On the morning of January 8, the 2018 National Science and Technology Awards Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People. Shanghai Turbine Works and Wujiang Transformer Co., Ltd. were granted the second prize of 2018 National Science and Technology Progress Award for "Key Technologies for Serial Design of Turbine Damping Blades and Their Application" (Damping Blade Project) and "Application Development and Engineering Readiness of Homemade Amorphous Strips in Electric Systems" (Homemade Amorphous Strip Project), respectively.

The Damping Blade Project was led by Xi'an Jiaotong University and jointly completed by researchers from Shanghai Electric, Dongfang Electric, etc. The researcher team managed to overcome the technical barriers created by western countries, and proposed a new method for damping blade stress and vibration design and a new serial damping structure. Through their dedicated efforts, they established a proprietary portfolio of key blade technologies that enable "precise frequency prediction, accurate safety evaluation, and automatic optimization of stress and vibration". The team developed a total of 87 damping blades, including regulating stage and last stage blades used for 20-1700 MW thermal power, nuclear power and industrial steam turbines, obtaining a number of invention patents and software copyrights.

As a principal member of the research team, Shanghai Turbine Works developed 33 damping blades. These damping blades find wide applications in wet cooling, air cooling, nuclear power, steam turbine manufacturing, and have been marketed to Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, and many other countries. At present, Shanghai Turbine Works has a complete set of proprietary damping blade technologies, along with world-class design and manufacturing capabilities.

The Homemade Amorphous Strip Project was jointly undertaken by Wujiang Transformer Co., Ltd., Creative Distribution Automation Co., Ltd. (CREAT), and several other organizations. Backed by an annual capacity of 40,000 tons of amorphous strip at home, the project brought together influential players across the industry chain. The project aimed to address the widespread needs for homemade amorphous distribution transformers and high-efficiency motors by optimizing practical amorphous technologies and commercializing relevant products. Apart from providing the amorphous alloy materials and products required to fuel China's electric industry and energy-efficiency initiatives, the project also helped promote the innovation and creativity of the country's energy-efficient amorphous material industry, making it able to break the long-standing technical monopoly exercised by western countries. The project is expected to make it into mass production, bringing remarkable benefits at both the economic and social level.

A total of 278 projects and 7 technical experts were on the list of winners of this year's National Science and Technology Progress Award. A Chinese government document issued in 2017 set out an annual limit of 300 prizes for the National Natural Science Award, the Technological Invention Award, and the National Science and Technology Progress Award, representing increasingly stiff competition for these awards.