http://www.steinbichler.de/en/
Home    Contact    Newsletter

New Main Propulsion Shaft Inspection System to Save Navy $10.8 Million over Five Years

[NMC Image]
"Advanced Metalworking Solutions for       
Naval Systems that Go in Harm's Way"
 
NMC Image
NMC is developing a white light scanning system for inspecting tapers of main propulsion shafts. The project is expected to save ship construction and maintenance costs. NMC photo
New Main Propulsion Shaft Inspection System to Save Navy $10.8 Million over Five Years
In an effort to save costs in ship construction and maintenance, the Navy Metalworking Center (NMC) is conducting a Navy ManTech project that is developing a prototype system for inspecting tapers of main propulsion shafts for submarines and aircraft carriers. Power is applied to submarine and aircraft carrier main propulsion shafts through a tapered connection between the shaft and the inboard coupling. To prevent mismatch, tapers are inspected using heavy and cumbersome gauges to perform blue contact checks. Each taper requires from six to 10 inspections as the taper is carefully shaped to the correct contour.

This project is evaluating and developing white light scanning technology for inspecting submarine and aircraft carrier propulsion shaft tapers. The project team solicited industry for a white light scanning system and selected a vendor to work with to develop a prototype for shipyard use and to optimize the prototype in response to testing and evaluation. The new system will eliminate the use of labor-intensive, costly, single-purpose gauges and replace them with less expensive systems that allow for more rapid inspections.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard is expected to implement the technology in August 2012 after it evaluates the prototype system. Implementation is anticipated at the other three naval shipyards and the shaft manufacturing facilities after that. The four naval shipyards will realize an estimated cost savings of $10.8 million over five years based on eliminating the maintenance on the 36 gauges currently in the system by replacing them with four white light scanning systems, removing the need to purchase eight gauges for Virginia Class Submarines, and reducing the labor to perform shaft inspections by 7,400 hours annually. In addition to cost benefits, safety during taper measurements will be enhanced by removing the need for lifts and the necessity to work near suspended loads, and taper measurement accuracy will be improved by removing the variation that is inherent to blue checks.

The project team includes NMC, the naval shipyards, NAVSEA 05Z22, NAVSEA 04X, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, and Steinbichler Vision Systems.
For more information, contact:
Daniel L. Winterscheidt, Ph.D.
NMC Program Director
winter@ctc.com
814-269-6840
This article was prepared by the Navy Metalworking Center, operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation, under Contract No. N00014-10-D-0062 to the Office of Naval Research as part of the Navy ManTech Program. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
​
back
 

Perfect surfaces and documented automotive body shell quality

Gestamp Polska and VW Nutzfahrzeuge use ABIS II
for quality control

For the first time, an automotive supplier of car body shells is using ABIS II technology for quality control and documentation. Based on the close supplier-customer relationship between Gestamp Polska (press shop Wrzesnia/Poland) and VW Nutzfahrzeuge/Commercial Vehicles (Poznan/Poland), the responsible quality managers of both companies had investigated the technical possibilities for optical surface inspection. As a result, Gestamp and VW Nutzfahrzeuge decided to purchase an ABIS II offline system for on-site operation in the press shop of Gestamp Polska. read more ..

Airbus NDT-Inspection Team uses Steinbichler ISISmobile 3000 Shearography System

Successful cooperation between Airbus and Steinbichler Optotechnik in applying the shearography method for the non-destructive testing of composite materials

Since 2003, Airbus uses a Steinbichler shearography system on various Airbus sites in Germany and France. The NDT inspection team has a ISISmobile 3000 in operation which covers a measurement area of nearly DIN A3 paper size and has proven a reliable tool for Airbus quality assurance. Due to the system´s high resolution (provided by the shearography method - 30 nm out-of-plane), possible defects can be found throughout various material combinations and defect depths.
 
© 2011 Steinbichler Optotechnik GmbH, All Rights Reserved.