Recently, the domestic high-end equipment manufacturing sector has seen a cluster of breakthroughs, with multiple milestone new products successively making their debut, conducting sea trials, or "coming ashore." The unveiling of a series of "super equipment" demonstrates the hard strength of China's independent R&D and manufacturing.

Hardcore Breakthrough!

World's Largest Extended-Range Rotary Drilling Rig Released

On March 31, the world's largest-tonnage extended-range rotary drilling rig rolled off the production line and made its debut in Changsha, Hunan. The rig has an operating weight of 200 tons, a torque of 620 kN·m, and a hole diameter of 3,500 mm. It has simultaneously achieved key core technological breakthroughs in multi-motor synchronization, transient large-load buffering control, and main winch potential-energy recovery, and has obtained more than ten related authorized patents, realizing high-precision dual closed-loop synchronization of multi-motor speed and torque. Drill pipe and drilling tool service life is extended by 20%, impact vibration is reduced by 15%, and the energy recovery rate exceeds 70%, with up to 5 kWh of electricity recoverable in a single lowering operation, used in low-temperature environments for cab heating and battery auxiliary heating, achieving comprehensive energy savings of 5% to 10%.

The series of rigs released simultaneously retains the energy-saving and environmentally friendly advantages of pure electric drive while solving the "range anxiety" pain point of traditional pure electric equipment, greatly reducing energy consumption costs. At the same time, it offers the advantages of high motor torque, fast response, and low noise, and supports switching among pure electric, extended-range, and plug-in modes, providing strong support for application scenarios such as pile foundation engineering for ultra-large-scale bridges and high-speed railways, urban and sensitive areas with strict green construction requirements, and field infrastructure in plateaus, mountainous areas, and other locations with insufficient grid coverage.

At present, the rig has received 20 intended orders worth 120 million yuan, which not only means the company's core technology is recognized by the market, but also marks that the electric rotary drilling rig has officially moved from "pilot" to "batch commercial application."

Offshore Giant!

World's First 10,000-Car-Class Dual-Fuel Car Carrier Conducts Sea Trial

On March 31, the No. 1 10,800-car LNG dual-fuel pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) built by CSSC Guangzhou Shipyard International for South Korea's HMM set out on a sea trial, making it the world's first 10,000-car-class dual-fuel car carrier currently under construction.

It is understood that the vessel has an overall length of 230 meters, a molded breadth of 40 meters, a structural draft of 10.5 meters, and a speed of about 19 knots, achieving a perfect balance between efficient transport and stable navigation. Its 14-deck garage design can flexibly load diverse vehicle types including electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and heavy trucks, with a maximum single-vessel capacity of 10,800 vehicles. Based on a standard car length of 5 meters, the loaded vehicles, placed end to end, would exceed 50 kilometers.

The vessel adopts a fuel oil and LNG dual-fuel propulsion system and is equipped with a shaft generator that can generate electricity while sailing, thereby achieving energy conservation and emission reduction. The vessel has excellent environmental performance and meets the International Maritime Organization's Tier III emission standards.

According to a relevant person in charge at Guangzhou Shipyard International, car carriers are high-tech, high-value-added vessel types whose construction is difficult and technologically demanding. First, they require extensive use of thin plates, and the Guangzhou Shipyard International construction team successfully overcame the challenge of thin-plate deformation control. Second, there is a large amount of roll-on/roll-off equipment with a high degree of mechanization, and whereas such equipment mostly relied on imports in the past, it has now all been localized. The completion of construction and sea trials of the 10,000-car vessel marks that Guangzhou Shipyard International has fully mastered the construction technology for this type of vessel and maintains a leading position in this market segment.

Undersea "Ultra-Long Run"!

World's Largest-Diameter High-Speed Railway Shield Machine "Pilot" Successfully "Comes Ashore"

On March 29, the world's largest-diameter high-speed railway shield machine "Pilot," independently developed by China, successfully completed the 11.18-kilometer construction task of the underwater section of the Yangtze River, moving one step closer to precisely reaching the No. 2 vertical shaft "maintenance station." Since its launch from Chongming Island, Shanghai, on April 29, 2024, "Pilot" has undergone 23 months of safe tunneling, crossed the south bank levee of the Yangtze River, and successfully arrived in Taicang, Jiangsu, successfully "coming ashore."

The Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel is a key controlling throat project of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Chengdu High-Speed Railway's Shanghai-Nanjing section along the Yangtze River high-speed railway corridor of China's "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network. The tunnel has a total length of 14.25 kilometers and is the world's high-speed railway shield tunnel with the longest single-head tunneling distance (11.325 kilometers), the largest cutterhead diameter (15.4 meters), the highest driving speed for an underwater river-crossing tunnel (350 km/h), and the deepest underwater point in the Yangtze River (89 meters). It is currently China's world-class high-speed railway river-crossing tunnel with the highest construction standards, the longest tunneling distance, and the largest scale. Once completed and in operation, the tunnel will achieve the feat of high-speed trains crossing the Yangtze River without slowing down.

The "Pilot" shield machine used for the tunneling construction of the Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel has a total length of 148 meters and a total weight of about 4,000 tons. It is equipped with the world's most powerful brain system—the I-TBM system—and is fitted with key equipment such as a high-water-pressure sealing system, long-life main bearing, and wear-resistant cutterhead, achieving unmanned intelligent tunneling under full-system algorithmic control of core technologies such as adaptive shield chamber pressure, cloud-based predictive data self-decision-making, self-cruising tunneling attitude, and self-adjusting slurry circulation and mucking. Facing the 11.325-kilometer single-head tunneling task, "Pilot" has, since its launch on April 29, 2024, set a world record for a 15-meter-class large-diameter shield machine achieving a one-time continuous tunneling of 11,182 meters, completing an unprecedented "ultra-long run" beneath the river.

Source: CCTV Finance