As the highest award in China's patent field, the China National Intellectual Property Administration announced the awarding decisions for the 22nd China Patent Award on June 25. CRCHI's "Open-type Tunneling Machine (ZL201610784961.5)" won the Patent Gold Award, while "A Cutterhead Drive System for TBM (ZL201610738807.4)" and "Self-propelled Cotton Picker (ZL201830267352.2)" received the China Patent Excellence Award and the China Design Excellence Award, respectively. This is the 7th consecutive time CRCHI has won a China Patent Award. To date, the company has received 1 China Patent Gold Award, 1 Silver Award, and 11 Excellence Awards.

Award decision by the China National Intellectual Property Administration

The open-type tunneling machine, also known as TBM, is mainly used for hard rock tunnel excavation. It offers the advantages of safety, high efficiency, high quality, environmental friendliness, and precision, and represents a country's level of high-end equipment technology. The Gold Award patent "Open-type Tunneling Machine" solves construction challenges such as the cutterhead shield being easily jammed due to tunnel diameter shrinkage under conditions of large burial depth and high in-situ stress in surrounding rock. It fills the gap in large-range diameter expansion technology for tunneling machines and overcomes the three major technical challenges recognized by the global TBM industry: "unstable support, slow excavation, and insecure bracing," driving domestic TBM from "zero to one" and "from good to excellent." The patented product has been successfully applied in the world's largest tunneling machine cluster project, as well as in more than 100 major domestic and international projects, including the Baolin Tunnel in northern Hubei and the San Gabán Hydropower Station in Peru. It has been recognized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a "Manufacturing Single Champion Product."

Open-type tunneling machine exported to Peru

The China Patent Excellence Award-winning "A Cutterhead Drive System for TBM" breaks through TBM electro-hydraulic hybrid drive escape technology. Through electro-hydraulic hybrid synchronous coupling technology, it solves the problem of cutterhead jamming.

On-site TBM assembly

The China Design Excellence Award-winning "Self-propelled Cotton Picker" vividly combines brand characteristics with product function design. The product has been widely used in Xinjiang, significantly increasing the mechanization rate of cotton picking in the region. In 2021, it was praised by mainstream media such as People's Daily and trended on Weibo with over 100 million views, earning the reputation of a "domestic cotton-picking marvel."

Self-propelled cotton picker

The China Patent Award is the only government department award in China specifically dedicated to rewarding inventions and creations that have been granted patent rights, and it is recognized by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). CRCHI's outstanding performance in this year's China Patent Award selection is an affirmation of the company's independent innovation achievements and intellectual property work. CRCHI has always adhered to independent innovation, the integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and a orientation toward high-quality intellectual property development. In the future, it will continue to strengthen basic research, applied basic research, and key core technology breakthroughs, and is committed to realizing the goal of moving from "Chinese equipment equipping China" to "Chinese equipment equipping the world."