Humidification for weapons and ammunition warehouses
Temperature and humidity are the main parameters that influence the life duration of ammunition during storage time. Maintaining an adequate level of humidity in production areas and warehouses for weapons and ammunition is essential if you want to ensure their quality control and product reliability.
Too low or too high humidity levels in storage areas or production premises can cause problems with:
• electrostatic discharges;
• component failures;
• ammunition defects;
• low equipment performance;
• reducing the weapons operating time;
• the appearance of rust and mold.
Maintaining proper humidity levels of 50-60% RH in ammunition storage areas provides maximized safe shelf life, improved ammunition utilization rates, higher weapons systems qualification rates, and increased mission readiness posture across all departments.
Relative humidity levels above 60% should be controlled with a dehumidifier as excessive humidity can be a major cause of ammunition damage. For example – Ammonium nitrate, gunpowder and solid fuel are extremely sensitive to moisture and are totally inefficient if stored in places with high humidity. Dynamite is another explosive that must be stored in a controlled air environment. It easily absorbs moisture, thus losing its power and speed of detonation.
Dehumidification is essential for the safe storage of explosive materials, manufacture and processing if the moisture levels exceed the permitted limit. Condair dehumidifiers are able to maintain the desired level of relative humidity, regardless of environmental conditions.
The influence of the ambient air on ammunition and weapons performance is a continuous subject of study, in order to estimate the shelf life of ammunition and to establish quality control.
Studies have shown that too high levels of humidity can damage ammunition, too low levels of humidity can cause electrostatic discharges and a temperature higher than 25 ° C can intensify the degradation reaction of certain components inside explosives. In order to obtain optimal conditions for storage of explosive materials, it is desirable to keep the temperature and relative humidity within certain limits, ideally the relative humidity in the ammunition warehouse is maintained at 50% – 60%, and the temperature levels are kept between 5˚C to 25˚C.
Benefits of using a Condair humidification / dehumidification system:
✓ Extensive expertise obtained from collaboration with many customers in the explosives and ammunition industry;
✓ Comprehensive product range to accurately meet customer requirements;
✓ Customized and innovative solutions;
✓ Humidification and dehumidification systems with low energy consumption to reduce operating costs and to improve humidity control;
✓ Complete consulting services, design, supply, installation, commissioning, maintenance and supply of spare parts.
Condair produces a comprehensive range of evaporative cooling systems, dehumidifiers and humidifiers. Whether it is production or storage areas, the Condair team of engineers is able to offer the right solution to meet the needs of each customer.
Contact us to find out more details about the systems and solutions offered by Condair. Our team of humidity control engineers is ready to answer all your questions about humidification issues.