October 2005

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 listserv@listserv.ncms.org with "subscribe CTMANewsletter" or "unsubscribe CTMANewsletter" in the subject line.

Recently Approved Projects:

Smart Machine Phase II

The characteristics of a smart machine include the following:  A smart machine

• Knows its capabilities/condition and can be interviewed

• Knows how to machine a part in an optimal manner

• Monitors, diagnoses, and optimizes itself

• Knows the quality of its work

• Learns and improves over time

The Smart Machine Phase II proof-of-concept demonstration deploys sensors and autonomous computer processes to support basic machine tools and manufacturing processes.  The interfaces, data structures, and data transfer mechanisms will utilize/advance open-source industry standards to assure the broadest plug-and-play functionality for the mix of new and legacy equipment from different manufacturers in a typical shop.  The resulting smart machine infrastructure of autonomous computer processes will log data, take independent action, learn, and interact with operating, support, and management personnel.  The demonstration will show how smart machines facilitate making parts better, faster, and at less cost.

The NCMS contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Assembly Design and Documentation

Technology from this project will set a very high standard for future technical data generation and ease of use. At least initially, OEMs that use Unigraphics and Teamcenter^TM from UGS Corporation will benefit the most, but both the USAF and USMC are interested in modeling troublesome subsystems to demonstrate effectiveness in depot applications.  This Phase I project will comprise the initial development of the system and validation of the technology by GE, using real engine data.  Showing success in phase I, a planned Phase II would include work to automate as many tasks as possible as well as the depot subsystem modeling tasks.

GE’s initial trial of the system indicates that OEMs can achieve reductions in assembly process planning cycle times of up to 67%.  Benefits will accrue to depots and to operations support in terms of reductions in errors, maintenance cycle times, and in training requirements.  Achieving benefits will be dependent on the availability of electronic delivery of 3D animated work instructions.  New platforms such as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) may see immediate maintenance benefits.  Applying the MPAD (Maintainability, Planning, Analysis and Documentation) system to platform modifications will drive new technology into legacy Technical Orders (TO) databases.

The benefits of this project are improved productivity, elimination of errors, and reductions in lead time by linking assembly design and documentation processes to the full Engineering definition:

•         Reduce manual effort to author complex assembly and maintenance manuals

•         Work directly from complete Engineering definition

•         Avoid time to identify and interpret specifications

•         Improved generation of animated assembly instructions

•         Improved quality and accuracy of the documentation

•         Interaction animations:  better content, no additional cost

•         Positioned for automated flow of digitized procedures

•         Reduce transcription risks

•         Change impact analysis – accurate and complete propagation of design changes.

The NCMS contact is Tony Haynes, tonyh@ncms.org, 734-995-4930.

Recently Completed Project:

Damage and Wear Assessment Using Condition-Based Monitoring

Machinery for manufacturing and plant/asset operation needs to be maintained to ensure continued functionality. Preventative main­tenance is not sufficient to avoid unscheduled and costly downtime of equipment, particularly those that involve heavy loads and intermittent service.

Traditionally maintenance has followed the philosophy of either run-to-failure or planned maintenance at regular intervals. Each of these approaches has been found to be more expen­sive and time-consuming when compared to condition-based methods, under which the condition of a machine is monitored and maintenance is only undertaken if conditions warrant it. This method equally applies to manufacturing processes where the settings of some machines or components may need to be altered based on the monitored condition of the process.

There exists a great need within the DoD and industry for reliable, cost effective condition-based maintenance (CBM) systems. CBM when correctly implemented reduces costs, improves safety, extends life and yields products of better quality in manufacturing. Such systems can only emerge from adequate research and development in the areas of monitoring, diagnostics and efficient modeling of the CBM system.

Improved prognostic data would enable more accurate development of depot and intermediate level work packages and save man-hours by enhancing existing CBM methodologies to improve machinery availability and reduce costly emergent repairs. It is widely recognized that unplanned emergency maintenance is up to ten times more costly than planned maintenance. Even in the case of “emergent” work during planned availability (Naval vessels) the cost is 175% of work bid in an initial work package.

In the case of the CVN/CV, fleet studies show that some 20% of funding for each ship availability is spent on various repairs to rotating machinery ($2 million). An additional $10K is spent on express shipping of critical parts. NAVSEA estimates regarding earlier detection of needed work, suggest a saving of in excess of $250,000 per ship per availability for emergent work. In addition, substantial savings would be generated from reducing failure of equipment at sea. It has been forecast that total savings for the CVN/CV fleet would be in the order of $32 million.

In the modern military and industrial setting, there exist many methods for assessing the con­dition of machines, with vibration analysis being most commonly used and understood. To a lesser extent, other techniques such as thermography and wear monitoring are also adopted.

The significant advancements in development of high-frequency acoustic emission (AE) have provided another option for monitoring the con­dition of rotating equipment. During controlled laboratory based tests, AE has shown the ability to detect faults earlier than more traditional and established methods of condition monitoring.

The aim of the Damage and Wear project was to investigate the comparative effectiveness and ease of use of AE, vibration analysis and some supplementary signals in the areas of machine condition monitoring and diagnostics. The goal was to develop a simple and cost-effective method of early detection of failure in rotating machinery to:

•         Qualitatively assess a machine’s condition

•         Rank identical machines against one another

•         Monitor the rate of degradation

•         Provide information as to when intervention was required.

The NCMS contact is Steve Hale, steveh@ncms.org, 734-995-2195.

Participants needed on New Project Ideas (click on topics to see descriptions), if you are interested, contact the project manager listed.

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.

Copyright 2005
National Center for Manufacturing Sciences