Wuhan, Shuguang Power Company.

Next to the scenic Han River, adjacent to the Sichuan-Han Railway, there is a new factory that was established during the First World War, which is Shuguang Power. Its predecessor was a branch of Hanjiang Steam Turbine Company of Tuojiang Power Equipment Group, which is a third-level subordinate organization of Tuodong. Its main project is a new type of power system, which was originally not mass-produced because the technology was not mature. It wasn't until 1914, after a technological breakthrough, that real products began to be produced.

The government and the upper echelons of the group attached great importance to this new power system, so it was upgraded from a branch factory to a company.

At this time, in the test workshop of Shuguang Power, a power equipment with a different shape from the traditional form is lying on the test bench, its main shape is somewhat like an elephant foot drum that has been magnified hundreds of times, with a length of more than 15 meters and a diameter of nearly 5 meters.

"Yes, Premier Zhang, this is a gas turbine! A brand new power machine!" Feng Ru, chief engineer of Shuguang Company, excitedly introduced to the prime minister who came to inspect the company. "On the basis of the previous gas turbine for power generation, after more than five years of research and development, we have finally realized the miniaturization and high power of the gas turbine, which led to the current RC-03-50 marine gas turbine. ”

This Feng Ru is the one who built the plane in the original plane, but his fate has changed in this plane. After he was "abducted" by Xingke, he didn't build airplanes, well, in fact, his aircraft Xingke didn't look down on them at all. He embarked on another path, because Xingke found that this old man actually had a lot of attainments in steam turbines, to be precise, gas turbines, so he first arranged him to Southwest University of Technology for further study, learning relevant information and supplementing basic knowledge for later generations, and after a year and a half of further study, he was assigned to Tuodong Group to study gas turbines.

As it turned out, the change was the right one. Feng Ru, who switched to gas turbines, soon had successes, and in 1914 he made the first gas turbine that could be used to generate electricity, with a power of 5,000 kilowatts and a thermal efficiency of 30%. By March 1919, Shuguang had built the first gas turbine for ships, which was installed on a Wuchang-class frigate for experiments, and the test was very successful, and the frigate ran a high speed of 38 knots. In the years that followed, they continued to improve and refine on this basis, and with the rapid development of high-temperature resistant material technology and processing technology, their gas turbines also got better and better, with more power and longer life.

Now the RC-03-50 marine gas turbine is their latest product, with a power of 50 megawatts (about 67,000 horsepower), which is a gas turbine specially developed for large ships.

Just now, Zhang Lizheng completely observed the test run of this gas turbine, and after 24 hours of full load operation, the situation is still very stable, which shows that this gas turbine can be put on board.

He nodded, and said with joy on his face: "Well, very good! Mr. Feng, you Shuguang have made a major contribution to China's power cause! Gas turbines are the best warship power, and the starting speed and power-to-volume ratio of steam turbines are too low, especially the starting speed, which is a hard injury of steam turbines, and it cannot be improved. ”

A total of five RC-03-50 gas turbines were built, four of which will be used for the modification of Andrea Doria and the United Empire, and one will be used as a backup. In fact, if it weren't for the gas turbine, the two ships would have been transformed long ago. Yes, the power systems of both ships will be replaced with gas turbines that are taller than steam turbines.

Zhang Lizheng said to Feng Ru: "Mr. Feng, the use of gas turbines is not only for power generation and ships, but also for the aviation field. Your next task, in addition to continuing to refine and improve the high-power gas turbine, is to further miniaturize and lighten it so that it can be used in aircraft......"

"Yes, Premier Zhang. We will step up the research and development of gas turbines in the aviation field, and strive to build our jet aircraft as soon as possible......" Feng Ru's eyes lit up at the mention of airplanes. Even though he has changed careers now, his love for aviation has not diminished at all. The basic theory of jet aircraft also existed more than ten years ago, earlier than the first aircraft, but there was no suitable power equipment.

Although the gas turbine is very high, its history is actually quite long, and its theory appeared as early as the 18th century. At the end of the 19th century, the German engineer Stolzer built a gas turbine, but it failed because it could not be separated from the starter and operated independently. By 1905, the Frenchmen Le Maire and Amonkue had built the first gas turbine that could operate independently, but it was too inefficient to find practical use.

In other words, in fact, its advent time and its cousin steam turbine are almost the same era, but limited by materials, processing technology and design defects, etc., the development speed is far less than that of steam turbines. If we follow the historical evolution of the original time and space, it was not until 1920 that the first practical gas turbine was made by the German engineer Holzwart. This machine, with an efficiency of 13% and a power of 370 kilowatts, works according to the isochoric heating cycle, but it is abandoned because the isochoric heating cycle is heated in an intermittent deflagration manner, and there are many major shortcomings. It wasn't until 1939 that the Swiss built a four-megawatt gas turbine with an efficiency of 18 percent, and that was when the gas turbine really began to be put into practical use. By this time, steam turbines were all over the world.

With the intervention of Mr. Wen, the original plane is naturally different, and the theory and design of gas turbines are directly copied from later generations, and there is no need to take detours at all. With the support of later generations, it is technically free of bottlenecks. In fact, if it weren't for the limitations of materials and processing technology, this thing would have come out a long time ago. Of course, if you use those things from the base of an office building, it is not impossible to build gas turbines in small batches, but it is not cost-effective.

After 1918, China did not continue to make dumplings and build large warships, as other powers did. The ostensible reason was that the construction of merchant ships for the Entente consumed a lot of shipbuilding capacity, as well as the impact of the Spanish flu plague. But these are only part of the reasons, and waiting for this new powertrain is also a very important reason, at least one of them.

Anyway, those steam turbine warships are already enough, and there is no need to continue to waste resources. In the future, if you want to build a new ship, you will naturally use a gas turbine as a power. Although the power system of a warship can also be modified and upgraded, it is also a waste of manpower and material resources. You know, any such overhaul would have to disembowel the warship, occupy valuable dockyards and a lot of man-hours.

Of course, the steam turbine also has a very important mission, as Prime Minister Zhang Lizheng said, this thing is the front-end technology of the turbojet engine, and if you want to light up the technology of the jet, you must first light up the technology tree of the gas turbine. As for the big picture dynasty that lit up this technology tree upside down in the original space-time, it was a complete exception, and the whole world played like this. It's not impossible to play like this, but it left a lot of sequelae, such as an unstable foundation and other problems, so the equipment of the Great Tu Dynasty had a "heart attack" for a long time, and it took a long time to make up for it.

The development of science and technology has its own rules, and the order of lighting up the technology tree is very important, and it is not impossible to play upside down, but the cost is extremely high. Just like the United States in the original time and space lit up the technology tree of the atomic bomb upside down, the normal process should be the nuclear power plant first and then the atomic bomb, but at that time, in order to catch up with the schedule, they directly built the atomic bomb first, and the result was a heart-wrenching price.

Compared with the mainstream power steam turbines of warships today, gas turbines have the advantage of generational difference. The first overwhelming advantage is the starting speed, the start of a steam turbine does not take an hour to think about, while the gas turbine only takes a few minutes, which is an extremely important performance in the military field. Just like the Pearl Harbor incident in World War II, if the American warships at that time were all gas turbines, when they found that the Japanese planes were coming, they could be quickly activated, whether it was counterattack or evasion, they would not stupidly stop in place and be bombed, and the losses could be reduced by at least half.

The second overwhelming advantage is volume, although the gas turbine has no obvious advantage in thermal efficiency, but in the power-to-volume ratio, it is as far as eight streets away from the steam turbine. Without a lot of boilers and pipes, a gas turbine can be one-fifth or less of the volume of a steam turbine at the same power output. Space on a warship is precious, and the power system requires a lot of space. If a warship is replaced with a gas turbine, the space saved can be used for other purposes, such as increasing weapons and equipment and enhancing combat effectiveness, increasing the space for occupants and improving comfort, and storing materials to increase the duration of continuous combat......

For example, the Andrea Doria and the United Empire, which are now being renovated, were built in the style of the Iron Turtle from the beginning, and the space for the power system is extremely limited, and if the steam turbines continue to be used, even if the Chinese steam turbine units are more advanced than those of Austria and Italy, their power will not be greatly improved. But if you switch to gas turbines, it's a completely different story, doubling the power by two or three times or something, and it frees up a lot of space.

Of course, gas turbines also have their disadvantages, that is, they are expensive to use. Because its fuel consumption curve is almost straight, there is almost no change in fuel consumption regardless of the power output. In other words, at low speeds, this is an oil tiger. And it is also more picky about fuel, unlike steam turbines, which can use the cheapest heavy oil, gas turbines at least use heavy diesel oil with fewer impurities. There is also the fact that the life of the unit is shorter than that of a steam turbine.

However, this is not a problem for Mr. Wen, and China, which has popularized diesel trees, is not short of fuel. In addition, it is also possible to engage in "combustion and combustion alternation" (high-power gas turbines for high speeds and low-power gas turbines for low speeds), "firewood combination" (diesel engines for low speeds), and even more lofty "fuel-electricity combinations" as in later generations.

As for the problem of "short unit life", there is no solution, after all, the working environment and principle are completely different, and the gas turbine cannot surpass the steam turbine in service life under the same material. But compared to the benefits it brings, this small flaw is also tolerable. It's as if the monoplane's circling performance and low-altitude and low-speed performance are completely impossible to compare with the biplane, but in the end, the sky still belongs to the monoplane.

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Presidential palace.

A meeting of far-reaching significance is taking place today in the conference room of the Presidential Palace. There were not many people attending the meeting, only 9 people in total, except for Wen Desi and Gu Xiaolan, Liu Yang, chairman of the Finance and Finance Federation, Ban Chuanzhi, vice premier and minister of industry, Wang Qi, minister of national security, Xue Dingmao, director of the Battery Research Institute, and several senior experts. Most of the attendees had a smile on their faces.

Xue Dingmao, director of the Battery Research Institute, reported the overall progress of the project: "Mr. Wen, we have made a breakthrough in the first phase of work, and practical samples have been made. The performance was unexpected. Here's a report on the specific situation......"

Xue Dingmao blushed and sent a document to the people present. On the conference table in the middle were several silver-gray, lunchbox-sized metal cuboids, with two silvery-white bumps on one end face.

There was not much content on the information, and Wen Desi quickly read it, and asked with a twinkle in his eyes: "Is this true? Can the cost really reach the report of less than 5 yuan per kilogram?"

"Yes, Mr. Wen, we asked the experts of the Finance and Finance Federation to demonstrate the production cost. This price is estimated based on the reliable process designed now, estimating the site, equipment, raw materials, energy consumption and personnel costs, and if it is produced in large quantities, this price can be reduced. Director Xue looked at Liu Yang and replied affirmatively.

Liu Yang also smiled and nodded: "We have calculated this cost price relatively conservatively, and if we continue to improve the process, the cost can be reduced......

"Well, the price is acceptable. So what about the prospect of expanding production?" Wen Desi turned to Ban Chuanzhi next to him and asked with great concern.

"If we are fully engaged in production according to the scale of our current Nanyang No. 1 factory, we can reach the level of 1,000 tons per month. Experts from our Ministry of Industry system have jointly evaluated this, and at the current rate of raw material pretreatment, it can reach the level of up to 3,000 tons per month. We expect to expand two more plants, which will allow us to reach a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per month. ”

In fact, this high-energy iron battery had the conditions for mass production in the second half of 1919, and a "new battery factory" was established in Nanyang for trial production. However, the defective rate is not satisfactory, and the main thing is that the price has always been relatively impressive, so there is no mass production. Of course, this dissatisfaction is only comparatively speaking, it is for Wen Dehei from later generations, if it is for people in this era, it is already a tyrant and a cool thing.

Therefore, the process needs to be improved urgently, and it is not until the defective rate and cost have finally reached an acceptable level, and the performance has also improved, that it is ready for mass production and practical use.

Not to mention that by today's standards, even by the standards of the early 21st century, the performance of this battery is amazing. The qualified products of this high-energy battery are divided into three grades. The highest grade first-class product is an energy density of 1200 watt-hours/kg, a power density of 3 kW/kg, 700 times of charge and discharge, and a production ratio of 20%. The second class of the intermediate grade is an energy density of 900 Wh/kg and a power density of 2. 1 kW/kg, the number of charge and discharge is 500 times, and the output ratio is 45%. The lower grade is a third-class product with an energy density of 600 Wh/kg and a power density of 1. 6 kW/kg, the number of charge and discharge is 400 times, and the output ratio is 35%.

Even the lowest grade of the third class, both energy density and power density, can guarantee the supply of high current when the high-power motor is started. It can work normally in the range of -30 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius, and the self-discharge rate is less than 5% after 10 days of storage at 45 degrees Celsius, and the charging efficiency is as high as more than 95% at 60 degrees Celsius.

"Vice Premier Ban, the arrangements for expanding production should be tightened, the amount of this battery will be very huge, and the production cost must be further reduced...... Chairman Liu, you will be responsible for the allocation of funds, and you will have to give the green light in terms of budget...... Director Xue, you should continue to research, the improvement potential of this battery is still very large, and the energy density should continue to increase...... Minister Wang, the emergence of this kind of battery will have a huge impact on the whole society, especially in the military, and it can be described as indescribable. So you have to send competent personnel and keep it strictly confidential...... "Wen Desi began to assign tasks to the participants.

"Mr. Wen, please name this kind of battery......" Xue Dingmao said with a smile.

"Oh, yes. I want to think about it......" Wen Deji nodded with a smile, thought about it for a while, and said, "...... Since the material of this battery is mainly iron, and the symbol of our country is the dragon, then it is called [iron dragon battery], how about it?"

"Iron Dragon, it's good! It's called [Iron Dragon Battery]!" everyone immediately praised.

That's right, it's not a Golden Dragon battery, hehe. Well, in the original era of Mr. Wen, there was indeed a high-energy battery called "Golden Dragon Battery", but the performance of that product was much better than the current one, and the gap was as far away as the price of gold and black iron. If this kind of battery is called Jinlong battery now, then what is the best thing to call it when something more powerful comes out in the future? It is better to be low-key, it is more appropriate to call it [Tielong battery], originally its main material is iron. When something better comes out in the future, it will be better to upgrade the bronze dragon, silver dragon, gold dragon, crystal dragon, and gem dragon all the way.

In Mr. Wen's view, the practical application and formal production of high-energy batteries are of great significance, which is a major revolution in the field of energy. Its significance is not even under controlled nuclear fusion and room-temperature superconductivity, which is why it is named after the word "dragon", which has a different meaning for China.

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PS: This battery is really not as good as the Golden Dragon battery in "Awakening Lion", so it was downgraded to [Iron Dragon Battery], O(∩_∩)O~ immediately praised it.

That's right, it's not a Golden Dragon battery, hehe. Well, in the original era of Mr. Wen, there was indeed a high-energy battery called "Golden Dragon Battery", but the performance of that product was much better than the current one, and the gap was as far away as the price of gold and black iron. If this kind of battery is called Jinlong battery now, then what is the best thing to call it when something more powerful comes out in the future? It is better to be low-key, it is more appropriate to call it [Tielong battery], originally its main material is iron. When something better comes out in the future, it will be better to upgrade the bronze dragon, silver dragon, gold dragon, crystal dragon, and gem dragon all the way.

In Mr. Wen's view, the practical application and formal production of high-energy batteries are of great significance, which is a major revolution in the field of energy. Its significance is not even under controlled nuclear fusion and room-temperature superconductivity, which is why it is named after the word "dragon", which has a different meaning for China.

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PS: This battery is really not as good as the Golden Dragon battery in "Awakening Lion", so it has been downgraded to [Iron Dragon Battery], O(∩_∩)O~