The author Isan Zheng reprinted in the Electrical Engineers Cooperative Group EEO
▲Wang Houyu
Mr. Wang Houyu's home is in a very ordinary residential building on Xinjiekouwai Avenue in Beijing. The moment he opened the door to greet me, I almost thought I was back in time. The rooms are narrow, dimly lit and undecorated. Such an environment seems to be inconsistent with Mr. Wang Houyu's identity as a titan in China's construction electrical industry, but when you walk into Wang Lao's study, you can see a calligraphy work hanging conspicuously on the wall, on which are written four vigorous and powerful characters - "Pure Heart and Widowhood". This, it seems, let me find the answer again.
It is still a kind smile, and it has become even brighter over the years. Although he has lived in Beijing for most of his life, Mr. Wang still speaks with a southern accent, sometimes pops up a few Russian and English words, and sometimes uses current buzzwords, such as mentioning some juniors who ask him questions, and he will affectionately call them "my fans."
Famous industrial and civil building electrical technology expert, China Aviation Industry Planning and Design Institute electrical chief engineer, international electrotechnical commission IEC/TC64 China Focal Committee and the National Building Electrical Installation Standardization Technical Committee consultant, a number of national electrical design codes, manuals and manuals of the author... Wang Houyu, who is over ninety years old, is not at all exaggerated in his life to describe the word "brilliant". However, the layers fade away these so-called honors and flashy auras, and trace the long river of time, and the most shining thing is the spirit of Mr. Wang Houyu, the older generation of electric people.
"My electrical path is not the same as others"
Wang Houyu was born in Wuhan and moved to Shanghai at the age of 7. From Shanghai Municipal He'an Primary School, to Jiangsu Provincial Shanghai Middle School, to National Jiaotong University, Wang Houyu spent his student days smoothly in the Shanghai Concession. Whenever he recalls those years, Elder Wang's expression is always full of happiness - it is precisely because the concession can be independent of the artillery fire of the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, he can complete his studies in a relatively stable environment, which also lays a solid foundation for future study and work. But despite this, the suffering of the Chinese nation still left a deep mark on Wang Houyu's heart. When he was in junior high school, he made up his mind to learn electrical majors in the future to save the country through industry.
In 1949, Wang Houyu graduated from university, and Shanghai had just been liberated. Because the country was "one-sided" to the Soviet Union at that time, Wang Houyu was assigned by the East China Revolutionary University to study Russian at Dalian Russian College in preparation for learning the Soviet Union and serving as a Russian translator in the future. Less than two years after Wang Houyu's study at the Russian College in Dalian, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out, and the construction of the national air force was put on the urgent agenda, and the only technical support that could be relied on was the former Soviet Union. At this critical juncture, Wang Houyu obeyed the state's arrangement to join the army and serve as an interpreter for Soviet ground staff in the air force, and the ground staff in the air force had to inspect, repair, and maintain the aircraft before dawn, which was rather arduous. Although these mechanical tasks appear to have nothing to do with the electrical design of the buildings he later worked on, they are not entirely the case. For example, Wang Houyu has never heard of a personal electric shock accident in an aircraft in the Air Force, and the instrument work in the aircraft is also normal. However, once the instrument is moved to the ground workshop, it is easy to be disturbed. At that time, I didn't care, but later when I learned the building electrical IEC standard to protect against electric shock and anti-electromagnetic interference, this perceptual understanding made wang Houyu easily understand that this was the effect of the equipotential linkage effect of the Faraday cage composed of the metal fuselage of the aircraft.
Wang Houyu's day as a translator for Soviet soldiers coincided with the early days of the founding of the country, and the country's material resources were extremely scarce, but this did not affect his life in the army, and he also shared with us an interesting experience of that period. In the army, as one of the few intellectuals, Wang Houyu sometimes served as a cultural instructor for cadets, giving physics lessons to cadets. "Those big soldiers transferred from the army have no culture, and it is really not simple to 'step up to the sky' to fly and maintain the aircraft." Elder Wang said. At that time, Wang Houyu's rank was the deputy platoon level, wearing a cadre hat, and usually walking on the road would be saluted by the soldiers, which made him a little overwhelmed at first; "ordinary soldiers in the army eat big stoves, battalion-level cadres eat medium stoves, and senior cadres eat small stoves." Wang Houyu's level is not high, but as an intellectual, he can eat "middle stoves" with battalion-level cadres. At that time, the army implemented a supply system without wages, "as an intellectual, I still have a pork allowance of ten yuan a month", and when he said this, Wang Lao smiled.
By 1951, the state was building an air force on the one hand and repairing aircraft on the other. At this time, the mainland set up an aviation industry bureau, under which there were several aircraft repair shops. The Soviet Union also sent many old technical experts who urgently needed translation, so Wang Houyu was transferred to the Aviation Industry Design Institute of the Design Aircraft Repair Factory under the Beijing Aviation Industry Bureau to work as an interpreter for Soviet electrical experts. Later, Soviet electrical experts found that he not only knew Russian, but also graduated from a regular university majoring in electrical engineering, and could be used as an assistant for him. At that time, there were very few college graduates, and the state assigned twelve college students to the Aviation Institute to form an electrical group, headed by Wang Houyu. Every day he helped Soviet experts translate, proofread, and revise drawings. According to the Sino-Soviet agreement, the design drawings had to be signed by Soviet experts to be valid. Since then, wang Houyu has been in contact with building electrical design work for a full sixty-five years.
Inextricable relationship with electrical codes and distribution manuals
This year, the fourth edition of the "Treasure Book" of the building electrical industry, the Industrial and Civil Distribution Design Manual, is coming out. From the 80s, when the level of building electrical technology in the mainland was still relatively backward, to 2016 in the new century, the time spanned forty years. This manual embodies the painstaking efforts of generations of electricians and has had a profound impact on the development of electrical design in Chinese buildings, and Wang Houyufeng happened to be the organizer of the first edition of the manual.
At that time, each design and research institute had professional intelligence officers, and the technical level was not low. They all exchange information with each other when they are together. Later, everyone wanted to write out commonly used design materials. As a result, three manuals of electrical equipment and two manuals of electrical design were jointly prepared, for a total of five small 32-page manuals. After its publication, it became very popular and became a must-have book for electrical design. After the reform and opening up in 1978, the design institutes of the national defense industry began to hold an annual industrial science Daqing technical exchange meeting, at which it was decided that the military industry institutes would jointly compile a more systematic and comprehensive manual to replace the previous five pamphlets. At the meeting, it was decided that the Five Academies of the Ministry of Ordnance Industry would take the lead, the equipment manual would be prepared by the Fifth Academy of the Ministry of Ordnance, and the design manual would be organized and compiled by the Four Academies of the Ministry of Aviation Industry. This is the first edition of the Industrial and Civil Distribution Design Manual (the first edition was originally titled Factory Distribution Design Manual). At that time, Wang Houyu happened to be the deputy chief of the technical section of the Aviation Industry Academy and the head of the electrical team of the technical section, and the organization and compilation of the manual naturally fell on his head.
Wang Houyu was very busy with the administrative work in the technical department, and he could not take the time to be specifically responsible for the manual, so he appointed Xu Yonggen, who was known as "living information" in the hospital, to be responsible for the preparation of the manual. "Xu Yonggen is a year older than me, he is familiar with norms and materials, and his level is quite high, but his organization and coordination ability is not strong, and this is very important for the preparation of the manual." Elder Wang recalled. In order to make up for this deficiency, Wang Houyu proposed to set up a core group for the preparation of the manual to be responsible for and plan the work. The first three members of the core group are Xu Yonggen of the China Aviation Industry Planning and Design Institute, Bian Jiaosheng of the China Aerospace Architecture Design and Research Institute, and Wang Jianfen of the Fifth Design and Research Institute of China Ordnance Industry. Speaking of which, Mr. Wang was the original organizer of the manual, but he modestly said: "I just set up a shelf at the beginning, and the tasks in the future are all entrusted to the core group." I myself have only been involved in the writing of some of these chapters. It is worth mentioning that one of the members of the "core group", Bian Jiaosheng, was assigned to the power supply and distribution team of Wang Lao of the Aviation Academy as soon as he graduated from college, and later transferred to the Aerospace Academy, and for many years he was the absolute core backbone of the manual from the first edition to the fourth edition. During the interview, Elder Wang praised Bian Jiaosheng and used several "impeccable" words to describe his professional level, flexible mind, meticulous thinking, and thoughtful handling. "Everything he does is impeccable," Elder Wang did not hesitate to praise Bian Jiaosheng, "the design drawings he made at the Aviation Academy were impeccable; the appendices he wrote in the manual were impeccable; the articles he published were still impeccable." ”
Wang Houyu mentioned that there is no specification, no manual, and the manual is written according to the norm. When it comes to the initial preparation of the "Industrial and Civil Distribution Design Manual", we have to say the preparation of China's electrical design specifications.
In the 1960s, China was very backward in terms of technology, did not have its own electrical design specifications, and could only copy the "Architectural Electrical Design Guidelines" of the former Soviet Union for reference. This Soviet design guideline was also compiled into a Chinese version by the Industrial Design Institute of the Ministry of Construction at that time, which became the basis for the design of mainland electrics at that time.
It was not until 1971 that China began to compile its own national standard electrical design code GB 5XXXX, which was organized by the Ministry of Electric Power and the mechanical part of the industry. During the Cultural Revolution, as the electrical engineer in charge of the hospital, Wang Houyu was also "knocked down" in the disaster. Perhaps it was Sai Weng's loss of horse and knowledge, and Wang Houyu also got the opportunity to compile norms. He was sent by the rebels to participate in the compilation of the Code for the Design of Power Supply and Distribution Systems, which is the GB 50052 code. The English and Russian language that laid a solid foundation in the student era made Wang Houyu much more convenient in compiling the specification. He often went to the Beijing Library and the Intelligence Bureau of the Bureau of Standards to collect materials, he picked up English and Russian professional materials without dictionaries to translate, other normative compilation team members often asked him to help check foreign materials, Wang Lao said with a smile: "I became the 'intelligence officer' of the compilation team at that time."
This is the first time that China has written its own norms, and the state attaches great importance to it, and the writing team is also very serious. All the compilation groups were uniformly arranged to concentrate on the production of work in Beijing, so Wang Houyu did not return to his original unit for three years, and he did not return home for half a year after researching everywhere in the country. At that time, a total of eight electrical codes were prepared, but when these specifications were reviewed at the Xiangshan Hotel in Beijing in 1974, the "Code for the Design of Power Supply and Distribution Systems" was not adopted at the meeting due to the divergence of opinions on the "three-level load classification". In the end, the Ministry of Construction decided to implement it according to the draft submitted for review. The contradiction caused by the "voltage deviation" of this set of specifications was not promulgated until 1983. China's national standard electrical design code thus began, and the Industrial and Civil Distribution Design Manual also had a normative basis.
Still worried about the current situation of building electrical in China
Looking at the historical context of the development of China's electrical industry, whether it is technology or specifications, it has undoubtedly been printed with deep traces of the "Soviet Union", due to various reasons, the lack of foreign exchanges for many years, the mainland building electrical is inevitably contaminated with the drawbacks of the Soviet model. Foreign counterparts often joke that China Building Electric will only choose the line and choose the switch.
The mainland power supply department has a tradition of "re-issuance, light distribution, and no use", and does not attach importance to the safety of users' electricity. The Western building electrical design principle is first of all to put people first according to international electrical standards, personal safety is put first; secondly, according to the function of electricity, it aims to "use electricity well" and emphasize the normal function of electrical equipment. Under this gap, the number of electric shock deaths in China is hundreds of times that of developed countries, and the number of electrical fires accounts for 26%-27% of the total number of fires, while Japan only accounts for 2%-3%. Wang Houyu has pointed out these problems more than once, but due to the backwardness of design concepts, some designers always focus on how to choose lines or switches to protect lines, but ignore other important issues such as ensuring personal safety and electromagnetic interference. "How much is the line worth?" Human life is priceless! Elder Wang said with emotion, "Fire fighting, first of all, is prevention." For electrical fires, we must first prevent them, and we must prevent them before they occur!"
In the course of the interview, Mr. Wang talked about some of the fire examples he personally analyzed at the electrical fire scene, many of which are still available for reference today. During the Beijing Asian Games, there were many fires in Beijing, which caused panic among the people, and even the oldest school building built during the Gengzi indemnity period of Tsinghua University also had a fire in the Tongfang Department. Some in the security sector suspect that the fires may have been artificially arson, specifically to add to the chaos of the Asian Games. Two short circuit points on a wire were also found at the Tsinghua fire scene, adding to this suspicion. It was not until Wang Houyu went to the scene to analyze this doubt. It turned out that the staff in the room at that time connected the old wire to watch TV, the wire joint was very sloppy, the so-called first short circuit was actually not a short circuit, but because the joint contact was poor, the fire was hot and the fire started, and then the fire burned to the front end of the wire, which caused the line short circuit. After this analysis, the cause of artificial arson was ruled out.
During the Guiyang Power Supply and Distribution System Safety and Reliability Design Seminar, the author had the honor to travel with Li Shunkang, deputy chief engineer of the Architectural Design Institute of the Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research and Design Institute, and also heard a classic case he shared about Wang Lao's investigation of the cause of the fire. In the 1990s, Beijing Hepingmen Roast Duck Shop leased the fourth floor to a company, and then a fire broke out on the fourth floor, and after the fire bureau surveyed it was determined that the plug of the company's electrical equipment caught fire, and the company was required to bear the liability for compensation. However, the company was not convinced, asked the fire department to show evidence, did not understand the electrical safety of the fire department can come up with evidence, the result of the fire bureau for the first time to be accused in court, became a defendant. In desperation, the fire bureau asked Wang Houyu to objectively analyze the cause of the fire. At that time, it had been half a year, the scene of the fire had long been gone, and Elder Wang had only seen a photo suspected of being the source of the fire. From the photo, only the steel crimp plate and the remaining bolts after melting are left for the plug. Therefore, Elder Wang judged that there must be an arc in the plug with a temperature of up to 1,000 degrees celsius that can melt steel. The main cause of the fire is that the plug does not meet the product standards, and the plug crimp plate is made of conductive metal, which is a violation! Because according to product standards, the crimping plate inside the plug can only be made of insulation material, otherwise when the insulation of the power line being pressed is damaged by overheating, the metal plate will cause an arc short circuit. The metallographic analysis done by the Shenyang Fire Research Institute also proved that Wang Lao's judgment was correct. Therefore, Wang Houyu, with his many years of rich knowledge and practical experience in electrical safety, proved with scientific evidence that this was a fire caused by inferior plugs, and the responsibility should be borne by the company. He helped the fire department win the case and preserve the authority of the fire department.
Hope for the rising star
As the first expert to come into contact with international standards, Wang Houyu has always been worried that China's normative level lags behind the international level. Over the decades, he has published numerous articles on this issue, hoping that all parties will pay attention to, learn and apply international electrical standards. Since 1981, Wang Houyu has published 45 papers in the authoritative journal "Building Electrical", ranking first in the number of articles published by the authors of the journal. In fact, when Elder Wang first questioned the mainland norms, he was criticized by many people, which also brought him many negative influences. However, when everyone later understood the reason for Elder Wang's questioning, they respected Elder Wang even more. Li Shunkang recalled his initial impression of Elder Wang, which was quite a bit of a oolong meaning, "The first time I listened to Elder Wang's lecture, I wondered how this expert could say something that violated the mainland's electrical norms; the second time I listened to his lectures, I began to feel some truth; and it was not until the third time that I realized that there was indeed a problem with the mainland's norms." ”
Wang Houyu's outcry has influenced a group of people in the industry who are also concerned about this issue, and they often come to consult Wang Lao, including Ding Jie, Li Shunkang, Xie Wei, Chen Qian, Sun Wenhua, Han Shuai and other young and middle-aged electrical designers who are now members of the Electrical Engineers Cooperative Organization (EEO). "I am willing to communicate with them, I feel that these peers love the building electrical industry, solid technical foundation, active research, seeking truth from facts, is the backbone of our industry, but also the hope of our industry." I also very much praise and support the EEO communication platform that the International Copper Association has built. I hope that everyone can make full use of this platform, learn from each other, help each other, and work together to improve the electrical level of China's buildings." Talking about these rising stars in the building electrical industry, Wang Lao praised them.
Speaking of EEO, Elder Wang also happened to do some "matchmaking" work. In a sense, it was he who indirectly contributed to the establishment of EEO. In September 2014, the day before Wang Laohe's birthday, the Aviation Institute and the International Copper Association gathered together to jointly celebrate Wang Laohe's 90th birthday. Many seniors and juniors in the electrical industry came to congratulate them. At the birthday banquet, the electrical industry expert Ren Yuanhui and Bian Jiaosheng, two old seniors, raised a toast to congratulate themselves, calling themselves "the oldest students of Elder Wang". This birthday of Elder Wang can also be called a grand gathering of the older generation of "post-90s" and "post-80s" in the electrical industry and the backbone of the young Chaoyang. Some of the current EEO members also know and agree with each other through this gathering, and voluntarily join EEO as a platform for exchange and cooperation in order to promote the common vision of the development of China's building electrical level. This also allows the enterprising spirit of the electric man to continue to be passed on, uninterrupted.
Talking about his message to the younger generation, Elder Wang's expression became serious. He said that we must admit that China's building electrical technology is inferior to that of others, and hope that the vast number of electrical workers must improve their technical level, learn international electrical standards, especially improve the level of foreign languages, and read more original texts, only in this way can we directly grasp the key to opening up foreign advanced technology, learn foreign advanced concepts, and apply them to practice to improve the building electrical level of the mainland.
Conclusion
For Mr. Wang Houyu, he has not stopped fighting for the development of China's building electrical for decades. "I have the honor to learn and understand the international advanced standards and norms under the support and cultivation of the old leaders of the Aviation Academy, and have gone abroad to participate in the annual meeting of the International Electrotechnical Commission many times, and I feel that I have the responsibility and obligation to publicize and promote the concept of international electrical standards in the mainland and reduce the occurrence of electrical disasters in the mainland." Elder Wang's fist is sincere and can't help but be admired.
In his narrow and crowded living room, in addition to the books, the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly the writing on the wall. This is the inscription of a famous calligrapher on the mainland for Wang Lao. At that time, the calligrapher asked him what word he wanted, and Elder Wang did not hesitate to say his motto- Pure Heart and Widowhood.
"Fame and fortune are not brought by life, and death is not taken away, so what is the use of it?" A person comes to the world once, leaving something useful for the society and future generations to have some value. Elder Wang said. He believes that there are very few people on the mainland who seriously study the international standards of building electrical, and he may be one of these very few. "I have this condition and if I don't publicize and promote international electrician standards, I will be ashamed." Elder Wang said. To this end, he has been writing for some electrical magazines for decades, and almost all of the country except Hong Kong and Taiwan have his footprints in preaching international electrician standards. And his exchange lectures at the invitation of his peers usually do not receive anything. "I am already a 'post-90s', I am about to die, what is the use of money?" Wang Houyu's casual witty remarks can't help but confirm his fulfillment of his motto of "pure heart and widowhood". Pure heart, pure and simple heart; widowhood, less desire for fame and fortune, this is also the true portrayal of Mr. Wang Houyu's life.
Wang Houyu profile
He graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 1949. He worked as a Russian translator in the army, and after changing careers, he worked as a translator, technician, electrical professional team leader and electrical supervisor engineer in the Aviation Industry Planning and Design Institute. He participated in the design of 156 large aircraft factories in the 156 period and the planning and design of large-scale foreign projects. He is a participant in the national standards "Design Code for Power Supply and Distribution System", "Low-voltage Distribution Design Code", "Hangar Fire Protection Design Code" and "Isotope Connection Installation Atlas" and the Beijing Municipal Standard "Electrical Fire Safety Technical Guidelines", and is also the author of "Industrial and Civil Distribution Design Manual", "Design Installation and Inspection of Low-voltage Electrical Devices", "600 Questions of Building Electrical Devices" and other books.
In the early 1980s, Wang Houyu began to participate in the Work of the China Focal Point Committee of the Building Electrical Installation Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission, and represented the mainland at the annual meetings of the Committee many times.
Elder Wang is concerned about the mainland's electrical safety and disaster reduction work, and believes that in order to avoid leaving hidden dangers in electrical design, electrical design must be in line with international electrician standards. He also regretted and saddened that the mainland's building electrical design code was rejected in the international building market, and in order to improve the electrical level of the mainland building, he devoted himself to the promotion of international electrical standards after his retirement. He has published numerous papers and often enthusiastically answers questions for his peers everywhere. Among them, the article "Analysis and Countermeasure Suggestions for the Main Hidden Dangers of Electrical Fires" was included in China's "White Paper on Natural Disaster Mitigation in 2000" and distributed at the National People's Congress in 2000.
On the official website of EEO, Wang Lao's lecture video of "600 Questions on Building Electrical Installations" has been well received by the majority of electrical practitioners and enthusiasts. This video was recorded by professionals in broadcast-grade production locations. During the recording, the staff lived with Wang Laosu, but they praised Wang Lao, and were deeply impressed by the profound knowledge, clarity, logic and coherence of Wang Lao, who was at this advanced age.
(Thank you to Mr. Wang Houyu for his strong support for this interview; thank you to EEO members Li Shunkang and Xie Wei for providing some of the materials for this article; thank you to EEO member Chen Qian for providing wang lao heshou photos)