TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex is using the Art of the Possible to engineer major improvements for two of its largest energy-consuming operations.
The energy-efficiency projects will target Bldg. 3225, a hangar where overhauled aircraft get new paint jobs, and Bldg. 3228, where paint is stripped off planes.
These projects will help the ALC to meet federal goals to cut energy consumption and emissions through 2030. The OC-ALC will be the first Air Force facility to implement the international standard for Energy Management, ISO 50001. The catch-phrase “Continuous Energy Improvement” is being used to generate enthusiasm around the effort.
OC-ALC Energy Manager Joseph Cecrle said the Continuous Energy Improvement initiative is designed to act on big and small ideas for energy-use reductions from the complex’s personnel in every shop.
“The strength of our Continuous Energy Improvement program is that we get the people who understand each operation to think about how to do things a little differently – to change their processes in some way to save energy,” Mr. Cecrle said. “We tap into people’s creativity to get energy savings at little or no cost.”
The painting hangar is a good example. Bldg. 3225’s heavy-duty ventilation system draws in fresh outside air on one side of the building to be filtered and conditioned for specific temperature and humidity ranges that different anti-corrosion and paint processes require. In winter, for example, that includes warming the colder air.
Powered exhaust fans at the other end of the hangar draw the treated air over the aircraft. Before that air leaves the building, it is heavily filtered again to remove overspray before it is vented back outside at a rate of 360,000 cubic feet per minute, said Joey Hunter, a mechanical engineer with the 72nd Civil Engineering Directorate that is supporting the project.
OC-ALC engineers plan to install a “Run-Around Heat Recovery System” that will recycle heat from the exiting air back to the original fresh-air intake system via pipes carrying a glycol/water mix. The recaptured heat will reduce the energy needed to condition incoming air.
“Building 3225 is far and away one of the top energy-intensive operations at Tinker,” Mr. Hunter said. “With the current single-pass-of-air system we use now, it’s akin to keeping your doors wide open in the wintertime while you’re heating your house. We want to capture and reuse the heat that’s going out the open door.”
The upgrades for Bldg. 3225 projects are expected to reduce energy use by up to 35,676 million BTUs a year. The equipment and operations changes are projected to save $414,613 annually, Mr. Hunter said.
But that isn’t the only energy improvement project going on.
Bldg. 3225 personnel already recognized that heating and cooling the facility used the most energy in their operation, and that waiting for aircraft deliveries with the massive hangar doors open caused a great deal of energy waste – heating energy in winter and cooling energy in summer. They reasoned that if they could better coordinate with the aircraft delivery drivers they could minimize the amount of time that the doors remain open.
Bldg. 3225 personnel are now setting up a process for coordinating with the Maintenance Operations Center (MOC), which oversees aircraft deliveries, to enable “just-in-time” door opening. This additional energy saving comes at no cost to the ALC. It is the product of insights that could only have been gleaned by experienced individuals working at the facility.
Both facets of the OC-ALC’s energy program are being delivered through an Energy Savings Performance Contract with Honeywell. The global manufacturing and management company is implementing multiple OC-ALC projects at its own cost. The company will recoup its investment through the difference in the OC-ALC’s energy bill over the 20-year term of the contract.
The ALC’s Performance Contract with Honeywell is unique in that Honeywell is also providing support for the ALC to become the first government-operated facility to become ISO 50001 certified. It is this ISO 50001 certification that is driving the ALC’s Continuous Energy Improvement program, and the OC-ALC is serving as the model for its sister complexes in Utah and Georgia for how this can be done.
Energy savings ceremony, March 29
A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held March 29 to mark the activation of an Energy Savings Performance Contract that is projected to cut energy consumption at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex by 35 percent in the coming years.
The ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. at Hollywood and Vine in Bldg. 3001.
The massive energy-efficiency overhaul in partnership with Honeywell International Inc. will modernize dozens of OC-ALC buildings and industrial operations.
Besides improving energy efficiency, the project will also increase reliability and add resiliency to the complex’s maintenance, repair and overhaul mission