Demonstration Commencement of CHINA YULONG Manned Submersible Application
From June 28 to July 2, 2020, CHINA YULONG, the name unveiling and reservoir testing of the first China self-developed manned submersible in water sector were held in the Tangpu Reservoir, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province. The leaders, R&D team members, testers and divers from NHRI, China Ship Scientific Research Center (CSSRC) and Hangzhou Huaneng Engineering Safety Technology Co., Ltd. participated in the activities.
Unveiling Ceremony of CHINA YULONG Manned Submersible
The security of high dams and large reservoirs is an important part of water security and public security in China. Ranking the leading construction level of high dams and large reservoirs in the world, China has the largest number of high dams and super-high dams of more than 100m high, which act as the major national infrastructure and basic guarantee of major national strategies implementation, playing important roles in safeguarding flood control security, water supply security, food security, energy security and ecology security. Currently there are still prominent shortcomings and bottlenecks in the techniques and equipment of underwater detection, repair and reinforcement for latent defects of high dams and large reservoirs in China. Facing the technical barriers in the introduction of foreign advanced technology, it is a major national and industry demand to independently research and develop an equipment suitable for deep-water detection, repair and reinforcement of high dams and large reservoirs, which will lay a solid equipment foundation for improving the reservoir safety operation and emergency support technical level of high dams and large reservoirs in China.
CHINA YULONG Manned Submersible Hoisted into Water
Among the research results of Deep-water Detection, Emergency Detection and Early Warning, and Emergency Response for Major Water Projects, a key special project of the National Key Research and Development Program of the 13th Five-Year Plan led by NHRI, CHINA YULONG is a significant original and landmark achievement with the largest investment. The main project partners include CSSRC, which has developed the "Jiaolong", "Shenhaiyongshi" (Deep Sea Warrior) and the all-sea-depth manned submersibles, and Hangzhou Huaneng Engineering Safety Technology Co., Ltd. Since the project was initiated in July 2016, under the leadership of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the 21st Century Agenda Management Center, NHRI has well organized, united and collaborated with its partners, and concentrated on research and development. After successively experienced scheme design, preliminary design and detailed design, CHINA YULONG was finally assembled and jointly debugged in April 2019. Overcoming the adverse effects of COVID-19, a total of 35 diving tests were carried out in a water tank, and 37 assessment tests of manual navigation, automatic control, underwater operation, emergency security and pilot training were carried out. The success of the reservoir test shows that CHINA YULONG submersible has reliable functions and excellent performance, ready for reservoir test and pilot application.
Diving Test by Project Leader Prof. CAI Yuebo
The reservoir test is an important step to test the safety, advancement and practicability of the techniques and equipment of CHINA YULONG. During the test, the project leader Prof. CAI Yuebo boarded CHINA YULONG, dived in the reservoir water, and conducted multi-function and multi-performance tests such as power, gesture, navigation, sonar detection, underwater observation, communication, underwater cleaning, defect detection and tracing, etc., with the expected goals achieved. The successful test has accumulated experiences for the next stage of deep water testing and pilot application, achieving breakthroughs of techniques and equipment in the bottlenecks of deep water safety assurance of high dams and large reservoirs and being a milestone of underwater detection in the water resources and hydropower industry.
