

He then nodded to reporter Yang, signaling her to follow.

Inside the laboratory, before the factory doctor could even bring over the specialized electric plaster saw, Wang Lijian had already easily pulled his left hand out of the cast himself.

Compared to his normal right arm, his left upper arm was noticeably thinner, and the skin was covered up and turned white.

After taking some simple measurements, Zhou Rui quickly adjusted the passive robotic arm.

The gray-black robotic arm is connected to a back brace-like device.

At Zhou Rui's prompting, Wang Lijian put his left arm inside.

With a click, and after Zhou Rui's second adjustment, the robotic arm fit snugly against Wang Lijian's left arm.

He subconsciously raised his hand in front of him, clenched his fist, and stared blankly.

After helping the dazed Wang Lijian put on his back brace, Zhou Rui patted him on the shoulder and pointed to an unopened bottle of purified water not far away: "Professor Wang, why don't you try this?"