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Posidonia 2016: DNV GL performs first drone production survey
CLASSIFICATION society DNV GL has announced at the recent Athens Posidonia trade fair that it had recently completed the first production surveys using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones.
The survey took place on the aboard the 148,435-dwt Apollo, a chemical tanker owned by Carl Buttner Shipmanagement of Bremerhaven, reports the American Journal of Transportation.
Two DNV GL surveyors used the drone to inspect 14 tanks over a period of two and a half days.
"The advantage of using a drone over conventional staging inside the tank is clear," said the shipmanager's marine superintendent Johan Huhn.
"Eliminating the risk of damage to the coating from staging means the drone survey is worth it, even before we factor in the time saved by this method. We were also all very impressed by the quality of the video and the details the drone was able to obtain in the inspection,?he said.
Mr Huhn said the Carl Buttner Shipmanagement company would certainly be interested in using this method more in the future. "I am interested to see how the technology develops over the next few years," he said.
"The success of the first drone production survey performed by a classification society shows how our investment in developing modern class solutions to benefit our customers is paying off," said DNV GL-Maritime chief Knut Orbeck-Nilssen.
"This is a very promising beginning and one that is already showing a significant benefit in terms of time and costs saved," Mr Orbeck-Nilssen said,
The inspection of ship tanks and holds can be costly, time consuming and potentially dangerous. The condition of the coating, corrosion, damages, piping, access points, equipment and safety systems all have to be assessed on a regular basis.
Using drones to visually check the condition of remote structural components has the potential to significantly reduce survey times and staging costs, while at the same time improving safety for the surveyors.
DNV GL has now carried out several tests using drones for the inspection of cargo tanks or holds in a large oil tanker, a chemical tanker and a bulk carrier, both in Europe and in China.
In the future it may be possible to use drones that are fully autonomous. A 3D model of a vessel could be loaded into a drone's memory, which could then orientate itself inside the tank and follow a pre-defined route, stopping at points of interest inside the compartment to capture video and still images.
The operator can use the camera and lights to document findings, while the drone's autopilot takes care of the flight. At some stage it may be possible to have a drone with its own scanning capabilities.
The drone could be dropped into an unknown space, make a scan, create its own 3D map and then proceed to carry out the survey independently.
The survey took place on the aboard the 148,435-dwt Apollo, a chemical tanker owned by Carl Buttner Shipmanagement of Bremerhaven, reports the American Journal of Transportation.
Two DNV GL surveyors used the drone to inspect 14 tanks over a period of two and a half days.
"The advantage of using a drone over conventional staging inside the tank is clear," said the shipmanager's marine superintendent Johan Huhn.
"Eliminating the risk of damage to the coating from staging means the drone survey is worth it, even before we factor in the time saved by this method. We were also all very impressed by the quality of the video and the details the drone was able to obtain in the inspection,?he said.
Mr Huhn said the Carl Buttner Shipmanagement company would certainly be interested in using this method more in the future. "I am interested to see how the technology develops over the next few years," he said.
"The success of the first drone production survey performed by a classification society shows how our investment in developing modern class solutions to benefit our customers is paying off," said DNV GL-Maritime chief Knut Orbeck-Nilssen.
"This is a very promising beginning and one that is already showing a significant benefit in terms of time and costs saved," Mr Orbeck-Nilssen said,
The inspection of ship tanks and holds can be costly, time consuming and potentially dangerous. The condition of the coating, corrosion, damages, piping, access points, equipment and safety systems all have to be assessed on a regular basis.
Using drones to visually check the condition of remote structural components has the potential to significantly reduce survey times and staging costs, while at the same time improving safety for the surveyors.
DNV GL has now carried out several tests using drones for the inspection of cargo tanks or holds in a large oil tanker, a chemical tanker and a bulk carrier, both in Europe and in China.
In the future it may be possible to use drones that are fully autonomous. A 3D model of a vessel could be loaded into a drone's memory, which could then orientate itself inside the tank and follow a pre-defined route, stopping at points of interest inside the compartment to capture video and still images.
The operator can use the camera and lights to document findings, while the drone's autopilot takes care of the flight. At some stage it may be possible to have a drone with its own scanning capabilities.
The drone could be dropped into an unknown space, make a scan, create its own 3D map and then proceed to carry out the survey independently.
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