UNEX emerged successful from a multi-stage tender process for the manufacture of 16 sets of undercarriages and coupling components which will form part of the mobile building of a new Ariane 6 rocket launch platform at the Guiana Space Centre. In total, the company is to supply approximately 810 tonnes of steel structures. The demanding nature of the entire contract does not only consist in well-executed production and assembly stages, but also in meeting strict administrative requirements for the registration and traceability of the materials used for every component. Last but not least, it will be important to safely package all 16 sets and to transport the oversized cargo to the port and then by ship across the Atlantic Ocean.
"It was one of the most difficult tender processes that we have ever taken part in at UNEX. We are all the more delighted that the assessment criteria were not only the price, but above all, the overall quality. The references of our company, which has no small experience in the implementation of similarly demanding projects, played a significant role in the positive outcome. In our case, it is primarily a question of long-term experience of manufacturing undercarriages for bucket-wheel and hydraulic excavators, loaders, stackers and other similar machinery. We deliver to the most demanding customers from the world’s leading industrial corporations," says Michal Kemler, Director of the Heavy Engineering Product Group at UNEX.
Undercarriage sets are not only manufactured at the UNEX factory in Uničov, but also completely assembled, including drives, and the total fitting of electrical components and hydraulic distribution systems. The sets are then brought to life in order to test their full functionality and simple application at the assembly site in French Guiana.
"It is a project which is also distinctive in terms of material demands. As well as the use of standard structural steel, fine-grained steel (S460), steel with a high yield strength in the quenched and tempered state (S690), or 42CrMo4 type materials (high-grade structural steel) will also be used for the contract. Method 136 welding will be required. That is, arc welding melting with a filled electrode in an active gas. The demanding nature of the technological manufacturing process also underlines the need to combine nitrogen freezing and heating of parts such as the coupling shaft and, at the same time, removing stress in the material by annealing and vibrating," explains Michal Kemler.
About the Ariane 6 Project
At the European Space Agency Space Centre in French Guiana, a new mobile launch platform is under construction. It will be used to launch the Ariane 6 rocket, which is first expected to set off for the Earth’s orbit in the year 2020, when it will replace the currently used Ariane 5 rocket. Ariane 6 is a pan-European project. Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France and a range of other countries are involved in the construction of the main parts of the rocket, while other companies and nations are participating in the construction of the new launch platform. And it is precisely for the mobile building of the launch platform that the undercarriage sets produced by UNEX for its partner company Eiffage Métal are destined.
On its first stage, the Ariane 6 rocket will be equipped with a Vulcain liquid oxygen and hydrogen engine, then on the upper section, an enhanced Vinci engine will do the work. Assistance during lift-off will be provided by two or four solid-fuel rocket boosters.
