External Drone Inspection Applications
Explore a portion of our common external drone inspection applications. In addition to our crawlers, borescopes and drop cameras, Maverick Inspection routinely uses drones as an additional tool to improve the safety and efficiency of traditional remote video inspection. Our UAV teams are fully compliant with the Civil Air Regulations that govern the external operation of remotely piloted aircraft systems in Canadian airspace.
Applications
Flares
The UAV team routinely completes flare stack visual inspections. A DJI Matrice 300 RTK equipped with a high-resolution camera coupled with a long wave infrared camera which returns excellent results during a flare inspection. Live troubleshooting can be completed while the RPAS is flying, in order to identify troubles at the flare tip and gas header, that would be difficult to determine on the ground level. The thermal camera can provide insight to the pattern of the flame. Video can be recorded to watch the flame front, and to identify and leaks or anomalies at the flare tip. Complete visual inspections are typically completed of the flare tip, pilots, burners, wind shroud, tubing, guy wires and supports.
Thermal Inspections
The DJI Matrice 300 RTK equipped with a thermal camera is an excellent tool for thermography of solar panels, furnaces, flares stacks, transmission lines. Further case usages include building envelope inspections (windows and doors), evaluation of wall insulation performance, and roofing insulation performance.
Tanks/Silos
A drone equipped with a thermal camera will provide an enhanced perspective during a thermographic inspection. A UAV can navigate around the perimeter of furnaces, stacks and flares to record the surface temperature.
Pressure Vacuum Relief Valves
Valves and instrumentation can be visually inspected at a safe distance on the tops of tanks and vessels using a UAV. A thermal camera or an optical gas imaging camera can be used to look for methane leaks or signs of venting from valves on the top of tanks.
Transmission Lines
Transmission lines are inspected from a safe distance using a high resolution inspection camera. The DJI Matrice 300 can complete a waypoint mission, where the same photos are captured along a pre-programmed route saving time over a large project and during routine inspections.
Methane Detection
By equipping the DJI Matrice 300 RTK with a tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) methane sensor, detailed investigations can be made towards identifying the source of methane leaks in and around the pipelines, tanks, flanges, valves and instrumentation. A TDLAS methane sensor can be used to identify a likely source of methane emissions. An optical gas infrared camera can be used to verify the methane leak and as a secondary source of confirmation.
Mapping
The DJI Matrice 300 RTK can be equipped with a DJI 45MP P1 camera to collect pictures for mapping of site areas, pipeline ROWs, building envelopes, roofing, cladding, siding and other areas of interest.
Building Exteriors
Vertical structures can be time consuming to inspect using traditional methods. A DJI Matrice 300 RTK equipped with a DJI H20T camera can complete a visual inspection in a fraction of the time when compared with a rope access team. Using a high-resolution camera equipped with 20x optical zoom, the smallest features can be identified. The DJI Matrice 300 RTK is equipped with high precision GPS receivers along with optical and infrared positioning sensors, the UAV is equipped to navigate in complex environments found on plant sites.
Cooling Towers
Eliminate the need to use an aerial work platform to complete a visual inspection. A UAV is used to fly over the surface of the cooling tower to record photos and videos of the trays to inspect for icing buildup and damage to trays inside the tower.
Wind Turbines
Significant time savings can be obtained by using a drone to inspect a wind turbine. Tips of the blade can be captured with the high resolution camera along with structural components.
