Additive Manufacturing of Dynamic Lifeboat Hook Assembly

Abstract

Using Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology, Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) enables us to consolidate sophisticated mechanical assemblies. The part consolidation by additive manufacturing has been mainly applied to only static systems such as brackets. In this study, we try to extend the current application area of DFAM to a dynamic product. With this regard, our work aims to redesign and conduct design validation of a lifeboat hook system with a dynamic operation mechanism. The objective is to decrease the number of hook components by leveraging conventional part consolidation including constraints such as heavy load bearing and functional dynamics. Furthermore, along with the side plates and groups which consist of numerous parts such as hook, cam and stopper were decreased by 55%. FEM analysis shows that in case of consolidated hook, even though original safe working load was increased by 2 times, our design seems to be promising candidate for replacing traditional lifeboat hook. Finally, a downscaled consolidated hook system was successfully built by a PBF machine and analyzed for precision.