Aerospace & Defence
Fig. 1. Cyberhawk drones are under 2kg in weight including cameras and equipment, and under one metre in length.
4 Using drones to avoid sending inspection workers up dangerous heights is one thing, but it would be unadvisable to send drone- mounted inspection cameras over explosive areas like oil and gas installations without proper risk assessment, reports Boris Sedacca.
4 Utiliser des drones pour éviter d’envoyer des inspecteurs à des hauteurs dangereuses est une chose, mais il n’est pas recommandé d’envoyer des caméras d’inspection montées sur des drones au-dessus de zones explosibles, telles que des installations pétrolières et gazières sans avoir évalué les risques comme il se doit, selon Boris Sedacca.
4 Der Einsatz von Drohnen, damit Inspektionsarbeiter keine gefährlichen Höhen erklimmen müssen, ist eine Sache, aber es wäre nicht ratsam, Inspektionskameras mit Drohnen ohne entsprechende Risikobewertung über explosive Gebiete wie Öl- und Gasinstallationen zu schicken, berichtet Boris Sedacca.
Drones cut risk on industrial inspections
T 46
www.engineerlive.com
he use of unmanned, remotely controlled aircraft for site surveys at oil and gas installations is gathering momentum, as well as other sites like wind farms and
masts for telecommunication and broadcast. In the oil and gas sector, tall and complex
structures such as oil rigs, platforms and chimney stacks, present a danger for personnel, particularly operations that take place at heights in hostile environments where waves, wind and weather place further demands on the individuals carrying out the tasks.
Cyberhawk is a leading pioneer in the
use of drones for industrial inspection, topographical land surveys and aerial photography. Craig Roberts, chief executive officer of Cyberhawk, claims his company has performed over 200 flare inspections to date. “The drone is not itself intrinsically
safe, which means that every time we do an inspection on a offshore flare stack for example, we have to go through a specific risk assessment with the facility,” he explains. “Our drones use battery power which
avoids the use of liquid fuel and from an overall health and safety perspective there are
more risks from working with liquid fuel. It is subject to having a discussion with hazardous operations personnel to make safety case for each occasion.
Flammable gasses
“In terms of flammable gasses, the item in the vicinity of a flare inspection that is going to be most likely to ignite gasses is the flare itself. This means that for a flare inspection, the risk is extremely low even though the drone is not intrinsically safe. “If you inspect something where
hydrocarbons have not been ignited, for example a cold vent stack, we have to use a gas sensor to be safe, which would trip an alarm if the hydrocarbons go over the explosive limit that has been set for that particular inspection.” Roberts contends that the issue of intrinsic
safety can be addressed by going through the appropriate risk mitigation steps. In addition to still imagery, Cyberhawk also use video and thermal photography, so it can perform thermographic surveys too. The company uses separate cameras at
the moment because the way the drones are configured, a gas sensor for ongoing
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