Photo By Master Sgt. Christopher Marasky | Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Swanbeck, an airframe technician regulates the...... read more read more
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By Tech. Sgt Francesca Popp
407th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
ALI BASE, Iraq - What is a colorless, tasteless and odorless gaseous element that makes up 78 percent of the Earth's atmosphere and is a part of organic compounds found in all living tissues?
The answer: nitrogen. And two 407th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Aerospace Ground Equipment Shop Airmen here are taking nitrogen from the air to keep the mission running.
While Staff Sgt. Francisco Balbuena and Airman 1st Class John Wilburn provide ground maintenance crews with external power sources, they also operate the primary self-generating nitrogen servicing unit on base.
"Since there isn't a cryogenic plant here, it's very important for the unit we have to work on demand without any interruptions," said Wilburn, an AGE journeyman originally from Bakersfield, Calif.
On any given week, the AGE technicians will fill up to 20 bottles of nitrogen for its customers, who include Navy, Army and civilian contractors, as well as Air Force civil engineers and fuels technicians.
"Nitrogen plays a vital role in our day-to-day operations," said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jeremy Widmann, an airframes quality assurance representative for Consolidated Maintenance Organization-2, Maintenance Detachment Bravo. "Tires and brake systems require frequent servicing. Without nitrogen, our aircraft [couldn't] complete its mission at all."
While the nitrogen is used to fill the tires and hydraulic systems, the Navy P-3C Orion also uses nitrogen for various avionics equipment that requires purging and servicing, he said. With no spare nitrogen available, Widmann and his team request nitrogen once a week or more.
"It's lighter and less corrosive ... using nitrogen can help prevent tire blowouts on an aircraft when it lands," Balbuena said.
Making nitrogen
"The [nitrogen servicing] cart grabs everything from the air and separates the nitrogen through a series of filters and membranes," said Balbuena, non-commissioned officer in charge of AGE. "It separates all the impurities and then [stops] when it has all the nitrogen it needs to function."
When the unit is fully charged at 4,500 psi, the AGE technicians can fill a request in about 30 minutes. The Airmen noted that as more tanks are filled at one time, the longer it takes for each bottle to reach its maximum capacity, because as the unit's pressure drops. During that time, either Balbuena or Wilburn must monitor the filtering process. They fill each bottle, which is about 13 gallons, to 2,800 psi.
"Once the unit drops to 3,000 psi, it's nearly the same pressure I'm trying to put into the other bottles," said Balbuena, a New York native. "It's almost like trying to squeeze a whole bunch of people into one tiny room when you've already reached full capacity."
On demand
Without Air Force support, units would have to ship nitrogen bottles off station to be serviced, and then have them shipped back and reinstalled on the nitrogen bottle carts, said Widmann, who hails from Redwood City, Calif., and is deployed from Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay.
"Though it seems like a small part of the total maintenance effort, nitrogen is a key component of our daily servicing requirements to keep our aircraft flying," he said. "The logistics required to ship nitrogen in and out of this base would be horrendous."
Nitrogen can replace almost anything that requires air. The demand for nitrogen fluctuates as each customer's mission changes. The Airmen said they know the operational theory of the nitrogen servicing cart and ensure it is well maintained.
"If that nitrogen cart goes down, we'll be working long hours trying to get it operational again," Balbuena said.
Balbuena and Wilburn are both deployed from the 305th Maintenance Squadron at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., and are serving a four-month rotation.
| Date Taken: | 12.26.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 12.26.2008 01:46 |
| Story ID: | 28143 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 552 |
| Downloads: | 328 |
This work, Aerospace Ground Equipment technicians provide seventh element, by TSgt Francesca Popp, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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