Posted Date: 02/12/2011
Innovative fastener technology helps eliminate the weight and complexity of secondary locking features
Whether it is for ground vehicles, planes, or satellites, lighter is better – and often required – not only for fuel efficiency but for tactical mobility.
No matter what the vehicle, every extra ounce of weight requires more fuel – which is costly, adds more weight, and may be difficult to supply in remote locations. Excess weight can even threaten a vehicle’s viability, whether for tactical objectives such as airborne transport to a drop zone, for launch out of Earth’s orbit, or for commercial or consumer adoption.
To meet the challenge of reducing vehicle weight, engineers are tackling the problem in an unexpected way. With an innovative fastener technology, they are eliminating the weight and complexity of secondary locking features in military, aerospace, and consumer vehicles, including a prototype of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV), a family of next generation military vehicles still in development.
The JLTV, for instance, is designed to offer the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. better light tactical vehicle payload, protection, performance, and fuel efficiency, while being light enough to be transported by helicopter or C-130 aircraft. Despite the shock and vibration of off-road driving and battlefield conditions, it must remain reliable.
Why Fasteners?
Fasteners may not be the first place engineers look to reduce vehicle weight, but the typical car has about 15,000 fasteners, and …
Source : American Fastener Journal – Read full article on the given date in the news section via American Fastener Journal.