Post by Keith Heitmann on Mar 31, 2002 1:20:48 GMT -5
The army is experimenting with a new program. No, it's not a new type of MASH medical unit. The MPH is actually a 53 foot-long tractor-trailer containing a compact communications and manufacturing unit designed to produce select high-failure parts in the field.
The MPH contains lathes and milling machines that can create spare parts for truck engines, such as pulleys or interlocking geears from raw material stored in the trailer. The MPH will retrieve manufacturing information via satellite from an extensive database of parts specs.
If no data are available, it will be able to create geometric data through a 3D laser scanning system. The scanned data will be sent to a cmputer-aided design (CAD) software package for conversion to manufacturing data, and then into the CNC machining center or the laser sintering maching for production.
The MPH is a demonstration vehicle that is still years away from being fielded.
The MPH contains lathes and milling machines that can create spare parts for truck engines, such as pulleys or interlocking geears from raw material stored in the trailer. The MPH will retrieve manufacturing information via satellite from an extensive database of parts specs.
If no data are available, it will be able to create geometric data through a 3D laser scanning system. The scanned data will be sent to a cmputer-aided design (CAD) software package for conversion to manufacturing data, and then into the CNC machining center or the laser sintering maching for production.
The MPH is a demonstration vehicle that is still years away from being fielded.