OCR Text |
Show pril 22. 1977 Page HILL TOP TIMES 7 Conservation is day to day operation in Maintenance "Conservation of energy and other resources is an important part of the day to day operation of the Directorate of Maintenance," said Ray Close, deputy director. task, building upon ideas and procedures used throughout the directorate. Personnel in the Physical Sciences Laboratory, for example, conceived a method that would economically reclaim used hydraulic fluid. Its conception was four years ago. Since then, a prototype reclaiming plant was set up in an Industrial Products and Gear Division Landing The directorate is presently a developing training for Air Force other program Logistics Command conservation monitors. The program is not a onetime project, but an building in early on-goi- 1977. Plastic balls for insulating hot liquid surfaces are used in some shops in the direc- torate's Missile, Airmunitions and Weapons Division. in Heating needs were reduced another building by recycling uncontaminated hot air from a furnace. Hot, un- contaminated air from the furnace is now dampered and vented into the shop area in winter. Savings in this one building were sufficient to heat four average sized homes for one month. Recycling water in another building has saved over three million gallons of water a month. A recycling capable of handling unit 940 gallons per minute reuses the water rather than emptying it into the base's industrial waste system. Conservation factors are air system. Other considerations specifically considered now during the planning stage on modernization or construction of buildings. on include how much updating is gained candlepower through using certain colors of paint on floor and walls, thus The Landing Gear facility now under construction has saving electricity. electric power monitoring stations built into the system. It also has insulated warm and hot processing tanks, a spray booth exhaust system interlocked with the paint spray system and modified make-u- The Directorate of Maintenance is finding that conservation pays. The directorate is cutting back consumption of water, heat, electricity and petroleum. p "We wanted to develop an that breakdowns in the fluid process that will eventually occur," he would remove particles and added. volatile solvents without If the Directorate of taking out additives," Mr. Maintenance can reclaim Larkin pointed out. most of its hydraulic oil after "And that's the key adeliminating the cost of to It our filtering, net savings would be process. vantage $1 removes those things without per gallon, or about $25,000 affecting the additives and yearly. The prototype reclaiming brings the fluid 'back to without refining it," plant is an enclosed facility set strength' he added. up in Bldg. 510. The fluid is A process, the new being processed on a method calls first Mr. batch basis, for Larkin said. used the straining hydraulic fluid through a filtering and "We are holding the processed fluid, pending purification unit. This still leaves volatile acceptance of the method by solvents which are simply the Directorate of Aerospace removed by passing dry air Fuels, Kelly AFB, Tex. ..1 "The processed fluid meets through a column of fluid. if we reuse "Even the requirements of HYDRAULIC FLUID SAMPLES - Organic chemists hydraulic fluid only once, it specification fluid. However, Richard H. Buchi and G. Eugene Larkin take hydraulic fluid saves money," the chemist in order to do that, we've had samples for examination. The men have developed a method to add an additive not present pointed out. for inexpensively reclaiming the fluid. (U.S. Air Force Photo in new fluid. The presence of a is there "However, by Biff Bergstrom) we this additive sent the be that possibility may able to use the same hydraulic qualifying lab's particle The traditional method of fluid several times by counter on a 'counting spree' repair shops. Hydraulic fluid is checked reclaiming hydraulic fluid has reclaiming it," Mr. Larkin and this has delayed the at regular intervals until it been to refine the material. said. project. We've requested a reaches certain contaminant However, this process is so "It may be indefinite, manual or microscopic count fluid to take care of the problem," levels, then it is drained and costly that it has never been because hydraulic a on or it scale. wear doesn't out practical may be Mr. Larkin said. large dumped. economical Hydraulic fluid reclamation can save $25,000 each year A method of inexpensively "Considering the high cost of petroleum products and the need for conservation, we contaminated reclaiming hydraulic fluid developed by two organic chemists in the studied the feasibility of Industrial Products and Landing Gear Division is under test in the Directorate of Maintenance. Chemists G. Eugene Larkin and reusing hydraulic fluid and concluded it could be done at a substantial savings," he continued. "There are estimates that the base throws away between Richard H. Buchi, Physical Sciences Laboratory Branch, developed the process and have filed for a patent. The method will reclaim hydraulic fluid used by functioning aircraft and a special hydraulic fluid with additives to permit long-teranti-corrosi- 20,000 and 30,000 gallons on m storage. "Both kinds of hydraulic fluid were being thrown away," explained Mr. Larkin. equipment and the large "mules" that pump new fluid into landing gear systems in demand. By reducing this demand, power and energy can be saved. Peak use period in the Ogden-NortDavis County area was determined to be between 1 and 3 p.m. Maintenance then had to find specific ways to lessen electric needs during those hours. Arnold Dickey, Plant in- ment. Management Division, on-goin- g. '- in . .i . -- ... - ' '"' r"l -- - MSMik!k.-0"tk- Jf , MIL-H-60- (I-- r) on Some Devices measure, monitor record electrical usage Recorders are also placed on main or feeders to measure power to all or sub-mai- n large energy-consumin- not at all times when the machine is on. The Industrial Products and g equipment are Landing Gear Division building presently under restricted to swing shift use only. Modification construction has four built-i- n monitors that can pinpoint usage within specific areas of the shops. Maintenance is cutting back on electric power usage and reducing the burden put on available power supplies. and rewiring has been done on other equipment so that it becomes less of an energy consumer. One machine had a component that was air cooled by a fan. The machine was rewired so the fan now runs only when 1 83 that component is used and returning maximum benefits for power dollar spent. or branch lines to between one or four pieces of equipment which have suspected high we were power usage, plus an assortmeasuring devices, able to pinpoint several ment of duplex outlets and machines or practices that small equipment. "If the recording shows that wasted power," he said. "The survey began last machines are being turned on and off several times a day, January and is still A recorder is placed on feeder then it can safely be assumed that they are only being used ? 1 , ft when needed and power is not J' being wasted. "If the recording shows a constant amount of power all I day, then inquiry must be 1 "r-- r in,,,,,.,, i JC iI p made to find out which machine or machines are on all day and most important, if i the workload shows that it was V $ to use the machine i v "Low,"".'."'i J If necessary all day. . i W & ; " I $ "Part of the survey is to find ' :r I WYT , out exactly what item is being processed and determine if an I 1 ll oversize machine is being used for small jobs. "Energy can be saved by turning machines off when not STRESS TEST - Jeffery Smith, Industrial Products and needed and by using the in the Landing Gear Division, runs a stress relaxomrter test Etsil Air Force Photo proper size machine," said by propellant testing facility. (U.S. Mr. Dickey. Fisher) provided the technology for the power use survey. "Using several inexpensive Following the power outage last July 4, which affected large portions of Utah, Hill AFB officials met with representatives of Utah Power and Light Company seeking ways to reduce power consumption and the burden put on available power supplies. The base pays for its 200-gall- . h duction furnaces, in addition to lighting and small equip- ' IXJ power by peak load or The Directorate of Maintenance is finding out just how it is using electric power in its industrial complex. Power consumption has always been a high interest item in the directorate's energy conservation program. It uses electricity in ovens, hydraulic pump motors, motor generators and of hydraulic fluid every year. . . and that may be a conservative guess," the organic chemist noted. Mr. Larkin explained that the reclaimed hydraulic fluid comes from a variety of landing gear systems, heavy two-ste- p iV i .41 nearly all of a particular shop. Correct conservation methods are being used in the shop if the recorder shows a sharp increase in power at the beginning of a shift and a steady use throughout the workday. i4 H If the recorder shows a slow, steady increase for an hour to middle of the day, then starts to decrease an hour to two hours before the end of the shirt, a severe conservation and supervision problem exists. This indicates that workers are taking an excessive time to start work and are quitting early. This in turn concentrates use of power and results in peaks that are expensive and wasteful. From power usage monitoring, the Directorate of Maintenance has identified test equipment, ovens and other equipment that were not r 7 if two hours after a shift starts, up to a maximum in the :SJf- r ::'!? ":- niiU V - l C V ' -- 1 PANEL CHECK - Arnold Dickey, Plant Management Division, checks electricity use in a power panel in a Directorate of Maintenance shop. (U.S. Air Force Photo POWER bv Etsil Fisher) |