The snow-covered plateau has low temperature and hypoxia all year round, which requires higher conditions for equipment operation.

The research and development of thermal insulation facilities and equipment is related to the physical and mental health of border guards and soldiers, and is one of the factors that affect the generation of combat effectiveness in high-altitude areas.

Recently, a research team from a research institute of the Army Research Institute went to a snowy plateau at an altitude of 5,300 meters to conduct field debugging of three types of plateau emergency cold protection equipment.

  ◎Tang Qingxi Qiu Hongyu reporter Zhang Qiang

  The wind speed is 8 meters per second, the ambient temperature is -19°C, and the water temperature is 9°C... Recently, the snow-covered plateau has been freezing cold.

In the camp area of ​​a firepower regiment (hereinafter referred to as the firepower regiment) of a firepower regiment in the Xinjiang Military Region, Song Yao, an engineer at a research institute of the Army Research Institute, records data in detail every half an hour.

  In the past few days, Song Yao's scientific research team has traveled to the snowy plateau at an altitude of 5,300 meters to organize research and conduct field debugging of three kinds of plateau emergency cold protection equipment.

Fire Corps is their pilot unit for debugging.

  The snow-covered plateau has low temperature and hypoxia all year round, which requires higher conditions for equipment operation.

The research and development of thermal insulation facilities and equipment is related to the physical and mental health of border guards and soldiers, and is one of the factors that affect the generation of combat effectiveness in high-altitude areas.

On this trip to the plateau, the scientific research team mainly carried out on-site equipment debugging for three scientific research projects: the inflatable shower auxiliary system, the new material thermal insulation water tank and the improvement of camping tents under extremely cold conditions.

  Shower auxiliary system solves the problem of plateau bathing

  It's snowy outside and hot inside.

After walking out of the locker room, Corporal Fu Jianguo, who had just taken a bath, was flushed and heaved a sigh of relief.

He was stationed in the snowy plateau for field training, and he could take a comfortable hot bath. The fatigue after a day of training seemed to disappear all at once.

  The main reason for the inconvenience of the frontier officers and soldiers to take a bath is the cold plateau climate.

This shower auxiliary system, when unfolded, has a space of 36 square meters, which is enough to accommodate 25 people for changing and other activities indoors at the same time.

It uses a 10-kilowatt diesel generator for heating. It only takes 20 minutes to start the diesel generator to keep the indoor temperature constant at 26°C.

"This shower auxiliary system is expected to solve the problem of difficulty in taking a bath on the plateau. One platoon of troops can be erected in only 18 minutes, and it only takes 16 minutes to withdraw." Wang Yuan, an assistant engineer at the institute, said.

  "Simple operation, stable performance, cold and snow protection, and easy maintenance..." Zhao Changtong, a soldier who participated in the installation and maintenance, greatly admired the system.

  Song Yao introduced that the control device of the shower assist system is installed indoors, and the operation is simple. It only needs to move a finger to complete the startup and shutdown and temperature adjustment, and the power consumption is relatively low.

Their experimental data show that the system consumes only 0.9 liters of diesel per hour when operating in a plateau environment at an altitude of 5,300 meters.

  In this survey, they invited some officers and soldiers of the firepower regiment to test the shower auxiliary system, and collected and recorded the opinions and suggestions of the officers and soldiers on the trial.

After several days of trials, the officers and soldiers were satisfied with the shower assist system and believed that it was suitable for the plateau troops.

  New thermal insulation material keeps water from freezing

  At the entrance of the plateau bathhouse, there was a gray-white water jug ​​similar in shape to the field jug distributed by the army.

This water tank attracts the attention of officers and soldiers who come to experience the shower assist system from time to time.

  Don't look at the ordinary appearance, the technical content of this water tank is not ordinary.

  Wang Le, assistant engineer of the institute, introduced that this new type of heat preservation water tank on the plateau adopts a new type of heat preservation material. Although the shape and capacity are the same as the water tanks distributed by the army, it can ensure the water tank under the environmental conditions of -41 °C. The water inside does not freeze within 12 hours.

When the troops perform tasks in the alpine environment, bringing this new thermal insulation water tank can avoid too much delay due to the freezing of water sources and melting ice.

  In the early morning of the interview, the outdoor temperature reached -25°C, dripping into ice.

A layer of hard ice up to 37 cm thick has formed on the top of the ordinary water tank used for comparison, and an ice wall of nearly 5 cm has formed on the side, and the wall of the water tank is also frozen hard.

But open the faucet of the new water tank, and the water that has been stored overnight can still gurgling out.

  The test data showed that at 11:00 the previous day, they filled the water tank with domestic water with a temperature of 9 °C, and after 12 hours of storage outdoors, the water temperature in the water tank was only 23:00 at night. dropped to 3°C.

Although the outdoor temperature did not reach the theoretical value of minus 41°C, this set of data visually demonstrates the thermal insulation performance of the water tank.

  Scientific research work is rigorous and meticulous. Every data is the focus of their attention, and it is also an important reference for the upgrading and improvement of every scientific research product.

  "The plateau conditions are harsh, and the frontier defense officers and soldiers are very tired. The original intention of our product development is to give full play to the advantages of modern technology and help the officers and soldiers of the plateau troops to better train and live in the alpine environment." Song Yao said.

  Graphene liner allows warehouse tents to live in people

  The improvement of camping tents in extremely cold conditions, as the name suggests, is to upgrade and improve the old camping tents to adapt to the extreme cold conditions in the wild.

This study is a transformation on the original basis of the 84-type and 98-type class tents.

  These two tents are easy to carry, sturdy and durable. They have been developed and distributed to the troops for many years, and they have played a huge role in the field training of our army.

However, these two tents are not suitable for the plateau.

In the past, the troops who went to the plateau to perform tasks chose to use these two tents as warehouse tents, and the 13-type tent with cotton liner was selected as a living tent.

  The researchers hope that the two tents can also play the original occupancy function on the plateau.

Therefore, they transformed a variety of cold-proof materials into matching heating and heat-dissipating thermal insulation liner, conducted experimental research one by one, and finally selected the graphene liner with the best performance and the most suitable for use in the plateau environment.

After charging, the graphene inner tank can generate heat and dissipate heat, thereby increasing the temperature in the tent.

According to a researcher, the graphene liner can be powered by both photovoltaics and generators.

The plateau has good lighting conditions and has the conditions for photovoltaic power supply. It can also be converted into generator power supply in an environment with insufficient light on cloudy days.

  In order to test the practicability of the new materials, they tested the 98-style class tents equipped with graphene inner liner on a team basis.

The results showed that the tents on the trial took an average of 30 minutes to set up, while the fastest one took only 28 minutes to withdraw, which is not much different from the original configuration.

  "These days, the efforts made by scientific researchers for our plateau warriors are seen in our eyes and kept in our hearts. After trials, the warriors generally reported that these equipments are suitable for use in the plateau. I believe that after the official finalization and distribution, it will bring benefits to officers and soldiers. It is more convenient to boost the combat effectiveness of the troops." said Wang Lei, chief of the logistics support unit of the firepower group.