FLARE STACK INSPECTIONS

OPERATION

ING Robotic Aviation was contracted by a major oil refinery in Eastern Canada for an inspection of the company’s flare stacks. The goal of this task was to obtain optical imagery of the flare stack head to assess for various damages including impairments to the piping, pilots, or other structural abnormalities. The intention was to identify any damage to the flare stack, as it could cause further more costly harm in the long term.

OBJECTIVE

With a single system and two operators, the full flare stack inspection took a 3 day period and included a safety orientation briefing for the customer, test flight, operations flight, and after processing and imagery analysis. Overall, both the customer and ING were very pleased with the results of this task. In return for services, the customer received the following output (high resolution jpeg imagery, 1080p 3 min 360 degree video) that allowed it to properly be able to assess potential flare stack damages.

APPLICATION Using a robotic aircraft is ideal for many different types of inspections. Specific to oil and gas, this means the cost savings of not having to shut down a refinery to perform routine infrastructure inspection work. Additionally, in comparison to traditional methods, such as using manned ladders, robotic aircraft reduce the risk to life and improve OH&S concerns as well.