Photo By Lonnie Collier | Challenge judges and subject matter experts pose for a photo during the tank...... read more read more
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The Navy has funded a prize challenge focusing on the inspection of bulk liquid storage tanks both on land and on sea.
Traditional inspection of the more than 4,000 fuel tanks under Navy supervision is costly in manpower and money to accomplish, as well as introducing risk to the workforce.
“The Navy recognized that private industry has developed creative solutions that can be applied toward this issue, they only needed to become aware of our issues, see the relevant operational environment, and be allowed to bring in their own expertise into finding a solution to the problem,” said Danny Hubert, NUWC Division, Keyport Undersea Systems and Sustainment Engineering Department Technology Officer.
“This challenge was the first time the majority of the competing industry partners had ever been able to speak with our shipyard, regional maintenance center, and warfare center subject matter experts and to experience first-hand what our sailors and maintainers see daily. The challenge venue offered both industry and our subject matter experts a chance to interact directly, providing valuable insight of capability needs and the art of the possible to both parties.”
The high number of tanks needing to be assessed plus the overall thoroughness of the testing and inspection of those tanks spurred the Navy to look at other methods of inspection that would fulfill regulated requirements. Other needs included increased efficiency, a means of automating digitization of collected data and improving the speed in which those inspections could be conducted. Hence, the challenge funded by NavalX.
NavalX, a connected network that enhances collaboration between the Navy, industry, academia and other organizations provided the funding and opportunity for the challenge in coordination with NUWC Division, Keyport and Naval Surface Warfare Center Division, Point Hueneme under Naval Sea Systems Command and the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center.
The challenge, issued in early 2022, asked private industry partners to develop ways to inspect the fuel tanks that would be more cost effective and remove any safety risks that come along with having a human observer. Twenty nine companies were selected to move to the next phase of the competition. Of those, 18 companies were selected to present their ideas to the judging panel.
Following the presentations, ten companies were selected as finalists and demonstrated their capabilities on both land- and water-based fuel tanks over a one-week period.
Demonstrating companies were given one hour onsite to conduct final preparations and setup, followed by three hours to gather as much data of value to most effectively show off their capability, and one hour at the end to demobilize or remove their device from the tank.
Judges, observers and experts had a chance to see the technologies in action and speak with the demonstrating companies during set-up, demonstration and data collecting, and demobilization periods. Demonstrating companies were encouraged to communicate with those present to better understand the problem and obtain user feedback.
Projects like this are an important way of looking at solutions to issues and also serve a secondary purpose of building cooperation between organizations at all levels.
“The challenge does more than look at issue or problems the Department of Defense is having, it also builds those relationships and pathways between the DoD and private industry,” said Hubert. “These partnerships are an important piece of solving complex issues, some of which, we may not event be aware of yet.”
The challenge also brought together multiple warfare centers and Navy commands together to make it a reality through the Tech Bridge system.
“Tech Bridge was honored to be able to assist with the execution and coordination of this prize challenge and we look forward to supporting more prize challenges in future.,” said Rob Patchin, Northwest Tech Bridge Director. “These events provide an incredible opportunity to showcase the innovation and capabilities of our industrial base beyond our traditional industry partners. They also provide us with a head-to-head competitive path to evaluating capabilities and moving rapidly from innovation to fielded solutions!”
In the end, IPOZ Systems was selected to win both the land and sea based tank inspection challenges and received $400,000 to further define and advance their technology toward one day possibly improving the tank inspection process.
(Editor’s Note: Danny Hubert contributed to this story)
-KPT-
About Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport
NUWC Keyport provides advanced technical capabilities for test and evaluation, in-service engineering, maintenance and industrial base support, fleet material readiness, and obsolescence management for undersea warfare to expand America’s undersea dominance.
| Date Taken: | 12.06.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2022 11:45 |
| Story ID: | 434606 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 396 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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