surveying smarter, more efficient and economical for the owner, and safer for surveyors,” says Tomasz Oledzki, Head of Section Fleet in Service (FiS) Poland at DNV GL Maritime. The first step was to attach a high-resolution camera to a drone so surveyors could take a close look at hard-to-reach places. Several off-the-shelf drone models were tested. The team ultimately chose a medium-sized model for interior inspections, and a larger, more powerful one for outdoor inspections where wind can make positioning and controlling the drone more difficult, for example on offshore platforms.
A NEW DIMENSION: THICKNESS MEASUREMENTS “We now have three years’ experience performing camera-assisted visual inspections on ships and offshore structures using drones,” Oledzki continues. “But our customers expect more. They would like us to cover the full scope of inspections using
Photo Credit: Mickael Brock AMI Studio
Alba adds: “We see a great opportunity to accelerate the survey process and minimize off-hire times; what is more, we can actually perform some inspections during the voyage of a vessel when cargo spaces are accessible. This is of great value to owners and operators.”
The biggest challenge the Gdansk team faces is to convince ship and cargo owners that the new methods delivers good and reliable results, says Alba. But the response from customers is excellent: “The owners for whom we have performed drone surveys to date have been very satisfied, and in many cases they were outright surprised how quickly and efficiently inspections can be done, and how little owner involvement is required to provide access to the structure. Whereas in the past, the surveyor had to be physically taken to the structural element to be inspected, the drone now ‘brings the structure to the surveyor’ for real-time inspection.”
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this advanced technology, including thickness measurements. So in mid- 2018 we decided to venture into this field and began developing a flying thickness measurement system. We built several prototypes and finally arrived at a design that satisfied our requirements.”
An attachment frame was engineered in-house by the Gdansk team in an iterative process including repeated practical testing. Its design is compact and ‘universal’, allowing surveyors to interchange the close-up inspection camera for the ultrasonic measurement head on a drone at any time, or attach the frame to another drone in case the original one is damaged. This standardization minimizes the amount of equipment surveyors have to carry when travelling to a ship, especially when dispatched by helicopter. “Reducing the amount of luggage was actually our key objective when developing this system,” stresses Oledzki.
What is more, key parts of the attachment frame are made by the DNV GL team on a 3D printer, which means the team can now manufacture any number of identical frames in a repeatable process, whether for their colleagues at other DNV GL offices or for spare parts.
Today we can say we have the capability to offer owners the full package of drone-assisted remote survey services including close-up inspection and verification of the thickness measurements.
BOTTOM-LINE VALUE FOR OWNERS “We have successfully tested the new thickness measurement drone on an MPV, some bulk carriers and this shuttle tanker,” says Oledzki. “The results are very positive – the system works well and delivers reliable data. Today we can say we have the capability to offer owners the full package of drone-assisted remote survey services including close-up inspection and verification of the thickness measurements.”
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