Chapter 304: Magnetoelectric Sensor

The arrival of the television brought a small wave of excitement to the courtyard.

That night, many people came to Zhou Yimin’s house and watched TV until the programming ended.

Back then, television stations didn’t broadcast 24/7. In fact, there weren’t that many programs to begin with. Aside from documentaries and educational films, all other shows were live broadcasts.

Just two years ago, there weren’t even daily shows.

Take the Capital Station, for example. During its trial broadcast phase two years ago, it aired only twice a week, each time for two to three hours, including news, social education, and arts and culture programming.

Zhou Yimin saw the person now known as “the first face on China’s TV screen”—Shen Li.

It’s said that in the early days of Capital Television, Shen Li was the only broadcaster. She had to report the news, social education, arts and culture, sports programs, and even cover live events at Tiananmen and major variety shows. She had to do it all.

She created an image on screen that was dignified and composed.

After watching TV, many people still felt unsatisfied—after all, there just weren’t enough shows, and the daily broadcast time was short.

“Yimin, come to my house for dinner tomorrow,” Eldest Uncle said before he left.

Zhou Yimin smiled and asked, “Is it a special occasion?”

Eldest Uncle said frankly, “That barefoot doctor manual you told us about—it’s been compiled through everyone’s efforts and will be published this month, then promoted nationwide, especially in the rural areas.”

This was a major event in the medical field—even the Great Leader had shown personal interest.

Apparently, after hearing the report, the Leader was very pleased and called for the rapid training of a qualified group of barefoot doctors to improve rural healthcare and make it easier for villagers to get medical treatment.

“So fast?” Zhou Yimin was surprised.

“You have no idea how much manpower was mobilized to get the manual ready quickly.”

Eldest Uncle knew well—nearly every expert in the medical field had gotten involved, especially veteran traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. After all, Chinese herbal medicine was easier to source in rural areas, which would help reduce the difficulty and cost of getting medical treatment for farmers.

Thanks to the barefoot doctor manual, Eldest Uncle received recognition from higher-ups.

Some hospitals had even taken notice and invited him to work there. However, Eldest Uncle hadn’t yet made up his mind.

The steel factory had its advantages. Factory Director Hu had already promised him a promotion. On the other hand, working in a hospital also had its perks. In terms of long-term development, joining a hospital would clearly be better.

Getting into a hospital job wasn’t easy these days.

None of this would’ve happened without Zhou Yimin, so no matter what, Eldest Uncle insisted on inviting him for a proper meal—and this favor wasn’t even fully repaid yet.

“Incredible,” Zhou Yimin praised.

“What a pity! The fast-acting heart-relief pills still haven’t been developed.”

Eldest Uncle had spent the past two months working on those pills, trying several formulas without success.

The two chatted a bit longer.

The next day, Zhou Yimin arrived at the steel factory. Barring any surprises, they should be able to finish the sensor today. Of course, they weren’t capable of producing anything too advanced given the factory’s current capabilities.

The airbag sensor was a key part of an automobile’s safety system, mainly divided into two types: impact-triggering sensors and protection sensors.

Impact-triggering sensors, also called collision intensity sensors, were used to detect changes in acceleration during a collision and transmit the collision signal to the airbag system.

These sensors could detect the intensity of an impact and send that signal to the airbag computer, which would determine whether to detonate the inflation mechanism and deploy the airbag, thereby protecting the driver and passengers.

Depending on structure, collision sensors were further categorized into electromechanical, electronic, and mechanical types.

Electromechanical collision sensors used mechanical movement to control the action of electrical contacts. The opening and closing of these contacts controlled whether the airbag circuit was connected.

Electronic collision sensors didn’t have electrical contacts. The most common types were strain gauge sensors and piezoelectric sensors.

Mechanical collision sensors relied on mercury’s conductive properties to control the circuit’s connection. This was the simplest type with the least technical content.

Technically, Zhou Yimin could’ve just bought one from the system shop and used it as a sample, but there was no way to explain that, so he had to lead the craftsmen to build one from scratch.

The type they were building was a magnetoelectric sensor, made up of a shell, magnetic material, an inertial body, soft iron attached to the inertial body, a spring to support and adjust displacement amplitude, a permanent magnet installed inside a protruding post connected to the shell, a coil wound around the soft iron, and connecting leads.

Magnetoelectric sensors had a low error rate in their electronic discrimination circuits and a high degree of accuracy in sensing collision signals. Through hammer-drop testing, the sensor’s sensitivity range could be adjusted to accurately reproduce collision pulses, making it installable anywhere on a vehicle’s body.

Moreover, the design was simple and cost-effective, making it an accessible safety feature rather than a luxury for most vehicle owners.

“Yimin, take a look—does this work?” Several craftsmen came over with the freshly made sensor.

Zhou Yimin said, “I’ll test it out.”

As for the airbag material and the gas-producing compound, Zhou Yimin and his team had already figured those out.

Just as they were assembling and testing, a few people arrived at the steel factory, accompanied by Factory Director Hu and other leaders. They clearly weren’t ordinary visitors.

One of them saw Zhou Yimin’s group testing something and asked Factory Director Hu curiously, “What are they doing?”

These were personnel involved in a top-secret national project. This visit to the steel factory was to assess its manufacturing capabilities, as some components needed to be fabricated.

“A few days ago, the Ministry of Commerce asked us to develop a car airbag. I believe they’re testing it now. Would you like to take a look?” Factory Director Hu asked.

“Let’s go check it out.”

Airbags? As researchers, their interest was piqued—they found it novel.

As they approached, they heard a young man testing while explaining the system.

From what they heard, the airbag featured a magnetoelectric sensor, which shocked them.

“Comrade, did you say a magnetoelectric sensor?”

Sensors were something they were also researching, and development had already been handed over to a specialized institute—yet there were still no results!

And now a steel factory had managed to make one?

Seeing Zhou Yimin’s confused look, Factory Director Hu quickly gave a brief introduction. Honestly, he didn’t know much about these people either.

All he knew was that the Minister of Industry had instructed the steel factory to fully support these comrades and not neglect them in any way.

(End of Chapter)