News

In a flash: FlashJet robot strips away paint

  • Published
  • By Jenny Gordon
  • Robins Air Force Base Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Stare at the bright sun for too long and you intuitively squint, raise a hand to your eyes and eventually turn your head away.

Try sneaking a quick peek at a new FlashJet robot in operation over in Bldg. 673, and there's a pretty good chance you'll have the same reaction.

That's because this sophisticated piece of technology emits bursts of piercing white light that basically strip away paint on various aircraft assets.

 "As the light flashes, the intensity of it actually makes the paint explode off the part," explained Mario Largaespada, 573rd Commodities Maintenance Squadron's FlashJet facility supervisor.

The robot has been in use since January of this year. It joins an older robot in use by the 402nd Commodities Maintenance Group in Bldg. 2180, which is currently being replaced with a new one.

The complex will eventually have two robots.

At the end of the robot's arm, each pulse of light can project a maximum 2,300 volts of power to whatever is on its receiving end. A xenon gas-filled light bulb, about 12 inches long, generates heat used to shatter the paint away. While the robot is in use in a large bay area, workers monitor the process in a nearby control room, safely isolated behind tinted glass.

Its arm can be manipulated to swing on to a turntable, where radomes from F-15s, C-17s and C-130s are depainted, or anywhere along an axis along one side of the building. Depending on the part, its paint thickness and quality, the process can take hours.

The process is quite sophisticated once a part is ready to be worked.

Take an F-15 rudder for example.

As paint is essentially vaporized, and the rudder is cooled by blasting carbon dioxide pellets onto its surface, particles are vacuumed away through several layers of filters. No hazardous waste remains following each operation.

"When the air leaves, it's cleaner than when it started," said Largaespada. "From an environmental standpoint, this is probably one of the top-of-the-line paint removal systems due to the fact we don't have any chemical waste."