Zhu Zhijia is shown in a workshop of Harbin Electric Machinery Co in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
 
Over the past decade, Zhu Zhijia has received many awards for his outstanding performance in scientific and technological innovation in his field, including in September the title of National Youth Expert.
 
The award is given by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to adults who have distinguished themselves in their fields.
 
Zhu, 33, is head of turbo-generator design office at Harbin Electric Machinery Co in Harbin, Heilongjiang province.
 
Born in Xingtai, Hebei province, Zhu turned in excellent academic performance during his school period and was admitted to Tianjin University in 2008.
 
After graduation in 2012, Zhu joined HEC, the core sub-company of the centrally administered and State-owned Harbin Electric Corp, the key enterprise producing large and medium-size power generating equipment in China.
 
Since then, Zhu has dedicated himself to turbo-generator design and undertaken a number of new product development tasks, some of which filled gaps in China or the world.
 
In May, he was recognized as one of the "Ten Outstanding Young Persons of HE" and as a "Worker Model of HEC", the youngest staff member to get the honor.
   
Zhu Zhijia is shown in a workshop of Harbin Electric Machinery Co in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
 
With the rapid development of ultra-high-voltage direct current engineering in China, there was an urgent need to develop a fast dynamic response synchronous condenser.
 
In 2015, when Zhu and his team was assigned the task to design the 300Mvar synchronous condenser, the first one in the world, they had no idea where to begin.
 
"We didn't have any technical reference for key technologies," he said. "We had to work on our own."
 
Over the following days, they spent their time researching, sometimes staying in the office for several days at a time.
 
Finally, in 2017, they made the breakthrough, achieving optimal electromagnetic performance design in the first batch of synchronous condensers.
 
"I am happy to work with a young team, which has an average age of 32 and also glad to see more younger talents joining us," he said. "I believe this will help us come up with more ideas and energize the industry, in addition to developing a spirit of craftsmanship."
   
Zhu Zhijia works in an office of Harbin Electric Machinery Co in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]