ANN ARBOR — The US Air Force has been selected the Overall Award winner of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences 2023 Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities Technology Competition.
The winning entry was for Ultrasonically Activated De-Paint Technology. Cumulus Digital Systems was selected the People’s Choice Award winner, for WeldScout: Intelligent Welding Inspections for Critical Infrastructure.”
The contest is NCMS’s annual event that highlights innovations in maintenance and sustainment technologies. The winners were selected during NCMS’s biggest event, the annual CTMA Partners Meeting and NCMS Technology Showcase, held June 6-8, 2023, in New Orleans, LA.
The US Air Force’s UADP Technology offers a safer, less cumbersome coating removal tool for aircraft components. Members of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) worked collaboratively with IBC Materials & Technologies and University of Dayton Research Institute to develop an environmentally friendly, aqueous-based process that completely removes top-coat and primer without damaging underlying anodized coatings. Use and disposal of hazardous chemicals and plastic media are eliminated and worker protective measures are minimal. The process removes the coating in sizable, easy to dispose pieces, and it only requires three steps: basic preclean/degrease, ultrasonic agitation, and final pressure wash.
“We believe this will be a game-changing technology for how we remove paint and eliminate the hazardous chemicals currently used,” said Michael Froning, Technical Director, Product Support Engineering Division, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. “I’m excited for the team and want to thank ESTCP for their faith in sponsoring this work. Thank you to our team: the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, IBC Materials, and the University of Dayton Research Institute.”
Cumulus Digital Systems’ entry, WeldScout™, was selected as the People’s Choice Award winner by attendees at the 2023 CTMA Partners Meeting and NCMS Technology Showcase, after presentations from each of the competition’s six finalists. WeldScout™ is an image recognition technology that ensures quality for welding by using artificial intelligence (AI) to rapidly identify defects in weld inspection scans. Its primary purpose is inspecting weld integrity for the structural and piping connections that compose the world’s most vital industrial infrastructure, including aerospace, shipbuilding, bridges, data centers, and more. The system uses a trained algorithm to evaluate phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) scans of welding and identify potential defects. PAUT enables scans to be reviewed by certified inspectors anywhere in the world, not just those at the facility.
Selecting the Overall Award winner was a panel of judges who serve as principals for the Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG), a collaborative group formed to improve coordination in the introduction of new or improved technology, new processes, or new equipment into DOD depot maintenance activities. The same group gathered earlier to review all entries and select the competition’s six finalists, who earned their recognition for excellence in maintenance relevance or impact, originality and contribution to state-of-the-art solutions, technical maturity, cross-service applicability, and feasibility/practicality.
Each award winner will be provided $50,000 in project support funding by NCMS to enable them to take part in a selected Department of Defense demonstration activity, to the extent permitted under the existing CTMA cooperative agreement.
For more details about the CTMA Technology Competition, including an electronic booklet that showcases all entries, see: https://www.ncms.org/wp-content/uploads/2023_CTMA_CompBook_FINAL-E.pdf
