2022 Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition Winning Entries Displayed at ET

More than 80 entries were received from students and professional designers and engineers for the 2022 International Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition. The winning entries announced at the ET '22 Opening General Session on Tuesday, May 3rd and were on display at the Extrusion Showcase during ET Week in Orlando, Florida.

The winning entries were chosen by a panel of aluminum extrusion industry judges, including Joe Jackman, President of Almag Aluminum, Inc., Brook Massey, President of MI Metals, and Craig Werner, President of Werner Extrusion

ENGINEERED PRODUCTS CATEGORY - $2,000

RE-VERBER-RAY (REV) REFLECTOR
Detroit Radiant Products Company
Warren, MI

The RE-Verber-Ray, or REV reflector is a two-stage, multi-configurable low-intensity, infrared radiant tube heater with unsurpassed flexibility and fuel efficiency won in the engineered products category.

The patent-pending REV adjustable reflector uses pre-heated combustion air providing heater efficiency and reliability. Aluminum extrusion allowed design of a sleek, rigid reflector that maintains quality, looks good and incorporates multiple features to fit many needs without having to buy more accessories. A simple fabrication process enables scaling up or down to meet customer demands. REV's heater efficiencies are impactful in larger warehouses with many heaters, to help control rising energy costs.

TRANSPORTATION CATEGORY - $2,000

Joe Terrasi, Communications Manager; Joe Peterson, VP Engineering & Quality; and
Kyle Knotowicz, Lead Engineer Superior Tire & Rubber Company; Warren, PA

In the transportation category, Superior Tire & Rubber Company won with an innovative solution for increasing wheel life on warehouse material handling vehicles. They replaced a solid steel wheel hub with a newly designed (patent pending) and lighter weight extruded aluminum wheel hub.

"For roughly 60 years, [the] design has remained largely unchanged. Solid steel hubs, which were reasonable for the high resource era after WW2 have always been used. The tire material bonded to these steel hubs has gone through hundreds of iterations and advancements, but the wheel itself was ignored," noted Terrasi in his entry.

"One of the greatest challenges tire & wheel manufacturers have always faced was combating heat generation, which significantly reduces a wheel's work-life and limiting equipment, which limits supply chain throughput. As tire material properties reach their pinnacle an entirely new approach was required. We looked at other solutions for controlling heat and were inspired by radiators and CPU heatsinks – typically made of finned aluminum. The answer was replacing the solid steel hub with extruded aluminum. This offered both exceptional carrying capacity and thermal dissipation. Using this extruded aluminum hub allowed the wheels to maintain lower operating temperatures which preserves the work-life of the tire material. A wheel that typically only lasted a few weeks was now lasting months," Terrasi continued.

This new design provides exceptional carrying capacity and thermal dissipation, allowing wheels to maintain lower operating temperatures, preserving work-life of tire material from months instead of weeks, extended equipment battery life, reduced shipping costs and provides easier installation of extruded aluminum wheels, which are 70% lighter than the original steel design.

Terrasi explained: "For manufacturing purposes, the extruded aluminum wheel is easier to work with in almost every aspect. It is far less destructive on tooling than solid steel, far easier to handle, and far less expensive to process. Even though aluminum is more expensive on a per pound basis, the design flexibility of the extrusion process has allowed us to create a high-performance heat-dissipating load wheel with enough strength to compete with steel and a hub structure that allows us to be competitive on cost with traditional wheels. This initial extruded aluminum design has staggering potential for alterations that allow for more heat dissipation, further weight reduction, greater carrying capacity, and even longer wheel work-life."

View the extruded aluminum wheel compression test here.

STRUCTURAL CATEGORY - $2,000

LIGHT VEHICLE TACTICAL BRIDGE 
Alex de la Chevrotiere; CEO
MAADI Group; Varennes, Quebec Canada

And finally, MAADI Group's modular tactical bridge for light vehicles, or "Bridge in a Box" won the Structural Category. The versatile, lightweight vehicle tactical bridge (LVTB) made from extruded aluminum is weld-free, bundled for easy transport and set-up and makes emergency preparedness planning easier for municipal and military use. The LVTB requires no heavy machinery to install, and is lighter and easier to install than steel products, requiring a minimum of twelve soldiers with basic tools to assemble six sections of the bridge in four hours.

The bridge is structurally strong, made with 6061-T6, 6005A-T6, and 6063-T6 aluminum alloy and can withstand heavy use and harsh climates. The length of the bridge can be adjusted to the size of the obstacle. High-strength, light aluminum alloy components are engineered to maximize load-bearing capacity with minimal structural weight. The weld-free structure is easy to assemble, using ramps for easy access, with an army-green powder-coat finish, anti-skid deck panels and bearing plates designed to adjust on rough terrain.

The bridge components come with a custom 20-ft container designed to protect components and arranged for easy access.

Watch the video here to learn more.