A New Approach to Remote Visual Inspection of Pipes in the Nuclear Industry
Remote Visual Inspection of Pipes
Current approach
- Push rod cameras or video probe
- Skilled operator to identify defects for more detailed examination
Drawbacks
- Lack of positional information
- Narrow field of view
- Lengthy inspection durations
- High operator dose
Innovate UK Collaborative R&D Project
- Developing the nuclear power supply chain – Competition for CR&D and feasibility funding – March 2014
- CR&D funding secured in Oct 2014
- 3 year project commenced in April 2015
MAPS Technology
- Combination of laser scanning and imaging to provide significant upgrade in remote visual inspection of pipework
- 360° images of the interior pipe surface are acquired from a HD camera under illuminated conditions
- Images also acquired of a ring of laser light projected onto the surface of the pipe
- Pipe bore dimensions determined from triangulation to produce point cloud of pipe surface
- Visual images are automatically scaled, corrected for geometric warping, stitched and overlaid onto the laser data to produce a textural 3D model of the pip interior
MAPS Consortium
Stakeholders and roles
- University of Strathclyde – founding member of the UK Research Centre for Non Destructive Evaluation
- Wideblue – product design and development with specialist expertise in optical technology
- Inspectahire – provision of remote visual inspection products and services
- Sellafield Ltd – nuclear site license company with significant pipework assets
- National Nuclear Laboratory – provision of specialist remote visual inspection capability
MAPS – Results
