Konstantin Konstantinovich Khrenov (; 13 February 1894 – 12 October 1984) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

engineer and inventor who in 1932 introduced

underwater welding Hyperbaric welding is the process of extreme welding at elevated pressures, normally underwater. Hyperbaric welding can either take place ''wet'' in the water itself or ''dry'' inside a specially constructed positive pressure enclosure and hen ...

and cutting of

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

s.Carl W. Hal
A biographical dictionary of people in engineering: from the earliest records until 2000
, Vol. 1, Purdue University Press, 2008 p. 120 For this method, extensively used by the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Khrenov was awarded the

State Stalin Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

in 1946.

Biography

Khrenov was born in 1894 in

Borovsk Borovsk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Borovsky District of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Protva River just south from the oblast's border with Moscow Oblast. Population: 12,000 (1969 ...

, a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Kaluga Oblast Kaluga Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Kaluga. The Russian Census (2021), 2021 Russian Census found a population o ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located just south from its border with the

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast (, , informally known as , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). With a population of 8,524,665 (Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census) living in an area of , it is one of the most densely populate ...

. In 1918, he graduated from the department of electrochemistry of

Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI" (ETU or ETU "LETI"; ) is a public university. It was founded in 1886 as a Technical College. LETI, as it is popularly called, received the status of a higher education institution in 1899 and b ...

(ETU). After graduation, he continued his research at ETU and worked there as a lecturer between 1921 and 1925. He then moved to Moscow and between 1928 and 1947 was teaching at the Moscow Institute of Electromechanical Engineering (Railway Transport); in 1933 he became a professor there. In parallel, between 1931 and 1947 Khrenov was teaching at the

Bauman Moscow State Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU; ), sometimes colloquially referred as the ''Bauman School'' or ''Baumanka'' (), is a public technical university (Institute of technology, polytechnic) located in Moscow, Russia. Bauman Univ ...

– one of the oldest and largest Russian technical universities. In the 1940s, Khrenov moved to Ukraine where he assumed professor positions at the following institutions: *1945–48 – Institute of Electric Welding *1948–1952 – Institute of Structural Mechanics *1952–1963 – Institute of Electrical Engineering *1947–1958 –

Kiev Polytechnic Institute The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ( KPI, ; official full title National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute") is a national public technological university in Kyiv, Ukraine. Name In the long period of existenc ...

*1963–till retirement – Institute of Electric Welding.

Achievements

Khrenov dedicated his entire career to the development of welding techniques and equipment. He invented methods of electric welding and cutting metals under water, designed power sources for arc and spot welding, ceramic fluxes, electrode coatings, methods of cold pressure welding, diffusion welding,

plasma cutting Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma. Typical materials cut with a plasma torch include steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and copper, although other ...

and many others. His breakthrough achievement was development of the electrodes for underwater welding in 1932. Their successful test at the Black Sea in the same year was the first practical realization of underwater welding. In this method, the gas bubbles formed as a result of welding reactions were generating a stable flow which shielded the arc from water. Underwater welding had quickly found practical application and already in 1936–1938 was used in the lifting of the ship ''Boris'' sunk in the Black Sea, as well as in the repair of bridges and other ships, especially during

.John Turkevic
Soviet men of science: academicians and corresponding members of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
Van Nostrand, 1963, p. 160

Awards

For his pioneering work in underwater welding, Khrenov was awarded the

in 1946. He was elected a member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; , ; ''NAN Ukrainy'') is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine that is the main center of development of Science and technology in Ukraine, science and technology by coordinatin ...

and of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in 1945 and 1953, respectively. His lifetime achievements were later acknowledged by the

Council of Ministers (Soviet Union) The Council of Ministers of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( rus, Совет министров СССР, r=Sovet Ministrov SSSR, p=sɐˈvʲet mʲɪˈnʲistrəf ˌɛsˌɛsˌɛsˈɛr), sometimes abbreviated as Sovmin or referred to as the ...

Prize (1982), and

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

(1986, posthumously). His other decorations include

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

and several other lesser orders.Хренов Константин Константинович
,

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

(in Russian)

Books

* Хренов К. К., Ярхо В. И. Технология дуговой электросварки
Technology of electric arc welding
1080 pages). М.-Л.: 1940. * Хренов К. К. Подводная электрическая сварка и резка металлов. М.: 1946. * Хренов К. К., Назаров Т. С.
Автоматическая дуговая электросварка
Гос. научно-тех. изд-во машиностроит. лит-ры, 1949 (273 pages) * Хренов К. К. Электрическая сварочная дуга. Киев М.: 1949.
Хренов К. К. Сварка, резка и пайка металлов. Киев М.: 1952
* Хренов К. К., Кушнарев Д. М. Керамические флюсы для автоматической дуговой сварки. Киев: 1954. * Хренов К. К
Сварка, резка и пайка металлов
Машгиз, 1959 (415 pages) * Хренов К. К
Сварка, резка и пайка металлов
4 изд., М., Машиностроение 1973 (407 pages).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khrenov, Konstantin Konstantinovich Soviet engineers Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences 1984 deaths 1894 births Russian marine engineers Soviet inventors Russian scientists Soviet electrical engineers

Biography

Achievements

Awards

Books

See also

References