Recently, the two scientific achievements made by Our University’s Engineering Training Center have respectively won the second and third prizes of China’s Scientific Achievement Awards for Machinery & Manufacturing Technology. The Project “Development and Application of Key Technologies Regarding Industrial Production of Energy-saving and Material-saving Zinc Parts Based on Precise Plastic Formation” (undertaken by a Project Team with Professor Xu Xincheng as its head) won the second prize; the Project “Development and Application of Amphibious River Clean-up Unmanned Boat” (undertaken by a Project Team with Associate Professor Huang Lixin as its head) won the third prize.
With energy-saving materials and sustainable development as the main line, Professor Xu Xincheng’s project team closely cooperated with the related enterprises and made great efforts to do the related research. They successfully developed the new precise plastic forming technology regarding manufacturing of such zinc products as architectural hardwires, plumbing parts, etc. The precise plastic forming technology is used to replace the original gravity casting, pressure casting, sand casting and even traditional molding techniques. Zinc parts manufactured through the new forming technology are characterized by their dense microstructure and strong corrosion resistance. The huge amount of energy consumed in melting metals can be saved, so the new forming technology is obviously effective in energy conservation and emission reduction; in addition, more than 20% of raw materials can be saved after adoption of the new technology. Therefore, the new technology would bring about significant economic and social benefits.
Amphibious river clean-up equipments belong to agricultural machinery and equipments, namely, the small river clean-up machines (boats) among the medium and small dredging machinery (boats). The new technology developed by Associated Professor Huang Lixin’s project team is a small tracked robot which can carry multi-purpose river clean-up equipments. The robot is in the form of modular design, so it is easy to extend and maintain, and suitable for amphibious operations. The robot can be used for unmanned operation to mow water weeds, collect water garbage and clean up silt. Thus the robot can improve work efficiency and operating environment for small river pollution control, providing the environment protection agency in charge of control of urban water polution with an innovative solution to river clean-up; ultimately, with the input and effective use of the project equipments, significant environmental benefits can be brought about since the water environment can be effectively improved and the ecological balance of the waters can be restored.
A huge number of projects have been collected this time for assessment. At last, four projects have been awarded the first prize, eight projects the second prize and twelve projects the third prize. It is really difficult for our university’s projects to stand out from the numerous reported projects and win the prizes. It is also indicated that significant progress has been made by our university in research and development of applied technologies.