The CTMA Connector

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 message body.

Plan to Participate in the CTMA/JTEG Regional Workshop:

Register at https://www.ncms.org/SSL/Tobyhanna/regstration.htm

Joint Technology Exchange Group & Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities Workshop - “Technology Transition as a Continuous Process Improvement (CPI)”

in Collaboration with the Tobyhanna Army Depot

July 24-26

Lackawanna Inn, Scranton, PA

The agenda includes briefings on CPI from each of the services as well as concentrating on efforts and needs at Tobyhanna Army Depot. A reception with tabletop displays will allow you to get a first hand look at new technologies and to network with other participants. The workshop ends on Thursday with a tour of Tobyhanna Army Depot. This is a good chance to learn of initiatives throughout DoD and to spin-up new project ideas for the CTMA program. The agenda can be found at:

http://www.ncms.org/Tobyhanna/TobyhannaAgenda.pdf

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We welcome the following new members into NCMS:

Oxonica plc (www.oxonica.com)

Oxonica is a multi-sector business with a focus on nanomaterials. They sell a fuel-borne diesel oxidation catalyst (Envirox™) that improves fuel economy and reduces particulate emissions.

Radian Tool & Engineering (www.radiantool.com)

Radian Tool is a precision machining company that supplies production and prototype components to the defense and automotive industries.

CTMA Project Completion: Robotic Painting Optimization for Military Vehicles

Chemical agent resistant coatings (CARC) camouflage application to military land-vehicles is currently a labor-intensive process that requires the application of a single-color base coat, followed by manually drawing the camouflage pattern in chalk to allow the application of the final two colors. The camouflage pattern is laid out using an overhead projector. This requires a large, darkened room and limits that area for other uses. The manual drawing of patterns is also a very slow process requiring a fairly high level of accuracy. The application of a base coat wastes paint and increases the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted into the atmosphere.

Few commercial robotic painting systems in use require the versatility that is required for military maintenance depot vehicle camouflage painting scenarios. The Robotic Painting Optimization project approach involved combining vision and robot technologies to advance the state-of-the-art using an interface between the vision system and the robot to recognize and communicate:

Vehicle model (e.g. HMMWV)
Model variants (e.g. HMMWV truck)
Model modifications (non-standard features)
Respective location and position coordinates to the robot to prompt path initiation and changes in path.

The recognition of a specific vehicle model or model variant and its 6-degree of freedom (DOF) location and position, recognition of features added-to or taken away from the model and its 6-DOF coordinates, and communication of the model, model variant and model modifications and its 6-DOF coordinates to the robot triggers pre-programmed path codes and robot movements through a correct path for that camouflage pattern.
The Robotic Painting Optimization project was designed to first assess the feasibility of the above approach and to demonstrate the concept, prior to launching into a full-scale robotic painting implementation at a depot.

The NCMS contact is Connie Philips, conniep@ncms.org, 386-445-2785.

CTMA Projects seeking interested participants:

Aircraft Panel Replacement – Bill Waddell, 231-264-9774, Wwadd49648@aol.com Utilizing advanced inspection technology, the holes on an aircraft panel adjacent to the panel to be replaced are mapped and a surface data model created with precise hole locations. The data model will then be used to create a program to drill the holes. The panel will then formed and assembled to the aircraft.
Replacement for Hexavalent Chromium in Surface Finishing Process Phase II
– Paul Chalmer, 734-995-4911, paulc@ncms.org. The proposed technology is being positioned as a drop-in replacement for currently practiced hexavalent chromium electroplating, subject to currently acceptable MIL SPECS for hard chrome electroplating.
Modernization of Nickel Electroplating at Depots – Paul Chalmer, 734-995-4911, paulc@ncms.org. The objective of this proposed project is to introduce new nickel electroplating tooling into Department of Defense maintenance activities, including no-mask tooling, auxiliary anodes, innovative racks, partial immersion plating, and solution pumping.
Enhanced Wiring Integrity System Phase II – Lee Patch, 734-995-4972, leep@ncms.org Phase I of the Electrical Wiring Integrity Systems Program (EWIS) demonstrated the potential that can be realized by effective wire testing and maintenance. Phase II will extend EWIS into other DoD applications that can benefit from the technology.
Laser Projection of Camouflage and Stencil Patterns – Connie Philips, 386-445-2785, conniep@ncms.org Application or chalking of camouflage and stencil patterns is a manual method dependent on the skill of the technician. This project aims to reduce the time required to chalk a system and to change to another system is required to make the painting operation more efficient and to reduce the disruption of the product flow while increasing quality.
Smart Machine Phase III – Tony Haynes, 734-995-4930, tonyh@ncms.org This effort will deploy ‘Smart Machine’ technologies to equip different machines from different manufacturers with integrated plug-and-play condition logging capabilities that support the operating, processing, and maintenance teams to effectively optimize factory asset performance over time, and lay the foundation for additional developments, such as predictive maintenance.
Metal Finishing Development Program – Bill Chenevert, 734-995-7989, billc@ncms.org This project will develop a unified DOD-wide metal finishing (electroplater) workforce training program. The self-study PC based program (i.e. e-learning or computer based learning) would consist of modular lessons that cover common metal finishing processes. Specific processes include, but are not limited to, chromium, cadmium, nickel, copper, and silver plating, aluminum anodizing, and conversion coatings (for cadmium, aluminum, and magnesium).
Erosion Corrosion Resistant Coatings for Gas Turbine Engine Compressor Airfoils – Debbie Lilu, 734-995-7038, debral@ncms.org Development, testing, and deployment of errosion corrosion resistant coatings for engines.

Participants needed on New Project Ideas: Submit and view project ideas at http://ctmaideas.ncms.org. Add your comments to new project ideas and indicate your interest in helping to define and participate in the project.

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.