Drone Pipeline Inspections
Drone pipeline inspections make it easy to monitor, manage and maintain pipelines and related equipment.
Why Use Drones for Pipeline Inspections?
Drones complete regular inspections in less time to reduce your expenses.
1. Accuracy
Our drone pipeline inspections deliver advanced data and powerful insights. Depending on the nature of your pipeline, we may provide images, videos, LiDAR data, thermal imaging, 3D models and more. Talk to us and we’ll tailor our data to suit your needs.
2. Site Safety
Drones can monitor pipelines in remote or dangerous locations, allowing your staff to keep their distance from harmful liquid or gas leaks. By operating according to the IOGP’s Oil and Gas Aviation Recommended Practices, we improve safety and reduce the risk of injury.
3. Ongoing Monitoring
Pipelines need to be inspected on a regular basis. Drones can simplify this task, allowing your staff to focus on more important work. Once a control network is established, drone pipeline inspections deliver consistent data for monitoring and maintenance.
Keep Services Flowing With Drone Pipeline Inspections
Toll Uncrewed Systems offers drone pipeline inspections to clients across the country. We use the latest drone platforms to take the hard work out of inspecting all types of pipelines.
Our inspections are the ideal solution for clients in the oil and gas, mining, water, sewage and government sectors. Using advanced sensors and cameras, we’re able to detect leaks, deformation and defects in a broad variety of pipelines.
Depending on your needs, our team can design an inspection to detect all types of liquid and gas leaks. This ensures you’re meeting compliance regulations, prevents loss of product, and protects the environment around us.
Speak with our team to learn more about drone pipeline inspections in your area.
Benefits of Drone Pipeline Inspections
Oil, gas and liquid pipelines require regular inspections and maintenance. Drone pipeline inspections simplify this process, allowing your staff to devote their time to more complex tasks.
If you are monitoring or maintaining a pipeline, drones provide major benefits:
- Reduced costs. The speed and efficiency of drone pipeline inspections can dramatically reduce costs and labour, and minimise the risk of leaks.
- Rapid turnaround time. Our team can deploy and retrieve drones rapidly, allowing us to collect data within short timeframes.
- Ideal for ongoing monitoring. Drone pipeline inspections are ideal for routine monitoring and maintenance. Our data allows you to plan maintenance, detect leaks and manage your infrastructure.
- Improved safety. Using drones eliminates the need for manual inspection teams to operate in dangerous or remote areas.
- Advanced sensors. We utilise advanced drone sensors to detect water and gas leaks. Our data simplifies the process of monitoring pipelines and planning maintenance works.
We tailor our drone pipeline inspections to suit your industry and the materials your pipelines are carrying.
We’ll design an inspection system that delivers images, videos, 3D models and sensor data that you can use to detect leaks, corrosion and defects. This reduces the time spent inspecting assets, improving the quality of your pipelines.
FAQs
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Our operations consultants are happy to answer any of your questions.
Can drones detect water leaks?
Drones can detect water and other liquid leaks in pipelines. This is often done using thermal cameras, which can identify a leak based on changes in surface temperature.
Can drones detect gas leaks?
Modern drones can detect gas pipeline leaks. This can be done in several ways:
- Images and video footage – Gas pipeline leaks are typically invisible. However, photos and videos can be used to identify telltale signs, such as dead vegetation surrounding an established leak.
- LiDAR – LiDAR sensors can be used to detect certain types of gases, such as methane.
- Thermal sensors – Gas leaks may cause fluctuations in temperature at the site of the leaks. These can be detected with thermal cameras.
- Gas sensors – Drones can be fitted with sensors that detect the presence of harmful gases along the length of a pipeline.
- Gas imaging systems – While the technology is still in its infancy, drone companies are developing gas imaging cameras that allow drones to detect small leaks from several metres away.
Gas leaks have traditionally been difficult to detect. It often required manual inspection teams to “walk the route” with leak detection sensors. Not only is this method time consuming, it’s dangerous, and it scales poorly when pipelines can span thousands of kilometres.
How do drones detect underground pipeline leaks?
Drones detect underground pipeline leaks using sensors such as thermal imaging. Underground liquid or gas leaks often cause a change in the temperature at ground level, which can be measured with a thermal camera.
Drones may also be able to detect underground pipeline leaks based on the presence of dead vegetation.
Which industries utilise drones for pipeline inspections?
Drones are the ideal way to detect all types of pipeline leaks. They’re often used by industries such as oil and gas, power generation, water supply, water treatment, sanitation and more.
Most industries are subject to environmental standards that require pipelines to be regularly inspected for leaks. Drones can drastically reduce the time and expense involved with routine inspections, so they’re ideal for all types of clients.
What standards are required to ensure safe operation of drones in the Oil and Gas industry?
Drones that are being operated in the oil and gas industry should comply with the Oil and Gas Aviation Recommended Practices (OGARP). The OGARP is maintained by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers. It provides a series of best practices that ensure drones are used in a safe, effective and efficient manner.
Toll Uncrewed Systems complies with the OGARP whenever we’re inspecting pipelines for the oil and gas industry. This improves safety for your staff and our operators, and it minimises the risks associated with routine inspections.