| Inspection
coordinates of a crack, and monitor it over time. Additionally, any minor debris found in trash racks or intake gates can feasibly be removed by an ROV utilising a grabber arm. Invasive species like zebra mussels can colonise on
intake structures and accumulate to the point where water flow is severely impeded. ROVs can be used to monitor their growth and effectively clean them off structures without dewatering or damaging expensive coatings.
Simplified inspection reports ROVs are equipped with high-definition cameras
and powerful LED lighting to produce clear imaging. Their live feed can be recorded directly to SD cards or external hard drives for later use. Readings of depth, temperature, coordinates, etc, allow for enhanced monitoring of long-term progression of potential issues, or for inspection contractors to provide reports to clients. Building a standardised asset status report allows for efficient repair forecasting to keep costs and downtimes as low as possible.
GE Renewable Energy In May of 2021, GE Renewable Energy unveiled a new
solution to perform underwater hydropower turbine inspections. Utilizing Deep Trekker’s REVOLUTION ROV, GE’s Hydro Solutions’ underwater robotised turbine inspection solution can inspect hard-to-reach areas of any type of hydropower turbines without dewatering the equipment. Designed, developed and tested with Deep Trekker’s innovation team, this solution is the next step in hydropower turbine condition assessment.
GE has successfully used the REVOLUTION ROV equipped with customised 360-degree camera technology to inspect blades on Kaplan, Francis, and pump turbines and runners. It noted that since adopting an ROV based inspection process, it has reduced associated costs, inspection risks and outage time by 95% without reducing inspection quality.
GENIFAB
One company with extensive experience in the hydro industry is GENIFAB. This engineering firm specializes in the field of heavy mechanical devices, such as locks, mobile bridge mechanics, and ferry loading dock mechanisms, among other systems. In 2007, GENIFAB saw an increase in calls for inspection work. Up until that time, the company was generally employed as design engineers working in tandem with commercial divers to provide inspection services. The calls for inspection assistance were often after major mechanical failures or a broken gate at one of the hydroelectric dams. Donald Dupont from GENIFAB said: “The cost of divers was prohibitive for performing
preliminary inspections or preventative inspections, it was also difficult to coordinate with their schedules”. As a result, GENIFAB needed to innovate in order
to grow. To address the concerns of unscalable diver costs, GENIFAB looked to ROVs as a cost-effective robotic solution. Choosing the DTG3 by Deep Trekker enabled it to conduct inspections quickly and easily, without any external contracting. Without the dangers associated with manual inspections, certain underwater tasks could now be performed without any downtime for the plant. ●
Above: Value creation estimates of a Deep Trekker PIVOT ROV
Below left: Image from GE, underwater inspection using an ROV (photo by GE Renewable Energy)
Below: An operator controlling an ROV
www.waterpowermagazine.com | July 2022 | 27
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