Demonstration of Dehumidification Technology for a Missile-Storage Facility: Project F11-AR25
Abstract
Department of Defense (DoD) missile system components are vulnerable to corrosion damage that can hinder their mission-readiness and reliability. One 2005 study indicates that the cost of corrective and preventive corrosion maintenance for missile systems ranges from 5% to 20% of total maintenance costs. The study documented in this report demonstrated and validated the use of dehumidification technology to mitigate corrosion-related missile degradation. An Army demonstration site at Okinawa, Japan, was selected as representing a corrosion worst-case scenario, where the climate is hot and humid most of the year. The objective was to install a dehumidification system at an unconditioned, ventilated missile-storage facility to determine whether it could effectively reduce indoor humidity relative to outdoor ambient humidity. The principal metric was to maintain the buildings interior RH at no more than 10% above the upper limit specified for inside the stored missile canisters, which would increase the service life of the canister desiccant and reduce the cost of corrosion-driven corrective missile maintenance. Performance analysis of the demonstrated dehumidification system showed a 20% reduction in relative humidity compared to outdoor ambient levels. This demonstration project has a projected ROI of 5.12. Observations of operation and lessons learned are discussed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1081486
Entities
People
- Michael K. McInerney
- Orange S. Marshall
- Steven C. Sweeney