Furnaces and process heaters are commonly inspected with an Elios 2. They are typically arranged with sufficient space in the radiant, convection and stack sections for the Elios 2 drone to navigate. Loose refractory and insulation can be inspected without the need for manned entry inside the unit. Tubing, anchors, inlets, piping, manways, refractory brick and cast refractory can be inspected quickly and in high resolution.

Boilers are also great candidates for UAV inspections. Before any manned entry, a flight can retrieve information about the condition inside the boiler. During a shut down it is essential to receive leading information as quickly as possible. A drone can navigate inside a boiler and be used to identify areas of concern. A UAV flight can be completed in as little as 8 minutes. With a 16” manway the RPAS can be piloted inside for photos and videos of the boiler’s internals.

Tanks are perfect application to assist with inspections to minimize confined space entry. The Elios 2 can be piloted from outside the vessel and navigate to welds, nozzles, inlets, vents, roofing trusses, columns and supports. Traditionally, scaffolding is used to get up to the roof of the vessel and to investigate the process interface on the wall. The Elios 2 eliminates the need for scaffolding as it can fly throughout the interior of the tank shell and record 4K images and video.

Narrow vertical assets can be difficult to inspect and increase the risk potential for rope access teams. An Elios 2 collision tolerant UAV needs 24” of space to navigate in tall columns. This eliminates the need for the use of a drop camera and a crane with a man basket, which saves time and money for the support of extra equipment and prevents putting personnel at risk. Knockout drums are also able to be inspected with the drone.

Areas and buildings with structural integrity concerns are best navigated with remote video inspection equipment. An Elios 2 can navigate in areas believed to be at risk and identify, beams, supports, columns and bracing deficiencies without having the need to send a crew inside the structure.

A Flyability Elios 2 collision tolerant UAV can navigate inside the stack between or inside the gas riser to look at refractory, linings, anchors, supports, inlets, nozzles and welds along the stack height.

Concrete basins, sumps, surge tanks and infrastructure below ground can be inspected using remote video inspection technologies including drones/UAVs. A drone can eliminate the need for manned entry by providing 4k videos and imaged from inside the structure. De-risk infrastructure inspections by using a drone.

Ventilations shafts and Air ducts are excellent spaces to deploy a collision tolerant UAV. The lining of the ducting, joints, welds, instrumentation, louvers and straightening veins can all be visualized using the Elios 2.

Process vessels such as storage tanks, large piping headers, process piping, chemical silos, fractionation towers, catalyst beds, methane spheres, oil/water separators, or structures requiring visual inspection can benefit from the usage of a confined space UAV to obtain important information from inside the vessel.