Validation of Alternative to Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Used in Oxygen Line Cleaning

摘要

To complete this project, government and industry joined to develop a better way to clean the oxygen-supply systems of weapons systems by replacing ozone-depleting chemicals and a laborintensive process with an environmentally safe, automated method that improves upon past practices. The new oxygen-line cleaning system (OLCS) technology developed as a result of this project improves the readiness of military aircraft, reduces costs, and dramatically reduces the crewmembers chances of exposure to unhealthy toxins. Cost-benefit analyses performed for this report show that the new OLCS will pay for itself in less than 6 months when used on the C-130, F-15, and F-16 aircraft. The payback period may be longer for the T-38 aircraft. (See Section 5 and Table 7.) Furthermore, because the OLCS is expected to result in at least a 25% reduction in replacement parts, annual cost savings are projected as follow: $315,000 for the F-15; $292,000 for the F-16; and $75,000 for the C-130. (See Table 5.) This project was designed to address the use of chemicals with ozone- depleting potential (ODP). Chemicals with known ODP are being phased out of industrial and commercial use. CFC-113 and hydrochlorofluorocarbonn (HCFC)-141b solvents such as Freon have high ODP, yet are commonly used to clean the oxygen- supply systems of Department of Defense (DoD) aircraft. Weapons systems have several types of oxygen-supply systems, all of which eventually develop contamination in the distribution system. In addition to human concerns, contaminant buildup decreases system performance, increases demand on maintenance resources, and prematurely removes the aircraft from mission support. To clean an oxygen system, the plumbing system has to be completely dismantled, removed from the aircraft, cleaned using chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), and then reinstalled in the aircraft. This time-consuming process is neither cost-effective nor safe.