Since the Fujian Ship No. 003 aircraft carrier was put into service, online discussions about the performance of this aircraft carrier have spread like wildfire, and the rumors about the Fujian Ship's power plant have become even more intense. According to reports, the Fujian did not mention its engine on the day it was officially commissioned. The reason is that it uses a mixed-fuel engine similar to hybrid technology.
Is this true? What kind of power is most likely to be used by aircraft carrier No. 003? At present, aircraft carrier can be divided into two categories: nuclear power and traditional power according to its power system. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier uses the reactor control device to adjust the temperature of the nuclear fuel rod. It uses this heat to provide energy to the steam boiler on the ship. It uses high-temperature steam to drive the turbine, and then the gear drives the turbine forward.
Ordinary aircraft carriers also use this kind of engine. The only difference is that it can use fuel to provide fuel. Later, some traditional aircraft carriers adopted gas turbines in order to overcome problems such as slow startup and difficult maintenance. For example, India's "Vikrant" aircraft carrier has four LM2500 engines produced by the American General Company.
However, according to rumors, the No. 003 ship uses a nuclear fuel engine, so its first problem is how to select suitable engines and auxiliary engines. Just like ordinary thousand-ton battleships, fuel conversion is a normal thing. Diesel engines with high power and low power are often used to drive when cruising. When the speed of the ship becomes faster, it is necessary to Only when the diesel engine and the combustion turbine are output together will they produce greater power.
However, an aircraft carrier of more than 10,000 tons has to control two engines at the same time, which is a big thing in itself. Using nuclear energy as the main energy source and using gas turbines for navigation is itself a technological disruption. You know, although the gas turbine starts quickly and accelerates quickly, it consumes twice as much fuel as the steam turbine. If the turbine is used for cruising, the operating costs of the aircraft carrier will increase dramatically.
From the perspective of the development of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, this group of engine combinations, mainly composed of nuclear reactors and steam turbines, can connect the high and low power of the ship body, and can fully guarantee the power supply of a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier. If the Fujian could be equipped with a nuclear power unit and a gas turbine, wouldn't that be superfluous? Moreover, the idea that two different engines on an aircraft carrier would significantly reduce maintenance costs and usage simply does not exist. Judging from the experience on this aircraft carrier, both the United States and the Soviet Union will choose more mature and stable technologies without making the engine structure too precise or mixing multiple engines together.
Therefore, in terms of power, the Fujian No. 003 aircraft carrier is not significantly different from the Liaoning ship and Shandong ship. It still uses steam turbines and turbines as its main engines. It’s good to have dreams, but you have to connect them with reality. China's nuclear power system still needs to make certain technical progress, but as scientific and technological workers continue to explore, China's aircraft carriers will increasingly adopt new technologies in the future.
