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 trouble entails the Naval Aviation Coaching Programs and Ranges Program Workplace (PMA-205), Naval Schooling 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 major 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 important coaching necessities but additionally superior readiness and lower lifecycle prices, immediately supporting our Sailors and the mission.”
Tackling Price and Logistics Obstacles
The shift to 3D printing immediately responds to longstanding points tied to the standard visor provide chain. The legacy JHMCS visor value roughly $870 every and will take years to obtain, constraints that slowed curriculum supply and sustained operations. With CNATT anticipating a necessity for round 40 visors yearly, the standard acquisition strategy was seen as each costly and inefficient.
Aligned with service-wide targets to strengthen readiness and management spending, PMA-205 and Prepared Related Studying (RRL)/A Faculty workers explored recent options to take care of coaching momentum and promote a safer aviation drive.
The group settled on growing a prototype visor printed utilizing Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene. The additively manufactured half happy core necessities, akin to dimensional precision, compatibility with the Helmet Show Unit, and the identical working traits maintainers count on when trimming parts.
The result’s a visor that may be produced inside weeks relatively than years and at roughly 65% much less value. This system additionally generated a technical information package deal in order that items can reproduce the design independently, setting the stage for a broader, repeatable provide mannequin. “This initiative represents greater than only a value discount,” mentioned Schiffelbein. “It’s a proactive funding in agility, tutorial 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, Normal Lattice, a computational design firm, was awarded a contract by the U.S. Military to enhance the energy-absorbing efficiency of fight helmets. Understanding of its Chicago headquarters, the agency spent one yr growing a digital design and simulation framework able to producing lattice constructions outperforming standard foams.
Leveraging computational modeling and additive manufacturing, the group produced helmet padding engineered to fulfill 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 workers to hazardous chemical substances akin to jet gas. The challenge originated from a request to check gloves utilized by gas handlers. Beforehand, evaluators needed to put on the gloves and manually flex their arms in gas, risking chemical publicity if the glove failed. Normal engineer Edward Dalton proposed the 3D printed surrogate hand, preserving take a look at accuracy whereas eliminating hazard to personnel.
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Featured picture reveals Sailors outfitted with cutting-edge 3D printed Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System. Picture through Navy.