Figure 1: 3D point cloud overview of the targeted acid tanks prior to inspection.
Assessing the structural integrity of an acid tank farm is a critical step before a mine can safely restart its acid plant. Traditionally, this process has been an operational bottleneck, plagued by high costs, extended downtime, and significant safety risks.
By deploying the Flyability Elios 3 Confined Space Drone equipped with a UT (Ultrasonic Testing) payload, we transformed a potentially hazardous, time-consuming necessity into a highly efficient, data-rich operation.
The Challenge: Weeks of Scaffolding vs. Hours of Flight
Figure 2: Dense grid of planned inspection points across the tank structure.
Historically, gaining access to the walls of towering acid tanks required extensive scaffolding or complex rope-access setups. Erecting and dismantling scaffolding alone can take anywhere from several weeks to months, keeping vital assets offline and putting personnel at risk at height and in confined spaces.
Our recent operation proved there is a better way. The entire inspection job was completed on-site in just 3 days, completely eliminating the need for scaffolding, cherry pickers, or rope access.
By the Numbers: Precision at Scale
The efficiency of the drone-led inspection is best illustrated by the data gathered during the brief window of actual flight time:
- Scan Time: Only 4 hours of active scanning
- Flight Count: 29 individual flights executed
- Data Points: 487 precise UT wall-thickness measurements captured
Figure 3: Precise millimeter thickness readings mapped. (Click to enlarge)
Figure 4: Detailed view of the UT measurement flight path over the digital twin.
The Technology Edge: Automation Meets NDT
Capturing nearly 500 individual UT measurements of a complex structure requires a seamless workflow. The Elios 3’s advanced automations played a pivotal role in maintaining speed without sacrificing accuracy.
During the 29 flights, the pilot heavily utilized the drone’s built-in smart features:
- Return to Home: Ensuring safe and reliable recovery in confined environments.
- Resume Inspection: After bringing the drone back to swap a depleted battery, the pilot pressed a single button to auto-fly exactly back to the last measurement spot. This allowed scanning to continue effortlessly without losing positional context.
Figure 5: Post-processing the captured point cloud data.
Delivering Real Value for Asset Management
Beyond the immediate execution of the inspection, this approach delivers long-term strategic value. By reducing the inspection timeline from weeks to mere hours, the mining operation realized major cost savings and significantly reduced plant downtime.
More importantly, it kept personnel out of harm’s way while providing the plant’s engineering teams with a comprehensive, highly accurate digital map of wall thicknesses. This empowers plant managers to make faster, data-driven decisions with absolute confidence regarding the safe restart of their acid plant.
This successful deployment highlights the power of technical synergy and strategic partnership in modern asset preservation:
- Drone Pilot: Alfred Kelly-Gliddon – GammaTec NDT Supplies
- In Partnership With: Jaco Fourie – Accutest NDT
Watch the Flythrough
Video 1: Flyability Elios 3 digital asset preview displaying the comprehensive 3D point cloud environment data mapping across the target storage structures.