A number of Navy organizations have joined forces to bolster aircrew safety with a brand new utility of additive manufacturing: a 3D printed model of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS).
The hassle includes the Naval Aviation Coaching Methods and Ranges Program Workplace (PMA-205), Naval Training and Coaching Command (NETC), Heart for Naval Aviation Technical Coaching (CNATT), and Commander, Naval Air Forces coaching and readiness (CNAF N7), all working to modernize coaching for aircrew survival gear roles.
“This effort is a chief instance of how collaboration and innovation throughout instructions can ship actual outcomes for the fleet,” mentioned Capt. Jonathan Schiffelbein, PMA-205 program supervisor. “By leveraging additive manufacturing, our groups not solely met crucial coaching necessities but in addition superior readiness and reduce lifecycle prices, straight supporting our Sailors and the mission.”
Tackling Value and Logistics Obstacles
The shift to 3D printing straight responds to longstanding points tied to the normal visor provide chain. The legacy JHMCS visor price roughly $870 every and will take years to acquire, constraints that slowed curriculum supply and sustained operations. With CNATT anticipating a necessity for round 40 visors yearly, the traditional acquisition method was seen as each costly and inefficient.
Aligned with service-wide objectives to strengthen readiness and management spending, PMA-205 and Prepared Related Studying (RRL)/A College employees explored recent options to take care of coaching momentum and promote a safer aviation pressure.
The staff settled on growing a prototype visor printed utilizing Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. The additively manufactured half happy core necessities, reminiscent of dimensional precision, compatibility with the Helmet Show Unit, and the identical working traits maintainers anticipate when trimming parts.
The result’s a visor that may be produced inside weeks fairly than years and at roughly 65% much less price. This system additionally generated a technical knowledge bundle in order that models can reproduce the design independently, setting the stage for a broader, repeatable provide mannequin. “This initiative represents greater than only a price discount,” mentioned Schiffelbein. “It’s a proactive funding in agility, educational constancy and long-term readiness.”
Additive Manufacturing Expands Protecting Gear Choices
Protection businesses are more and more turning to additive manufacturing to rethink private safety. In 2021, Basic Lattice, a computational design firm, was awarded a contract by the U.S. Military to enhance the energy-absorbing efficiency of fight helmets. Figuring out of its Chicago headquarters, the agency spent one 12 months growing a digital design and simulation framework able to producing lattice buildings outperforming standard foams.
Leveraging computational modeling and additive manufacturing, the staff produced helmet padding engineered to satisfy real-world affect eventualities and DEVCOM Soldier Heart necessities. The printed lattices underwent efficiency and sturdiness testing, with the target of boosting soldier safety and survivability.
Elsewhere, the Protection Logistics Company Troop Assist’s Product Take a look at Heart has adopted 3D printing to make glove evaluations safer. Engineers created a printed mechanical hand that bends like an actual one, enabling gloves to be checked for leaks with out exposing employees to hazardous chemical substances reminiscent of jet gasoline. The challenge originated from a request to check gloves utilized by gasoline handlers. Beforehand, evaluators needed to put on the gloves and manually flex their arms in gasoline, risking chemical publicity if the glove failed. Basic engineer Edward Dalton proposed the 3D printed surrogate hand, preserving check accuracy whereas eliminating hazard to personnel.
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Featured picture reveals Sailors geared up with cutting-edge 3D printed Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. Picture by way of Navy.
