As part of a program to eliminate chronic, shipboard, low pressure air
dehydrator problems a Navy-industry team consisting of the Navy, Newp
ort News Shipbuilding and a permeable membrane manufacturer has develo
ped a new generation of permeable membrane air dehydration equipment t
o replace the complex and unreliable desiccant units currently used. P
ermeable membrane dehydration is a new technology utilizing new polysu
lfone, semipermeable polymeric membranes specially designed to perform
molecular separation of gaseous mixtures. This process has proven to
be extremely reliable and cost effective. The successful development o
f the permeable membrane dehydrator from an SBIR concept to shipboard
units is described. A review of the current dehydrators and system his
tory that drove this program, and the benefits and payoffs of the new
equipment, are presented. Results of the laboratory evaluation, shipbo
ard evaluation and the fleet transition plan are addressed.