The "Snow Dragon 2" icebreaker is the world's "first" polar research ship that meets the latest international rules, and it is also China's first self-built polar scientific research icebreaker, and it is the world's first polar research icebreaker that adopts two-way icebreaking technology from the bow and stern, and it is equipped with the world's most advanced "AW169" medium-sized twin-engine ship with about 5 tons, and can also be equipped with "KA32" twin rotors and "H425"** Designed by Finland's Aker Arctic Technology Company and the 78th Research Institute of China Ship and Ocean Engineering Design and Research Institute, it was awarded the "2nd Excellent Ocean Engineering Year" and won the "China Industry Award" in December 2019.
Xuelong 2 has the function of two-way ice-breaking and collision ice-breaking of the bow and stern of full-rotation electric propulsion, and adopts the construction of the computer-module general section, which divides the hull into 114 sections, which are composed of 11 general sections, and then the 11 general sections are closed in order from the stern to the bow and from the bottom to the top, and its length is 1225 meters, width 2232 meters, draft 785 meters, displacement of 13,996 tons, endurance of 20,000 nautical miles, speed of 12 to 15 knots, self-sustaining power of 60 days, can carry 90 people.
The "Xuelong 2" icebreaker can achieve 360° free rotation in the polar region in situ, although its displacement is small and the length is relatively short, but its icebreaking ability has reached the PC3 level, which means that it can continuously break 15 meters of 2-year sea ice, plus 30 centimeters of snow. It can be broken up to 25 meters of aged ice. Able to travel at a speed of 2 to 3 knots at 15 m ice thickness +0When encountering an ice ridge that is difficult to arch, the hull will immediately turn 180 degrees, turning the stern into the bow, so that the propeller at the tail can cut the ice under the sea surface, and the ice ridge more than 10 meters high can be hollowed out and continue to move forward.
The "Xuelong No. 2" icebreaker is equipped with international advanced marine survey and observation equipment, has an intelligent engine room, the aircraft can take off and land on the deck, has the function of monitoring the life of the hull through sensors, and the automatic warning function of the ice surface scratching the hull, and is also equipped with a 50-ton hydraulic hydraulic telescopic crane, 2 ice-breaking pod thrusters, 2 channel-type lateral thrusters, acoustic equipment at the bottom of the ship, a centralized control room, a laboratory, a polar oil tank, a bow container, a ship scientific mast, a ship moon pool workshop, etc. It can realize the scientific research system, carry out marine chemical and biological investigations in the polar ice area, and become an important basic platform for China to carry out polar marine environmental investigation and scientific research.
The "Snow Dragon 2" icebreaker has a blunt bow design, and the waterline between the bow and stern has been thickened. Its working principle is usually to use gravity to break the ice, that is, to use the hull's own gravity and inertia to sail to break the ice, if it encounters ice that cannot be crushed, it will take the ballast water tank to increase gravity, so that the bow will be warped to crush the ice while sailing and continue to move forward.
The "Snow Dragon" crossed the equator for the first time to enter the "South Pole" on October 24, 2019, arrived in Australia on November 5, and until December 2023, the "Snow Dragon" has accompanied the Antarctic scientific expedition team to carry out the "China's 40th Antarctic Expedition", marking a new breakthrough in the support and support capacity of the "Chinese Polar Expedition" The birth of China not only realized a lot of research work in China, but also laid the foundation for future shipping routes and scientific research tasks, expanded the area of China's polar expedition, and also improved the efficiency of polar scientific expedition.
China Maritime Airlines