Laser Photonics says its latest offering could help Navy win its war on rust

Class IV CleanTech EZ-Rider Handheld

Orlando, Fla., based Laser Photonics Corporation believes that the next generation of its CleanTech family of laser cleaning products, the Class IV CleanTech EZ-Rider Handheld, could play an important role in reducing the backlog at the U.S. Navy’s shipyards. It cites a GAO report that found that 75% of the Navy’s carrier and submarine fleets are not repaired on time, equating to a loss of 15 ships each year due to maintenance delays.

Laser Photonics argues that deploying solutions that improve the capabilities of existing personnel are more feasible, long-term solutions than a hiring surge. It says that, when implemented at scale, CleanTech EZ-Rider Handheld systems quickly pay for themselves via cost reduction and throughput gains and that incorporating them into standard maintenance protocols would lend the DoD an opportunity to take its war on rust from damage control towards an endgame solution.

The CleanTech EZ-Rider Handheld combines two lasers into a singles solution equally suitable for bulk coatings removal and more precise surface preparation. This two-headed system was born from an innovation in optics designed to give operators more mobility and freedom on the job: the C-OPTICS lens.

C-OPTICS is an advanced dual inline laser cleaning technology that uses DPI calculations to control the energy between pulses, can target a variety of thick top coat layers (e.g. rust or paint removal) with one roughing laser; then precisely clean, texturize and preserve the remaining layer with a secondary finishing laser without harming the substrate material.

The EZ-Rider Handheld’s roughing and finishing lasers can tackle projects simultaneously or independently. In unison, says the company, they offer manufacturing and maintenance teams unprecedented improvements to workflow and jobsite efficiency.

The EZ-Rider Handheld is capable of removing rust, paint or other contaminants from large areas at a lower operating cost than alternative. It can be coupled with industrial robots and placed inside interlocking safety work cells for full compliance with OSHA, FDA and CDRH as a Class I Laser System.

Offering an alternative to sand blasting and wet-chemical surface treatment, the EZ-Rider Handheld generates clean plasma from laser optics to do all the dirty work entailed in corrosion control. Without requiring the wearing of cumbersome PPE to operate, workers have more maneuverability around the jobsite, and rust removal tasks are completed more efficiently.

Additionally, says Laser Photonics, its industrial laser systems have been proven to operate virtually maintenance free for decades.