ASC Honoured for Innovation to Improve Cost and Safety

ASC was recently honoured for developing a world’s best practice solution to reduce the cost of maintenance on the Collins Class submarines, while also increasing safety.

Engineers Australia ‘s South Australian Division awarded ASC with a Commendation in the Innovation / Research and Development category at the Engineering Excellence Awards held recently.

Engineering Services Manager, Ben Kidd, said that the strict safety and schedule requirements applied to submarines drove the Australian defence community to deliver results that achieved world’s best practice.

“During a submarine docking fibreglass bands internal to the main propulsion motor were found to be defective creating the potential to cause an unexpected loss of propulsion and the possibility of serious consequences,” explains Ben.

ASC in collaboration with scientists from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) embarked on a research and development project to find the root cause and to develop and validate a repair method.

A full-scale mock-up of the motor was constructed for this purpose and, through an iterative process blending engineering methods and scientific feedback, an optimised solution that would last the life of the submarine was discovered.

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Press Release, November 24, 2013