The Rapid Engineered Additive Legacy Tubes (REAL Tubes) program will addresses significant problems faced by the sustainment community. Tubes are essential for propulsion and aircraft systems, conveying fuel, hydraulic and lubricating fluids, and air throughout engines to ensure effective operation in a wide range of environments.The Air Force currently sustains some 20,000 legacy engines which typically have as many as 200 tubes as part of the external envelope of the engine.Tubes must be maintained in the field and during overhaul and maintenance in the depots.Failure of a single tube during a mission can lead to loss of an engine, and ultimately loss of an aircraft.Tubes have long lead times that can extend the maintenance cycle or lead to a system on the ground that is not operationally ready. By applying additive manufacturing in an innovative way, the critical path item for tubesthe tooling necessary to produce themcan be delivered on demand, real-time through the combination of a CAD model and proven 3D printing capability, significantly reducing the lead time for tubes and dramatically improving operational readiness for the warfighter.;
Benefit: During feasibility demonstration in a commercial production environment, the REAL Tubes methodology, using 3D printed tooling, reduced lead times by 54% compared to current methods.Tooling costs were reduced by as much as 80%.Commercial application has been proven; the next step is to extend the technology into the sustainment community.The potential is significant--the Air Force manages some 20,000 legacy engines, with each having up to 200 tubes.If the application for the sustainment community affects only 5% of these tubes, the benefit will be realized by at least 200,000 tubes.
