In recent years, the nation has raised increasingly high requirements for diesel engine emission standards, requiring diesel engine manufacturers to have strong technical R & D capacity and innovation capacity. Yuchai has the national engineering laboratory of high-efficiency, energy-conserving and environment-friendly internal combustion engines representing the highest level of Chinas internal combustion engine industry, is the internal combustion engine manufacturing base and the leading excavator manufacturer with the most complete spectrum of products. With the mission of discovering creativity, the survey and interview group of the organizing committee of the Discovery of China Creativity of Xinhua News Agency has recently visited Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Group Co., Ltd. to survey and interview the little-known hard technical strength of the enterprise known as the Chinese Capital of Green Power.

Building multidimensional technical platform

As a national high-tech enterprises, Yuchai has the qualifications of provincial engineering technology research center, national corporate technical center, postdoctoral workstation, state-accredited laboratory and enterprise accredited by the China Classification Society (CCS), Tan Dahui, vice president of Yuchai R & D Center said, adding, We have established close technical partnerships with renowned domestic and overseas R & D institutions, created strong R & D platforms centering on independent R & D technologies and geared to world cutting-edge technologies, drawing support from the outside and serving the interior, and always kept pace with advanced world standards.

Yuchai has built three R & D technology platforms. 1. It has built a core technical platform for diesel engine structure design; 2. It has built a clean and high-efficiency diesel engine combustion development platform, realizing high-pressure injection + post processing = ever-upgraded emission technology; 3. It has established diesel engine emission control technologies meeting Chinas specific market demand, built the technical platform for development, application, matching and calibration of electronic control technology of diesel engines, and accomplished remote control based on electronic control, wireless communication and Internet.

Building a first-class technical team

While intensifying its innovative R & D platforms, Yuchai is extending cooperation by cementing technical exchanges and cooperation with domestic and overseas institutions of higher education and research institutes. It invests over 50 million yuan in enterprise-school-institute cooperation every year, thus boosting researches on basic, key and forward-looking technologies, Guo Deming, deputy Party secretary of Yuchai, said.

Now, Yuchai has 2,630 engineering technologists, of which professionals with bachelors degrees or above account for 90 percent and senior and intermediate staff roughly account for 50 percent. Top and high-end talents include five experts enjoying the special government allowance from the State Council, 11 national technical experts, an expert of the expert team for advanced automotive development technology, a key project under Program 863 of the Ministry of Science and Technology, three professor-level senior engineers, five post doctors, 26 doctors and 156 senior engineers. Yuchais technical team is a first-class vehicle diesel engine R & D team, which covers multi-disciplinary fields, is well-staffed, has solid theoretical foundation and rich practical experience, and has long worked at the forefront of product R & D, production and technical services.

Maintaining leading technical strength

In engine R & D, Yuchai has participated in the formulation and revision of four national standards and spearheaded the formulation of one industrial standard. It boasts four core technical capabilities including combustion development, electronic control technology, mechanical development and power system matching, as well as new leading technologies such as Euro III-VI emission control technology, hybrid powertrain technology, two-stage turbocharging technology, pneumatic hybrid technology, diesel-gasoline mixed combustion technology, simulation technology and post processing technology.

In the technical innovation of domestic vehicle power systems, Yuchai has taken the initiative in supporting homemade systems, proposing the concept of using electric pumps in medium & light-duty diesel engines, launching after-sale diagnostic unit, accomplishing independent calibration, and advocating and pushing forward the SCR technology of heavy-duty diesel engines, thus promoting the technological progress of the industry and sharpening industrial competitiveness.

In construction machinery R & D, Yuchai boasts five mature hydraulic system technologies including load sensing, confluent control, regenerating oil make-up, retaining valve and linear walking valve and advanced technologies including streamlined and animal simulation exterior design and intelligent electric control system.

In innovative product R & D, research investment has accounted for over 3 percent of sales and new product sales have accounted for over 40 percent every year since 2005.

Making remarkable technical achievements

With 1,026 patents, Yuchai won the most patents in the industry. Of these patents, five patents for invention have filled technical gaps in the country and industry, including aging thermal treatment by reducing stress with excess heat of casting, aluminum diesel engine base casting mode and method, gravity casting mold and manufacturing method of four-valve cylinder head of diesel engine, vermicular casting method, and fixation method of air flue of cylinder head, and four-valve diesel cylinder cover unloading slot has broken foreign technical blockage by foreign engine manufacturers.

Yuchai was up to National I and Euro VI engine emission standards two and seven years ahead of the implementation of national standards. In 2011, Yuchai developed Chinas first Euro VI vehicle diesel engine, released its 4,600,000th engine and 30,000th new energy engine, and turned out Chinas first medium-speed diesel engine NY9320 with a single-cylinder power of over 500kW.

In 2012, Yuchai released new independent heavy-duty high-speed marine engines (i.e. 12VC, 12VT and 8C) integrating the advanced technologies of the worlds four famous renowned internal combustion engine research institutes.

Innovation is Yuchais weapon for sharpening core competitiveness. Technical innovation and hard technical strength has kept Yuchai ahead in the industry, earned Yuchai an average annual growth of 30 percent within a decade and sales of over 40 billion yuan in 2011, and displayed Yuchais creativity in the internal combustion engine industry as a Chinese enterprise.

(Source: Zhang Limin/Economic Information Daily)