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Tech To The Fleet: Building a Better Mousetrap

NAVSEA News Wire

Release Date: 10/25/2002

By Naval Sea Systems Command Public Affairs

WASHINGTON -- It's said that what every customer wants is someone to build a better mousetrap--- if only the engineers would improve the design of existing commonplace products, the world would beat a path to their door. Sailors are really no different. Innovation is the lifeblood of the most technologically advanced 21st century Navy.

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has taken this "better mousetrap" approach to reduce the maintenance burdens on today's Sailors. "Getting Technology To The Fleet," a NAVSEA initiative, does just that. "Getting Technology to the Fleet" initiatives will be displayed at the DoD Maintenance Symposium from Oct. 28-31 in Reno, Nev.

NAVSEA created "Getting Technology to the Fleet" as an outgrowth of the Capital Investment for Labor program - a series of initiatives with the goal of reducing Sailor workload. "Getting Technology to the Fleet" enlists Fleet ideas and needs and empowers NAVSEA engineers to design, develop, and distribute new products and equipment that, when installed, significantly reduce the amount of time required for repair and preventative maintenance. In a short period of time, over 20 technologically advanced products have been developed and more are on the way.

Examples of such products are as simple as disposable air filters and as intricate as automated oil analysis. Other advances include composite valves, split mechanical seals, magnetic couplings and gel-in-the-middle electrical connection coverings.

Petter Kristiansen, an engineer and program manager for NAVSEA's Maintenance Process Improvement Office (SEA 05N1), is pleased that their many efforts make an important difference to Sailors. "By partnering with the Fleet to rapidly insert these new technologies that the Sailor can use and see the benefit of everyday, we help to reduce Sailor workload and reduce Fleet maintenance costs. That is important to the entire team," Kristiansen said

Disposable Air Filters are simple and effective. They replace the Navy Standard Filter (NSF) used on most shipboard heating, ventilating and HVAC systems. Cleaning an NSF is a long, tiresome, and labor-intensive process. It requires Sailors to soak filters with cleaning solution in a deep sink, rinse and dry them, and then oil them to increase dirt-collecting efficiency. All told, the procedure can take hours. Disposable Air Filters are similar to those found at most hardware stores. They take only minutes to replace and have a higher filtering efficiency. Added up, they lead to cleaner ducts and an improved shipboard quality of life. The projected Fleet-wide annual Sailor workload reduction is 100 man-years.

Providing real-time analysis of engine oil enables Sailors to eliminate condition-based maintenance. Automated Oil Analysis uses infrared arrays and debris collectors to assess the condition of lubricating oil so Sailors are no longer required to manually take engine oil samples. Using trend data the system then "predicts" the bearing and oil life. Alone, this device saves one Sailor man-year for each ship as well as an addition $1.5 million in unnecessary oil change-outs.

Kristiansen looks forward to displaying the new technologies at the DoD Maintenance Symposium. "Our technologies have great utility. We look forward to showing that we can help make difference for members of all the Armed Forces," he said.