Photo By Erin Jazmine Reyes | U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC)...... read more read more
YOKOSUKA, Japan – From April 22 to April 26, 2024, U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) personnel participated in a hands-on training on board Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan to learn and operate the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)-approved PlasmaBlast PB-7000-M mobile coating removal system, developed by North Carolina-based Atmospheric Plasma Solutions (APS). The training was administered by APS Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Peter Yancey, and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard (PHNSY) Plasma and Laser Ablation Lead, Larin Masuoka.
The PlasmaBlast PB-7000-M is a plasma removal system that combines compressed air and electricity to remove organic-compound coatings from surfaces such as metals and ceramics. It boasts a lightweight and packable build, making it easy to carry through hatches in ships and carriers. As opposed to Laser Coating Ablation, which involves thermal plasma, the PlasmaBlast uses non-thermal plasma through Atmospheric Plasma Coating Removal (APCR) to clean metals of coatings and surface rust.
Information on the SRF-JRMC PlasmaBlast training was introduced during the command’s “Get Real, Get Better” Exhibition held on March 29. The week-long training is the product of a collaboration between APS, PHNSY Communities of Practice (COP), Code 100CI Innovation Lab, and Code 900 Production Department. This is their first joint project.
“We wanted to spend the week learning about the PlasmaBlast to minimize risk,” said C106.1E Safety Engineering Branch Supervisory Safety Specialist Nicholas Gott.
On Monday, SRF-JRMC Group Masters and Shop Heads were invited to observe a PlasmaBlast unit demonstration by Yancey and Masuoka. The demonstration was closely monitored by Code 106 Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health and Radiological Controls Department personnel to ensure proper safety procedures were being followed.
Group Masters and Shop Heads asked questions about the PlasmaBlast PB-7000-M system during the demonstration. Discussions on ventilation and the environmental conditions needed to accommodate the system raised reflections on the spaces where SRF-JRMC personnel currently work.
“The best application of the system is offboard,” explained Masuoka. “Eventually, Industrial Hygiene (IH) can send these models to the ships, but for now, without improvements to ventilations, we can control them in the shops. That’s what we’re thinking at Pearl Harbor, at least.”
Lectures were held on April 23 and 24 to instruct SRF-JRMC personnel on operating the PlasmaBlast system. They applied their classroom knowledge to the systems on April 25, supervised by Yancey, Masuoka, and Code 106.
The week-long training ended on Friday with a presentation by Masuoka on the innovative equipment, tools, and gadgets currently in use and are aimed to be used at PHNSY.
“NAVSEA provided two PlasmaBlast units to the Innovation Lab for the purpose of upgrading the technology level of Yokosuka, as well as improving the modernization of machines and equipment in Yokosuka,” said C100CI Innovation Lab Assistant Technology Insertion Manager Miyoko Imai. “Introducing the PlasmaBlast Unit to SRF-JRMC is just the first step.”
“The training was very thorough. I enjoyed watching how excited the shop personnel were as they began to brainstorm the value this new capability could bring to their field of work,” commented the previous PlasmaBlast Yokosuka Team Leader, Code 310 USS Howard (DDG 83) Project Superintendent Lieutenant Brandon Carter.
For over 75-years, U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) has been the linchpin of U.S. naval operations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by providing intermediate-level and depot level repair for the ships of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Seventh Fleet.
| Date Taken: | 04.29.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2024 02:50 |
| Story ID: | 469716 |
| Location: | YOKOSUKA, KANAGAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 229 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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