Products Inspection & measurement Unmanned aerial vehicles provide eye-in-the-sky inspections
Cyberhawk Innovations, the provider of specialist technical aerial inspection and survey services is using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to provide visual inspection in areas which are hard to reach or are inaccessible. The UAVs – similar to those used in the military sector
– are equipped with high definition video and still cam- eras to inspect a variety of structures including cooling towers, flare stacks, pylons and industrial chimneys to identify defects. Importantly, Cyberhawk is able to inspect these structures live, with no shutdown. The UAVs can also be equipped with infrared cameras and emission sensors if customer requirements are for monitoring tem- perature changes and emission levels. The UAVs are operated by Cyberhawk’s engineers, plant inspectors and technicians who can respond rapidly to provide live footage from the company’s mobile monitor- ing station to provide highly detailed technical reports,
images and analysis, in various formats. The UAV and camera are controlled from a console within Cyberhawk’s mobile unit so the pilot can guide the UAV to specific areas of the structure which are to be examined. Cyberhawk’s services are being used in industries includ- ing oil and gas, power generation and petro-chemical
refineries. They are said to offer a commercially viable alter- native to inspecting inaccessible structures, traditionally involving steeplejacks climbing the tower or access via scaffolding, cranes or rope access. All these other methods are expensive, cumbersome and involve potential health and safety risks. For example, when inspecting a flare stack, the plant will need to be shut down for visual inspection with the obvious cost, safety and downtime implications. With a UAV the flare can be inspected while still live. Douglas Walker, Cyberhawk Innovations MD says: “The UAV can inspect areas of the structure which would be impossible to photograph using conventional methods whilst the plant is live, also the level of detail available from the HD cameras is simply incredible.” Cyberhawk Innovations T: 01506 592187
www.cyberhawkinnovations.co.uk Enter 306
The new handheld UT5000 Intrinsically Safe Ultrasonic Tester from CorDEX Instruments is suit- able for measuring metal thickness on pipelines and fixed equipment within hazardous locations. Key to its performance is the CorDEX CONNECT reporting system, the software that integrates RFID technology. The combined
Tester delivers early warning of pipe corrosion Scanner checks for warped gear teeth Engineering company EHR is using
package increases efficiency and productivity, by allowing the Tester’s findings to be uploaded into a predictive maintenance plan or schedule.
The UT5000 Tester provides an early-warning of pipe wall thinning or corrosion. This is a significant problem for the oil, gas and chemical processing industries as any breach could result in the loss of process fluids or gas, and causing costly down- time for removal or replacement. The UT5000 allows the mainte- nance team to predict a problem and schedule it for routine repair via the CorDEX CONNECT soft- ware. Together they provide
Devices to prove voltage indicators
Martindale Electric’s new proving Devices PD440 and PD430 are portable, battery powered and designed for the testing of contact volt- age detectors up to 450V to ensure test lamps and voltage testers are operating correctly for safe working. The devices are said to offer a greater level of operator safety as they generate voltages up 450V. Voltage indicators should be proven at the normal working voltage. The PD430 adds a lower volt- age range of 50V. This is because 50V can be lethal so it is important for extra safety that you can prove your voltage indicator will illuminate at 50V, which is a requirement of IEC 61243. Compact and lightweight, the proving devices can be carried around in a tool kit so test instruments can be proved before and after working on any circuit. Martindale Electric T: 01923 441717 Enter 310
www.martindale-electric.co.uk
12
industry with both environmen- tal and economic protection. CorDEX CONNECT uses RFID and proprietary software to tag every thickness measurement with its exact location, date and time. This field data can then be used to create predictive mainte- nance programmes.
CorDEX
Instruments T: 01904 749020
cordexinstruments.com Enter 307 New version of system design software
National Instruments has unveiled NI LabVIEW 2011, the 25th-anniversary version of its award-winning system design software.
LabVIEW is said to accelerate the productivity of engineers and scientists who develop and deploy measurement and control systems to solve engineering challenges. LabVIEW 2011 is said to increase development effi- ciency through engineering-spe-
cific libraries and its ability to interact with almost any hard- ware device or deployment target, including the new multicore NI CompactRIO controller and the NI PXIe-5665, said to be one of the highest performing RF vector signal analysers in the industry. It also supports assemblies built in the latest Microsoft .NET Framework and includes numer- ous features driven directly from user feedback. With these and other advan- tages, LabVIEW 2011 is said to engineers integrate individual system components into a single, reconfigurable platform so they can do their jobs faster, better and at a lower cost. National Instruments T: 01635 523545
www.ni.com/labview Enter 309
Micro-Epsilon’s scanCONTROL 2800- 25 laser line scanner to check the run-out characteristics of complex gear teeth. The laser line scanner generates a digital 3D profile of the gear tooth area. After inspection of this profile, the workpiece can be adjusted if required. Gear shafts with plug-in teeth, bevel gears and hypoid teeth and other simi- lar axial components can warp during manufacture. Therefore, an inspection of the run-out is required. After inspec- tion, the workpiece can be adjusted if required. In order to adjust the workpiece, the extent of the ‘ovality’ and the direction of adjustment need to be determined. EHR’s optical measure- ment system was developed specifi- cally for this purpose, enabling rapid, extremely precise automated straight- ening of the workpiece.
The scanCONTROL 2800-25 is aligned with the component in such a way that the laser line is perpendicular to the gear teeth. When rotating the clamped component, the entire tooth area is shown digitally in 3D. This 3D point cloud is then evaluated according to customer requirements. Micro-Epsilon T: 0151 355 6070
www.micro-epsilon.co.uk Enter 308
SEPTEMBER 2011 Factory Equipment
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48