Three more blast rooms commissioned by USF

Citation

(2002), "Three more blast rooms commissioned by USF", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 49 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/acmm.2002.12849faf.002

Three more blast rooms commissioned by USF

Three more blast rooms commissioned by USF

Keywords: Surface preparation, Blasting, Coatings

USF Surface Preparation has just commissioned three blast rooms, each a turnkey installation designed and built to meet contrasting surface preparation requirements (Plate 1).

The first room was supplied to BAe Systems in Manchester and is thought to be the first purpose designed room in the world, with a recovery system, to be used with sponge abrasive. BAe have given an approval for the use of sponge abrasive, to be used to selectively remove coatings from a range of composite aircraft tail sections.

Plate 1 Three more Blastrooms commissioned by USF

USF won the contract to design and install the room and media recovery system on the strength of the specification offered and competitive price. An essential requirement was the ability to provide a total turnkey package including compressed air supply, civil work, electrical installation and full project management. As one of the largest provider of all aspects of surface preparation equipment USF were the ideal partner.

The blastroom is 12 m long × 5 m wide × 3.5 m high and utilises a 10,000 cfm dust collector and combined recovery auger/ vacuum system to filter and recycle the media. The room has been designed with an eye for the future in that it includes design features allowing the room to be extended to enclose a complete fuselage. To ensure operator safety and prevent contamination of the work area a blowdown room has been included in the construction through which the operator must leave. Air jets providing high volumes of air at low pressure remove any dust remaining on their clothing.

Efficient sound insulation was critical and by using specially designed acoustic panels on the walls, USF was able to reduce the noise to well below the 80 db level specified.

The second room was supplied to the Royal Navy Support Engineering Services in Exeter and is to be used for a wide range of surface preparation cleaning work using metallic abrasive. Yet again, the customer was looking for a partner capable of providing a full solution including the compressed air supply. The room was required to be “portable” and USF were able to provide a single structure capable of being lifted onto a standard vehicle and transported.

By providing a containerised in-line blastroom/plant room/compressor housing mounted on legs, the system provided full flexibility and mobility as no civil engineering work was required. It has all the features of a conventional blast room: full USF containerised blastrooms are manufactured to suit the customer’s requirements and can be fabricated to any size capable of being transported on UK roads.

The final installation is a room with sweep-in vacuum media recovery at Lotus Cars. It is used with glass bead and plastic media for preparation of carbon fibre transmission tunnels included in some of the most highly prestigious marques built in the UK.The blast operation is carried out under low pressure to gently abrade the surface for the use of hi-tech adhesives.

These three installations illustrate USF’s ability to supply a range of rooms designed and built to give the customer the best option for their precise surface preparation requirement. In each case, as with all USF equipment, full training and maintenance contracts have been provided to ensure safe and efficient operation for many years to come.

Details available from: USF Surface Preparation Ltd, Tel: +44 (0) 161 928 6388.