NATTC Employs New Air Conditioning Training Simulator

Photo By Lt. Ian Loomis | 190507-N-XK622-1092 PENSACOLA, Fla. (May 7, 2019) Aviation Support Equipment Technician Airman Recruit Lu Yin from Los Angeles and Airman Recruit Gabriel Romero from Berryville, Arkansas, perform a pre-operational inspection on the Naval Air Technical Training Center’s AMATROL T7082A Learning System. Instructors replaced outdated air conditioning training equipment with the new system, which helps modernize initial accession aviation support equipment technician “A” school training with a commercial off-the-shelf modernized air conditioning and refrigeration training aid. The system is designed to teach students critical concepts of compressors, condensers and other pressure control devices through a hands-on approach. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Ian Loomis/Released)  

PENSACOLA, FL, UNITED STATES

05.23.2019

Courtesy Story

Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training

From Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Florida. – Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) wrapped up the first Aviation Support Equipment (AS) “A” School air conditioning unit incorporating a new training system May 23.

Instructors replaced outdated air conditioning training equipment with the AMATROL T7082A Learning System, which helps modernize initial accession AS rating training. The air conditioning unit is one of 10 modules that initial accession Sailors and Marines complete as part of AS “A” School.

“These new trainers are the same as most trade schools and will help the students have a better understanding of how air conditioners work,” said Johnnie Creel, NATTC AS “A” School curriculum manager.

The system is an example of a modernized method of delivering training that the U.S. Navy’s Sailor 2025 Ready, Relevant Learning initiative calls for. Students receive more performance-based hands-on training through practice with multiple “reps and sets” of critical concepts on a simulator.

The updated training aid is a commercial off-the-shelf advanced air conditioning and refrigeration system that teaches critical concepts of compressors, condensers, metering devices, evaporators, temperature, pressure control devices and reversing valves. The T7082A system components and gauges show students the air conditioning and refrigeration cycle of operation and helps teach students to observe and monitor cooling systems using various instruments including sight glasses, moisture indicators, and a panel-mounted compressor ammeter.

“This new trainer is able to allow students to see the changes in state of the refrigerant as it passes each component in the cycle of operation, which was never possible before in the legacy trainers,” said Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Hector Delgado, the NATTC AS “A” School primary air conditioner instructor and curriculum update lead. “Before we would have to just tell students that this occurred. Now the students will actually be able to see it.”

The trainer provides the capability of critical hands-on, skill-building tasks such as using a manifold gauge to measure thermal system pressure and testing a thermostatic expansion valve or compressor, preparing AS “A” School students for the next phase of air conditioning training at a “C” School.

“The ease of use of these new training aids will help those new accession students, who have never worked with air conditioning before, be able to more easily identify components and better understand the basic concepts, duties and tasks of this unit,” said Chief Aviation Support Equipment Technician Wayne Guan, NATTC AS “A” School training officer. “These new training aids should also provide NATTC with a more environmentally-friendly solution and cost-effective solution to delivering the training.”

Keeping in compliance with the Clean Air Act, requiring removal of R-22 refrigerant by 2020, the replacement of older air conditioning and refrigerant trainers became a necessity.

NATTC is part of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training (CNATT), headquartered at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida and graduates approximately 15,000 Navy and Marine students yearly. The largest part of this student body is comprised of enlisted personnel attending "A" schools designed to provide them with the knowledge and skill levels required to perform as technicians at the third class petty officer level.

CNATT develops, delivers and supports aviation technical training at 27 sites located throughout the continental United States and Japan. CNATT is a training center under Naval Education and Training Command, and is a technical training agent for the Naval Aviation Enterprise, an organization designed to advance and sustain naval aviation warfighting capabilities at an affordable cost.

• Date Taken: 05.23.2019
• Date Posted: 05.23.2019 15:22
• Story ID: 323729
• Location: PENSACOLA, FL, US