CASE STUDY: ELIOS 3 USED TO MAP NO GO ZONES IN DECOMMISSIONED POWER PLANT

When power plants are decommissioned, they may sit idle for an extended length of time. Because large industrial operations involve hazards related with falls, head injuries, and the dangers associated with entering tight areas, safety concerns linger even after a plant is decommissioned.

Another reason power stations may be left empty after decommissioning is security concerns, because the technologies used to generate power and the unique design of a certain power plant are considered secrets and must be protected as such.

Despite these reservations, electricity companies who own decommissioned power facilities must keep them operational. Because of the antiquity of some of these plants and the restrictions on entering them, corporations frequently have limited knowledge of their layout, which might impair their capacity to perform continuous maintenance.

The factory was evacuated and turned into a training facility for the neighborhood fire department once it was shut down. However, there are still areas of the facility that are surrounded by fences and wires and where visitors are not permitted because of the possibility of materials falling or other safety risks.

The Research & Development team at Vattenfall was looking for new robotics techniques that would enable them to make 3D maps of plant areas that had been inaccessible for many years.

Flyability already has Vattenfall as a client. They decided to test the new drone at the shut-down plant to see how well it could map locations that were too unsafe for people to approach after learning that Flyabilty was developing the Elios 3, an indoor drone outfitted with a LiDAR sensor for creating detailed 3D maps in limited spaces.

LiDAR data is used by the FlyAware SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) algorithm on the Elios 3 to produce 3D models in real time while the drone is in flight. After a flight, software from Flyability's partner GeoSLAM can be used to transform the LiDAR data it gathers into more thorough 3D models.

Results

The endeavour was successful. It exhibited the Elios 3's capacity to enter spaces that humans cannot, either out of concern for their safety or simply because they are inaccessible, and to produce 3D models of those spaces.

The Vattenfall crew chose an old stairway inside the power plant that was not accessible to people to test the Elios 3.

Both the SLAM-generated models and the post-processed 3D models, according to the Vattenfall R&D team, offered all the resources required to assist their decommissioning operations, suggesting that they may be applied to the same task at other plants going through the process.

Vattenfall employees were able to fly the Elios 3 into the safe zone. Vattenfall's R&D team was able to gather all the information required to produce accurate 3D models of the area using the LiDAR sensor on the Elios 3 and an Ouster OS0-32 with an ultra-wide field of view.

The drone had to fly roughly 30-40 meters (98-130 feet) up the stairway to map the entire area, showcasing its capacity to fly far from the pilot while retaining a solid signal.

Without the Elios 3, Vattenfall staff would have needed to approach the region and set up scaffolding in order to gather information on its status. They were able to gather all the data they required in just 30 minutes of flight time, saving weeks of labour and time in addition to perhaps expensive scaffolding installation.

Conclusion

The R&D team at Vattenfall presented the 3D models of the plant's stairway internally to highlight the cutting-edge ideas they were investigating to improve safety in the company's work.

Vattenfall stakeholders welcomed these advancements, and were especially taken aback by the Elios 3's capacity to produce 3D maps of regions that are too risky to explore.

Following these positive Elios 3 testing, Vattenfall staff members are certain that such solutions are the way of the future and that being able to visit hazardous places and use drone technology to create 3D representations of them is very helpful for their work.

Learn more about the benefits of using the Elios 3

We are a proud Partner of Flyability and Information was provided by Flyability - https://www.flyability.com/