Chapter 1944 - Primitive Relay

"Feng Shan, come continue calculating the designs for the suction and rotary configurations."

Feng Nuo had transformed back into an electrician, arduously reviewing electrical formulas. Operating on the principle of starting simple—and constrained by power supply considerations—he'd chosen to trial-produce the most basic DC relay first. Unfortunately, this wasn't his specialty. The fragments of circuitry and university physics absorbed during his freshman year had long since evaporated, returned to his instructors, to say nothing of high school material.

Xiu Yuxuan had provided texts from his own earlier trial production efforts, along with some scrapped samples. The materials revealed that Chief Engineer Xiu's relay comprehension exceeded Feng Nuo's own only marginally.

For the past two days, Feng Nuo had been wholly consumed with the relationship between relay suction force, power supply, and coil parameters. Progress could be characterized as excruciating. He'd consulted numerous relay texts; few addressed these formulas, and those that did treated them superficially. He could only rely on working things out independently.

Relays in the original timeline needed merely to control working circuits and had no particular suction magnitude requirements. He, conversely, was employing relay suction force to drive mechanical structures. From this perspective, what he was constructing wasn't truly a relay at all—merely a simple electromagnet.

The realization frustrated Feng Nuo somewhat, and the prolonged calculations made his head throb. He shoved a heap of scratch paper toward Feng Shan, instructing: "First verify my earlier calculations, then continue the design. Several key points to remember."

"First, base everything on our self-manufactured 0.3mm diameter enameled wire. Don't forget to have Jianai send enameled wire samples to the Central Laboratory later for lacquer layer thickness measurements."

"Okay, no problem, Teacher." Feng Shan responded, retrieving notepad and pencil to record the specifications.

"Second, limit total power consumption. Consider contact time for each hole check to be 0.1 seconds. At minimum, ensure Chief Zhong's 24V/20,000mAh battery can support twenty thousand card checks—preferably exceeding fifty thousand."

According to Feng Nuo's rough calculations, checking fifty thousand cards—based on the standard 160 holes per card—would require over two hundred hours of power supply connection time. Each coil's power would need to maintain approximately two watts. Under these constraints, ensuring adequate suction force wouldn't come easily.

"Understood."

"Third, suction force should preferably exceed five Newtons."

Existing mechanical materials probably couldn't guarantee an exceptionally lightweight control mechanism. Insufficient suction might prove unable to drive it.

"Right."

"Hmm... If you have spare capacity, consider temperature rise and magnetic leakage effects on the coil. I haven't factored those in yet; we can experiment with them gradually later."

"Mhm."

"Oh, also—numerous sources indicate that to reduce remanence influence, a copper or brass pin or shim should be added to the armature's top. Don't forget to account for that thickness."

"..."

"Unlike theoretical scientific research, the most critical factor in applied technology development is grounding work in existing conditions. Within these constraints, we can advance toward solutions rather than engaging in purposeless speculation. Once the pathway opens, we can systematically conquer issues like sluggish speed, low efficiency, poor quality, and high energy consumption by concentrating resources."

Having deposited this pile of headache-inducing problems, Feng Nuo expounded a grand theory—naturally drawn from experience. In the original timeline's laboratories, Feng Nuo had earned recognition as a Problem Solver. After finishing his lecture, he walked to the bed in the workshop corner and collapsed onto it face-first. Feng Shan had grown accustomed to Feng Nuo's verbose exhortations; she silently appropriated the chaotic stack of scratch paper and began reviewing it.

Feng Nuo felt utterly drained, yet his mind remained electrically alert. He struggled to arrest his thoughts and empty his brain for rest. Dinner hour had arrived. Qian Yuzhi and Li Jianai had both departed for the canteen and would return with boxed meals. The faint server hum from next door, the whisper of Feng Shan's calculations and notation in the room, and the occasional chant and metallic collision from the distant machinery factory workshop gradually unwound his tense nerves. Feng Nuo cherished this sensation. Progressively, these sounds drifted further and further away... At some indeterminate point, he'd fallen asleep.

...

When he woke, darkness had fully descended outside. Only a small lamp illuminated the workbench. Feng Shan was reading by the dim light. Beside her on the table lay a neat stack of white paper filled with precise, standardized formulas and derivations—she'd completed the design plan.

Feng Nuo approached, retrieved the plan, and reviewed it thoroughly. He detected no issues. He estimated this design would require substantial copper, and the iron core material would need additional processing. Fortunately, Qian Yuzhi represented ready labor—his trade was mechanics, after all.

Over the subsequent days, Feng Nuo requisitioned machine tool processing hours from the machinery factory and had Qian Yuzhi fabricate the silicon steel materials into the shapes and dimensions specified in the designed suction and rotary schemes. More complex operations were handled by veteran workers. He personally led Qian Yuzhi and Feng Shan in operating the winding machine to produce several samples.

Each sample measured roughly a circle larger than an adult fist—acceptable in an era where industrial products tended toward the ungainly, oversized, and crude. Powering them for testing revealed suction force below theoretical values, with noticeable coil temperature rise. Though the punch card machine application involved intermittent relay activation, the possibility of consecutive cards being punched at identical hole positions couldn't be excluded. Apparently, though this troublesome punch card computer lacked electronic components, cooling concerns still demanded attention. Without a motor, air cooling was impractical. Water cooling, then? Using copper pipes for circulating coolant would necessitate addressing pipeline sealing and routing—Feng Nuo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Still, this qualified as success. Feng Nuo's mood soared. He composed a report to the Planning Agency requesting additional raw materials to produce one hundred units each of rotary and suction relays initially.

Then he contacted the Standard Parts Factory, inquiring when they'd finally produce thinner copper wire. Though his relays primarily drove mechanical structures, a minority were designed to control other relays. For this type, suction force mattered little; lower power consumption was paramount. Short of drastically extending coil length, he could only employ thinner copper wire to increase resistance and reduce current, incidentally decreasing relay weight and volume.

The Standard Parts Factory's response was "under testing." Regarding progress, they offered "currently unclear," though "making great strides."

"Let's designate this as Model B," Feng Nuo noted in his memorandum. Next came organizing the manufacturing process for submission to the Planning Agency archives. He'd also need to convene senators from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the electrical department to discuss nomenclature and finalization standards for relays and future electronic components. His extended tenure at the Planning Agency had sensitized him to such matters—this also fell within his duties, as few IT senators remained serving there.

Upon hearing that Feng Nuo had produced a fully current-timeline relay version, numerous senators arrived "drawn by reputation." Their intentions amounted to little more than pressuring Feng Nuo to strike while the iron was hot and develop additional relay models for diverse applications. Before completion, the device had seemed non-essential; now that it existed, demands sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain. Some requested AC relays, others overload/underload protection relays, still others time-delay relays, and some even asked for thermal and photo relays.

These have nothing to do with the electromagnetic relay I'm developing now! Feng Nuo grumbled internally while manufacturing alternate excuses to dismiss a senator who chest-thumpingly promised to lobby the Senate for establishing a dedicated electronic equipment factory in his name. Naturally, he hadn't forgotten that the primary objective wasn't relay development at all, but rapid completion of the tabulating machine.

"It seems electronic equipment development represents a vast domain with enormous potential," Feng Nuo mused with faint regret. He certainly couldn't compete with electrical department senators in this arena. Currently, their preoccupation with other matters allowed him this head start. Once they refocused, leveraging his limited foundation to encroach on their territory would prove impossible. Honest computer work offered more reliable prospects.

"But cooperation remains viable. Once they develop electron tubes and transistors, they can't limit themselves to radios, televisions, and radars; electronic computers are inevitable. My current positioning will prove its worth then. No one can bypass me to build electronic computers." Feng Nuo contemplated this while unconsciously smiling, prompting Li Jianai—who had just entered the workshop—to glance at him repeatedly. Feng Shan, long accustomed to her Chief's periodic daytime fugues, paid no attention.

Among the small group, Li Jianai had joined the workshop last. She understood neither mechanics nor electricity, much less computer theory. Yet she seemed naturally suited to this work. Immersed daily, she'd actually grasped relay operating mechanisms quite thoroughly—better than Qian Yuzhi, even. Feng Nuo assigned her to assist Feng Shan, responsible for trial-producing several alternate relay models. This elevated her workshop status above Qian Yuzhi's. Daily she either dispatched him to procure raw materials or machine workpieces. Watching the teenager busily executing her instructions filled her with inexplicable satisfaction.

Since joining Feng Nuo's operation, Li Jianai felt her long-suppressed spirits had eased considerably. Compared with Chief Dugu and Chief Lu, Chief Feng was remarkably approachable. Senior Sister Feng Shan, though somewhat taciturn, proved gentle and amiable. Then there was the endearingly foolish Qian Yuzhi.

Reflecting on it, she'd never experienced such relaxing days since birth. Childhood memories naturally remained hazy, reducible to the words "cold" and "hungry." Beginning from the quarantine camp, she'd been a cog in the "organization," which possessed no warmth whatsoever. The atmosphere among Maid School students had been poor to begin with, exacerbated by her status as "hidden personnel," perpetually maintaining emotional distance from others. As for post-graduation assignment—she'd encountered that ordeal...