Cyberhawk Innovations has deployed a UAS to conduct aerial inspection of a cargo oil tank on an operational Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, and will now offer this services to the oil and gas and shipping industry.
The deployment saw Cyberhawk perform aerial inspection of the Gryphon FPSO, owned and operated by Maersk Oil in the North Sea.
FPSO operators such as Maersk Oil have requirements to visually inspect cargo tanks for integrity, damage assessment and class certification. This type of inspection is usually conducted by rope access technicians, who are suspended on ropes to inspect the tank structure, focusing on areas of high stress such as stiffeners, brackets, bracing, webs and stringers.
Inspecting the tank with Cyberhawk’s UAS allowed Maersk Oil to undertake a quick and safe audit of the tank while reducing the human risk factors presented by rope access, which includes working at height for sustained periods of time as well as working in confined spaces.
This inspection technique can now be applied to all large internal tanks, on vessels such as FPSOs, bulk carriers and tankers.
Malcolm Connolly, technical director and founder, Cyberhawk, said: ‘We have completed many projects with Maersk Oil since first working together in 2013. Both parties were keen to develop an effective remotely operated aerial vehicle inspection method for FPSO cargo oil tanks, as well as other tanks and storage vessels. The successful completion of this project has demonstrated that this is now possible.
‘Not only have we removed one of the most significant risks associated with tank inspection, working at height, but we have also highlighted the significant cost and time savings achieved by remotely operated aerial vehicle inspection.’
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