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SENSYN ROBOTICS conducted a demonstration test of automatic inspection of oil tanks and piping using a drone solution to improve the safety and efficiency of maintenance and inspection work at the oil plant of ENEOS Kawasaki Refinery.
Drone solutions centered on "SENSYN FLIGHT CORE" provided by SENSYN ROBOTICS are easy to operate and enable the drone to fly stably and automatically while maintaining an appropriate separation distance from the object to be inspected. By using a drone to perform inspections, it will be possible to perform regular inspections of floating roofs on tanks.
The following results were obtained in this demonstration experiment.
In the regular inspection of floating-roof tanks at the Kawasaki Refinery, a person climbs up and inspects the tanks every day. When this work is carried out by a drone, it can be done from the sky in about five minutes per tank and can be used as an alternative method to visually checking for abnormalities.
Inspection of floating roof tanks; visual inspection is possible without having to climb up one by one.
For the pipe inspection work, the drone was able to check the deterioration of the support sections deep into the pipes, which were lined up in multiple tiers and about 10 rows horizontally, and by switching the camera on the aircraft to a thermal camera, we were able to identify the deterioration points of the pipes.
It is possible to check deep into the piping. A thermal camera can also be used to identify the location of pipe deterioration.
SENSYN ROBOTICS has been working with the ENEOS Group on plant equipment inspections in the petroleum business since 2018, including the design of automated navigation routes that can perform inspections while taking into account explosion-proof areas and areas where overflights are prohibited.
In addition to the Kawasaki Refinery, we have a track record of doing business at various sites, including the Oita Refinery, Mizushima Refinery, Sakai Refinery, Negishi Refinery, Marifu Refinery, ENEOS Kiiri Base Corporation, and Kashima Refinery of Kashima Petroleum Co.
In addition, with the capital participation of the ENEOS Group, we have begun to collaborate on the construction of future drone stations.
Currently, there are concerns about the deterioration of security at oil refineries and other plants due to the aging of plant equipment, lack of experience among younger employees, and retirement of veteran employees, amid the need to improve productivity and maintain safe and stable operations.
In this environment, the use of drones in plants is expected to make it easier to inspect towers and other structures at high elevations, prevent accidents by improving the frequency of daily inspections of large oil storage tanks, and enable rapid on-site inspections in the event of a disaster, thereby improving plant security and convenience and reducing the number of industrial accidents.
In the future, we aim to make it easy for customers to use its own solutions to automatically inspect equipment, and to help establish a stable and efficient operating system for refineries using digital technology. We are also looking at solutions using robotics technologies other than drones.
We are working to simplify drone operations, which until now have required a high level of expertise, and to provide services that can automate all types of operations.
About SENSYN ROBOTICS
Our mission is to evolve what is considered “commonplace” in society with the power of robotics. It is under this mission that we have continued to take on pressing challenges in regards to specific social issues in various fields focused on facility inspections, disaster response, and security and surveillance by achieving the full automation of work with the power of robotics since our establishment in October 2015.