Leak Checking Lifeboats

INFICON leak detector products are used in a variety of applications. At Saab's Support and Services (located in Linköping, Sweden) INFICON leak detectors are used for checking and maintenance of survival equipment for the Swedish Armed Forces.

Leak Checking Lifeboats

Saab's Support and Services delivers different types of maintenance solutions. Among other things, it has a workshop for the maintenance of equipment from the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Armed Forces. Lifeboats and other survival equipment normally found on aircraft and helicopters are sent here regularly to ensure integrity of the product.

During inspections at the workshop, the lifeboats are first pressure-tested to ensure that they are airtight. If a lifeboat does not hold the pressure, INFICON's portable leak detector Sensistor ISH2000 is used to find a possible leak. The lifeboat is then mended, if possible.

"We would certainly be able to find any leaks with a water bath, but that's time-consuming and complicated. With the leak detector from INFICON, it is fast and easy," says Peer Däljemar, who works as a maintenance engineer at Saab Support and Services.

For search and rescue operations with helicopters, stretcher winches are also used. Some models of stretcher have a vacuum mattress, or vacmat, that holds the rescued person in place on the stretcher by sucking air out of the mattress with a vacuum pump. When checking in the workshop, air mixed with tracer gas is pumped into the vacmat and an INFICON leak detector is then used to detect leaks in the vacmat.

Checking and servicing of pilots' G suits is another area in which Support and Services uses its leak detector from INFICON. G suits are used for flights in fighter aircraft, which can subject pilots to high levels of acceleration force (g). The suits have bladders that inflate with air at high g-forces and make the suit tighten around the lower body and legs to prevent the pilot's blood from pooling in the lower limbs.

Read more about Saab at www.saabgroup.com and about the leak detector Sensistor ISH2000 at http://www.sensistor.com/.