CASE STUDY
W
ith aircrafts purpose built for air combat, air
mobility, aviation training, and intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance, the Australian Defence
Force protect Australia’s borders through strategic and
operational-level analysis.
The Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army and Royal
Australian Air Force make up the Australian Defence
Force, and to ensure their respective aircrafts get lift off
safely, refuelling trucks are the ground units to supply
and support their flight. The Australian Defence Force
implemented the JP157 Aviation Refuelling Vehicles
Facilities (ARVF) Project to support the Capability
Acquisition & Sustainment Group (CASG) replacement
aviation refuelling tanker project.
With 107 aviation refuelling trucks required, the Australian
Defence Force appointed Refuel International to provide
them with 47 high capacity tankers, 43 medium capacity
tankers and 17 hydrant dispensers across a two and a half
year span.
Located in Sunshine, Victoria, Refuel International’s
aviation refuellers are designed for efficient and safe
aircraft refuelling in port locations, transferring fuel into
the aircraft via a pump, filter and metering systems.
Reliability, robustness and safety were at the forefront
of these systems, so to ensure safe operation and
quality longevity, Refuel International called upon NHP
Electrical Engineering’s assistance. Coincidently, both
local Australian companies have this year reached
an impressive 50 years of operation in industry. With
established reputations not only locally, both companies
in some way have penetrated and leveraged off global
innovations to strengthen the Australian market.
“Operational safety is our main priority when designing and
manufacturing any system. Having a long standing and
close working relationship with NHP, we knew they were the
right choice to help us complete these systems with specific
needs in a compact space as well as having stringent safety
requirements,” commented Refuel International’s General
Manager, Geoffrey Pinner.
For overall truck safety, NHP implemented the Steute.
Intrinsically Safe Proximity sensors acting as interlocks not
allowing the unit to activate unless all devices are in a safe
position. NHP’s Hazardous Area Ex Junction boxes from
Cortem were used for cable management with the units
machined by the NHPEx workshop according to Refuel
International’s specifications.
“NHP supplies not only a range of Hazardous Area Equipment
and a specialist team, but also, customer specific systems via
our certified manufacturing and assembly workshop. In this
workshop, accredited staff design, construct and inspect the
range according to the requirements of IECEx certification.
This allows for flexibility to produce custom solutions to suit
Refuel International’s requirements,” said Andrew Ware,
NHP’s Automation Sales Supervisor.
Complementing the hazardous area devices and to
provide seamless connectivity, NHP identified a need
for connection products from Rockwell Automation,
including Patchcords with integral connectors, Mini
Distribution Boxes, power supplies and Safety Relays
meeting safety standards and offering key functions to
simplify installation and system complexity.
Through sound and efficient processes, Refuel
International recently received a runners-up award
from Defence Industry Australia for this project which
was delivered 12 months ahead of schedule and under
budget. This outstanding achievement has further
secured a three year contract as the sole manufacturer for
AirBP aviation refuelling vehicles.
The combined knowledge and expertise of the two local
companies is what drove the success of this project. NHP
are proud to have collaborated with Refuel International
to contribute to the defence of Australia and ensure the
components aligned with all safety requirements.
NHP worked closely with Refuel International to design
a modern and scalable control system that could easily
be fit into various truck models within tight space
constraints. Adding complexity to the design is the
hazardous environment the systems must operate within,
with the potential for exposure to Aviation fuel.
NHP manufactured the control system at their National
Manufacturing and Distribution Centre to deliver a
customer built system along with various loose supply
items to reduce the customer installation time.
“NHP’s ability to design and manufacture quality control
systems locally and back it up with technical support instilled
confidence throughout the duration of the project. Further
elevating the convenience factor, NHP has extensive local
stock holdings ensuing minimal delays and fast delivery of
required products,” Mr. Pinner continued.
Paramount to the design is a range of hazardous area
equipment for maximum protection. Included in the
solution was Intrinsically Safe barriers serving the purpose
of limiting the input energy for devices in hazardous
areas, allowing the integrity of the Intrinsically Safe circuit
to be maintained. Ideally paired with the corresponding
barriers, are the Moflash Ex beacons which are easily
customisable where local indication is necessary.
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