In the “Interview with Lu Jian” of CCTV-4 at the prime-time Friday night on March 25, the host Lu Jian had a conversation with Professor Li Yongdong from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Applied Electronics of Tsinghua University, and Professor Li Yongdong introduced the advanced motor and control technology of Beijing-Zhangjiakou Express Railway.

In the program, Li Yongdong recalled his idea of developing high-speed trains for the motherland when he was studying in France 40 years ago. After returning to China in 1988, he became the first postdoctoral fellow of Academician Gao Jingde, President of Tsinghua University, and soon went to the Academy of Railway Sciences of the Ministry of Railways to discuss cooperation. At that time, the domestic conditions were still poor, the components used in the laboratory were still thyristors, and the inverters made were so large that they could not fit on the train. Therefore, Li Yongdong first started from miniaturization in Tsinghua, and studied the variable frequency variable voltage controller composed of new devices such as high-power triodes. After several years of repeated experiments and cooperation, the motor control equipment has been successfully miniaturized and gone out of the laboratory. It was first generalized in factories, power plants, water plants and automation workshops, and with the gradual increase in power, he started the research on the use of converters in rail transit from 2001. The frequency converter developed by CRRC with the participation of Li Yongdong is the electric traction system for rail transit and high-speed rail. It is integrated with the most advanced AC motor vector control technology in the world. Each carriage is equipped with a drive and control unit, so the train runs more smoothly and faster. He likened the motor to the heart of an express train. “We study the control of the motor, which is equivalent to adding a brain to the train to control its operation, so that it can feedback, react, and think.”

Li Yongdong was born in Wanquan District, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. His ancestral home is in the southern suburbs of Beijing. Since he returned to his grandfather’s house at the age of four, he has shuttled back and forth on the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Line, which gave him a deep affection for trains. Today, the dream of his youth has become a reality, and Professor Li Yongdong has participated in the great development of China’s high-speed rail throughout the process. Today, he is sitting on the 350 kilometers per hour self-driving Winter Olympics train, depicting the next generation of China’s high-speed railway for us. Looking back at history, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was the first railway built by the Chinese, which greatly boosted the spirit of the Chinese people. Today, more than 110 years later, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway, also independently designed and built by the Chinese, has become a pioneer leading the trend of intelligent railways in the world. The century-old railway has witnessed the vicissitudes of life in China. As the world first intelligent high-speed railway with automatic driving function, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway reaches a speed of 350 km/h. Passengers can go into the station with one pass, or by making their faces scanned, and the train will automatically depart from the station and run between stations. The intelligent service robots can provide navigation and luggage transport for passengers, and the Internet is fully covering free. The multiple “world firsts” of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway further consolidate and enhance the leading advantage of China’s high-speed railway.

Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, once made important instructions on the opening and operation of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway. He pointed out that in 1909, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was completed; in 2019, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway was opened to traffic. From the breakthrough of first self-building to the world most advanced level, from 35 kilometers per hour to 350 kilometers per hour, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line has witnessed the development of China’s railways and the leap of China’s comprehensive national strength. Xi Jinping emphasized that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway is an important supporting project for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and its opening and operation marks a new milestone in the supporting construction of the Winter Olympics.

Source of photos: CCTV