Stress Indicators Inc.

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National Weather Service chooses DTI SmartBolts

Press Releases and SII In the News

April 26, 2007

National Weather Services Chooses DTI SmartBolts for NEXRAD Installations

	The NWS Radar Operations Center in Norman, OK is responsible for operating and maintaining the 159 NEXRAD weather radar installations throughout the United States and select overseas locations. NEXRAD provides Doppler Radar information to local TV weather services as well as US Government weather users such as Air Traffic Control services. NWS turned to SmartBolts® to solve a problem achieving necessary tension on the array of critical bolts which secures the main radar structure to its mounting base. NWS needed something more accurate than torque wrenching, which studies have shown can have a margin of error of 20-50%. With its unique visual color indicator, DTI SmartBolts can provide accuracy to within +-10% of design tension.
This NEXRAD installation will soon rely on DTI SmartBolts for tension assurance.
NWS selected SmartBolts® from among several competitors as the most cost-effective, simple, rugged and accurate way to ensure that bolts were installed with the proper tension. A simple and quick visual check of the SmartBolts® indicator will also alert field inspectors if tension has been lost. In that case the SmartBolt can be re-tensioned with a standard wrench. NWS will replace ordinary bolts with SmartBolts in all of its 159 NEXRAD installations. For more information contact Stress Indicators, Inc. at 240-631-7246.