Drone Backed Industrial Inspections
At Digital Edge, we are at the forefront of industrial inspection, leveraging cutting-edge drone technology to deliver unparalleled safety, efficiency, and data accuracy. Traditional inspection methods are often time-consuming, costly, and expose personnel to significant risks. Our advanced drone-backed solutions provide a smarter, safer, and more comprehensive alternative, ensuring the integrity and optimal performance of your critical assets.
Our Core Inspection Services
Confined Space Inspections
Navigating hazardous and hard-to-reach confined spaces is a major challenge. Our specialized confined space inspection drones are equipped with high-resolution cameras, lighting, and advanced sensors to perform thorough internal assessments without requiring human entry.
Enhanced Safety: Eliminate human risk in dangerous environments.
Reduced Downtime: Faster inspection times minimize operational interruptions.
Detailed Data: Capture high-quality visual and thermal data for comprehensive analysis.
Applications: Tanks, vessels, pipelines, ducts, silos, and more.
Chimney and Stack Inspections
Ensure the structural integrity and operational efficiency of your chimneys and industrial stacks with our drone-based inspection services. We utilize drones equipped with high-definition cameras and specialized ultrasonic sensors.
Ultrasonic Thickness Gauging:Precisely measure wall thickness to detect corrosion, erosion, and other structural anomalies without scaffolding or rope access.
Visual Assessment: Identify cracks, spalling, efflorescence, and other external damages.
Safety & Speed: Conduct inspections quickly and safely from a distance.
Detailed Reporting: Comprehensive reports with actionable insights for maintenance planning.
Boiler Inspections
Boilers are critical assets requiring regular inspection to ensure safe and efficient operation. Our drones can access internal boiler components, providing detailed visual data for condition monitoring.
Internal Access: Reach areas difficult or impossible for human inspectors.
Early Anomaly Detection: Identify defects, corrosion, or blockages before they lead to costly failures.
Minimized Shutdowns: Faster inspections reduce the duration of planned outages.
High-Resolution Imaging: Capture clear images and videos of tubes, refractory, and other components.
Heat Mapping for Switchyards and Solar Plants
Optimize performance and prevent energy losses with our drone-based thermal imaging services. We provide accurate heat mapping for critical electrical and solar infrastructure.
Switchyards: Identify hot spots in transformers, circuit breakers, busbars, and connections, indicating potential failures or inefficiencies.
Solar Plants: Detect underperforming or damaged solar panels (e.g., hot spots, delamination, shading issues) to maximize energy yield.
Preventive Maintenance: Proactively address thermal anomalies to prevent outages and improve system reliability.
Comprehensive Reporting: Detailed thermal imagery and analysis for targeted repairs.
Advanced Sensor-Based Thickness Gauging
Beyond chimneys, our drones can be fitted with a variety of advanced sensors for precise thickness gauging across different industrial assets. This non-destructive testing (NDT) method is crucial for assessing material degradation.
Versatile Application: Applicable to various metal structures, pipelines, and equipment.
Accurate Data: Provides precise thickness measurements for condition assessment.
Non-Invasive: No need for direct contact or extensive preparation.
Risk Reduction: Perform inspections safely from a distance, even in hazardous environments.
Why Choose Digital Edge?
- Safety First: Drastically reduce human exposure to hazardous environments.
- Unmatched Efficiency: Complete inspections faster, reducing downtime and operational costs.
- Superior Data Quality: High-resolution visual, thermal, and sensor data for precise analysis.
- Expert Team: Certified drone pilots & inspection specialists ensure accurate results.
- Customized Solutions: Tailored inspection plans to meet your specific industrial needs.
Here are the industrial use-cases for drone-backed inspections:
Confined Spaces:
Tanks, Vessels, Pipelines, Ducts and Silos
Chimneys and Stacks:
Industrial chimneys and Industrial stacks
Boilers:
Internal boiler components (tubes, refractory, etc.)
Heat Mapping (Thermal Inspections):
Switchyards: Transformers, circuit breakers, busbars, connections.
Solar Plants: Solar panels (for detecting hot spots, delamination, shading issues).
Advanced Sensor-Based Thickness Gauging:
Various metal structures
Pipelines
General industrial equipment
The following industries would be highly benefitted by drone-backed industrial inspection services.
Oil & Gas (Refineries, Petrochemicals, Pipelines):
Use-cases: Inspection of flare stacks, storage tanks (internal and external), pipelines (for leaks, corrosion, integrity), pressure vessels, chimneys, and general infrastructure within refineries and petrochemical complexes. Confined space inspection is highly relevant here.
Why important: High safety risks, vast infrastructure to cover, potential for costly shutdowns, and regulatory compliance.
Power Generation & Utilities:
Use-cases:
Thermal Power Plants: Boilers, chimneys, cooling towers, switchyards (heat mapping of electrical components).
Solar Power Plants: Heat mapping of solar panels, structural integrity of arrays.
Transmission & Distribution (Utilities): Power lines, towers, substations (visual and thermal inspection).
Why important: Ensuring continuous operation, preventing outages, improving safety for maintenance crews, managing large-scale assets efficiently.
Chemical and Fertilizers:
Use-cases: Inspection of chemical storage tanks, process vessels, pipelines, reactors, distillation columns, chimneys, and other critical infrastructure. Confined space inspection is very relevant.
Why important: Handling hazardous materials, strict safety regulations, corrosion monitoring, and preventing leaks or structural failures.
Heavy Manufacturing (e.g., Steel, Cement, Automobile):
Use-cases: Inspection of large machinery, structural integrity of plant buildings, chimneys, overhead cranes, conveyor belts, and general asset condition monitoring.
Why important: Maintaining large and complex machinery, ensuring worker safety, and minimizing production downtime.
Infrastructure & Construction (for existing assets):
Use-cases: Inspection of bridges, large buildings, industrial structures, and possibly large-scale civil infrastructure assets for structural integrity, defects, or changes over time.
Why important: Assessing hard-to-reach areas safely, monitoring progress, and conducting post-disaster assessments.
Pharmaceutical:
Use-cases: Inspection of utility pipelines, large storage tanks for raw materials or processed goods, HVAC systems at height, and general facility infrastructure.
Why important: Maintaining sterile environments, ensuring integrity of systems, and complying with stringent quality and safety standards.
Water Treatment & Wastewater:
Use-cases: Inspection of large tanks, clarifiers, pipelines, and other infrastructure within treatment plants, including potential confined spaces.
Why important: Monitoring infrastructure condition, detecting leaks, and ensuring operational efficiency of critical civic utilities.
These industries commonly deal with large, complex, often hazardous, and geographically extensive assets that are difficult or dangerous to inspect manually, making them prime candidates for drone-backed solutions.
Get a Quote
Our drone-backed industrial inspection services utilize advanced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with high-resolution cameras, thermal sensors, ultrasonic thickness gauges, and other specialized payloads to safely and efficiently inspect critical industrial assets, structures, and confined spaces, eliminating the need for manual inspection in hazardous areas.
- Drone inspection offers significant advantages including vastly improved safety (eliminating human risk in hazardous environments), reduced downtime (faster inspection times), cost savings (less scaffolding, less manual labor), superior data accuracy, and the ability to access hard-to-reach areas.
The main benefits include enhanced safety for personnel, significant cost reduction, increased operational efficiency, superior data quality for better decision-making, and proactive identification of issues to prevent costly failures.
Our specialized drones are designed to inspect a wide range of confined spaces, including tanks, vessels, pipelines, ducts, silos, and other enclosed structures where human entry is hazardous or impractical.
We use drones equipped with high-definition cameras for visual assessment of external integrity, and for advanced needs, we deploy drones fitted with specialized ultrasonic sensors to perform precise thickness gauging of the stack walls to detect corrosion or erosion.
Yes, our drones can access and inspect internal boiler components, capturing high-resolution visual data of tubes, refractory, and other critical elements to identify defects, corrosion, or blockages, thereby minimizing the duration of necessary shutdowns.
Heat mapping uses drone-mounted thermal cameras to identify temperature anomalies. In switchyards, it helps detect hot spots in transformers, circuit breakers, and connections that indicate potential failures. In solar plants, it identifies underperforming or damaged solar panels (e.g., hot spots, delamination) to optimize energy yield.
Our drones are equipped with advanced, non-contact ultrasonic sensors that can precisely measure the material thickness of various metal structures and pipelines from a distance. This provides accurate data for assessing corrosion, erosion, and overall material degradation without direct human contact.
We utilize a fleet of specialized industrial-grade drones designed for stability and precision, equipped with payloads including high-resolution RGB cameras, advanced thermal cameras, and state-of-the-art ultrasonic thickness gauging sensors.
Our drones and sensors are calibrated for high accuracy, and our experienced pilots and inspection specialists ensure precise data capture. All data undergoes rigorous post-processing and analysis to provide reliable and actionable insights.
You will receive comprehensive, detailed reports that include high-resolution imagery (visual and thermal), video footage, precise measurements (e.g., thickness gauging data), analysis of anomalies, and clear recommendations for maintenance or further action.
Sample Reports are available for download above this section
Absolutely. Our drone pilots are certified and highly experienced in industrial operations, and our inspection specialists possess deep expertise in various asset types and non-destructive testing (NDT) methodologies.
"Drone inspection isn't just about technology; it's about transforming safety, dramatically increasing efficiency, and delivering unprecedented data accuracy in industrial asset management. It's about seeing the unseen, proactively addressing issues, and ultimately safeguarding both personnel and critical infrastructure."
