Wondering how indoor drones are being used in the oil and gas industry?
The primary way they are being used is to collect visual data remotely during internal inspections.
Below we’ll cover information highlighting all the different use cases you’ll find today for indoor drones in the oil and gas industry, including:
Here’s a list of the most common assets where inspectors are using indoor drones to support their internal inspections in the oil and gas industry, including notes about what inspectors are looking for and doing when inspecting them.
Performing a general visual inspections to detect cracks and anomalies on the inside of a sky-high chimney within an oil refinery.
Looking for cracks and corrosion on rafters, walls, and the roof sections of storage tanks during integrity-assessment turnarounds by performing close visual inspections.
Collecting close up images underneath a jetty to check its structural integrity, as well as the integrity of the piping it carries.
Checking the inside of ballasts and tanks for possible anomalies of the structures on offshore rigs, FPSOs, and drilling ships.
Performing the visual inspection of critical production units of petroleum refineries, such as Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) units and Cokers.
Assessing the extent of damages inside an asset to plan for its decommissioning or rehabilitation and evaluate the cost of the operation without putting humans at risk.
Want to learn even more about how indoor drones are being used in the oil and gas industry?
Read these case studies to learn the details of specific missions performed with indoor drones in the oil and gas industry.
Personnel at an oil depot tested the MAVCOR 2 for a diesel tank inspection and found that it helped them cut costs by 96%. Read the case study.
PERTAMINA, the national energy company of Indonesia, hired Halo Robotics to overhaul a huge oil storage tank. The MAVCOR 2 was used for the tank inspection, and results far exceeded expectations. Read the case study.
Using the MAVCOR 2 for an FCC unit inspection allowed Oil and Gas refining company to avoid sending an inspector into the confined space inside a riser, thus keeping the inspector out of a potentially dangerous situation and saving the company time and money.
Collisions pose a major problem for drone operations indoors—especially in confined spaces. A collision can risk crashing the drone, which could make it break or sustain significant damage. Unlike many drone manufacturers, we did not set out to find a sense-and-avoid solution to address the dangers of crashing in confined spaces. Instead, we made a drone that was collision tolerant. Our drones are made to be used for inspections in dark, complex confined spaces, where sense-and-avoid technology would not have performed well. Even today, it is still very difficult to operate a drone in confined spaces using sense-and-avoid technology and get the same level of data quality you can get with our drones.
Mavcor provide inspection services in addition to make drones for inspections. However, we do have an internal team of drone pilots that is primarily assigned to training and demonstrations. We are happy to deploy our staff to your site if you are interested in a demonstration, a proof of concept, or if you want to get personal training on our products.
The cost of performing drone-based indoor inspections instead of manned inspections at your plant depends on many factors including your environment, your team, the material you require, the frequency at which you perform them, and more. On average, our clients see a return on investment within the first year of use. Some even see a 10x return on investment within the first flight.