At 7:18 on May 15, 2021, China's first Mars exploration mission "Tianwen-1" successfully landed on Mars. In this mission, QDHL high-performance rope technology Corporation not only provided landing parachute rope connection technology for Mars landing, but also provided special elastic rope equipment for the impact test of the lander. Prior to this, it also provided a 9,000-meter life-saving cable for China’s self-developed manned submersible "Jiaolong".
In 2003, QDHL established a high-performance rope technology research and development center, and the first special rope independently developed was a mountaineering rope. "We can only refer to EU standards, and we don't know what process and materials are used." QDHL's CTO Dr. Huang told us that the technical content of this climbing rope is much higher than that of processed products. They After buying related products for analysis, it has been exploring for nearly three years to reach all EU standards. During this period, the company gradually cultivated a professional R&D team for special rope technology and formed a certain technology R&D strength.
Later, with China's vigorous development of the marine industry strategy, the company saw a new market direction. Dr. Huang said, "We have contacted marine institutes and companies to investigate the market situation." The company also produced special marine ropes for free trial use of "Dayang One". After several trials, "Dayang One" recognized the company's product quality. "They first handed over the flagpole rope on the'Dayang No. 1'to the company to do it. As a result, no matter how strong the wind and waves, the flagpole rope was as tough as ever." After the flagpole rope verified the quality of the company's rope, “Dayang No. 1” The various ropes needed are gradually developed and produced by QDHL.
QDHL is now able to produce dozens of special marine cables, including high-strength cables for deep-sea exploration, submersible mark cables, buoy cables, and umbilical cables, and has overcome technical difficulties one after another. Take the deep-sea exploration high-strength rope as an example. It must have the properties of seawater corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, low temperature resistance, high strength, and light weight, and its toughness must be 5 to 6 times that of the same diameter steel wire rope. In order to overcome difficulties, QDHL has established technical cooperation relationships with nearly a hundred marine scientific research institutes across the country, and specially hired academicians in textile, marine and other fields to form a joint technical alliance to overcome difficulties.
QDHL maintains in-depth cooperation with Tsinghua University, Ocean University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Donghua University, National Oceanic Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China High-Tech Association, CNOOC, China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, Aerospace Science and Technology Group, and British TTI, etc., in the research of special ropes and related equipment Maintaining a leading position in the development field.
As the national scientific research rope cable products designated suppliers, in the industrial safety rope, the military special rope, marine special rope R & D and production innovation, many times for the marine expedition ship "Ocean One", "Science", The " exploration of "Snow Dragon", manned submersible "dragon" and other research and development supporting special rope.
In the summer of 2009, China’s self-developed manned submersible "Jiaolong" was about to be tested at sea, and the company received the task of producing a 9,000-meter lifeline for the "Jiaolong". "This is the first time the company has received a major national scientific research project. We are both excited and nervous." Dr. Huang said.
"This kind of rope reel is in a special device for the'Jiaolong'. Once the'Jiaolong' can't float automatically, the lifeline must be released, let the rope float out of the sea, and pull the'Jiaolong' up. So, The rope is required to be thin and light, but the breaking strength has to reach a weight of 2.5 tons." Dr. Huang said that there are two most difficult places, one is that the 9,000-meter rope cannot have joints; the other is that long. The rope cannot be self-winding, which requires a technological breakthrough. The rope delivered by QDHL weighs less than five thousandths of the "Jiaolong", but the rope strength is 2 to 5 times that of the steel rope of the same diameter. This rope followed the "Jiaolong" to set a record for a depth of 7062 meters, and expanded the number to 9,000 meters all the way. We saw this magical rope in the QDHL exhibition hall. It is hard to imagine that this textile rope with a diameter of only 4 mm is even tougher than a steel rope.
At the end of December 2016, QDHL received another special order to provide special elastic rope equipment for the "Tianwen-1" Mars Rover for impact testing of the lander. "Although I am confident in this task, I still feel pressured. After all, this is a blank in the company's technology research and development." Dr. Huang said.
The landing parachute rope connection technology and special elastic rope equipment provided by the company for "Tianwen No. 1" are the core links for the safe landing of the probe after entering Mars. The probe entered the Martian atmosphere from an altitude of more than 130 kilometers at a speed of up to 5.9 kilometers per second. The ultra-high-speed friction will generate thousands of degrees Celsius. Therefore, the high temperature resistance performance of the umbrella rope connection technology is extremely high; at the same time, it takes only 7 minutes In order to achieve a safe landing, the internal speed is reduced to zero. This has a very large impact on the parachute rope. Therefore, the parachute rope connection technology must ensure that the parachute deceleration link during the landing phase of the probe is foolproof.
Faced with this important task, QDHL formed a project technical research team. First of all, start with the selection of materials. According to the strength and elasticity of the design, choose the right one from more than 200 materials. "In the entire research and development process, there were more than 40 failures in the selection of materials alone. The whole process was very tormented, but in the end we made a qualified rope product."
At 7:18 on May 15, 2021, China's first Mars exploration mission "Tianwen-1" successfully landed on Mars.
Today, QDHL has become an important partner for many major projects. In the new generation of manned spacecraft, the company’s "hanging sling" technology has replaced hundreds of kilograms of steel cables with 8 kilograms of special rope equipment. At present, the company has received more than ten major national projects, and all of them have completed their tasks outstandingly.
First-class safety emergency benchmarking
With the development of China's economy, the application scenarios of special ropes are expanding rapidly, especially in the field of safety and emergency.
"The world-class enterprise has been leading us for decades in technology research and development, and its various equipment and basic materials are complete. It is not easy to catch up. The static rope used in rock climbing and high-altitude rescue has more than ten indicators. In order to reach the limit value and achieve the balance of various indicators, it is necessary to pass countless experiments to find the best value.
With its technical research and development capabilities, QDHL has become the first special rope company in China to obtain the international CE and UIAA dual certification. The company has also become the designated rope for many major events: the 2016 China Mountaineering Association Basic Skills Training Course, the 2018 China Rock Climbing League, etc. Units in the fields of firefighting, electric power, and high-altitude operations have also begun to purchase the company's products in large quantities. In addition, its safety emergency rope products have also been exported to more than 20 countries and regions.