Electric motors are not a new technology.
After electricity was discovered, the motor was invented almost simultaneously.
Cao Yang also told the company's technical team before that Nanshan Group's motors should use flat wire technology to minimize the size of the motor and improve the performance of the battery core.
So far, the development of hybrid motors has progressed faster than that of hybrid batteries.
But it's not completely finalized either.
The main problem is that NVH is not up to standard.
Traditional internal combustion engine vehicles are started or stopped by the driver through keys or buttons. Whether the FHEV engine is involved in the output of the power system is generally not controlled by the driver.
It is the vehicle control unit that controls the engine start and stop based on the vehicle's driving status, and whether to intervene in the power output.
This kind of start and stop is often performed without the driver's expectation, which will significantly affect the ride comfort performance of the vehicle.
If it is a general economic model, NVH is not a big problem, and consumers will not be particularly concerned.
But Xingchen Automobile wants to produce high-end models, so it naturally needs to solve all related problems to the greatest extent possible.
"Mr. Cao, one of the main reasons why the NVH of current hybrid motors does not meet the standard is the vibration problem caused by frequent engine start/stop."
"We have made some improvements, but they are not ideal yet."
Since the motor used in this hybrid is connected to the gearbox, it can even be said to be a component of the gearbox.
So Ji Hua also participated in it personally.
He was good with the gearbox, though, but it was a conventional gearbox.
The gearbox used in this kind of hybrid is relatively not that powerful.
Fortunately, Cao Yang already knows the plan for improving the NVH of hybrid motors.
"To solve this problem, we need to approach it from multiple angles at the same time."
“The first is to optimize engine starting torque and in-cylinder pump pressure performance.”
“Starting torque is smoothed by optimizing the torque output of the starter motor.”
"The influence of in-cylinder pump pressure on startup vibration needs to be optimized by adjusting the intake valve closing time."
"Stop vibration can also be optimized by the above two adjustments."
"The second direction is to control the vibration caused by the rapid increase in torque after the engine is ignited."
"The specific method can be to control the fuel injection amount to stabilize combustion."
"Retard ignition timing to reduce torque."
"At the same time, the valve advance angle is optimized to improve the intake volume change."
"This requires cooperation with Nanshan Engine for development and debugging."
Cao Yang presented his solution step by step.
Many times, the technical staff of Nanshan Group are not really not good at it, but they are not very sure about the specific direction of improvement before they have done these things.
As long as the direction is clear, all that's left is just a matter of debugging a few more times.
"Third, control the initial crank angle position of the engine."
"The engine starting vibration will be very different under different initial crank angles. Choose the initial crank angle that can minimize the engine starting vibration."
"Of course, the powertrain suspension system can also be optimized simultaneously."
"Through the above methods, the vibration problem caused by engine starting and stopping can basically be solved."
For Cao Yang, the so-called motor NVH problem is actually not a simple problem of the motor, but a problem of the hybrid system as a whole.
It is necessary to find a comprehensive solution from all aspects such as engine, gearbox, motor, etc.
In traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, many noise problems are masked by engine noise.
In hybrid driving, when the internal combustion engine is turned off, some special noise problems will become more prominent.
This is also what needs to be faced during the development process of Xingchen 3.
Of course, with Cao Yang here, these problems will surely be solved in the end.
Seeing Cao Yang discuss with the technicians for several days, the redesigned parts performed much better during the simulation process.
"Mr. Cao, the buzzing and vibration problems when the engine is running at low speed are not ideal now."
Now that technical issues have been discussed, Ji Hua naturally raised them all without any politeness.
He was originally attracted by the 6AT automatic transmission technology presented by Cao Yang.
Therefore, he knows Cao Yang's technical level better than anyone else.
“As a hybrid engine, in order to improve the fuel economy when the engine is running at low speeds, some parameters of the engine need to be adjusted to produce greater torque at low speeds. However, due to the torque fluctuations when the engine is running at low speeds, this tends to produce larger body weight. Vibrate and buzz.”
"The balance between the two also needs to be discussed and resolved with Nanshan Engine."
"In retrospect, your two companies can continuously form a project team to carry out joint research and development specifically for hybrid systems."
"In this way, some problems can be solved faster."
Nanshan Group is now also a big business.
Whether it is a Nanshan gearbox or a Nanshan engine, they are very capable when taken alone.
Not to mention other Nanshan gearboxes.
A company is worth tens of billions of dollars.
In this case, communication with other branches does not seem to be so smooth.
Fortunately, Ji Hua also reacted quickly and realized this when Cao Yang said these words.
So he immediately stated that he would personally follow up on relevant matters later.
"Mr. Cao, the control system of this hybrid motor should also be developed in conjunction with the engine, gearbox, and motor. It even needs to be developed in conjunction with the hybrid battery and sensors."
"I think it's better to allocate personnel from several fields to form a joint R&D project team to follow up on hybrid system research?"
Ji Hua saw that Cao Yang seemed to be ready to end the meeting and participate in the research and development of other parts, and immediately proposed a new plan.
He knows that the hybrid system will not only be used on Xingchen 3 in the future, but will definitely be used on new models in the future.
Then the importance of the hybrid system has naturally been increased several levels.
Especially judging from Cao Yang's whereabouts in the past two days, battery research and development is one of the areas he attaches most importance to.
In this case, it means that the importance of hybrid systems will also increase simultaneously in the future.
Now that hybrid batteries and hybrid motors have clear technical improvement directions, he naturally hopes to use Cao Yang's power to push forward the research and development progress of the motor control system.
"No problem. The hybrid system currently being studied is the first-generation hybrid system of Nanshan Group. There will definitely be second-, third-, or even fourth-generation systems in the future."
“There needs to be some improvements all around.”
"As for the development of power control units and motor control systems, they have been discussed before."
"Semiconductor components such as IGBTs can be purchased from abroad in the first generation of products, which is also acceptable."
"But we also need to formulate a detailed localization plan ourselves and communicate more with BYD Semiconductor in Nanshan and HiSilicon in Warwick."
"Let's see who is better at what."
"As long as localization can be achieved, it doesn't necessarily have to be solved by our own semiconductor division."
Naturally, Cao Yang knew very well that the Nanshan Group could not handle these relatively special components immediately, as they were relatively advanced technological components in the industry.
But some preliminary work can be carried out.
When the financial crisis hits, we will vigorously expand chip research and acquire some companies, and then we can launch second-generation products.
At that time, the situation was completely different.
"No problem. The current chip on the TCU actually adopts a similar idea."
"In the beginning, everything was imported. Now most of them are domestically produced. Only the core control chips still need to be imported."
"However, judging from the current cooperative research and development situation with HiSilicon, there is hope for domestic production next year."
Although Ji Hua does not specialize in semiconductor research, the development of gearboxes cannot avoid the research of TCU.
Various semiconductor components are also needed here.
"As far as I know, BYD is also developing a hybrid system, but they may directly want to add a plug-in hybrid system."
"You can also find opportunities to communicate with them so that we can improve each other."
The positioning of the cars produced by BYD is completely different from that of Xingchen Automobile.
Therefore, although there is some competition between them, they are not particularly defensive.
The main reason is that the current cooperative relationship between the two parties is very close. In the impression of many technical staff of BYD, the technical level of Nanshan Group is higher than their own.
In this way, the defensive mentality towards Nanshan Group has been reduced a lot.
Just like in the 1980s, people in China always felt that their technology was not good enough.
Therefore, when people from abroad come to inspect, they rarely feel wary.
This can easily lead to some techniques being stolen by others inadvertently.
Even because he did not register a patent, the patent for this technology ended up in the hands of those who stole the technology.
I have to say, it's a pity.
"I will make an appointment next week to go over and communicate with them."
"It just so happens that they are also developing some new models, and some of them involve engine, gearbox and other related tuning work, which requires our cooperation."
Ji Hua is naturally very familiar with BYD people.
He felt no pressure at all regarding the task assigned by Cao Yang.
However, the hybrid system can easily find a breakthrough. When it comes to the development of bottleneck parts such as carbon fiber, everyone is a little helpless.
"Mr. Cao, for carbon fiber rearview mirrors and carbon fiber spoilers, we are going to purchase a batch of carbon fiber from Toray, and then try to produce related parts."
"However, judging from the current contact with the other party, they are only willing to sell some first-generation carbon fiber to us."
"This kind of carbon fiber cannot fully meet the processing requirements of our parts."
Dai Hanbiao looked at Cao Yang worriedly.
Nanshan Auto Parts currently needs to research and develop many types of parts, and naturally it is impossible for every part to be developed so smoothly.
So when he encountered a problem, he was not afraid to report it to Cao Yang.
"In terms of carbon fiber research, how is the situation in China?"
Cao Yang habitually wants to purchase various raw materials and equipment from China. This is not exactly the same idea as many people now.
China only joined the WTO a few years ago, and many people have no doubts about the theory of international division of labor.
Unlike Cao Yang, he seems to be decoupled from the international market at every turn.
"my country's carbon fiber industry started in the 1960s, almost at the same time as Japan, the United States and other countries."
“However, development has been slow due to insufficient relevant knowledge reserves and issues such as ownership of intellectual property rights.”
"At the same time, Japan, the United States and other countries have formed a monopoly on the core technology of carbon fiber. China's carbon fiber production technology and equipment levels generally lag behind foreign countries. Development has stagnated for a long time and cannot meet the needs of high-end fields such as national major equipment. "
"Since 2000, China has increased its support for independent innovation in the field of carbon fiber and listed carbon fiber as a key research and development project."
"With strong policy support, the domestic carbon fiber industry has made major breakthroughs in technology and the degree of industrialization has increased rapidly."
"But at present, breakthroughs are mainly made in some relatively low-end fields. High-end carbon fiber still needs to be imported."
"We are also studying with Nanshan Equipment to see if we can directly produce carbon fiber ourselves."
Dai Hanbiao is obviously aware of the importance of carbon fiber.
Such a special thing is worthy of Nanshan Group's intervention.
The main thing is that this thing can not only be used in high-end cars, but also has possible applications in aerospace, marine engineering, new energy equipment, construction machinery, transportation facilities and other fields.
It is a strategic new material with broad application prospects.
From the group's establishment of two material companies, Nanshan Special Steel and Nanshan Chemical, Dai Hanbiao can feel Cao Yang's emphasis on special materials.
After all, a branch company like Nanshan Chemical that specializes in the production of special modified resin materials follows a similar route to Nanshan Special Steel.
Carbon fiber is such a special new material that it is naturally worthy of setting up Nanshan Carbon Fiber to specialize in research and production.
"In the manufacturing process of carbon fiber, the fiber drawing process is the most critical link."
"The drawing process determines the strength and performance of carbon fiber and requires highly precise control."
"In this process, the biggest challenge is how to pull the carbon fiber yarn out of the high-temperature furnace to ensure the consistency and uniformity of the fiber."
"I will discuss the independent research and development of fiber drawing equipment with Nanshan Equipment next week."
"In addition, fiber pyrolysis is also a crucial step in the manufacturing process of carbon fiber."
"During the pyrolysis process, chemical reactions occur in the fibers at high temperatures, removing impurities and gases from the fibers to form high-purity carbon fibers."
"However, the temperature and time control involved in the pyrolysis process are very critical. Too high or too low temperatures will lead to a decrease in the quality of the carbon fiber."
"I will also try to find some technical information in this regard, and then we will directly try to improve it."
Cao Yang cannot directly give some technical parameters now. It is unnecessary and difficult to explain.
So arranging people to prepare when the time comes is a good way of saying it.
As for the methods of these preparations, there is no need to explain to Dai Hanbiao.
"That's great."
"We already had some related equipment in the laboratory in the early days, but it was only used in experimental conditions and there was no way to mass-produce it."
"If everything goes ideally, then our parts production can still catch up with the final mass production of cars."
For some parts that are not so critical, it actually does not matter much if they were not installed in the early prototypes or if the parts installed were inconsistent with those in final mass production.
"No need to wait, the preparations for the carbon fiber factory can start."
"Some of the more common equipment is limited by the development schedule. We can purchase it directly from Japanese equipment manufacturers."
"For some of the more critical equipment, it is solved through independent research and development of Nanshan Equipment."
"We must master carbon fiber."
"Even around carbon fiber products, we can further expand our business, not just auto parts."
"Or you can go to Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ferrari and other high-end car companies in the future to see if you can take over their carbon fiber parts."
"With the carbon fiber technology we will master in the future, European carbon fiber parts manufacturers are no match for us."
"Even if we maintain high profits, we can still have sufficient cost competitiveness."
Cao Yang obviously attaches great importance to carbon fiber.
This is definitely a promising industry.
Although the scale is not particularly large, the profit margin is not low.
"No problem, I plan to set up a carbon fiber department in Nanshan Auto Parts first, and we can expand it into a specialized carbon fiber company in the future."
Although Dai Hanbiao felt guilty, since Cao Yang said so, he would just roll up his sleeves and work hard.
"By the way, in terms of tires, is there still no domestic manufacturer that can meet our requirements?"
Naturally, Cao Yang also knew that Xingchen Automobile purchased its tires from Michelin.
But he doesn't want this situation to continue forever.
"Mr. Cao, there are actually quite a lot of domestic tire companies."
“Various tire companies such as Linglong, Huili, Wanli, Shuangqian, Fengshen, and Haida all have a long history of producing tires.”
"They also supply tires to some domestic independent brand car companies, and also supply tires to some commercial vehicles."
"But frankly speaking, their tires are far behind Michelin in terms of quietness and braking performance."
"For example, we have conducted our own tests on the braking distance of 100km/h-0 on dry roads. Foreign tires such as Michelin and Bridgestone can generally reach within 40 meters."
"Domestic tires are basically over 42 meters long. A difference of 2 meters may not seem like much, but in an emergency, it can be used to determine whether an accident has occurred and the damage caused by the accident."
"Especially since Xingchen 2 is a large SUV and Xingchen 3 is a sports car, the requirements for tires are much higher than those of ordinary cars."
"Under this situation, I think domestic tire companies will not have the ability to produce tires with the same performance within five years."
Dai Hanbiao's realization was not beyond Cao Yang's expectation.
Tires all look similar.
But everyone’s material formulas are different, and the production process parameters are different, so the results will be very different.
The technical content here is actually not low at all.
In particular, tires are a part directly related to driving safety, and consumers can more intuitively feel some of its differences.
At this time, if you want to force yourself to become a self-owned brand car company, you will destroy the Great Wall.
Naturally, Cao Yang would not do such a thing so abruptly.
"We can take advantage of the opportunity of developing new models to have more contact with manufacturers such as Michelin."
"When the time comes, let Xingchen Automobile Research Institute set up a tire team with you. In addition to testing tires, we will also inspect the production sites of Michelin and other manufacturers."
"We can even study some material formulas for tires, and in the future we can consider choosing one or two promising domestic manufacturers to cooperate with."
"Through technical cooperation or product OEM, let them provide supporting equipment to our Xingchen Automobile."
Naturally, Cao Yang can directly come up with a better technological formula than Michelin's current tires.
But without any cover-up, this action was too abrupt.
In addition, tires are different from other parts and components. Its production process is relatively complex and requires a large amount of equipment and factory investment.
When there are already so many tire companies in the country, it is obviously not particularly suitable for Nanshan Group to invest in a tire factory again.
It would be better to find cooperation with several domestic tire companies that pay more attention to technical research, so that Xingchen Motors can use domestic tires in the future.
Even taking this opportunity, it is not impossible to consider letting Nanshan Investment also involve the layout of rubber.
Cao Yang had the impression that for some time in the future, the supply and demand relationship of natural rubber would also reverse, and prices would skyrocket.
Although the investment income here is not as exaggerated as this year's A-share investment, it is not bad.
"No problem, there are still a lot of relevant talents in the tire industry in China."
"It should be easy for us to form a tire development team."
“It’s just that it may take a relatively long time to develop products that are comparable to Michelin.”
Sometimes, the more you know and understand, the weaker you feel.
Because the gap is there, but you don't even understand the direction of improvement.
Otherwise, why are there so many tire companies in the country that so far few of them are good at it?
Not to mention supporting high-end car companies, even Volkswagen and General Motors are afraid to use it now.
Even independent brand car companies such as BYD and Chery currently use products from Korea, Japan and other tire companies, except for spare tires.
A situation similar to this also exists with many other parts of the car.
"Everything is difficult at the beginning. As long as the R&D team is formed and a suitable formula is found, performance improvement is not necessarily as difficult as everyone imagines."
When Cao Yang said this, Dai Hanbiao naturally would not refute.
However, the pressure in his heart increased a lot.
Obviously, from this dialogue process, it can be seen that Cao Yang does not have so much patience to wait for ten or eight years.
If there are still no results after a few years, then Dai Hanbiao will probably have to move his butt.
This is obviously not the outcome Dai Hanbiao wants to see.
They are the ones who have the most say in the future of Nanshan Group.
It seems that we can only do more work.
(End of chapter)
