ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT SHELTERS

THIS PROJECT WILL RESEARCH MATERIALS AND DEVELOP A DESIGN AND CONCEPT FOR MAKING ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT SHELTERS USING ADVANCED MATERIALS. THE ADVANCED MATERIAL SHELTER WILL BE DESIGNED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A NUMBER OF SIGNIFICANT ADVANCES IN MATERIALS AND PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES IN MANUFACTURING DEVELOPED BY ADVANCED COMPOSITE TECHNOLOGY, INC. (ACT). ACT HAS DEVELOPED TWO TECHNOLOGIES SIGNIFICANT FOR THIS PROJECT. THE FIRST TECHNOLOGY IS TO LAY WET LAMINATE FIBERS AT COMMERCIAL SPEEDS WHILE PRODUCING A SMOOTH PRODUCT WITH LOW VOIDS AT PRECISE ANGLES. THE SECOND TECHNOLOGY IS THE ABILITY TO LAY COMPLEX GEOMETRIC MATRIX PARTS USING ROBOTICS. THE ABILITY TO MANUFACTURE AT COMMERCIAL SPEEDS USING NON PREPREG MATERIALS ALLOWS FOR TAILORING A MATRIX USING DIFFERENT FIBERS WITHIN THE BUNDLE AND OFFERS POTENTIALLY MAJOR REDUCTIONS IN COSTS. NEW MATERIALS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED THAT ACT BELIEVES WILL SATISFY THE AIR FORCE REQUIREMENTS FOR A COMPOSITE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT SHELTER. AS PART OF THIS PROPOSAL, ACT WILL INVESTIGATE USING A HIGH MODULUS POLYETHYLENE PRODUCT, SPECTRA 900 AND SPECTRA 1000, FOR THE OUTER SHELL. IN ADDITION TO THE LIGHTER WEIGHT, THE PRODUCT OFFERS SUPERIOR BALLISTIC PROTECTION WHEN COMPARED TO KEVLAR. THE PRODUCT OFFERS EXTREMELY LOW ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AND IT FLOATS. TO PROVIDE RFI INTEGRITY, AN INTERIOR WALL COULD BE MADE OF A PRODUCT SUCH AS NICKEL COATED GRAPHITE (NCG) OR A COMBINATION OF GRAPHITE AND METALLIC FIBERS TO FORM A MESH.