Perfect Perspectives Uses Dual Camera Drone To Remotely Inspect Piping For Leaks
Recently the Industrial Inspection Team at Perfect Perspectives conducted several drone-based piping system surveys for a Fortune 100 Company in Cincinnati. Perfect Perspectives was selected over other drone service providers due to having extensive experience in both safe, effective operation of drone systems and managing large scale industrial inspections. Perfect Perspectives is accredited by the BBB as “Ohio’s Most Experienced Drone Service Company.” Director of Flight Operations – Wendell Adkins, has 40 years experience designing, building and piloting unmanned aircraft and was also the Senior ASNT Level III for his previous employer, Dayton Power & Light for 35 years. At DP&L Wendell managed both internal and externally provided nondestructive testing activities, inspections of high energy piping systems and plant-wide infrastructure.
Drones Provide Close-Up Views From A Safe Distance
For this project, the client needed high-resolution thermal imaging of a high temperature combustion air piping system to check for leaks. The challenge in this case was no personnel were allowed inside the confines of the safety fence while the system was in operation for safety reasons. This meant the drone would have to negotiate around the elevated piping while the flight team operated it from a remote location. Further compounding the ability to conduct the drone operation safely were issues such as maintaining visual line-of-site with the drone, turbulence and EMF from adjacent equipment.
Drone Equipment and Process For Piping Inspections
In order to look for change, the piping system was inspected during several thermal operating states; 1) Cold, 2) Warm-up and 3) Max Operating. The process took one single long day to complete.
The drone used for the inspections carried a high-resolution FLIR thermal imaging system along with a synchronized 4K RGB video camera.
Drones Prove Value For Remote Inspections
The Industrial Inspection Team from Perfect Perspectives was able to safely and successfully conduct a series of thermal imaging inspections of the combustion piping system. Applications such as this prove that drones provide great value in gathering data that is otherwise more difficult and risky for direct access by personnel.
To learn more about the Drone Industrial Inspection Services provided by Perfect Perspectives, please visit –
https://perfectperspectivesaerial.com/services/industrial-inspections/