Maximize Budgets with ROVs and Submersible Robots

Duncan De Craemer | March 9th, 2020

Why Are ROVs Important for Infrastructure
How are Deep Trekker ROVs Used in Infrastructure
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## Why Are ROVs and Submersible Robots Important for Infrastructure? Maintenance management of infrastructure is vital to the health and continued growth of communities. For many cities and municipalities this is ever becoming the case with infrastructure aging past its designated lifespan. As these structures age often their required maintenance becomes severe and monitoring can become more expensive.

Whether you look at pipelines, water tanks or dams and waterways, all are increasingly in need of maintenance management. This has been compounded by the growing demand for housing and corresponding economic infrastructure. As a result, today more than ever solutions are needed that can better leverage existing infrastructure rehabilitation and preventative maintenance efforts. At Deep Trekker we take great pride in providing Remote Operate Vehicles (ROVs) and Submersible Robots that support preventative maintenance for day-to-day life. A Deep Trekker ROV solution provides an intuitive, cost effective means of both monitoring and maintaining the health of key infrastructure.

How are Deep Trekker ROVs Currently Being Used in Infrastructure?

Trenchless Pipeline Inspection:

Environmental monitoring services are using Deep Trekker Pipe Crawlers to get enhanced data on pipeline inspections. Said inspections are unsafe and inaccessible for humans, requiring technology to enable visual inspection.

Currently, the most common trenchless system is a viewing device on a push rod. The unit is fed through the system requiring a CCTV truck for power. This allows for suitable visual data, but suffers from a few issues that a Deep Trekker Pipe Crawler can solve.

The first issue is that of the push rod. Oftentimes an over-eager pipe inspector can damage the rod with their entry into the system. These replacements often are in the range of $200 - $600 and may become a recurring cost if usage isn’t remedied.

These push rods require a level of skill in order to effectively navigate without damage and for many are not intuitive. Another issue with the use of the push rod involves repeated physical exertion. Which is known to be detrimental for over time with consistent use.

A Deep Trekker Pipe Crawler system can alleviate the issue of potential push rod damage by removing the need for the rod altogether. Built for pipe inspections as small as 8” (203mm) in diameter, the fully submersible, battery operated DT340 Pipe Crawler (8” - 36” diameter) and DT320 Pipe Crawler Mini (6” - 12” diameter) feature an easy to use handheld controller for navigation and viewing / recording.

Without the push rod system the physical exertion required to administer an inspection also decreases. Making each inspection not only easier to conduct for your team with easy navigation, but more ergonomic for them. Lastly, a Deep Trekker Pipe Crawler offers flexibility for both municipalities and contractors. We accomplish this by providing battery operated systems with trickle charge from the controller. This empowers the user to decide whether they want on-site power or not, without making that choice for them.

Let us help find the right ROV for your inspection projects and applications

Insulated Tank Inspection:

Another area which has seen the benefits of using Deep Trekker ROVs is that of water-tank inspections. In the past, investigation was conducted mainly through draining the systems or employing dive teams into filled reservoirs. The goal being to identify and prevent corrosion under insulation (CUI), which can be quite easy to miss.

Unfortunately both of these options were preventative in price and acted as a deterrent to frequent monitoring. Additionally, divers have specialty in diving - not necessarily in understanding your unique infrastructure's need for repairs. Ideally the individual conducting the inspection should be a specialist on the piece of equipment.

The issues that stemmed from this method are diver safety, costs associated with tank drainage and quality of inspections. A Deep Trekker ROV, such as the DT640 VAC or DTG3, can alleviate many of these issues. Thus resulting in better, more frequent inspections that extend your budget.

Using a Deep Trekker ROV you can within minutes get eyes into your holding tank with operation from a native specialist. Additionally, with 4k recording capability you are able to analyze the tank much more thoroughly than with only the human eye. Being able to revisit specific problem areas and having direct visual recording to compare. An ROV can also be used to complement existing diving teams by allowing them additional flexibility and monitoring capabilities.

An ROV also reduces the need to conduct tank drainage for monitoring and inspections. Allowing for less interruption of service to communities while also saving municipalities and contractors time and money. As infrastructure continues to grow and age, preventative maintenance and monitoring becomes far more attractive than reactive. Deep Trekker is proud to be providing solutions that can empower municipalities and contractors alike towards proactive approaches to communal problems.

Structural Integrity

For buildings on land structural integrity inspections are more easily conducted with challenges coming from closed-in spaces. There are many instances of partially submerged or fully underwater structures which are getting into their later years. These applications are not as simple to inspect and as a result have not been monitored effectively for maintenance.

The main methods of inspection have again been to employ diving teams to investigate the status of the structure. These means of inspection leave much to be desired. The costs of employing divers as well as the liability involved made regular inspections cost prohibited.

With the use of a Deep Trekker ROV the need to have divers in order to conduct inspections is dramatically reduced. Allowing municipalities and contractors more flexibility in how they monitor for preventative maintenance needs. With more frequent, lower-cost monitoring the scale of reactive repairs will decrease, further extending budgets of those involved.

Deep Trekker is passionate about empowering municipalities and contractors alike to leverage their existing efforts. To conduct better inspections, more frequently, allowing for less major investment with reactive repairs.

Read more about the DTG3 and REVOLUTION ROV in our ROV FAQ post. Learn more about the DT340 and DT320 Mini in our Pipe Crawler FAQ post.

Our industry experts are available to answer any questions you may have.