SBIR-STTR Award

The project focuses on supporting the US Navy’s fleet of critical assets containing components that are no longer readily available. American Energy Technologies Co. (AETC) of Arlington Heights, Illinois, will re-design, modernize, and manufacture one of these parts in-house by reverse-engineering the legacy technology transferred from the OEM. The parts will be produced using the most advanced designs, rapid prototyping, and fabrication methods, including additive and subtractive manufacturing. Work under this effort will also involve the selection of suitable raw material, ensuring that it conforms to all design specifications, therefore allowing for the production of initial samples (first article prototypes). In the following steps, the set of press dies and punches will be designed, built, and installed on AETC’s semi-automatic equipment, such as punch presses, with prototype articles shortly generated thereafter. Quality assurance and control programs will be developed around the fabricated articles, requiring following products to conform to the specification laid out within said documentation. The culmination of work efforts on this project in Phase I will be the preparation of a Source Approval Resource (SAR), which is to be submitted to the government for review and approval.

The project focuses on supporting the US Navy’s fleet of critical assets containing components that are either no longer readily available or produced by the US Government molding shops at high cost. American Energy Technologies Co. (AETC) of Arlington Heights, Illinois, will re-design, modernize, and manufacture several of these parts in-house by reverse-engineering the legacy technology transferred from the OEM. The parts will be produced using the most advanced designs, rapid prototyping, and fabrication methods, including additive and subtractive manufacturing. Work under this effort will also involve the selection of suitable raw materials, ensuring that these conform to all design specifications, therefore allowing for the production of initial samples (first article prototypes). In the following steps, the set of preform dies and final molds will be designed, built, and installed on the newly installed semi-automatic equipment, such as mold presses with electrically heated platens, with prototype articles shortly generated thereafter. Quality assurance and control programs will be developed around the fabricated articles, requiring following products to conform to the specification laid out within said documentation. The culmination of work efforts on this project in Phase II will be the submission of fabricated items to the government for review and approval.