The Military-industrial Scientific Research System of the Academic Master - Chapter 601
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Chapter 601 NSK Group, the incident came to light
When he just heard about the cause of the failure, Wang Xibo’s first reaction was…
Don’t quite believe it.
From the perspective of a helicopter designer, even if he is not a designer specifically responsible for the transmission system, this is really outrageous.
Because the shaft system support bearing can be said to be the most basic part of the entire transmission system of the helicopter, its status is similar to the main bearing of the turbofan engine that Chang Haonan has studied before.
It was broken down less than 40 minutes after takeoff?
This problem is so big that it doesn’t even sound true.
For this cooperation project, Bingfei Group has adopted almost the most stringent standards, and all design content must be blindly checked at least twice by different people.
Even if there are some small omissions, it is impossible for such a big mistake to occur.
It is impossible that when Eurocopter Group purchased bearings, it just happened to buy defective products, right?
No way?
Who would believe such a big company?
Furthermore, even if they know that they are going to be used in harsh environments like helicopter main reducers and that life and death are at stake, the bearing supplier wouldn’t be so bold as to issue fake products, right?
Wang Xibo had never seen this scene before, and he was so shocked that he directly spoke Chinese.
As a provider of the entire transmission system solution, we will definitely have to take the blame temporarily until the problem is fully understood.
“As for the specific cause of the problem, I will communicate with the country immediately and resolve it as soon as possible.”
Following this, he made a statement that he would immediately start troubleshooting the problem.
Therefore, after a round of analysis, Wang Xibo felt that it was possible that the opponent’s ground crew had misunderstood.
You must know that the NH90 is a 10-ton helicopter with a rotor diameter of 16.3 meters. The bearing set for the main reducer is as big as a plate and several centimeters thick. The material should also be G13Cr4Mo4Ni4V or a corresponding higher grade bearing steel.
Then…
The technical solution is indeed ours, but you have checked and approved it before.
After all, the design of this transmission system is quite different from the original plan.
Pierre next to him also looked shocked. After a while, he looked at Wang Xibo next to him with doubtful eyes.
However, Wang Xibo pulled Pierre onto the same chariot as himself with just two words –
The other party’s ground crew skills are indeed in place. In just a few seconds, the outermost shaft system support bearing has been removed.
Even though the latter was also stunned, he still managed to calm down and said as if he had everything under control:
Do you have to explain this?
And on its side surface, there is really a ferocious axial crack running across it.
“Mr. Pierre, the design of this transmission system is not just taken and installed directly on the helicopter. You have completely verified it before. So I think the design itself has flaws that neither you nor I have discovered. …It’s probably not very likely.”
With such doubts, he followed Pierre and climbed to the halfway height of the maintenance frame.
Although the main optimization direction of this type of material should be hardness rather than strength, it would be too outrageous to directly tear off the surface reinforcement layer…
This statement is quite high in emotional intelligence.
Although he didn’t say anything, the meaning was obvious—
“Holy shit, is this really true?”
In short, all possible places where the other party may cause trouble are blocked in advance.
In fact, by this time, Pierre had also passed the initial stage of fear.
Smart IQ has regained the high ground.
He also realized that Wang Xibo’s logic was correct.
In that plan, the only thing that made it feel a bit risky was that at the beginning, less than 5% of the design margin was reserved.
It is almost equivalent to leaving no room for maneuver in the subsequent calculation process.
But no matter how much was left, the final calculation and verification process was passed smoothly.
Then you can only say that the design level is high, but not that the margin is too small.
Secondly, logically speaking, when implemented in the production and manufacturing process, standard parts such as bearings should have some redundancy compared with their nominal performance.
It shouldn’t have deteriorated like this so quickly.
Of course, there is a more important point.
If it is really a design problem, then of course Bingfei Group must bear the main responsibility, but as the project leader, he is certainly not free from the problem.
After this idea was formed, Pierre immediately ordered the ground crew to drag the aircraft back to the assembly workshop, and restricted the access of people in the nearby area on the grounds that confidentiality was required during the troubleshooting process.
In any case, we have to wait until the real cause of the failure is determined before taking a long-term approach.
In this way, a few hours later, the news that the NH90 prototype malfunctioned and needed help from the Ice Flying Group to investigate in China was reported to Chang Haonan.
He didn’t even call to inform him, but Liu Hongbo ran directly from the capital to Shengjing with the design plan and described what happened.
“Uh…Mr. Chang, why do I feel like you…are not surprised at all?”
Liu Hongbo was actually very nervous at this time.
The main reason is that he is in China after all, and there is no online remote diagnosis technology these days. It is not easy to attribute it based on verbal descriptions and a few blurry photos. He was even ready to take a leave of absence from Beijing Hang University and fly to France to see the situation.
This time I came to Shengjing, it was also a time to ask for some tips before leaving.
However, Chang Haonan, who was across the desk, seemed not nervous at all.
“Ah…no, I was so shocked that I couldn’t speak for a while.”
Chang Haonan tried his best to pretend to be nervous, but the true emotion in his heart at this time was actually ecstasy, so his face showed an unbearable expression.
“oh…”
Liu Hongbo looked at the way his junior brother and boss’s facial muscles kept twitching. Although it seemed unlikely, it was clearly a sign that he wanted to laugh but was holding it back…
“Forget it, don’t mention this.”
Chang Haonan also felt that if he performed again, he might be in trouble, so he quickly changed the topic to the technical level:
“If it is true, as you said, that before the plan was issued, two rounds of blind reviews were conducted, and after arriving there, Eurocopter also confirmed it, then it is basically impossible that there is a problem with the design, otherwise it may cause The cracking of the main reducer bearing group is not even a design flaw at the level of wear, it should have been seen long ago.”
The categorical judgment even made Liu Hongbo on the opposite side feel a little moved for no reason.
What’s this?
This is trust!
Chang always trusts him more than he trusts himself!
Of course, this is purely a self-strategy on his part.
Chang Haonan set up the situation himself, and of course he knew what was going on.
The reason why he didn’t tell Liu Hongbo the whole incident was because he didn’t trust him——
Of course it does not refer to technical level, but to performance level.
That’s right, Chang Haonan’s plan also required Liu Hongbo to go on a business trip to France.
It’s not just about making sure nothing goes wrong.
From the perspective of R&D specifications, after the fault is determined, Liu Hongbo, the person in charge of the design, also needs to sign.
“Mr. Chang, if it’s not a design problem, could it be a production problem?”
Liu Hongbo looked unconvinced:
“According to my observations during this period, Eurocopter’s quality in manufacturing things is quite good. For example, our imported AS565 has many design flaws, but after taking it apart, the workmanship is absolutely smooth. , It’s higher than our current level.”
“Eurocopter may not have a problem, but what about the suppliers? They may not have a problem.”
Chang Haonan began to guide possibilities in the preset direction.
But Liu Hongbo still feels it’s a bit outrageous:
“It’s impossible that when Eurocopter purchased bearings, it just happened to buy defective products, right?”
…”
This question made Chang Haonan not know how to answer it for a while.
If you are too sure, it seems like you are jumping to the top.
So he simply said:
“Anyway, this possibility cannot be ruled out. Before you fly to France, talk to Wang Xibo first and ask them to use these few days to check the performance of all the components of the main reducer. After you go there, Take a look at the results and report back to me.”
…
Chang Haonan’s words have reached this point, so Liu Hongbo naturally chooses to follow them.
Soon, his troubleshooting suggestions were sent to Eurocopter.
At the beginning, Pierre was quite disapproving.
“It’s impossible for our marketing department to just buy defective products when purchasing bearings, right?”
He said to Wang Xibo:
“Besides, before placing an order for purchase, according to regulations, samples must be tested for performance. It is not like going to the supermarket and buying them casually.”
In fact, as mentioned before, Wang Xibo himself doesn’t really believe it.
But this was an instruction from the country after all, so he had no choice but to ask Pierre to urge the testing department to do it.
Quan is treated as a dead horse and a living horse as a doctor.
However, within a few days, the report of the complete destructive test conducted by the quality inspection office was placed in front of the two people.
The results showed that the structural strength, surface hardness and other key properties of the batch-produced bearings they purchased were about 10%-12% lower than their nominal data.
The report also specifically mentioned that the samples sent for inspection this time are completely different from the samples sent for inspection before the purchase contract was issued, and cannot be regarded as the same model at all.
…”
Looking at this result, Wang Xibo and Pierre felt numb immediately.
“NSK…”
The latter slapped the report heavily with one hand:
“You are really brave enough…”
(End of this chapter)