Tech File: Ship Propeller Cleaning with Non-Abrasive Diver Tool
DynaFlow's underwater jet cleaning diver tool is designed to reduce propeller fouling removal maintenance time and without being abrasive to the propeller blades.
The company second generation Dynajets Non-Abrasive Diver Tool (NADT) is designed to be small, lightweight and quiet.
The NADT uses resonating and cavitating jet nozzles in a rotating head housed in a shroud that protects the surface being cleaned and reduces the noise. The NADT was shown to remove propeller fouling including calcareous growth and hard and soft biofouling with no damage to the underlying propeller metal.
The NADT reduces the propeller cleaning time by half relative to abrasive brushes, and does not damage the blade surfaces including edges and fillets.
Field demonstrations have confirmed the removal of soft and hard biofouling, including barnacle basal plates, and calcareous growth with no damage to the propeller surfaces.
The benefits to the diver are a zero-thrust counter thruster so the diver is not pushed away from the blade, lower ambient noise than other water jet cleaning tools, light-weight, neutral buoyancy, small tool head for access to tight areas such as hubs and fillets.