Chapter 10

For Sigu Xin, he knew that being able to handcraft a turbojet engine was remarkable, but he only knew it was remarkable. His expertise was as the head of a flight school, and while he understood aircraft, his knowledge had its limits.

Hu Wenhai always claimed it was a toy, and in his view, it was just a toy with many uses. Given the country's economic difficulties, using toy models for training was a matter of necessity.

However, how good this turbojet engine was, and just how good it was, he only had a vague impression. He knew it was good, but he couldn't pinpoint why it was good or to what extent.

To persuade the professionals—specifically, Director Wang—he had already disassembled the turbojet engine from the model and had it sent to Shengjing in advance.

The KJ66 small turbojet engine, after decades of market competition, became the dominant design in the jet model field. This small turbojet engine, which initially provided only 2.5 kg of thrust, evolved to the latest model capable of 12 kg of thrust, achieving the ultimate design under the condition of amateur handcrafting. Its impressive thrust-to-weight ratio of 8 could even outperform many second and third-generation aircraft engines.

As the saying goes, laymen see the excitement, while experts see the essence. After studying the design of the KJ66, Director Wang couldn't help but become deeply interested.

On one hand, the KJ66, to meet the needs of personal DIY, could not use hard-to-obtain materials, and its processing precision and difficulty had to be at a general level. On the other hand, it had outstanding performance and low cost.

This contradiction was uniquely and perfectly resolved in the KJ66. From Director Wang's perspective, this was not just a toy but a stroke of genius!

By his understanding, anyone who could design an engine of this level must have deep expertise in aviation engine technology. Could it be the work of an old engineer from Xiucheng? But the aviation engine community was so small, and he hadn't heard of anyone from Xiucheng. If he excluded those still working, there was no one left.

Director Wang had also thought of Hu Shiwu, but although he was an eighth-level worker and had participated in several aviation engineering projects, he was just a worker. How could he possibly create such an innovative product?

Even at this moment, even after hearing Sigu Xin confirm it, he still found it hard to believe.

"Sigu, what did you say? The designer of that small turbojet engine you sent is this young man?"

Sigu Xin nodded with a bitter smile and said, "At first, I didn't believe it either. Hu Wenhai's grandfather is Hu Shiwu, you should remember him, right? I initially thought this engine was his grandfather's work..."

"That's unlikely. Old Hu's knowledge structure couldn't produce such a design," Director Wang concluded decisively.

"Yes, I later realized I was mistaken," Sigu Xin sighed, somewhat embarrassed. "Who would have thought it would be a high school sophomore!"

Director Wang sized up Hu Wenhai, nodding continuously, and invited him, "Not bad, you're Hu Wenhai, right? Come, follow me, and tell me how you designed this engine."

"Hello, Grandpa Wang. I was just fiddling around; I don't deserve such praise..."

"That's not the right way to look at it. The simpler something is, the greater the wisdom it often contains. Miniaturizing a turbojet engine isn't unprecedented, but I've never seen anyone do it to this extent!"

Director Wang took Hu Wenhai's hand and eagerly turned to walk into the office building. Sigu Xin smiled broadly and followed behind them, while the driver, Xiao Jiang, stood alone at the gate, scratching his head and shaking it. "Hey, no wonder he doesn't care about Tsinghua or Peking University. He can design a turbojet engine!"

In his mind, Hu Wenhai's claim to go to the National Defense University or the University of Science and Technology of China was probably just an excuse. For a genius like him, studying abroad would be a breeze.

In 1980s China, top talents always aspired to go abroad. Regardless of whether they returned, they always wanted to go out. This wasn't about worshiping foreign things; it was just the social trend at the time. China also needed to draw on foreign knowledge to catch up with the world.

"I noticed that the performance of your engine hasn't been fully realized. For example, the bearing you used, though of high quality, probably doesn't meet the design requirements, right?"

Director Wang pulled Hu Wenhai directly into his laboratory, where the experimental table in the center displayed the turbojet engine he had manufactured. Various testing devices filled the table, and the test data covered the entire blackboard on the wall.

Clearly, after obtaining this engine, Director Wang had conducted detailed tests and analyses. As a professional, his questions were to the point.

"If fully realized according to my design, this engine should have a speed of over 100,000 RPM," Hu Wenhai said with some regret. "But as Director Wang said, even with the best bearings I could find, they still fall short. This time, Grandpa Si and I came here hoping Director Wang could help us improve the engine's performance."

"I know, you plan to use the model as a drone to replace real aircraft for training," Director Wang nodded, sighing. "Given the country's economic difficulties, this is a necessity."

"Yes, but models are still models, and they can't fully simulate the handling of real aircraft. We just want to make the simulation as close to the real thing as possible."

"That's not easy. A significant part of fighter pilot training is familiarizing oneself with the aircraft's engine. When it might stall, when it might lose power, how to recover from a spin..."

"Grandpa Wang, you misunderstand," Hu Wenhai waved his hands, smiling bitterly. "The simulation is just a supplement to pilot training. The advanced courses you mentioned will still be conducted on real aircraft. Our simulation is mainly for beginners and for pilots to maintain their skills. However, Grandpa Si and I both hope to make the simulation as perfect as possible."

Director Wang nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, that's a good idea. Although it can't replace real aircraft training, it can at least be used for practice and tactical verification."

"Exactly, that's what we mean," Hu Wenhai seized the opportunity, continuing, "To simulate real aircraft with a model, we need to increase the engine's output and optimize its flight parameters, increasing the aircraft's density and reducing the overall thrust-to-weight ratio to the level of a real aircraft. The rest is manageable, but optimizing the engine is beyond my capabilities."

"About that..."

At this point, Director Wang looked troubled, sighing, "It's not that I don't want to help, but honestly, I've never worked on engine miniaturization projects before, and I have no experience in this area. Most importantly, the design of this engine is already very excellent, and I don't know where to start."

Sigu Xin, hearing this, glared at Director Wang, "Old Wang, why are you being so modest now? It's not easy for me to ask you, and you're a top scientist at a national research institute. Can't you improve a child's design?"

"I can't, really can't," Director Wang spread his hands, helpless. "In my view, this engine is already a highly mature product. Any change would increase the cost and manufacturing difficulty, while the performance improvement would be minimal. Not only me, but I also had experts from the 606 Institute review it. They specialize in engines and offered many suggestions."

"For example, using titanium alloy blades could withstand higher temperatures and increase the engine's efficiency. Using oil film bearings or high-energy spark plugs could also help, but the cost would skyrocket. The best approach is to maintain the current design and reduce the production technology's impact on the design."

"How do we reduce the production impact on the design?"

Director Wang said, "I don't know. I'm not the designer, so how would I know where there's room for improvement?"

At this, Sigu Xin and Director Wang turned to look at Hu Wenhai. After all, the engine was his creation, and he should know its potential best. Therefore, it was natural to hear his opinion on how to optimize it.

Hu Wenhai stroked his chin, thinking for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Actually, improving the engine's performance is simple—just increase the blade speed. To do this without changing the current design, replacing the bearings should work."

Director Wang rejected this, "But the bearings you used are already the best available on the market."

Sigu Xin looked at Director Wang in surprise, "Those are just market products. Don't you have better ones at 601?"

Director Wang smiled bitterly, nodding, "We do, but miniaturizing them isn't easy. And the bearings we use are probably too expensive for your simulation."

"That's true," Sigu Xin felt the problem had returned to the starting point. Could models really not become simulations?

Hu Wenhai hesitated for a moment. He had an idea, but it had no precedent in the future, so he was unsure if it was feasible: "Actually, I have an idea. We could use air bearings. Since we need to increase the aircraft's weight, instead of using iron blocks for ballast, we could use a can of compressed air."

"Air bearings..." Director Wang pondered for a moment, nodding hesitantly, "Perhaps, that's a solution."

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