Great warships

Chapter 1229 Mr. Mao, you are not honest!

"In the field of aircraft carriers, we in the East can be regarded as the standard setter. Now, aircraft carriers of various countries are benchmarked against ours." Qin Tao looked at the relevant information with a smile on his face.

The design of this French aircraft carrier seems to be nothing original. It is a complete copy of their own aircraft carrier. Except for the catapult, everything else is almost completely copied, especially the island, which is an exact replica of their own island.

"Yes, our technology is the most advanced, so of course they have to match our technology." Xu Zhengyang said: "However, since their electromagnetic catapult is not up to standard, it is not easy for these plans to be implemented."

"Yeah, why doesn't anyone come directly to our door to buy our catapult?" Qin Tao shook his head, looking helpless.

“Because they know we can’t sell it.” Xu Zhengyang said.

"We can't sell electromagnetic catapults, but we still have steam catapults, which are guaranteed to be cheaper than the American ones."

When the catapult was being developed, there were two routes taken. The electromagnetic catapult was a latecomer and eventually won the recognition of naval leaders with its advanced performance. The Eastern Navy bypassed the steam catapult and went directly into the era of electromagnetic catapults.

However, the steam catapult has been built and tested after all, so it is considered mature and can be sold to make money. There is no need to keep it secret.

Xu Zhengyang smiled and was about to continue talking when his cell phone rang. He opened it and took a look, then reported his official work.

"Boss Qin, there is an engineer working on ground equipment who wants to see you."

Ground equipment? Qin Tao was a little curious: "We are engaged in marine equipment, which has nothing to do with ground equipment. Why did he come to me?"

"He said he had some design ideas for ground combat equipment and wanted to discuss them with you."

When did I become an expert in ground combat equipment? Qin Tao smiled and said, "I don't have this ability. Please ask him to go back."

"Oh."

"By the way, what's his name?"

"Mao Min, Mr. Mao."

Qin Tao was immediately excited: "Okay, please let him in!"

Xu Zhengyang was a little curious. Isn't it too fast that Mr. Qin's attitude changed? He said he didn't want to see her at first, but he saw her as soon as he heard her name?

Of course Qin Tao got to meet him, he knew this person, the famous designer of main battle equipment!
Everyone knows that the most advanced tank in the East is the Type 99, and the designer of this tank is Zhu Lao. However, Zhu Lao only built the prototype of the Type 99 tank and then retired.

As for the subsequent modifications, other people took over, but Mr. Mao, who was born in the 60s, took on the heavy responsibility and tinkered with the advanced third-stage modification.

The early Type 99 tanks still had many defects, such as the engine had only 1200 horsepower, the transmission system was still a planetary gear, and the fire control system was not advanced enough. These were the focus of later improvements. The engine was upgraded to 1500 horsepower, and there was even an 1800 horsepower version later, with hydraulic transmission, hunter-killer fire control, and so on.

The later modification of the Type 99 tank has undergone a complete transformation in its combat effectiveness, which is enough to rank among the world's first-class levels. This is also inseparable from the contribution of General Mao.

This person came to see me, it must be something important, I have to see him!
Soon, Mr. Mao, with a head full of white hair, walked in. When Qin Tao saw his hair, he was stunned. Mr. Mao was born in 1962 and is only in his forties now, but he has a head full of white hair. It must be because of his busy work!

This is a person who has worked hard all his life for the development of the country's military industry! Qin Tao has always respected such people.

"Mr. Mao! Come, please take a seat. You came to see me. If you need any help, just let me know."

President Mao nodded and said, "I know your time is precious, so I won't waste your time. I'll get straight to the point. President Qin, we are currently preparing to carry out the third phase tank improvement project, and one of our teams is demonstrating the feasibility of electric tanks."

Electric tank? Qin Tao was speechless for a moment. Lao Mao, electric cars are fine for fun, but electric tanks? Are you going to make the tank explode more violently?

Qin Tao was about to shake his head, but he still felt that he should listen to what the other party said.

"Electric motors have many characteristics, such as high torque. If we can make an electric tank, it means that the tank's acceleration will be very good, which is very useful for dodging flying shells."

Qin Tao nodded. This was indeed the case. In the era of internal combustion locomotives, it was difficult to make an electric car that could accelerate to 100 km/h in five seconds. But in the era of electric cars, a large number of electric cars can achieve the goal of 100 km/h in less than five seconds. Electric motors can easily achieve this with their high torque.

“Electric motors have few parts and are easier to maintain.”

Qin Tao could only continue to nod. Yes, in the era of gasoline vehicles, routine maintenance was required every six months or a year, such as replacing three filters or something like that, but this was not necessary for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles do not require any maintenance at all, and at most the system needs to be upgraded.

"It's impossible to make fuel for a military base, but it's easy to make electricity..."

"Electric motors are easier to control automatically, paving the way for unmanned tanks in the future..."

Mr. Mao mentioned a lot of advantages, and Qin Tao nodded in agreement with each one he mentioned. Yes, these were indeed advantages and he had to agree with them.

"Boss Qin, so we are discussing the issue of electrification of main land combat equipment."

Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, these are all advantages you mentioned, but electric drive not only has advantages, but also many disadvantages. The first and biggest disadvantage is where the electricity comes from. Our electric cars use 18650 batteries. You don't have the same idea, do you? The island country uses this AIP system to build submarines, and you should know the result, right?"

Even for electric cars, carrying so many batteries is a burden, so Golden Sun is researching wireless power supply solutions, which is considered to be the best solution.

"Yes, so we want to come to Mr. Qin and ask you to give us some advice. We have contacted the Golden Sun Company, but they don't know either."

The Golden Sun Company is engaged in electric motors, and they are engaged in electric vehicles just as a side job. They do not have any technical roadmap planning. They just build whatever Qin Tao says to build. It is that simple.

So, now I can only come to Qin Tao.

Qin Tao rolled his eyes and said, "Have you ever considered nuclear power?"

"Yes, we have considered that if the tanks are equipped with nuclear power batteries, they will have unlimited endurance. However, if they are hit on the battlefield, it will be terrible. Our national defense policy is still defensive in nature, so this is not reliable." Mr. Mao nodded. They had studied it seriously and concluded that it was inappropriate.

The American soldiers caused a lot of problems just by using some depleted uranium bombs. If they installed nuclear reactors on their tanks and they exploded on the battlefield, the consequences would be disastrous.

Unless it's a nuclear fusion reactor, but that's still a long way off.

“Wireless power is even less suitable.”

"That's right. It's impossible to bury power supply coils on the battlefield."

"So, there is only one way."

"any solution?"

"Use an internal combustion engine to generate electricity, and then use an electric motor to drive the tank."

When Xu Zhengyang heard this, he suddenly wanted to laugh. This is simply like taking off your pants! Using oil to generate electricity, and then using electricity to drive tanks, what's the point?
There are many similar systems on warships, which are called ship-wide integrated power systems. This is done because there are more and more electrical equipment on warships, and a suitable power distribution plan is needed.

What about tanks?
Unless tanks use electromagnetic guns in the future, the engine is mainly used to drive the tank forward and does not require much electricity supply at all!

"Boss Qin, some large vehicles, such as mining vehicles, use this method mainly because the power is too strong and the transmission device is not convenient to design. However, our tanks have a complete transmission system. We have already developed a mature hydraulic transmission system. I'm afraid there is no need to use this method, right?"

Electric transmission is used on large mining vehicles for the sake of convenience. After all, it is simply impossible to use mechanical gear shifting on a vehicle where one wheel is taller than a person.

Speaking of using it in military vehicles, we have to mention Germany during World War II. At that time, Dr. Porsche liked to play with electric transmission and built a batch of chassis that were said to be unable to go in a straight line...

"Oh, I didn't make it clear just now. It's not just the internal combustion engine, the generator, and the electric motor. You also need batteries."

Mr. Mao opened his eyes wide. Mr. Qin, we use electric drive, and one of the great features is the simple structure. What are you doing? Making a simple thing complicated? Isn't this inappropriate?

"The biggest feature of this is fuel saving." Qin Tao introduced: "Internal combustion engines have various output curves. We can make the internal combustion engine work in the best output range to avoid repeated adjustment of the throttle. For vehicles with this structure, the engine either does not start, or it starts at a fixed speed."

"Mr. Qin, isn't this inappropriate?" Mr. Mao frowned.

Having studied vehicles for half his life, Mr. Mao certainly knows that a car engine needs to change its speed all the time to obtain different output powers and thus adapt to different situations, such as going uphill and downhill, high speed and low speed, etc.

In this way, the engine's operating range changes all the time, and the fuel consumption will naturally be very high. After all, the engine is most fuel-efficient only in a very narrow range.

The problem is, there is no way to solve this.

If the engine is adjusted higher, the car cannot be used. If the engine is adjusted lower, the car is not big enough. How can such a vehicle be used?
"There are batteries." Qin Tao said, "Batteries are used as power buffers and compensation. For example, when the car is moving at a low speed, the power cannot be used, so the excess energy is stored in the battery. When the car needs to speed up or move at a high speed, more power is needed, and the battery outputs electricity to allow the electric motor to output more power."

"Boss Qin, do you mean hybrid power?"

In addition to pure oil and pure electric vehicles, there are also hybrid vehicles!

There are two types of hybrid power. One is plug-in hybrid. The battery of this type of car is relatively large and can be plugged into a charging pile for charging. It can travel dozens or even hundreds of kilometers on pure electricity. It does not require any oil in the city and only uses oil on the highway.

The other is hybrid electric vehicle. In this case, the battery is relatively small and no charging pile is needed. It is completely charged by its own engine. It sounds like farting or taking off pants, but in fact, it can also save fuel.

The car consumes the most fuel when it starts, so let's use electric! The car wastes the most when it stops and starts, or when it waits for traffic lights, so let's use electric! At low speeds, electric is enough, and oil is used at high speeds. When the battery is gone, use oil to recharge!
Of course, there is also a range extender, which is purely a generator and does not participate in driving the vehicle. It is designed to avoid the embarrassment of a car not having a charging station and to solve mileage anxiety. There is nothing remarkable about it technically and it is not within the scope of Qin Tao's research.

As for which one is better, a plug-in hybrid or a gasoline hybrid, it depends on your usage needs. If you often drive in the city, you should definitely go for a plug-in hybrid. After all, you don't need gasoline at all and you can just charge it when it runs out. But if you drive on the highway, you can only use gasoline when the battery runs out. At that time, it is equivalent to carrying a large battery for no reason to increase the extra weight. Therefore, a gasoline hybrid is more suitable for driving on the highway frequently.

So, which one is more suitable for military equipment? Qin Tao recommends the large battery solution.

"Yes, it's a hybrid, but the battery must be large. It can travel about 50 kilometers on pure electricity. This way, on the battlefield, it can handle various situations with ease. For example, if it's not appropriate to make a noise, it can use pure electricity to approach the enemy covertly."

Mr. Mao opened his eyes wide. Is it possible to play like this?

Electric cars are silent. After all, they don't need an internal combustion engine. They are just batteries that drive the wheels, so there is no noise. Especially for wheeled vehicles, on the battlefield, they can approach the enemy silently. Just thinking about it is exciting enough.

Not only is there no sound, there is no infrared either. The internal combustion engine will inevitably generate heat, and the temperature of the exhaust pipe cannot be reduced. In the war in the desert more than ten years ago, even Shadamu's tanks would be blown up even if they were buried under the sand, because of the infrared radiation emitted by the heat from the engine.

Therefore, you can launch sneak attacks in electric mode!

Mao always felt that a new way of thinking had been opened up to him.

"At the same time, hybrid power can save fuel. Overall, it is no problem to save 30% of fuel consumption. This means that if our tank is fully fueled, we can run 500 kilometers before, but now we can run 600 to 700 kilometers."

The off-road range of a tank, like the vehicle's fuel consumption, is also greatly reduced.

For example, the German Leopard 2 tank has a range of kilometers according to publicly released data, but this is actually achieved on roads. When it reaches the battlefield and advances in the wild, the off-road range will be reduced to more than kilometers.

The tank engine runs at high speed, but in fact it cannot run fast, and the power is wasted, just like a vehicle stopping and starting in the city. If it is changed to a hybrid power, the battery will play a huge role. Qin Tao said that saving 30% is just a conservative estimate. In fact, a 50% increase in mileage is not a problem.

The troops are not short of oil, but the oil of the troops also needs a lot of vehicles to transport it! If fuel can be saved, it means that the supply demand will be lower, and the troops are willing to see this result.

"As for the complexity of the system, I don't think it's unacceptable. Although batteries, generators and electric motors are added, the engine power can be smaller, the size can be reduced, and fuel can be saved. Overall, it is worth it."

Qin Tao almost said something wrong. He originally wanted to say that it was not that complicated. Although there were more things, the gearbox was saved. But on second thought, it was not right. If the gearbox was saved, the engine could not drive the vehicle and could only generate electricity. You know, at high speeds, the hybrid should be driven by both the engine and the motor, and a complex drive system is needed.

The specific design depends on the needs of the army, and he can't make any firm promises.

As Qin Tao introduced, Mr. Mao kept nodding, just like Qin Tao agreed with him just now. When Qin Tao finished speaking, Mr. Mao was very excited: "Mr. Qin, the plan you mentioned is very good, but we don't understand the motor drive. Can you let Golden Sun Company provide us with a matching product?"

Qin Tao suddenly realized that he had been fooled.

The man in front of me is a tank and vehicle manufacturer, how could he not know about hybrid? Although Golden Sun Motors is taking the pure electric route, there are many car manufacturers in the world, especially in the island countries. Toyota started to develop hybrid in the 97s. In , the first generation of Prius was launched, equipped with the THS hybrid system, becoming the world's first mass-produced hybrid car.

It’s just that they use a hybrid fuel system instead of electricity.

Mr. Mao and his team must have studied the relevant technologies, and naturally know that pure electric solutions are not suitable for tanks and armored vehicles, so they want to develop a hybrid solution. The problem is, they don't have the technology!

Only Golden Sun Motor Company has this capability, but Golden Sun Company only develops pure electric vehicles, not hybrid ones. Therefore, it is useless for Mr. Mao to go and look for him. So he simply comes to find Qin Tao. After some research, he thinks hybrid power is the most suitable. So, should he ask Mr. Qin for help next?

Qin Tao has been a powerful figure for so many years, but he didn't expect that he would be fooled by his own people. Thinking of this, he looked at Mr. Mao with a complicated look.

"Boss Qin, what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? Mr. Mao, I've already told you to just talk about it. Why are you making me go around in circles?"

"No, why am I beating around the bush? Mr. Qin, you misunderstood!"

Qin Tao looked at Mr. Mao's head full of white hair and felt too embarrassed to disgrace himself and drive Mr. Mao away. After all, it was all for the development of the motherland's military industry!

"Boss Mao, just tell me what your plans are."

"Boss Qin, we believe that hybrid drive is the future direction of development, but we don't have the technical reserves. We would like to ask Golden Sun Electric Company to help us with matching. You have various power distribution solutions on warships, which can be easily transplanted to our vehicles. At the same time, in order to reduce the difficulty, we want to start with modifying wheeled infantry fighting vehicles, and then transplant them to tanks after they are mature."

"Golden Sun Company is not a good choice. This company has been pursuing a pure electric vehicle solution. If it wants to develop a hybrid vehicle now, it will cause outsiders to question our development path." Qin Tao refused.

Mr. Mao's eyes showed disappointment. No? Mr. Qin was unwilling to help?

"However, we can set up a hybrid R&D company to develop hybrid technology, which can not only be used for military vehicles, but also for other car companies."

(End of this chapter)