The brand new system will support in lowering plane upkeep turnaround occasions and lowering prices, mentioned Jessica Templeton, the Air Car and Supplies Engineering lead with the Naval Air Methods Command (NAVAIR) Fleet Assist Staff’s Superior Expertise and Innovation Staff at FRCE.
“With this cell, autonomous chilly spray system, we’ll be bringing restore capabilities nearer to the plane,” she mentioned. “We will make repairs within the shadow of the plane that had been beforehand not attainable utilizing present, authorised chilly spray techniques. And there’s flexibility in that the system could be programmed to run autonomously or be used in-hand by certified artisans.
“The system will save time, as a result of the artisans gained’t have to completely disassemble the plane so as to full these particular, authorised repairs,” Templeton mentioned. “We’ll save on time and prices related to transporting sure components and parts from one location to a different. And we’ll additional save on prices by returning to make use of some parts that will have been scrapped earlier than however can now be salvaged by the chilly spray course of. There are such a lot of advantages to having this technique authorised to be used.”
The chilly spray course of bonds metallic to metallic in a comparatively low-heat setting to deposit a coating onto a floor, or substrate. Stable metallic powders are accelerated by a heated fuel and directed towards a metallic substrate; the transferring particles affect the floor and embed on the substrate, forming a powerful bond. In aviation functions, chilly spray is used to restore plane parts like shafts, gearboxes and skid tubes by depositing a sturdy metallic alloy coating to surfaces. This coating can fill abrasions or gouges in some instances or present protecting protection in others.
Most chilly spray techniques presently utilized by the Navy are positioned in cubicles, which creates dimension limitations, Templeton mentioned. There are finite limits to the dimensions of the parts that may be handled within the cubicles, which implies that components usually should be faraway from plane earlier than spraying, or the parts can’t be sprayed in any respect attributable to their dimension. The cell nature of this technique mitigates these dimension constraints and likewise lends itself to the potential for on-aircraft repairs in areas that don’t have everlasting chilly spray cubicles.
Templeton and her group have been working for years with the Naval Aviation Enterprise Chilly Spray Built-in Merchandise Staff to make the imaginative and prescient of a cell, autonomous chilly spray system a actuality for plane maintainers on the depot stage. In late 2019, FRCE hosted the primary U.S. discipline demonstration of an on-aircraft structural restore utilizing a cell, autonomous chilly spray metallization system funded underneath the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection International Comparative Take a look at Program. Over the course of the two-day trials, the group demonstrated an on-aircraft restore to the windowsill of a V-22 Osprey, and likewise performed an off-aircraft restore to a surplus H-1 skid tube.
The H-1 program was the primary inside NAVAIR to undertake the brand new system, Templeton mentioned, and has authorised it to make particular repairs to the helicopter’s combining gearbox and skid tube. It’s gratifying to see the group’s work come to fruition, she added.
“It takes a number of time, a number of effort and a number of supporters inside NAVAIR; nonetheless, it’s all price it once we implement a know-how that can in the end profit our warfighters,” Templeton mentioned.
Tim McCardle, a assist tools logistics administration specialist with NAVAIR’s Marine Corps Mild/Assault Helicopters Program Workplace, mentioned officers anticipate the system could have a optimistic affect on readiness by serving to guarantee parts attain their full service life, moderately than being scrapped early attributable to put on, as is the case with the H-1 combining gearbox. The system has additionally been fielded on the Fleet Readiness Middle Southwest discipline website at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.
“Gearboxes have an anticipated service life primarily based on flight hours, and once they provide you with put on or chafing to the outer case, they’re pulled out of service lengthy earlier than they had been ever meant to be. There’s an amazing price to that, each fiscally and by way of element availability,” he mentioned. “What this technique does is enable artisans to make repairs to lots of these outer instances, so these gearboxes could be put again into service and used for his or her deliberate life.”
McCardle agreed the unit’s cell nature can even enhance readiness by lowering plane motion, thereby lowering downtime in the course of the upkeep course of.
“The chilly spray system being beforehand used to make these repairs just isn’t cell,” he mentioned. “With this model, you’ll be able to take the instruments to the plane moderately than having to attend to deliver the plane to the instruments. You save a number of movement that manner by not having to maneuver a whole plane.”
Kevin Conner, H-1 Drives and Diagnostics supervisor for NAVAIR’s H-1 Fleet Assist Staff at FRCE, mentioned utilizing a cell system permits for extra flexibility in processes that had been previously confined to depot industrial areas, which can assist enhance the H-1 program’s responsiveness to wants of the fleet.
“The brand new system will assist reduce the time the property are out of service for repairs, and significantly enhance the vary of repairs that may be accomplished,” Conner mentioned. “This functionality affords the chance to execute in-service repairs instead of transferring the complete plane out of the squadron and into the depot, which reduces the plane’s day trip of service and will increase mission readiness.”
Whereas the H-1 program is an early adopter of this technique, there are potential use instances for the know-how that exist for different plane platforms all through the Naval Aviation neighborhood, Templeton mentioned. For instance, the system has been examined as a attainable resolution for repairing a becoming on a V-22 Osprey that presently requires main disassembly of the plane to handle.
“Chilly spray know-how is shifting the scope of restore to handle metallic restore and restoration with an answer that surpasses present adhesive-based repairs, weld repairs and mechanical fastening repairs,” Connor mentioned. “Chilly sprayed materials mechanically and metallurgically bonds to the substrate, successfully changing into a part of the broken materials. Chilly spray is superior to welding in that it doesn’t dramatically degrade the fabric course of with a big heat-affected zone, and materials properties are maintained with out requiring a follow-on course of like annealing or warmth treating. This opens up future capabilities for all sorts of functions which might be but to be imagined.”
From Fleet Readiness Middle East.
