The U.S. Navy program to improve the reliability and seaworthiness of its Hovercrafts is moving forward. As first reported by Design News, Navy engineers are changing the technology used to attach the rubber-pleated skirts that contain high-pressure air that moves the craft above water. Newly developed fasteners can be replaced with regular tools, speeding replacement of damaged skirts. The new TineLok system has one or more tines that work in conjunction with longitudinal bolt thread channels to prevent counter rotation and loosening. The skirt manufacturer, Avon Rubber, has sent a purchase order for the first Navy Hovercraft replacement program. Orders to cover the rest of the fleet are expected to begin in May. There are 100 skirts on each Hovercraft and maintenance costs will be cut 25 to 30 percent. The first fasteners are all stainless: the nut, the tine and bolt. Tests are also being conducted on plastic versions that cut weight by 75 percent. Nuts and bolts are made from PEEK and the tine is made from glass-reinforced nylon. Rod is being machined for the sample run. The Army is looking at the technology for some of its weapons systems. It may also have applications for fastening of lighting in various applications.
Listen to a podcast on the new Hovercraft fastening technology.
A new process for laser-welding large-scale, steel-aluminum foam sandwich structures for lightweighting ships, which eliminates intermetallic phase, has been demonstrated.
A major advance in repairing composite structures combining robots and lasers bodes well for commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A350XWB, which contain composites in large proportions of their structures.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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