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Category: Nieuws

ROVs and wind turbines: necessary partners

Posted on by Karst

Offshore wind turbines have become part and parcel of the Dutch landscape. Unfortunately, the elements are constantly affecting these white giants. Corrosion and other types of damage are real threats to the wind turbines. Both above- and underwater, their status needs to be monitored. That is where Remotely Operated Vehichles (ROVs) can help. These high-tech robots offer insight, data and safety. Below, we explain how it works.

As an ROV specialist, we know all about our ROVs, but also about deployment. This also applies to offshore wind farms. We have already successfully carried out several inspections in this sector. Thanks to the data an underwater inspection with an ROV provides, accurate maintenance strategies can be developed to monitor the structural integrity of the wind turbine as efficiently as possible.

What we see
Especially now that most wind turbines have been in the sea for some time, it is important to inspect them on time and regularly. Equipped with a 4K camera, bright lights, sonar and a thickness gauge, an ROV can provide instant insight into what is happening below the waterline. During an underwater inspection, all other parts of a wind turbine can also be viewed.

The cables located underwater, the cable entrances and the ecological aspect of the wind turbine. This is because wind turbine monopiles are filled with life, such as crabs, jellyfish, starfish and coral. The cables and cable entrances are an important part of the wind turbine’s construction and facilities. A visual inspection of these provides assurance and reduces risks.

 

What we offer
We sell ROVs, but can also be hired. Our ROV pilots are trained for offshore inspections and are certified according to the Global Wind Organisation, among others. We can be deployed for several days in a row to inspect a wind turbine from head to toe. In fact, ROVs can also inspect wind turbine components located above water. A life-threatening job for humans, but a risk-free undertaking for a robot. Thanks to the exceptional designs of our ROV, we can reach places of a wind turbine that no one else can, such as the inside of the blades. You can read more about this in this blog.

When it comes to sales, we like to help make the right choice. Together with the customer, we figure out the best options to shape the ROV to the right conditions. We also offer a course on how to use and operate the drone, so that operators know all the ins and outs of the ROV. Of course, we are always available to our customers. That includes not only questions, but also service in the form of repairs. An overview of our offer can be found here.

An ROV is the best option for complete imaging of underwater assets. These robots are specially designed to perform this kind of inspection in the harshest conditions. It not only provides pretty pictures, but actively and accurately contributes to the maintenance of underwater structures. In doing so, it prevents not only high bills, but also unnecessary safety risks.

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The solution everyone is looking for: sonar and ROVs

Posted on by Karst

Familiar with a firewater tank, culvert, or ship? Then it is nice to have an insight into the status of these structures. The objects just mentioned are just one example of what we can inspect with our ROVs thanks to sonar. Dry pumping or docking is a thing of the past, thanks to this development in the field of underwater inspections.

For us, the importance of inspection is preventive. We want to know if there is damage to an underwater asset that could pose a risk in the short or long term. You don’t need to inspect some structures as often as others, simply because their use is lower. You don’t need to inspect a bridge every time a car drives over it.

Your best friend on board
Ships are therefore a separate case. Unknown damage to a ship can have nasty consequences. Being aware of the status of the bow or plane before you set sail is useful information. A small leak, some rust or a lot of fouling are damage factors you want to keep a close eye on for optimal sailing. But putting the ship in dry dock or swimming underneath to keep an eye on it are not exactly the easiest or cheapest options right now.

While you stand dry on board, leaning on the gunwale, driving the ROV or letting us do the work, is then a better option. Not only is it easier, but also much more accurate.

Up to 200 metres crisp visibility
That accuracy is thanks to sonar. Our ROVs are equipped with this state-of-the-art technology to detect every hairline crack. Visibility in most waters is far from clear, making underwater surveys difficult with the naked eye.

Sonar sees right through floating sediment and other disturbing factors. This allows you to detect objects up to 200 metres away at the same quality as 10 centimetres. A tool that has already helped detect damage to underwater infrastructure, ships and during search and rescue missions on many occasions.

Time and again, the technology of sonar on our ROVs proves itself in underwater inspections. We hear nothing but positive feedback when we deliver our reports using sonar. At least, we do hear that it is sometimes difficult to read the sonar. That is why we explain what is visible on the sonar and compare it with our 4K camera images, if possible. Transparency is of great importance to us.

 

Below is a video of a ship inspection with both 4K images, and sonar. Judge for yourself the quality of our sonar and who knows, you might see a solution in your own area!

Of the purest water: the image quality of our ROVs

Posted on by Karst

Nine times out of ten when we conduct inspections in the Netherlands, the water is far from clear. That makes for less spectacular images from our ROVs with the 4K camera. Here and there there is an exception, but often we fall back on sonar for accuracy. Abroad, things are often different….

At the beginning of our existence, all Remotely Operated Vehichles (ROVs) we inspected with were equipped with an HD camera. Supported by LED lighting, we were able to provide both high quality and high visibility in any location, provided the water quality allowed. Often when light is used in murky water, particles in the water reflect the light, still limiting visibility. Our LED lighting minimizes that, but sometimes we still can’t see anything due to water quality. But then we inspect with sonar. This method of inspection is common for us, but we also like to show what is possible in clear water.

Innovation is key
Our method of underwater inspection is an innovation in the industry. We therefore have innovation as one of our high-level core values. Together with our supplier Deep Trekker, we scour every opportunity for groundbreaking ideas and projects. One such innovation in ROVs is underwater visibility.

The most important part of the underwater drones are the cameras. Therefore, optimizing that function must grow with the technology of the moment. For a while now, therefore, our ROVs have been equipped with Ultra High Definition Cameras, or 4K cameras. The razor-sharp image quality now provides even more precise results during inspections.

Not only is the quality of the image important, but also the live observation. Combined with the cable connected to the drone, we can always view live image in 30 FPS. No glitches, hiccups or pixels while inspecting with the ROV. Reliability on quality and image then simply becomes a habit.

Sublime substitute
Now the picture in practice. In 2022, we were asked to take a look at the Königssee in Germany. This gigantic lake, which is also the deepest lake in Germany, not only provided beautiful pictures above water, but also underwater. The question to us was simple: what is at the bottom?

The question of looking for something, without knowing what, is familiar to us. A lake about 190 meters deep can hide all kinds of things at the bottom. From our experience, these did not turn out to be lost treasures, but rather pipes or cables that have not been mapped before or known about at all. This is almost more valuable to our client than a sunken treasure.

Having an ROV descend into such a deep body of water is the only option for many clients to inspect the bottom. Letting a human take the leap into the deep involves too high a risk. An underwater drone is then an excellent alternative. Especially if it provides razor-sharp images.

In the video below you will find a compilation of our underwater mission in the Königssee.

Do you have any questions? Or about our work with underwater drones in general? Then contact us here.

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H2O Drones and Ghost Diving for a clean sea

Posted on by Karst

Ghost Diving and H2O Drones have been working together for a long time. What is striking is that Ghost Diving is much different from the other partners; they have nothing to do with water infrastructure or search and rescue organizations. So what does Ghost Diving do? They clean the sea! And they do this side by side with the ROV DTG3.

The DTG3 was gifted to Ghost Diving at the time by H2O Drones’ supplier, Deep Trekker. Two years ago, Deep Trekker celebrated its tenth anniversary and they chose to donate a drone to Ghost Diving because of the noble work they perform: fishing indigestible fishing nets and gear out of the sea.

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“More suggestions than facts”
According to Pascal van Erp, president of Ghost Diving, pollution from fishing gear is a major and still growing problem. At the bottom of the North Sea there are a lot of shipwrecks with polluting fishing gear. “Really unbelievably many. So around ten thousand.” There was a lot of fishing in the North Sea in the 1950s, and due to various mistakes, this has left the bottom contaminated with fishing gear. For example, it goes overboard or is left behind. And that still happens all over the world. “It’s so full of gear there, it’s almost impossible to describe. The problem with that is the material of fishing gear. There are some studies that describe the durability of fishing gear, but it takes so long for it to break down, that those studies are more suggestions than facts. From that, we were born.”

Escalation for a good cause
Van Erp explains that he has been active as a diver for a long time. Since 2007/2009 he has been retrieving fishing gear from the sea, together with his team of divers. From that, Ghost Diving was born. “At the time we did that with a group of friendly divers, but that escalated a tad as more and more people joined. Then we transformed into a foundation and we continue to grow. There are now about fifty of us divers and a core team.”

H2O Drones was involved in the donation of the drone. As they are based in the Netherlands and Ghost Diving mainly operates in the North Sea and Mediterranean Sea, H2O Drones was asked to provide maintenance and service for Ghost Diving. Since then, H2O Drones and Ghost Diving have been working together for a cleaner sea. A short time ago, H2O Drones came to the rescue because a cable had been cut by a boat propeller. This was then quickly replaced so that operations could resume in no time.

Safety first
According to Ghost Diving, the drones and service of H2O Drones are ideal for the continuity of the work. In some places in the North Sea it is sometimes too dangerous to dive or divers are not allowed to dive at all. A drone is then ideal for inspecting the underwater environment. “The divers are often in danger underwater, because water is unpredictable,” says Mr. K. K., “and they are not allowed to dive at all.” A drone can keep an eye on the divers or even do some of the diver’s work if conditions are too risky to dive. “It also saves a lot of money and a lot of time, because we don’t have to send a whole team underwater, for example. A drone can watch everything that way and ensure safety. Even in murky water, because they are equipped with sonar.”

Help and service
“We needed someone who has a lot of expertise and understanding of the aquatic world and H2O Drones has proven that twice over,” says Van Erp. He emphasizes that knowledge about drones and the underwater world is very important to their foundation. “The help is very valuable to us that we get from H2O Drones. They provide the right support and have the right knowledge. When we use it in our environment, we get a lot of positive feedback and notice the curiosity about the underwater drones.”

Partners in crime
“They’ve gone with us a few times already, along with the drone. Those were very successful days. It was super convenient that they were along, because we knew nothing about the drone. After such a day we were convinced that H2O Drones had to be our partner in crime,” says Van Erp.

Do you want to know more about our co operations and field of interest? Contact us here.

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Underwaterdrones in unexpected places!

Posted on by Karst

Under water drones are often used to make the work of divers easier and for safety reasons. Situations like this often occur in rivers, pipelines and locks. But ROVs can also be used with less obvious assets. These are locations that you never think about, or didn’t know about!

Drones in nuclear power plants

Especially in nuclear power plants, drones can be of great importance. The water in which underwater drones can enter is usually cooling water, in which various assets are located. Because this water can be hot and may contain radiation, it is less desirable to take divers into the water. Of course, it is important to check whether everything is still in order at a nuclear power plant in order to prevent disastrous consequences!

See here how an inspection of a nuclear power plant can look like!

Water in the food industry

ROVs can also be used in large factories in the food industry. Not so much in consumer goods, of course, but mainly in the factory’s cooling waterpipes and outlets. By deploying an ROV here, a cooling water pipe can remain active, and the factory does not have to be shut down.

Extinguishing watertanks and basements

Extinguishing water is used for exactly what you expect it to be used for – extinguishing fires. Fire water tanks are often connected to large fire hydrants or sprinkler systems. It is not necessary for this water to be potable, but the tanks must not have sand at the bottom. This can cause a crucial obstruction in pipes and must be removed from the tank.

Instead of emptying the tank and removing both all of the water and the sand, this is also possible with a suction robot! The DT640-VAC can drive over the bottom and pick up sediment from the bottom with a kind of vacuum head. In this way, there is much less water loss and the result can be seen immediately with a camera in this vacuum robot.

Why under water drones?

Drones are quick and easy to deploy, do not require safety regulations and are compact. The camera and sonar capabilities make data processing smart and fast.
With many possible accessories, a drone or robot can be customised to meet any challenge!

Do you want to know more about drones, or see if they can be used at a location of your choice? Then contact us here.

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Spie Netherlands’ experiences with H2O Drones

Posted on by Karst

One of the most common inspections for our drones, is inspecting water infrastructure. We are talking about locks, sheet piles, bridge piers, and everything that is underwater. These inspections – often commissioned by the Department of Public Works or Dutch municipalities – are done by various companies, including Spie Nederland. We went along with Arjen Geelhoed, superintendent at Spie Nederland, and Mario Bergman, drone pilot at Spie Nederland, to an inspection of the Middensluis in IJmuiden. There we talked about the cooperation between H2O Drones and Spie.

 

Spie is a global multi-technology service provider and partner of H2O Drones. They too use our drone, the DTG3 from Deep Trekker. “We use the drone mainly when inspecting locks and lock gates,” says Arjen Geelhoed, performer at Spie. Geelhoed has been using Deep Trekker’s DTG3 for inspections for a while now. “It is fully integrated into the work process. We use it weekly during inspections and often for a few days in a row. Especially if they are large inspections.”

 

H2O Drones and Spie in cooperation
Now both H2O Drones and Spie work partially in the same sector, but we were not yet well acquainted with each other. Of course we knew Spie, but not vice versa. Thanks to a common partner, we came into contact with each other. “I started looking on the Internet for underwater drones that we could deploy,” explains Geelhoed. “I saw that RPS was already using underwater drones and after a phone call I heard that they were very satisfied with the drones and service. Then I learned which company was behind the drones: H2O Drones. Soon I had contact with Karst Beens, director of H2O Drones. After some conversations we started an enthusiastic cooperation.”

Geelhoed reveals that they also worked with an underwater drone before, but that the quality of the drone, the service of the company and the communication were not what Spie was looking for. “I won’t say too much about it, but it wasn’t for us. Parts and maintenance took way too long; it was all just a hassle,” says Geelhoed. “With you guys, it’s the opposite. The service is very fast and reliable. Suppose our drone is broken and we have no time to repair it, then we can get a replacement model from you. That assurance is very nice and reassuring, especially if you have a busy schedule or an important inspection coming up. Or we can ask if you can do the inspection for us. All no problem.”

 

“With the DTG3, we can execute everything very quickly, without the additional safety checks required.”
– Executive Arjen Geelhoed of Spie Nederland

The DTG3

The DTG3 is a relatively small and maneuverable underwater drone from Deep Trekker. H2O Drones is the officially certified retailer of all Deep Trekker products in the Netherlands. Equipped with a 4K low-light camera, clear and sharp images are a guarantee. Perfect for clear and deep water, such as that near locks. The work in itself with the drone also offers a significant plus. “With the DTG3, we can do everything very quickly, without the additional safety checks required. This allows us to meet our deadlines more easily. After all, fines are quickly incurred if a project takes too long. Also, the drone can be deployed quickly, so we can act immediately in the event of a malfunction report, for example.”

As with all of Deep Trekker’s other drones and crawlers, the DTG3 is controllable from the side via a controller. “You can move up and down with the camera and move horizontally and vertically with the drone. That gives a lot of possibilities, but can be a bit confusing at first.” Geelhoed emphasizes that it’s mainly an advantage. “The precise descending and sailing back to the surface is very nice for this kind of inspection. You then have to master the controls, but there is a handout with the drone and we received training in this from H2O Drones. Once you get the hang of the controls, it really works perfectly. The small size of the drone also makes inspections easy. Simple and efficient.”

 

“Dit lost simpelweg ons probleem op met inspecties”
– Dronepiloot Mario Bergman bij Spie Nederland

 

Future

Spie has been using H2O Drones’ underwater drones for a while now, but are there any plans for the future?
“We are satisfied with this model for now. It meets everything we need. But if a client like the Department of Public Works says they want to see more of inspections with, for example, sonar or other objects that are difficult to see, then expanding to a second drone will be highly likely,” says Geelhoed.

According to Mario Bergman, drone pilot at Spie Nederland, what is missing now is moving laterally along a wall with the DTG3. “This makes inspecting an entire wall a bit less efficient. It is possible with other drones from H2O Drones, though, so who knows if we’ll purchase a second drone.”

 

Satisfied?
“Yes, we are super happy with the drone” , says Bergman. “This simply solves our problem with inspections. And should there be a problem with the drone, which by the way we haven’t had yet, we know that we will be helped quickly by a service provider in the Netherlands. This saves a lot compared to suppliers abroad.”

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Do you have questions about our cooperation with Spie? Or our work with the drones in general? Contact us here.

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H2O Drones can meet any challenge! Our product range for all circumstances…

Posted on by Karst

We always see different circumstances when we take on jobs. Often, the assignment description is correct, but it can also suddenly have a deviation (such as differences in water levels). This can make it difficult to carry out an inspection in the right way. By deploying the entire product range of H2O Drones, every inspection can be performed!

The product range of our drones and crawlers

Basically, the range can be divided into two groups:

  • Drones (ROV’s)
  • Crawlers

Drones (read: underwater drones) can navigate in water, and they need water and space for a good inspection!
Crawlers, on the other hand, are very compact, for small spaces that do not always have to be full of water.

Due to the large contradictions in these products, an inspection can almost always be carried out! So dimensions and water levels do not have to be a problem for an inspection!

The product range of  H2O Drones’ ROV’s:

In our range there are 2 basic products underwater drones:

Starting with the Revolution ROV:

The Revolution is a unique underwater drone. The USP is a rotating head. Why is this so important? A rotating head means you don’t have to move the drone to get different images. The drone can remain hovering on the same spot in the water, while the camera or sonar still gets a different image!

By integrating many different features, the drone can do a lot:

  • DVL: Automatically fight against the current and accurately maintain the chosen position and height in the water!
  • Sonar: Always a good visibility of up to 60 metres!
  • Laser: With the laser pointers you can precisely measure deviations or cracks!
  • Thickness measurement: For thickness measurement of steel, such as sheet piling or ship hulls.

And there are many more possibilities, such as GPS, hydrophones… Or like below: a Caviblaster!

The DTG3:

The DTG3 is a completely different type of drone! It is a lot more compact, and has mainly the basic options of an underwater drone.
The camera can move around inside the drone without moving. This camera can easily maintain a fixed angle, despite movements or currents!
We ourselves have built many practical applications onto this drone, such as wheels to slide over a bottom, a GoPro attached to the side and also additional lights!

It is possible to connect a sonar to the underwater drone, and a number of other applications to be able to carry out a proper inspection. Because this drone has fewer features that are not needed by everyone, it is quite cheap to use as a starter!

The product range of H2O Drones’ crawlers:

The range of crawlers also consists of two basic models:

Pipe crawlers are mainly for small pipes such as sewers, rainwater pipes and dry bridge culverts.
Utility crawlers are adaptable for many different tasks, and can drive over metal surfaces with magnetic wheels or can clean pipes with a vacuum head!

Pipe crawlers:

Pipe Crawlers are very compact, but still have everything needed for a good inspection.
They come standard with a 4k camera, the cable is strong enough to withstand a pull of more than 80 kilos and the crawler itself is easy to handle for the easiest of inspections!

There are many different models and applications:

  • Robotic arm for turning in all directions
  • Zoom-camera to get the perfect details
  • Different wheels and tracks for ultimate grip!

Pipe crawlers can therefore be arranged and set up to meet your needs, for the best result in every inspection!

Utility crawlers:

Utility crawlers can be used for many different inspections!
The MAG edition has magnetic wheels and can therefore drive on metal objects. This is useful for inspections of metal sheet piling or ship hulls. So there is always a close-up view. There is also a possibility to attach a sonar to it, in case visibility is poor or an inspection has to be carried out at a long distance.

The VAC utility crawler has a suction head to actually vacuum a pipe. In this way, sludge can be sucked from the bottom and the pipeline will be a lot cleaner again! This is important during major maintenance, or can be used for drinking water tanks. A crawler can easily clean drinking water completely, where humans always bring some form of pollution with them.

“What is the best fit for an inspection?”

Honestly, that depends entirely on the inspection purposes and the circumstances. Underwater drones and crawlers can complement each other well and can be used in many different situations. They have different fields of work and therefore different specialities.

It can therefore be an added value to take a drone and a crawler with you. This way you are always prepared for any situation, and you can take on any challenge!

To find out more about our products, or how best to use them, please contact us.
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Saving lives with innovation

Posted on by Karst

Search & Rescue missions always involve danger. This is because the rescuer is often in unknown territory. This can lead to loss of time, which can make the difference between life and death. In the worst case scenario for the rescuer, the mission can become life-threatening. That is why we want to help make such underwater missions less risky.

With this in mind, we gave a demonstration to the fire brigade of Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region. These days, they are increasingly busy searching for victims who have ended up in water, and deploy divers to assist them. But why do they need the help of a drone? The answer is hidden in the first paragraph: safety! However, the drone does not completely replace the divers. Rather, we support the divers.

The drone will go into the water before the diver. This way we can check the environment for safety risks. For example, obstacles which the diver can get stuck behind or places which he should not swim in due to cramped conditions or currents.

 

What does our underwater drone offer for Search & Rescue?
Besides safety, we can also help make the mission more efficient. Currently, for a Search & Rescue mission, the search area is divided into grids. This grid helps with orientation and is intended to ensure that no spot is left unexamined or examined twice. While this is an efficient method, it does take a lot of time to make such a grid. But with our drones, grids are no longer necessary.

This is due to our sonar software! In most Dutch waters a diver has no more than one to two metres visibility underwater. Even with light these conditions hardly improve. Sonar, on the other hand, has a range of sixty metres and is not affected by dark or turbid water. In short: with sonar, the mission becomes much easier and can be carried out faster, allowing the victim to be rescued or located sooner. No preparations are required, only a few minutes to prepare the drone for the dive.

 

The fire brigade of Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region
Project leader Rick Koedoot of the Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region was responsible for the purchase of the ROV REVOLUTION underwater drone from H2O Drones. He confirms that the drones are mainly used to support divers and to search for human victims who have fallen into the water.

“Of course we have diving teams in the fire brigade, but that is a risky task,” Koedoot explains. “We want to work as risk-free as we can, despite the dangerous work.” He emphasises that the underwater drones from H2O Drones can be of great help to their divers. “The ROVs, or underwater drones, are equipped with sonar and therefore have particularly good underwater visibility, even when the water is dark or murky. That is important for risk analysis,” he said.

As Koedoot says, the drones will make a risk analysis for our divers, so that they know what to expect underwater. “This can significantly reduce the number of potential accidents. We want to know what the drones see underwater, such as obstacles. Then we can determine if it is dangerous for a diver.” After all, divers can get stuck behind obstacles underwater, which can create a life-threatening situation.

 

“The cooperation is super. The communication is smooth and we could ask and perform whatever we wanted and were well guided in this. Of course, we had questions and wanted to do some tests and that was also possible. That was very helpful and informative.”

Rick Koedoot, fire brigade Safety region Rotterdam Rijnmond

 

Locating human victims underwater is also what the drone will be used for. This can also be done quickly and efficiently thanks to the sonar. How Security Region Rotterdam Rijnmond came up with underwater drones as a solution is another story.

For his thesis in 2014, Daniël Boender, diving coordinator at the fire brigade of Safety Region Rotterdam Rijnmond, researched the safety of diving and Search & Rescue missions. Through him, the fire brigade came up with the idea of using underwater drones with sonar. Often when they searched for a victim during a Search & Rescue mission with divers and were unsuccessful, the police came to continue the search. They did so with a boat equipped with sonar. “And I saw some possibilities in that,” said Boender. “They then find the victim very quickly. If we had that three hours earlier, we could have made a difference,” he added. “The question then came to me quickly: why don’t we have that?”

Boender emphasises that diving is not without risk. “We have lost or nearly lost people during missions. I then started studying Integral Safety to tackle this problem. And with success.”

It went with trial and error according to Boender. “We tested a lot of options, but not everything was equally effective. At the time, these were interesting options with potential, but there was no decisive model among them.” After the test phase and getting the green light to innovate within the diving team, he ended up with H2O Drones through a tender. “Soon we got into a conversation and came to the purchase of a drone. The next step is to make this national. This innovation fell so well that most were convinced to share it with other safety regions.”

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Future
We are delighted that the fire brigade of Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region also saw the advantages of our drones and made the choice to strengthen their team with our Deep Trekker ROV REVOLUTION underwater drone. They chose the standard equipped version, which is more than enough to improve the safety and efficiency of their missions.

We will support them as much as we can in making their missions safer. To share our knowledge and skills with the firefighters, we are giving ten firefighters a course on how to use our drones (most efficiently).

We would like to thank the Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region fire brigade again for the opportunity to show what our drones can do and what an asset they are in Search & Rescue missions. We wish them much success with further missions!

Wondering if our drones can also help you in the field?

Contact us here or check our social media!

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Cooling water and its challenges

Posted on by Karst

We often tell you about the industries we work in. Because our product is still relatively unknown, the use of underwater drones is often surprising. But nevertheless, areas of application such as marinas or water-filled pipes are very obvious. But there are also areas where we can work with our drones that are not obvious at first.

This time, however, we are not talking about an industry that is still undiscovered. We want to know what areas of application there are that have a direct impact on our everyday lives. One of the first ideas was cooling water tanks and pipes.

In the illustration you can see which process the cooling water goes through. Industrial processes are mostly the cooling of machines. Machines that need to be cooled can be found everywhere. From food factories to car manufacturers. That’s why it’s one of the most common things. Most people probably don’t think much about cooling water, but it is essential for all of us.

 

Behandlung von Kühlwasser (Teil 1)

 

Have you ever thought about which companies need cooling water tanks and pipes? Probably not. Before this research, we were already aware of how important cooling water is in various industries. But only in the course of time did it become clear that cooling water is a bigger issue than we thought and is becoming more and more important. Especially in the context of sustainability, emptying cooling water tanks is no longer in keeping with the times. At the moment, cooling water is always being emptied and refilled. This has obvious disadvantages for the environment, but not only that! Disposing of cooling water requires a lot of effort and money, as extra machines have to be purchased and operated for this purpose. The problem, however, is that cooling water cannot simply stand still and that emptying it !until now! is the safest method.

The problem is that cooling water leaves the tank to cool machines. On its way back into the tank, it releases the heat again. This can cause a number of problems.  There are 4 potential problems to be aware of.

  1. Corrosion
  2. Lime deposits
  3. biological growth
  4. Pollution due to solids

To enable the recycling of cooling water, the water has to be purified by various chemicals. Various companies are already busy manufacturing pumps that regulate the supply of chemicals. These pumps can save up to 70% of the costs.

This naturally raises the question of what other advantages our drones can bring. First of all, our drones can visually inspect the cooling water tanks and pipes without having to empty them. This works similarly to the inspection of rainwater pipes. You can read more about this here.

But not only inspection is possible with our drones! We can also measure the water quality. This way, the work of the pumps can also be easily checked.

 

Questions about cooling water tanks or pipes? Contact us here.

Or follow us on social media to keep up with our developments.

 

Hydropower: Why do we need it? And how does it work?

Posted on by Karst

We’ve told you before that we can inspect solar farms and windmills. And, what advantages our drones can offer in this area. You can read more about this here.

But there is one renewable energy we have left out until now: Hydropower!

Hydropower is one of the oldest forms of energy generation and was already used 2000 years ago by the ancient Greeks. At that time, water wheels were used to generate energy. In the 17th century, hydropower as we know it today was used for the first time. And since then it has been developed further and further.

 

How does Hydropower work?

Hydropower generates energy through the power of water.

The power plants are often located at a water dam, which accumulates water at the top and then allows the water to flow out in a controlled manner.

 

Hydropower explained - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

On the way down, the water flows through a turbine and then into a river.

The turbine is directly connected to a generator, which then converts the energy into electricity.

There are two different types of operation:

1.Run-of-river power plant : These can have little or no influence on the flow rate. Therefore, they are used to cover the base load of the power grid.

2.Storage power plants: Here, lakes or ponds are often used as storage. The operator of the power plant then has influence on the level of the lake or pond. This means that the production of electricity can be adjusted to the power grid. And can be increased or decreased if necessary.

 

Why Hydropower?

Nevertheless, the question still arises why we should use hydropower.

Where is the advantage compared to other renewable energies? Like solar power, for example?

The biggest advantage of hydropower in general is of course that it is renewable and very pure energy. Because the power plants are powered by water, there are no pollutants released into the air. Another advantage is that the power plants are local. This means that every country could in theory be self-sufficient.

In addition, the energy produced can be adapted to the energy used. Since the water is always available, energy shortages are prevented, which is also the main advantage over other renewable energies such as solar energy or wind energy. These are more difficult to control because they are not always available. Therefore, when there is a surplus, the energy must be stored for times when less is available. Hydropower can be quickly and flexibly adapted to any situation.

Finally, the water reservoirs serve not only for energy supply, but also for flood protection. You can read more about this here in our blog about flood protection in Germany.

Since hydro dams are no different from flood control reservoirs or dams, our applications are the same. How exactly we inspect reservoirs, you can read here. Especially with these inspections, the main concern is the safety of the divers. The water is clear enough to be inspected with the human eye. But even when the power plants are switched off, there is still strong current. This is dangerous for divers! Our drones are current resistant, or can be stabilized with an external crane.

Renewable energies bring many advantages and become more and more important, for all of us. Our drones can make a small contribution, but every contribution is important.

 

Do you have a hydro power plant or are you interested in our work in power plants?

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