Chapter 145 Director Gao as an Expert (3k)

The 4DL has to take into account the floating performance in water. The original 4DL solved this problem a few years later. In fact, the overall performance is still good. In some aspects, it is better than the aluminum alloy box M113 in the United States. This is not said by people in China, but by people in the Kangaroo Country who got the 4DL after testing.

However, at this time, many problems of 4DL have not been solved.

The leader of the Defense Work Committee got even angrier when he heard this, and slammed the table: "You are just playing the piano nonsense. I think you are just blaming the suona player for not making any sound when the gongs and drums are not playing."

"Ah, the comrades on the metallurgical front tried their best and worked day and night to provide you with better armor steel, and you blame them? What focus change? I think your design is all based on luck. If the design conditions change slightly, you can't keep up with the situation."

"It's not the center of gravity that is unstable! It's your foundation!! This is what we call a shaky foundation that will cause the earth to shake!"

Perhaps they knew that the excuses they found were a bit ridiculous, the comrade in charge of the 4DL armored personnel carrier was so angry at his leader that he was speechless.

The communicator led by the Defense Work Committee heard the situation inside and stood up. It was time for him to come forward.

He came in with a thermos and added some water to the cup that the leader had never drunk from.

He also added some water to the cup of the 4DL leader and said softly, "Comrade, please drink some water."

Someone interrupted and the atmosphere eased.

Pressing his temple, the leader of the Defense Work Committee frowned and asked, "Tell me, how do you want to advance the 4DL issue?"

The person in charge of 4DL hesitated for a moment before expressing his thoughts: "Leader, can you see if we can hold a meeting and invite relevant experts to come together to review the design of our existing prototypes and see if they can come up with some ideas? Let's brainstorm."

The leader of the Defense Work Committee thought about it and nodded in agreement: "This is also a solution. You don't have to go back for the time being. Just wait in Beijing and prepare the relevant materials. We will arrange an organizational meeting here."

After the person in charge of 4DL left the office, the leader called the communicator in and told him to arrange the organization of the meeting.

When the signalman was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something: "Wait a minute, check if Comrade Gao Zhendong from the Third Steel Rolling Plant is here and see if it's convenient. If it's convenient, invite him to the meeting. He has so many ideas about tanks, so he may have some ideas about armored transport vehicles. If we send him a piece of paper, he should make use of it, haha."

The communicator wrote down the leader's request and went out to contact the contact.

Someone from the factory office found Gao Zhendong and asked him to contact the Defense Work Committee.

Gao Zhendong didn't know what the Defense Work Committee wanted to talk to him about. It seemed that there was nothing to ask him about tanks recently.

When he called the communicator of the leader of the Defense Work Committee, the other party just told him to go to a certain conference room of the Defense Work Committee for a meeting the next morning, but did not explain what the meeting was about over the phone.

It seems to be something related to weapons. This is the main job of the Defense Work Committee, and it was not mentioned on the phone. Gao Zhendong could not think of anything else except this aspect.

The next morning, after going through layers of checks, Gao Zhendong finally arrived at the agreed meeting room.

When signing in at the meeting roster, the communicator of the Defense Work Committee leader had never seen Gao Zhendong. He only knew that this person existed, but did not know his appearance or age. Although he heard the other party's voice on the phone sounded very young, he just thought it was because of the poor voice quality or it was natural.

When I saw Gao Zhendong walk into the conference room, I thought he was a staff member of one of the participating research units.

However, he did not expect that this man who looked more like a student walked straight to the seat marked with "Gao Zhendong" and sat down. He was still complaining in his heart about Comrade Gao Zhendong. It would have been fine if he did not come to the meeting, but he sent a young man here.

A very young man sitting in the first row with a name tag seat is still quite eye-catching, especially at this time, this situation is not common.

The communicator of the Defense Work Committee stepped forward and asked quietly, "Excuse me, who are you?"

Gao Zhendong knew that his face could easily be misunderstood, so he didn't care. He smiled and pointed to the name tag in front of him: "I'm Gao Zhendong."

The communicator was secretly shocked. He didn't expect that one cannot judge a book by its cover. This young-looking man turned out to be Gao Zhendong himself.

Smile and nod to the people sitting on both sides, and then everyone waits together for the meeting to begin.

Soon, all the people arrived, including the leader of the Defense Work Committee. He looked around the venue, and when he saw Gao Zhendong, although he knew Gao Zhendong's age and was mentally prepared, he was still surprised by his youth when he saw him in person.

As the meeting began, 4DL's designers began to report on the entire design situation.

The design of this armored vehicle began in 58, and the first prototype was manufactured in 59. However, many problems were found in the prototype, so it was overturned and started over again.

Improvements have been made since the second half of 59, and the new prototype was also manufactured according to the new plan.

As the 4DL designers reported, the problems of 4DL began to emerge one by one. Needless to say, there were quite a few, after all, it was the first time to independently design an armored personnel carrier. When the report was over, the leader of the Defense Work Committee looked at everyone and smiled and said: "We invited everyone here today to find and solve problems. Everyone, please speak freely and we will solve them one by one."

The most difficult problems were brought forward one by one. The new prototype has solved major problems of the old prototype such as insufficient reserve buoyancy and the forward center of gravity causing the head to get stuck during floating, making the new prototype basically usable.

The old model car is also funny. Due to insufficient reserve buoyancy, additional floating equipment has to be temporarily installed when floating. This makes the floating function basically meaningless in actual combat.

However, in order to solve the problem of the vehicle's center of gravity, the new prototype vehicle placed the front engine in the middle, becoming a mid-engine. It is as if all the members are warming themselves around an engine. Coupled with the huge noise of the engine, it is difficult to operate normally, let alone being humane.

At the same time, because the pre-selected gearbox and transmission mechanism were really poor and had low reliability, the design team had to change the original gearbox to a clutch gearbox. However, the steel plate clutch brought even louder noise, which made the situation worse.

There are other problems such as small space, limited crew shooting holes, lack of observation windows, etc. Each one seems small, but when put together, it is not good.

As for the issue of center of gravity change raised to the leaders of the Defense Working Committee, it does exist. With the emergence of better rolled armor steel, thinner steel plates can be used to achieve the originally expected bulletproof capability, but the weight of components such as the transmission and engine will not change, which does bring about a change in the center of gravity of the vehicle.

With everyone speaking enthusiastically and discussing actively, many problems were solved at the meeting. For example, engine noise was reduced by changing the exhaust gas device, and the heat dissipation problem was solved by installing more vents.

Although none of the methods seem advanced, they are good methods as long as they can solve the problem. Let's solve the usability problem first.

When it comes to the noise problem of the steel plate clutch, others are stuck for a moment. The steel plate clutch is originally a downgraded product, and no one knows what to replace for a while. And no one can think of a way to reduce the noise of the steel plate.

At this time, the leader of the Defense Work Committee called on him: "Director Gao Zhendong, you are in the steel business, tell me what you think."

Gao Zhendong was trying to recall the bits and pieces of information about 4DL that he had read online in his previous life. When he heard his leader's words, he subconsciously replied, "Oh, that's easy. Just replace the friction surface of the all-steel clutch plate with asbestos sandwiched with copper wire."

This was actually the original solution. When this was said, everyone's eyes lit up.

"Well, the method proposed by this comrade seems to be feasible. Asbestos increases friction, and copper wire increases strength and heat dissipation at the same time."

"Asbestos is soft and should not be as noisy as steel friction pads."

"Yes, yes. And this method is not only used here, but also can be used in other equipment that uses steel plate clutches."

"As expected of you sitting in the expert seat, you can solve the problem with just a word."

"."

The comrades in charge of the 4DL design quickly took note of Gao Zhendong's opinion. The leaders of the Defense Work Committee were very satisfied with the situation and called him over, and it turned out to be correct.

The meeting continues. The car body is a little small? It's easy to solve. Just lengthen the car body, but not too much.

Soon, the discussion came to the issue of the change in the center of gravity of the car body. This was actually a bit tricky. The structure of the new prototype had been determined, as had the engine, transmission, and running gear.

Now, due to the introduction of new armored steel, the weight of the vehicle has changed, and it is really difficult to adjust to this change.

Seeing Gao Zhendong, who seemed to be in a trance, the leader of the Fire Protection Committee called on him again: "Director Zhendong, please tell me what you think about this issue. After all, you are the one who made the steel, so you are the most qualified to speak. This disaster was also caused by you, haha."

After hearing this, the 4DL staff felt ashamed and heartbroken.

The people present only then realized that the young man sitting there was actually a giant Buddha. Most of the people present knew something about the properties of 592 rolled armored steel.

Nowadays, anyone who can develop new materials with such high performance will be admired wherever he goes.

Gao Zhendong thought for a while after hearing this, and then asked a seemingly silly question: "Why does the center of gravity need to change?"

When the people at 4DL heard this question, they found it a little funny. It was because the thickness of the steel plate had changed.

But no one dared to laugh, as they had no idea what was going on in the other person's mind. What if the question was really very profound?

The 4DL body designer stood up and replied, "Director Gao, the new armor steel you made has very good performance and meets the original design indicators. The steel does not need to be as thick as the original design. After the steel plate is thinned, the weight distribution will change."

Gao Zhendong asked the second question: "Why thinning?"

(End of this chapter)