When NASA asked…“How can we align an object on earth so that it functions reliably?”

WARREN-KNIGHT had the answer.

Mission:

Surfaces on the International Space Station have to withstand both searing sunlight and frigid shadows. To design against warping, NASA needed to know how much distortion to expect.

Problem:

One of the challenges designing equipment to operate in space is the extremes between 250°F on the sunny side and -250°F in the shade. To test critical components, NASA asked Warren-Knight to invent a solution.
The test needed a vacuum chamber with special lighting to replicate the three-dimensional environment that would exist on the orbiting Space Station with continuous shifting between temperatures of intense heat and near absolute zero.

Solution:

The solution employed a device used by Warren-Knight in systems as earthly as keeping track of a dam’s structural integrity and measuring the sway of a skyscraper. An array of electronic level transducers sensitive enough to measure the vibration from a passing truck were linked to a computerized system that provided real-time data as the light source was moved across the test object’s surface.

Using state-of-the-art custom manufactured components, Warren-Knight brings the same problem-solving expertise NASA required to such tasks as aligning military ship and aircraft components, useful in a wide array of industrial and infrastructural settings.

Missions:

• monitor dams for bulges, distortions
• monitor old bridges for warping, failures
• measure wind directions for fire fighters
• align windmill blades for max. efficiency
• measure skyscraper sway in wind, earthquake
• align surfaces, radars on aircraft, ships
• align drive shafts, out-of-level machinery

STRUCTURAL FAILURE DETECTION

Using Warren-Knight technology, such as NASA did on its Space Station surfaces, W-K products can aid Structural Engineers in predicting and preventing catastrophic failure. Level sensors (WK-34-3340) in conjunction with the Hand Held Level (WK-34-2300) can be used on structures such as bridges to detect shifting and vibrations. Had this technology been used on the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi in Minneapolis, 13 lives might have been spared, and billions saved in lost productivity.

In designing alignment systems, such instruments are able to detect alignment shifts as slight as the tremor caused by a passing truck. Uses for some of this state-of-the-art technology include monitoring dams for distortions that can be caused by base erosion— measuring to arc seconds the amount of sway a building experiences in wind and in the event of earthquakes, providing design engineers with rapid, pinpoint accuracy.

MILITARY ALIGNMENT, CALIBRATION

A good deal of the problem solving at Warren-Knight involves military applications. From systems which calibrate the boresights on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, to making sure the components of sensitive radar systems are manufactured, installed and aligned to critical tolerances.

In assembling the AWACS (Airborne Warning & Control System) radar pod, for example, W-K equipment is used to make sure the support struts inside the rotating discs are manufactured to exacting angle specifications.

In the noses of jet fighters, W-K systems are used to make sure that the radar array is seated in the correct position relative to the rest of the aircraft.

On naval vessels, the Warren-Knight shipboard alignment system integrated in real-time, gathers readings from several points on the vessel to determine whether the ship itself is in alignment from stem to stern. It also determines whether the weapons platforms, radars, and other components are in alignment with the vessel. This is done to make sure that the ordinance is delivered accurately on target.

INDUSTRIAL ALIGNMENT

New industrial technologies require ever increasing alignment accuracies. The emerging wind-energy industry uses equipment such as the Electronic Levels to make sure that the huge (150-foot long) blades they make are uniformly shaped for balance and maximum generation efficiency.

Warren-Knight solutions help printers align paper feeds on massive web presses; align blades on earth-moving equipment to produce accurate grades on construction sites; check alignments on machine beds and drive shafts; and journals on locomotive engines that are being rebuilt.

“Anytime you need to check the relationship between two surfaces, whether it’s a propeller blade angle to itself, or a ship drive shaft to the vessel’s center line, we are manufacturing unique solutions to unique problems”, says Rick Marron, Warren-Knight’s Special Product Sales Manager.

Marron says some projects become more complex when the surfaces to be aligned are oddly shaped or the materials are too sensitive, such as airframe surfaces, to have measuring devices attached directly to them. He explains: [quote align="center" color="#999999"]In these cases, the extra step is designing jigs which are precisely fabricated out of stable temperature-resistant materials. The jigs fit the shape of a surface tightly and are designed to attach an alignment device repeatedly with no variation.[/quote]

MICRO-CLIMATE WEATHER BALLOONS

One of the more unusual problems Warren-Knight has provided solutions for, is helping track wind patterns for forest firefighters, weather forecasters, scientists tracking crop-destroying insect migrations and pollution, and for hot air balloon pilots to ‘steer’ to landing spots.

Technology has so transformed modern naval warfare that when a ship fires on an enemy vessel, the target can quickly locate the source and return fire with deadly accuracy. You may not get a second chance at a first strike.  The navy of a major U.S. ally in the Eastern hemisphere was struggling with the accuracy of its bore sight systems and needed a fix. What they got was a whole new way of putting ordnance on target.

The history of the Eastern hemisphere is riddled with political fault lines that periodically erupt in armed conflict. What’s changed in the past two decades is the rapid development of sophisticated weapons systems, and any nation’s armed forces that fail to keep up risk being caught flat-footed.

The navy of a major U.S. ally in the region had just such a problem. The system they were using to check the accuracy of their big naval guns was proving unreliable. Big guns on a constantly-moving platform such as a ship need to be checked often, especially after they’ve been fired enough times to cause wear and tear on the barrels and turret mounting plates.

Long gone are the days of “fire for test,” when a ranging round could be lobbed and there would be time to make adjustments and “walk” successive rounds onto the target. Today’s modern ships have the ability to track enemy vessels, tell precisely where those incoming rounds are originating, and quickly return fire with punishing accuracy.

Mission:

The Bradley Fighting Vehicle is an essential tool for America’s ground troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Designed to transport infantry, the Bradley offers armored protection, covering fire for dismounted troops, and weaponry to suppress enemy tanks and armored vehicles. The Bradley can accommodate nine: a crew of three (commander, gunner, driver) plus six fully-geared soldiers.

BAE Systems of York, Pennsylvania was awarded a contract worth over one billion dollars from the U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command for refurbishing 1,042 Bradley Fighting Vehicles that have served in Iraq.

Vehicles go through an intensive make-over after combat operations under some of the harshest conditions on earth. Seeing that American troops have their highly survivable, mobile and lethal Bradley systems back in top condition as soon as possible is vital to achieving the mission.

BAE is a leading defense contractor that has developed a rapid, efficient process to refurbish used Bradleys so they can be returned to service with minimum downtime.
Except for one stubborn bottleneck.

THE SYSTEM:

Aligning the gun sight with the Bradley’s main weapon, the M242 25 mm chain gun, was taking so long the process was slowing deliveries. BAE employed a technique that has been in continuous use since World War Two and works fine except that for BAE’s purposes it was proving to be cumbersome and time-consuming.

The system features two arc-shaped towers, each about 40 feet tall, fitted with an array of collimators, concave mirrors at which a telescope is aimed, in this case from inside the tank through the barrel and simultaneously from the mounting platform for the sighting unit. Optical collimators are also used to calibrate binoculars, another device where two sightlines must meet. The process of calibrating the weapons platform required removing the turret and then adjusting the pitch and yaw of the fire control mounting plate to align with the main gun’s optical system. There are a series of six (yes?) collimators to test different levels and angles of attack. Rick Marron, Warren-Knight’s Special Product Sales Manager, “It has a collection of motor drives that allow you to tilt the angle as necessary so that it precisely matches the pitch, roll, and yaw of the upward and downward movement of that gun.”

THE PROBLEM:

BAE’s problem was that it could refit the vehicles faster than it could calibrate the weapons system, the final stage of the process. The company had only two stations that could align the gun sights, and it was trying to find an alternative to having to invest millions to purchase and set up additional stations. The engineers at BAE explored using a Swiss-made angle sensor to align the sight plate. It was a step in the right direction, but the angle sensor could not detect yaw in the sight mounting plate. The Swiss company’s rep told BAE, [quote align="center" color="#999999"]We can’t solve the problems, but we know someone who can: Warren-Knight.[/quote]

Warren developed a three part approach:

1. Prepare a white paper exploring the engineering
of the technology.

2. Prepare a report on the recommended technology
for a prototype concept, called a protocept.

3. Build a working prototype.

[quote align="center" color="#999999"]We started out with a concept to strike a laser beam to the collimator towers. But crunching the numbers
revealed too many flaws and inaccuracies.[/quote]

THE SOLUTION:

“Creative problem solving begins with looking at every possible way of doing something,” says John Henry Warren, President. “The most apt metaphor is that there are many ways to change a tire. You can use a jack or a lift. You can jack up the back of the car. You can jack up the front and maybe the back wheel will come off the ground. You can take the wheel off with a torch. You could flip the car over. “In this case, we asked ourselves, ‘Instead of aligning the plate from outside the vehicle, could we do it from inside?” Warren climbed into one of the Bradleys at the plant, looked around, and had an epiphany when he noticed that the mounting plate had a connecting piece that entered the interior of the vehicle. In effect, it was possible to measure the angle of the mounting plate from inside, as well as the angle of the gun barrel. The details are classified, but the system Warren-Knight came up with employs mirrors plus a camera, telescope, and electronic angle sensor.

“In a sense this was a low-tech process,” says Warren. “All it required was a set of eyeballs and a willingness to look through what was thought to be the wrong end of the telescope. We weren’t called in the reinvent the process of calibrating the Bradley, but that’s what we ended up doing.” The solution yielded unexpected benefits in addition to speeding up delivery times and making it the calibration process less cumbersome and costly. The system Warren developed turned out to be highly portable, allowing calibration in the field as well.

THE DEBRIEF:

[quote align="center" color="#999999"]Many engineers will look at a problem and say, ‘That’s the only way you can do it.’ People get married to their ideas. Sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes and ears to come in, and instead of talking, listen, and instead of assuming, observe.[/quote]