Mike Retford, managing director of MGR Fluid Power, said: “Obsolescence is a huge issue in the defence industry and often, when many vehicle components fail, the original manufacture of that component has long gone out of business, making a build-to-print process difficult.”
MGR engineers can take an obsolescent hydraulic component from a military vehicle and either make a new component to print if the existing designs are still available, or completely reverse engineer a new part from the existing component. This service delivers an immediate solution to failed military vehicles out in the field, and allowing both land and air vehicles to remain in service for longer periods.
Previously, it has been difficult to repair military vehicles once parts become obsolete due to the complexities of the work involved. In many cases, new components, such as hydraulic valves, have to be fitted into the exact same space as the original valves, and rarely does a standard model of valve suit these specific dimensions.
However, MGR has recently carried out a successful project where it upgraded a previously obsolescent valve for a military vehicle through reverse engineering. The work required the manufacture of a bespoke valve based upon the original part, which requires a detailed understanding of hydraulic valves and how they perform in tough terrain environments. Not only did the part have to fit in the existing space with no extra surrounding room, it also had to operate efficiently.
“For this particular project, we had to reverse engineer a valve to the same size to fit the original design criteria, connect the necessary pipes and perform a factory acceptance test for the customer to demonstrate that the vehicle will continue to operate successfully,” Retford added. “We had to set the valve to withstand six different pressures in order for it to perform to capacity in difficult environments.”
MGR Fluid Power believes that this method will be play a large role in maintaining defence systems and keeping equipment operational for longer periods of time.
