RECORD BREAKER FOR APEX TEAM

“The Heavy Launch Mate Unit is an awesome structure that required an exceptional commitment by the Apex Team” says Terry Smith, Apex Design Technology’s Project Manager. Fabricating a structure of this size and weight and then transporting it across the country may land Apex in the Guinness Book of World Records. Apex shipped the 1st Heavy Launch Mate Unit (HLMU) from their facility in Anaheim, California to Boeing's Delta IV launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The article below is a Delta IV / EELV Launch Site Memorandum written by Joy L. Bryant, Delta IV Launch Site Director – CCAFS Expendable launch Site Systems; " The first Launch Mate Unit (LMU) constructed for the Heavy Delta IV rocket was delivered to the Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) on 7 Apr 02. This 56 foot long, 24 foot wide and 7.5-foot tall structure weighs over 128,800 lbs. It was transported 3,356 miles from Apex Design Technology in Anaheim, Ca. to Cape Canaveral, Fl. The Heavy LMU was lowered onto concrete slabs in HIF north parking lot using the one-of-a-kind hydraulic trailer that transported it across the United States. Workers will coat it with an ablative material and then it will await mating to the first Heavy Delta IV Common Booster Cores."

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Editorial Material

Big Bellows Contains Contaminants
at the National Ignition Facility

LIVERMORE, California--August 26, 2002... Protective bellows usually are used to keep contaminants away from hydraulic cylinder rods and other moveable precision components, but a huge bellows now installed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, California was designed to contain any fumes or vapors that escape from a 60-foot high telescoping hydraulic cylinder to prevent them from contaminating the high-purity environment required for NIF’s 10-meter diameter Target Chamber. The 72-in. I.D. x 360-in. extended height bellows presented several design challenges, including limited space to accommodate its cross-section and restrictions on its retracted length.

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A Collaborative Project

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration . LLNL was founded in September, 1952 as a second nuclear weapons design laboratory to promote innovation in the design of our nation's nuclear stockpile through creative science and engineering. LLNL has since become one of the world's premier scientific centers, where cutting-edge science and engineering in the interest of national security is used to break new ground in many areas of national importance, including energy, biomedicine, and environmental science.

NIF is a nationwide collaboration between government, national laboratories, and industry. The NIF project, now being completed, is a 192-beam, 1.8 MJ laser for creating conditions of extreme temperatures and pressures in the laboratory. It will use advanced laser and optics technologies for missions in national security, energy and science research. Scientists will fire NIF's 192 laser beams at a tiny capsule containing the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, compressing it to a small fraction of its original size and heating it to 100,000,000 degrees. Under these conditions, the fusion fuel will ignite and more energy will be produced than is delivered in the laser beams. NIF experiments will produce conditions of high energy and density similar to those found at the center of the Sun (and other stars).

Part of the NIF project includes a large lift mechanism that is used to service the interior of the spherical aluminum Target Chamber where the laser beams are focused to the center of the chamber. The lift is used to remove a cover from the bottom entrance to the Target Chamber, and then is used to insert and hold a specially designed “cherry picker” machine with a manbasket. The inside surface of the target chamber is covered with thin stainless steel removable panels. The special man lift enables technicians to reach all internal surfaces of the Target Chamber for maintenance operations. The lift will also be used to insert other materials into the Target Chamber during maintenance cycles. In addition, high levels of cleanliness are required in the Target Chamber to achieve the necessary 10-6 Torr vacuum required during NIF laser shots.

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NEWS FLASH – Apex Selects Nomura HBA-110T

A brand new Nomura HBA-110T Horizontal Boring Machine has been installed and is in operation at Apex Design Technology’s Anaheim, CA facility. The Nomura HBA – 110T has excellent Positioning and Repeatability features.

While Apex’s Mitsubishi milling machine is larger than the Nomura HBA – 110T, (i.e., the Mitsubishi has X-axis 276”, Y-axis 156”, Z-axis 60”, W-axis 60”), the HBA – 110T certainly is a great addition to Apex’s machining capabilities. For more information on Apex’s machining capabilities, go to www.apexdt.com or call Apex’s sales development team at 800-273-2739.

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Nomura HBA-110T Specifications:

X-axis 79 inches
Y-axis 60 inches
Z-axis 55 inches
W-axis 20 inches
Positioning ± 0.0002
Repeatability 0.0002

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APEX BUYS NEW 5-AXIS MACHINE
Nicolas Correa FP50-50 5-Axis Double Column Bridge Milling Machine.
Specifications:

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Apex & ICEB team together to breathe new life back into the Mobile Service Tower (MST) for Boeing Delta IV Rocket at Vandenberg AFB

Apex and ICEB have teamed together to take on the challenge of refurbishing both the MST Drive and Tower Lift Hydraulic Systems. This massive mobile rocket tower weighs approximately 19 million pounds. It is supported and travels by way of nine rail trucks and is driven by four 150-HP hydraulic power units. The HPUs supply 16 low speed, high torque, radial piston hydraulic motors. The Tower Lift Hydraulic System is powered by a separate 100-HP HPU supplying controlled pressure to 72 bellows-style hydraulic jacks.

Apex Design Technology

Apex Design Technology (Anaheim, CA) is an engineering-based manufacturer and integrator of hydraulic, pneumatic, and electronic systems. They also fabricate complex mechanical assemblies, such as the NIF target bay mirror frames.

The mirror frames are large mechanical structures each weighing approximately 3000 pounds. They hold the transport mirrors to precisely direct laser beams through the target area and into the target chamber. Apex Design is responsible for 16 of the 48 NIF target bay mirror frames.

The NIF Project also selected Apex to design and implement the Target Chamber Service System. This is a utility system, a special purpose lift that extends more than 50 feet vertically through a target chamber port. The system allows access to the chamber interior for inspection and maintenance activities. Apex was responsible for overall project management and design and fabrication of the hydraulic cylinder system, including programming its control system.

Apex Design Technology is a small business with approximately 80 employees.

A Mission Of Extremes

A huge bellows has been designed to prevent contamination of a high-purity environment where scientists are attempting to produce the conditions of high energy and density found at the center of the sun.

Usually protective bellows are used to keep contaminants away from hydraulic cylinder rods and other moveable precision components, but a huge bellows installed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in Livermore, CA, has another mission. It has been designed to contain fumes and vapors that escape from a 60-foot-high telescoping hydraulic cylinder to prevent contamination of the high-purity environment required for NIF's 10-meter diameter Target Chamber.

The 360-in.-extended-height bellows with 72 in. ID presented several design challenges including limited space to accommodate its cross-section and restrictions on its retracted length. Below is a look at how and why this bellows is being put to work.

A Collaborative Project

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration. The center was founded in 1952 as a second nuclear weapons design laboratory to promote innovation in the design of the nation's nuclear stockpile. It has become one of the world's premier scientific centers, where cutting-edge science and engineering in the interest of national security is used to break new ground in many areas including energy, biomedicine, and environmental science.

NIF is a nationwide collaboration between the government, national laboratories, and industry. The NIF project now being completed is a 192-beam, 1.8 MJ laser for creating conditions of extreme temperatures and pressures in the laboratory. It will use advanced laser and optics technologies for missions in national security, energy, and science research. The unit's 192 laser beams will be fired at a tiny capsule containing the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, compressing it to a small fraction of its original size and heating it to 100 million degrees. Under these conditions, the fusion fuel will ignite and more energy will be produced than is delivered in the laser beams. The experiments will produce conditions of high energy and density similar to those found at the center of the sun and other stars.

Large cable and hose carriers are visible on the sides of the 60-foot multi-stage lift mechanism to be enclosed by the bellows.

The Nylatrac carriers fit inside the telescoping mechanism.

Part of the NIF project includes a large lift mechanism that is used to service the interior of the spherical aluminum Target Chamber where the laser beams are focused to the center of the chamber. The lift is used to remove a cover from the bottom entrance to the chamber and then is used to insert and hold a specially designed "cherry picker" machine with a manbasket. The inside surface of the Target Chamber is covered with thin stainless steel removable panels. The special man lift enables technicians to reach all internal surfaces of the Target Chamber for maintenance. The lift also will be used to insert other materials into the chamber during maintenance cycles. (High levels of cleanliness are required to achieve the necessary 10-6 Torr vacuum required during NIF laser shots.)

Apex Design Technology Inc., an engineering-based manufacturer that provides tooling and fabrication services as well as design and test capabilities for hydraulic, pneumatic, and electronic systems, was selected to design and build the complex lift mechanism.

Keeping Contaminants In Check

Central to the lift mechanism is a hydraulic cylinder and related structure that provides approximately 52 feet of vertical travel. To meet the extended travel requirements while requiring as little space as possible for the retracted cylinder, Apex used a telescoping cylinder. Because equipment connected to the Target Chamber is very sensitive to petroleum-based vapors, though, a bellows was needed to enclose the lift. The entire device was designed to nest into a pit when retracted, which limited the space available for the bellows, both in cross-section and height when collapsed. "One challenge was the constraint on size in the envelope from the cylinder to the bellows," says Todd M. Gallagher, vice president of Apex. "It's a very tight tolerance, and the same applies from the exterior of the bellows to the framework."