Recipe for Success: 3D laser scanning for tank inspections

作者：瓦格纳·曼努格（Wagner Manurung）

What’s the best way to inspect a 45-metre-tall tank of flour? And calculate the flour in a huge stockpile? Those are the challenges for the project team at PT Wilmar Indonesia. The company is part of威尔玛国际有限公司, Asia’s leading agribusiness group. Wilmar operates an integrated agribusiness model that encompasses the entire value chain of the agricultural commodity business, from cultivation, processing, merchandising to manufacturing of a wide range of agricultural products, including rice and wheat flour. It has an extensive distribution network covering China, India, five factories in Indonesia and a presence in 50 other countries and regions.

Processing agricultural products at this scale involves storing huge quantities of produce in tanks and silos. Upkeep of these enormous vessels is a serious business. The tanks are a critical financial resource for the company as well as being subject to international safety standards. At PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, the project team must regularly inspect all above-ground storage tanks, reporting to management the measurements that indicate the integrity of the structures. Previously, tank inspection was a time-consuming manual process.

Faster inspections without any compromises

PT Wilmar Indonesia wanted to find a way to make the tank inspection process more efficient. Faster, but without requiring more manpower. A new solution could not compromise the accuracy of the data or the safety of the team – ideally improving both.

PT Wilmar已经在业务的其他部分中是Leica Geosystems用户选择实施激光扫描。该公司为项目团队配备了Leica RTC360laser scanners to digitally scan the silos andCyclone 3DRsoftware for data analysis. The RTC360 3D laser scanner has a measuring rate of up to two million points per second and with an advanced High-Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging system, coloured 3D point clouds can be completed in under two minutes.

亚博ag真人规律捕捉现实改变了检查。他们can now capture information on 15 tanks per day compared to manual inspections, which take three to four days per tank. That’s a staggering 4,500% efficiency increase.

Comprehensive data capture to meet regulations

手动检查很耗时，因为要符合国际坦克检查标准（API 650/653），您需要准确收集多个数据点，包括直径测量，圆度，坦克的垂直度和内容的结算。这是衡量生产量的补充，这对业务来说是重要的信息。

By capturing a 3D image of the tanks, the RTC360 scanners collect this information within minutes, the project team can extract it from the point cloud. A PT Wilmar spokesperson explains, “This analysis process is done by theCyclone 3DRsoftware which is dedicated for calibration and silo inspection according to international standards.”

易于使用的软件减少培训时间

由于该项目引入3D激光扫描的目的是提高效率，因此新技术无法对团队的时间提出额外的需求。PT Wilmar的发言人发现，该解决方案易于使用，培训很少，“ Leica Geosystems产品易于设置和运行，因此我们不需要太多时间才能学习。”亚搏彩票手机版下载

轻巧的便携式激光扫描仪对团队的工作方式产生了积极影响。需要在现场进行检查，以释放时间进行数据分析进行检查。PT Wilmar的发言人解释说：“ [我们在人力资源上有一个限制来进行数据处理。使用RTC360在使用的RTC360上很少需要进行现场工作（只有一个或两个），而其他团队成员可以在办公室处理数据。”

Improved safety and fewer interruptions to production

以前，在使用主动机械的工厂区域，进行物理进行测量的需求可能会破坏。3D激光扫描是一种非侵入性技术，可从远处捕获测量。附近的机械不需要关闭，也没有污染的风险。这使激光扫描更安全的操作员和对业务的效率更高。

As well as using the RTC360 for tank inspections, PT Wilmar's project team have been using them for stockpile calculations, where the ability to measure from a distance has been a real benefit: “We get accuracy on the calculation and it’s easy to proceed, so we have no issue anymore with high or large stockpiles. Previously, we used total stations and faced a difficult process in the field. Now, we are glad that we don’t necessarily need to climb the stockpile of the flour to measure the volume!.”

Using RTC360 laser scanners and Cyclone 3DR software for tank inspections has been a success for PT Wilmar Indonesia. Not only has the objective to improve efficiency been met, but the 3D scans have made it easier for the project team to report to management about maintenance and to compile their yearly audits.

A spokesperson at PT Wilmar says, “It helps enable easy silo maintenance, changing conventional data into 3D data, creating clear reports on every angle of capturing data in the field. In the end, it helps PT Wilmar management to see real conditions in 3D data. The management team now does not need to go to the field to check the factory condition.” It is all there in the data-rich output of the 3D scans.