BREMERTON, Wash. –
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility is exploring the use of an acoustic imaging device to locate air and vacuum leaks exponentially faster and easier than the old-fashioned soap and water method.
Code 100TO, the PSNS & IMF Transformation Office, purchased the imager and is working with the Shop 52, Calibration; Code 106, Environment, Safety and Health; and Code 1120, Security, to ensure the device can be used effectively, safely, and securely inside the Controlled Industrial Area. Assisting shops and codes with finding, testing and certifying innovative technologies for shipyard use is one of the four main missions of Code 100TO.
According to Jack Housley, project lead, Code 100TO.3, Innovation and Technology Integration, which is evaluating and certifying the acoustic imaging device, looking for leaks in heat exchanger tubes using the traditional method can take hundreds of hours. This new commercially available device can reduce that process down to just a few minutes.
He said the hand-held device with more than 120 sensitive microphones can hear air and vacuum leaks at a distance, which are notoriously hard to find. It then overlays where the suspected links are on a video image so users can “see” where potential leaks exist. This device is proving to be far more efficient than the traditional method of applying soapy water on surfaces and joints, and then watching for bubbles to indicate a problem.
“The imager detects sounds at frequencies too high for humans to hear and shows where they are on a display,” Housley explained. “As it turns out, air leaks make a lot of high-frequency sound. The imager shows the leak as a patch of color.”
According to Lisa Roth, Innovation and Technology Integration division head, Code 100TO.3 has adopted a seven-stage technology integration process to help find, certify and field new technologies around the command that will improve the way work is done.
“Our seven-step process is comprised of Define; Research; Plan; Prototype and Test; Mainstream; Monitor and Optimize; and Share and Scale,” said Roth. “The Acoustic Imager is in the Prototype & Test phase, where we continue to make adjustments and learn to meet our end users’ needs.”
Housley said even when a new technology seems to have an obvious potential to solve problems in the shipyard, it still needs to go through a rigorous process to be certified for use in the shipyard and onboard naval vessels.
“This tool may turn out to be exceptionally useful for our shipyard, but the effort required to get it into hands on the waterfront is considerable, to put it mildly,” he said. “Code 100TO, specifically my branch 100TO.3, is focused on doing the legwork, paperwork, networking, and barrier removal so that we can support the great ideas coming from the waterfront and minimize impacts to work flow.”
Housley said initial testing has shown the technology to be “quite promising,” and he expects Code 246, Test and Work Control Engineering Division; and Code 260, Fluid & Mechanical Engineering & Planning to be the primary users of the technology.
Even though the device is widely available commercial-off-the-shelf technology, operational security restrictions require special handling and storage when not in use. Housley said figuring out if or how it can be used in controlled spaces will take time.
Housley said tight spaces and even loud noises in the area don’t seem to be a problem for the device.
“The imager also doesn’t need to have perfect line of sight on a leak to know it’s there,” he said. “During one test, it pinpointed the exact location of an air leak through a heat exchanger tube bundle. It also pinpointed a vacuum leak on a fully operational diesel generator, which are exceptionally loud, from across the space and with another diesel generator in the way.”
He said some areas with high frequency noise in the background might not be suitable for this device. However, the flexibility and customization with the next generation of this device may prove even more useful for PSNS & IMF than the current model being tested.
For now, the current testing seems to have great promise to make work at PSNS & IMF more efficient.