Haydale, the global advanced materials group, is pleased to announce that, further to its collaboration with Wheelsure Holdings Plc, a three-way project is being established with the addition of The University of Manchester’s Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC).
A non-disclosure agreement has been signed by all three parties to commence the project which will develop an intelligent new product, Wheelsure’s failsafe locking solution, which benefits from the advanced properties of functionalised graphene.
The revolutionary patented locking device prevents nut loosening due to vibration and settlement, offering an approved fit and forget solution that is easy to install, resulting in reduced risk, increased safety and reduced inspection frequency whilst benefiting the asset owner from extended asset life, reduced expensive track possession, and reduced exposures to fines for service disruption.
The product has been designed to reduce whole lifecycle costs, align to the health and safety strategy and improve track standard; all with a return on investment of under 6 months.
According to Marc de Wolf, Project Engineer at Strukton Rail, “Tracksure reduced labour to just 69 hours or 14% of current manpower in Marshelling Yard, Rotterdam.”
Initially designed for the rail industry, further market applications include offshore, wind energy, subsea, aerospace and nuclear. All these markets incur high maintenance costs and have significant failure risk of bolt loosening.
Ray Gibbs, President, Business Development at Haydale, commented: “We are delighted to bring our graphene materials knowledge to this project and work with Wheelsure Holdings and Manchester GEIC to produce a superior solution. The outcome will enable Wheelsure to market and sell its product worldwide across a range of applications that require a permanent ‘smart’ locking nut and bolt assembly.”
Gerry Mulder, Chairman of Wheelsure said: “We are very excited with this further development. It has long been our intention to progress and market an intelligent system to serve our world-renowned locking device. We are delighted that Haydale Graphene Industries plc and The University of Manchester have committed to join us in this inspiring venture.”