News on China's scientific and technological development.

SANY launches Asia's largest crawler crane


SANY Heavy Industry 1,180-ton crawler crane SCC11800. "SCC11800 crawler crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 1180 tons; the equivalent of lifting six [fully-loaded] Boeing 747 aircraft" (e.g. 88 tons empty weight per Boeing 747).


November 27, 2009 The special-engineering company in Guangdong, with SANY SCC9000-type 900-ton crawler crane, successfully lifts the dome into place at Ningde Nuclear Power Station 1000MW nuclear power plant No. 1.



"Sany launches Asia's largest crawler crane. (News roundup)
Article from: Cranes Today | March 1, 2008

SHANGHAI SANY SCIENCE & Technology Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sany Group, is launching a crawler crane with a maximum lifting capacity of 900t (and a maximum load-moment of 13,500 tm), which it claims is the largest-capacity crawler ever made by an Asian company.

In the past, large crawler cranes have only been available in China as imports, but over the last few years Chinese manufacturers have rolled out larger and larger crawlers. Shanghai Sany said its goal is "to fully replace the import of crawler cranes and enter the international market."

In superlift configuration, the crane can lift 900t at 7m radius (and out to 12m), and 800t to 17m. In this …"



"About SANY America

SANY Group Company Ltd. was established in 1989 in China. SANY is the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in China, and also one of the top 10 heavy equipment manufacturers in the world. SANY employs more than 30,000 employees worldwide.

SANY Heavy Industry, a core entity of SANY Group, is a publicly traded company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. SANY Group has had an annual growth rate of 50% for the past 10 years. Despite the impact of global economy recession in 2008 and 2009, SANY Group maintained a 50% annual growth rate and achieved $3 billion in sales revenue.

As one of the overseas subsidiaries of Sany Heavy Industry Company, Sany America Inc. was founded in 2006. This North American headquarters is located in Peachtree City, Georgia.

September 12, 2007 Sany Heavy Industry signed an investment deal with the State of Georgia. According to this agreement, Sany shall invest in 228 acres and over $100 million to create and establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility; constructing and engineering Sany products to be competitive both in price and quality for all of North America. We have broken ground on phase one of our facility and estimate completion in the second half of 2011. The first phase on construction will consist of a 360,000 square foot manufacturing facility as well as 3 stories of office area totaling 180,000 square feet. With an expected 300 employees by the third year, SANY America will focus on R&D, assembly, marketing and sales of our Truck Mounted Concrete Pumps, Stackers, Handlers, Motor Graders, Drilling Rigs, Excavators and Hydraulic Crawler Cranes which will begin production soon after the completion of our manufacturing facility.

With pride we integrate global resources to provide our customers with excellent equipment and services with unique advantages in cost, performance and localized manufacture, localized management and localized services. At Sany America, we are committed to the North American Market and bringing our customers a successful and outstanding product."

Reactor starts up at Ling Ao II


"Guangdong nuclear power station in foreground. Ling Ao nuclear power station in background."


Workers begin loading fuel into the reactor core of unit 1 of Ling Ao Phase II on April 22, 2010. A total of 157 fuel assemblies will be loaded into the reactor core in an operation expected to take five days to complete. The unit is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of 2010. (Image: CGNPC)


"Nuclear plant trainees working at a simulator in a Chinese training center, which uses the latest in digital equipment."



"Reactor starts up at Ling Ao II
11 June 2010

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC) has celebrated the achievement of criticality at the first reactor of the Ling Ao II nuclear power plant.

Control rods were withdrawn from the core of the pressurized water reactor on 9 June, while concentrations of boron in the coolant water were reduced to create conditions for a sustained chain reaction. CGNPC then undertook 35 hours of zero-power tests that helped it verify the performance of the reactor core as well as instrumentation and monitoring systems.

The commissioning milestone of criticality comes before start-ups and shutdowns at low power, connection to the grid and a stepped increase to full power and commercial operation in around October. At that point it would become the 12th nuclear reactor to supply power to China and take total generating capacity close to 10 GWe.

The reactor is the third CPR-1000 to be built, representing a development from a French 900 MWe design imported in the 1990s: The CPR-1000 can deliver 1080 MWe and has a design life of 60 years.

CGPC noted the increased involvement of Chinese designers and suppliers, which reached about 50% with this unit. A subsequent reactor at Ling Ao II should have 70% local content - including the first Chinese-made pressure vessel. The figure is rising beyond 80% for the 12 other CPR-1000s currently under construction and beyond those another 13 are firmly planned which should use Chinese suppliers for over 90% of parts.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News"

[Note: Thank you to "ANR" for the post.]

China has determined the final route for the new Chongqing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which will reduce the current travel time between the two major metropolises by 14 hours, Cqnews.net reports.

The Development and Reform Commission of Chongqing announced on Thursday that the railway will run from Chongqing to Guangzhou via Guiyang and Nanning, cutting the current journey from 20 hours to six.

Guiyang is the capital city of southwest China's Guizhou Province, while Nanning is the capital city of southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The designers previously had considered two route proposals- the one they selected, which covers a total of 1.476 kilometers, and a second 1,559-kilometer route that would have run across Hunan and Guizhou provinces.

The 857-kilometer section between Guiyang and Guangzhou is now under construction. Work on the line linking Chongqing and Guiyang has been scheduled to begin in the last quarter of this year, the report said.

The Guiyang-Guangzhou section of the high-speed railway line will be completed in 2014, while the entire route linking Chongqing to Guangzhou has been slated for operation in 2015.

Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has long been a gateway to China's western regions. Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province is one of the largest cities and business hubs in south China.

The launch of the Chongqing-Guangzhou high-speed railway line will promote the country's western development project which aims to narrow the development gap between China's coastal eastern and western regions, the report said.

Hydro superpower China has "the world's largest hydropower capacity"


"The 958 ft. (or 292m) Xiaowan dam is the world's highest hyperbolic arch dam; as high as the Eiffel Tower." (Xinhua Photo)



"China boosts, boasts hydroelectric power
Published: Aug. 30, 2010 at 9:24 PM

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- China, whose latest hydropower station came on line last week, has laid claim to having the world's largest hydropower capacity, authorities said.

The inauguration of the Xiaowan hydropower station in China's southwest Yunnan province was described by Lui Qi, deputy director of the country's National Energy Administration, as a "great leap forward," China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The 700,000-kilowatt Xiaowan station is expected to increase China's installed hydropower capacity to 200 million kilowatts, Xinhua said. The country's second-largest hydropower project, which cost $5.86 billion, can produce 19 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, officials said.

The station will receive water from the Xiaowan dam, the world's tallest double-arch dam with a storage capacity of almost 530 billion cubic feet.

The Xiaowan is the fourth dam the Chinese have built on the upper part of the Mekong River, which the Chinese call the Lancang, Inter Press Service reported."

[Note: Thank you to "ANR" for the post.]

Fountain Relocates $1 billion dollar Manufacturing Plant to Yangtze River Delta


Fountain Set is the world’s-largest circular-knitted fabric manufacturer.



"Fountain Relocates Manufacturing Plant to Yangtze River Delta
30 Jul 2010

July 30, Fountain Set (Holdings) Ltd. (Fountain, 00420.HK), the world's largest circular knitted fabrics manufacturer, plans to gradually relocate its manufacturing plant from the Pearl River Delta to the Yangtze River Delta, which has lower labor costs and looser environmental protection regulations, China Business News reported Friday.

The company’s $1 billion dollar manufacturing plant in Yancheng, Jiangsu province will start trial production in the near future, the report said.

Monthly production capacity at the plant will reach two million pounds by the end of this year, and is expected to rise to 10 million tons per month in the near future, the report said.

“(The) labor market in the Yangtze River Delta is more stable compared to Guangdong province. Meanwhile, our new plant is around four hours drive from Shanghai. The sophisticated transport system in the province gives us a natural advantage in our logistics operations,” Zheng Hui Xian, the company’s media manager, was quoted as saying in the report.

Zheng told the paper the support of the local government was the key reason behind the move.

“The Yancheng Municipal government has offered various preferential policies to us. As a textile-dyeing manufacturer, water and power supplies are crucial to our operations. And of course, the government gave us preferential policies on water sewage quotas,” Zheng said.

In recent years, Guangdong-based manufacturers have begun relocating to inner-China to avoid stricter environmental regulations imposed by the local government."

[Note: Thank you to "ANR" for the post.]

Zhuji Fuwei computerized embroidering machines

It appears that embroidery machines are no longer strictly mechanical devices. The modern versions are also highly computerized. That is a surprise. Semiconductor chips have spread to the textile industry.


Zhuji Fuwei computerized embroidering machines



"Zhuji Fuwei Embroidery Machine Factory is located at the Huandong Development Area of Zhuji. It's a high-tech enterprise that specially manufactures computerized embroidering machines and integrates research. The factory occupies 5,000 square meters and has over 100 employees and its annual production capacity is 1,000 sets of computer embroidering machines.

Our enterprise has many patents and all of our products have complete company-owned intellectual property. Many of our new products have passed the provincial-level authentication and won municipal-level Prize for Science & Technology Progress and been listed as the state level Torch Program projects. Our company implements strict product quality management actively and introduces advanced international management concepts.

Our company has a team of excellent product research and development professionals and medium- and high-level managers. Our tenet is "technology innovation high quality and efficiency." We attach the greatest importance to customers and continuous improvement of our products. Our service principle is "credible service and quality first." Through surefooted and industrious work, we may build a more splendid future together with new and old friends at home and abroad!"

High-Speed Rail Tech Wins China New Deals



China's rapid advancements in patented high-speed railway technology have been attracting other countries to pursue cooperative deals with the nation, website Hc360.com reports.

Railway technology experts suggest that what China has accomplished in high-speed railway technology in only six years would have taken some developed countries 30 years to do. Now that China has become a technology export country, many countries have become interested in its high-speed railway technology.

Earlier this month, South Africa Standard Bank and China signed a US$30 billion-deal to finance the construction of the first high-speed railway in South Africa.

On July 15, 2010, Argentina signed a high-speed railway technology export contract worth of US$10 billion with China. In 2009, China signed an agreement with Russia and General Electric Co. of the United States to work together on high-speed railway construction. In addition, multiple-unit trains and spare parts made in China have been exported to more than 50 countries and regions.

He Huawu, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said China's railways have maintained upward momentum and developed their own innovations in recent years.

China's multiple-unit, high-speed trains have gone from original speeds of 250 kilometers per hour to 380 kilometers per hour, as the country continually improves its technology.

About 300 patents for multiple-unit train manufacturing technology have been registered in the country. Altogether, China has registered 946 patents on domestically developed high-speed railway technology.

China also has made advancements in ballastless track technology which is widely used throughout the world. This method of laying track embeds rails and railroad ties directly into a solid concrete base so trains can run more smoothly and quietly. China now can limit errors in laying railway track to less than one millimeter and control the sinkage of railroad beds within 15 millimeters. This has created a new record in the history of world railway technology.

Seven hundred kilometers of the country's high-speed rail lines have been installed with patented snow-melting devices that automatically start functioning in severe weather conditions.

China also has invented a patented control system with wired and wireless monitors on high-speed railways to ensure a safe distance of 14 kilometers between two moving trains.

China's first computer-controlled hydroponics greenhouse seedling enterprise


An employee inspects lettuce plants growing under artificial light and in a liquid solution (i.e. hydroponics) at China's first computer-controlled greenhouse seedling factory located on the outskirts of Beijing on August 27, 2010. The factory will supply 15 million pesticide-free vegetable, fruit and flower seedlings per year to domestic growers; China's Xinhua News Agency reported. (REUTERS/David Gray)

zoom said:

High-Speed Rail Tech Wins China New Deals

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China's rapid advancements in patented high-speed railway technology have been attracting other countries to pursue cooperative deals with the nation, website Hc360.com reports.

Railway technology experts suggest that what China has accomplished in high-speed railway technology in only six years would have taken some developed countries 30 years to do. Now that China has become a technology export country, many countries have become interested in its high-speed railway technology.

.

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Factually it would have probably taken China more than 6yrs to develop her indegenous HSR technology to a exportable standard if it hadnt been for tech transfer from Germany and Japan. A point I had spent many an hour arguing the point, with fellow train travellers last month, while riding around on her HSR last month. But having said that the train rides were still impressive though.

bladerunner said:

Factually it would have probably taken China more than 6yrs to develop her indegenous HSR technology to a exportable standard if it hadnt been for tech transfer from Germany and Japan. A point I had spent many an hour arguing the point, with fellow train travellers last month, while riding around on her HSR last month. But having said that the train rides were still impressive though.

Click to expand...

'Would have', 'could have'. LOL
Factually, if only whining can help improve HSR tech, those countries in the report would have looked to Germany and Japan for HSR instead of China.