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July 2002 Welcome to The CTMA Connector, a monthly newsletter designed to provide news and ideas about the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) program. The CTMA program is a joint Department of Defense/National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (DoD/NCMS) effort promoting collaborative technology development between industry and the DoD maintenance and repair facilities. This newsletter highlights ongoing projects, serves as a forum for promoting new project ideas, and provides other news of interest to the program. Our goal is to stimulate your participation and solicit your input. Feel free to submit items for the newsletter as well as any suggestions to make it more useful. More information about the program can be found at http://ctma.ncms.org/. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the CTMA Connector, send a message to listmanager@ncms.org with "subscribe CTMANewsletter" or "unsubscribe CTMANewsletter" in the subject line. Ongoing Project News New project approved: Damage and Wear Assessment Using Condition Based Monitoring. The goal of this project is to develop a simple and cost-effective method of early detection of failure in rotating machinery. The technology being developed will: 1. Qualitatively assess a machine’s or component’s condition 2. Rank identical machines against one another 3. Monitor the rate of degradation 4. Provide information as to when intervention is required. The breadth of applications ranges from traditional rotating equipment (motors, pumps, and fans that operate as low as ½ rpm) to leaking valves, seals and even cracks in machinery structures. Expected Benefits include:
DoD participants include the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Barstow Marine Corp Multicommodity Maintenance Center (MC3), Albany MC3, and Red River Army Depot. The NCMS project manager is Steve Hale, 734-995-2195. We welcome the following companies into NCMS membership and their participation in the CTMA program: Spatial Integrated Systems, Inc. (SIS) SIS is a small business enterprise specializing in leading edge information technologies, digital three-dimensional data capture systems, three-dimensional display and visualization of information, and artificial intelligence. SIS offers digital video imaging systems, and software tools for 3-D modeling, virtual collaborative prototyping, and wireless asset management. www.sisinc.org
RLW, Inc. RLW specializes in development and marketing of condition based maintenance software and hardware. Their current product is the S2NAP™ a small, smart, wireless sensor/processor for machinery health monitoring. www.rlwinc.com
Project Opportunities Mobile Repair System for Aircraft, Ships/Submarines & Ground Vehicles Traditional repair techniques for land, sea, and air vehicles in many instances require extensive work involving dismantling of structural components for repair in depot facilities. In many instances, this dismantling procedure is very time consuming and extremely costly. Conventional powder or round wire laser metal deposition repair techniques do not allow for quality in-situ repair of fatigue cracks or corrosion surface damage of large components, especially the components with thin wall structures and when the repair is needed on vertical or overhead surfaces. There is a need at DOD repair depots for equipment with in-situ repair capabilities which would dramatically reduce the time to repair or replace critical components, while reducing recurring repair costs, and significantly improving the U.S. military weapons systems support and readiness. A proprietary laser precision metal deposition (PMDTM) process developed by H&R Technology Inc. (HRT) is a metal additive fabrication process that allows production or repair of complex 3-Dimensional metal parts from an electronic file. Unlike other metal deposition processes, HRT’s PMDTM process fuses solid metal flat wire onto a substrate without the need to create a molten pool of metal. As a result, HRT’s PMDTM process repairs or produces metal parts with an order of magnitude less heat input than competing technologies, yielding parts with minimal distortion and superior metallurgical characteristics. In the proposed effort, HRT will design and manufacture a low heat input Mobile-PMDTM Net Shape Manufacturing and Repair system deployable on-site, at a military depot, or industrial manufacturing facility. The system would provide unique new capabilities of producing on-site in-situ, low heat input repairs, cladding, fabrication, or reinforcement of damaged large and small metal components which otherwise would be too difficult or expensive to transport for repair. It will allow in-situ repair or reinforcement of ship, submarine, or aircraft frame and engine components, such as, for example, cracked thin metal panels, compressor, turbine, or afterburner case, etc. utilizing such metals as nickel and titanium based alloys. The Mobile-PMDTM system would be capable of operating also on curved structures and vertical or overhead surfaces. It will be integrated with a four-axis of motion robot, with FANUC Robotics’ vision-guided line tracking software and the repair/fabrication path teaching capabilities. For further information and to become part of this effort, contact Mike Gnam, 734-995-4971. Application of Thread Forming Fasteners in Net Shaped Cored Castings and Metal Matrix Composites This project proposes to first determine the feasibility to incorporate net-shaped hole features in lightweight materials, using cast aluminum, titanium and magnesium alloys, and metal matrix composites, to establish feasibility for use of thread forming fasteners (TFFs) in various joining applications in automotive and other vehicular, military, and aerospace parts manufacturing. The focus is evaluating the use of net shaped hole features in castings in combination with thread forming fasteners to thereby reduce manufacturing and quality assurance costs without sacrificing structural or joint integrity. Primary cost reductions would result from elimination of drilling and tapping operations from the manufacturing process. Specifically, the cost opportunity would be derived from:
In the feasibility phase, an assessment will be done to define the current state and near-term readiness of the industry and technical feasibility through laboratory demonstration in one selected aluminum alloy. Assuming successful completion of this first phase, subsequent phases to generate guidelines for the design, engineering and manufacturing of various lightweight alloys, metal matrix composites, dies, and fasteners suitable for meeting the clamp load requirements of the part applications would be proposed separately. Product and die design considerations and the processes to cast, assemble and service joints incorporating thread forming fasteners in net shaped holes would be developed and the business case confirmed. The final phase would utilize information learned from the earlier phases to verify the new design and process guidelines against current practices and methods (using drilling and tapping) by casting, assembling, and testing parts against current industry and military performance standards. Interested parties should contact Connie Philips, 734-995-7051. New Project Ideas (click on topics to see descriptions)
We appreciate your feedback. Please contact Chuck Ryan with suggestions or input on other topics that would be of interest to you in this newsletter. The CTMA Program is sponsored by the Department of Defense; the content of this newsletter does not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the government; no official endorsement should be inferred. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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