June 9, 2021

Safe and cost-effective inspections using quantDrone

When it unexpectedly got much colder than normal and started snowing in Spain, it caused problems at one of our customers’ sites. By being innovative and using the quantDrone, we found a way to support our customer in a safe and efficient way.

The city of Toledo is located in central Spain, about an hour from Madrid. Snow is not very common here, so when there was a heavy snowfall in January 2021 it made the situation difficult. One of many affected was our customer, as the snow and cold weather caused some equipment to break down.

Using quantDrone, we could safely and effectively help our customer make inspections at height despite the challenging situation.

– The equipment was at a high level, making it difficult and risky to access. Therefore, we decided to use this digital tool, the quantDrone, says Rodrigo Souza, Reliability Engineer at Quant, who together with Quant Site Manager Igor Marzolla took initiative to start using the drone at site.

Rodrigo sees several advantages with using the drone for maintenance tasks as this is a safe way to work, but also cost-effective.

– It reduces the risk of accident as we do not need to work on high level ourselves. But using the drone can also reduce costs, as we do not have to rent extra equipment needed if you were to work on heights.

Many areas of usage

The quantDrone is a relatively new tool on this site. But Rodrigo believes that there are many situations in which the drone can be useful. At other Quant sites, it has for example been used to inspect machines that are spread out over a large area, as well as for inspecting confined spaces.

– We could use it in the same way here. Also, we have a lot of cold rooms at this site. Using the drone with a thermo camera, we can quickly get information about if there is some problem related to temperature, he says.

After starting to use the quantDrone at the site in Spain, the customer feedback has been positive.

– When we used it to inspect a cooling tower, the customer was very impressed of how quickly we could find the problem and start working on a solution, Rodrigo says.

– The flight time is generally around 10 minutes. But before and after the flight we need to do an inspection of the drone, to make sure it is not damaged in any way. It is very important that we can always perform a safe flight.