Drone Question for a total unknown

[elcue]

Hey guys sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong section, but I didn't know where it should go. I see a couple of you guys are into drones and make some awesome videos while boating. I'm looking for a little help. I'm totally clueless about drones and the software to use them so any advice would be much appreciated. My question isn't about boating with a drone its for my job. I work at a cement terminal, I'm in the union side of things but have a great relationship with management and one of my guys suggested using a drone for inspection on our boom (30ft high) and inside the silos (200ft high). So our guys were working down at one of our terminals in Virginia and said how they use a drone to get an aerial survey of the property and take other aerial pictures. They want to implement the drone use at my terminal now. My questions are can a drone get that good of a visual picture to inspect a leak on a hose 30 feet in the air? If so are they stable that high in the wind its very windy at our port. Also, can drone be flown down the inside of a silo and get good visuals inside a silo? Im worried about it losing connection or service. I odnt even know how they operate that's how clueless I am. The manager here was intrigued by the idea especially since getting an inspection on that arm requires us to stop discharging cement, get the man lift out, and have one of our guys go up and see. It takes time and putting a man lift on a barge isn't the safest thing. If it can go inside our silos that would be great for us too as we can get an accurate level of how much cement we have left. We have pretty good sensors but we have ran out in the past when the silo was showing about 20 feet of cement left. Thanks for your time sorry for the long post. I want to help the guys get this drone but I need some knowledge and facts I can tell management why its worth it.

 

[Julian]

I moved this to the off topic section...no worries...

I have a cheap drone, but I'm pretty certain that a DJI 3 or higher would be able to fly into a silo assuming it is 20+ feel in diameter or larger. Not sure how far down the silo you would want to fly it...as it might risk losing GPS. The DJI 4 does have more capabilities for flying without GPS inside a building.

Not sure you'd be able to see a leak from 30 feet in the air....guess it would depend on the size of the leak. The new drones are shooting 4k video, but not streaming 4k to the pilot. So you might be able to zoom in after the fact to the recording, or just fly lower to get a bigger image on the pipe.

 

[Julian]

You might want to look at some of the videos on the internet to get an idea of how they are currently being used to gauge if it would meet your need

 

[elcue]

Nice video thanks. Yea Im worried once it goes down the silo it may lose reception.

 

[Mainah]

The transition from a windy environment with up, down, and side drafts to an enclosed environment can be a bit tricky. As far as consumer drones go a high end DJI would be my recommendation. There are companies out there that specialize in building drones for specific purposes. You may be better off contacting a company to do that for you and train the operators. Perhpas a 4k camera and and a flir camera combo would be best for what you are trying to do.

 

[JetPowered]

Additionally the bigger drones can carry more weight, so adding a battery pack and spotlights for inspections purposes would be more doable than a DJI Phantom 4 Pro, which I think stated it could only carry up to 5 lbs of additional weight. Also don't forget that the drone operator would need to hold a commercial FAA license if it is going to used outside. I'm just getting into drones with a Phantom 3 standard, but it is really skittish with wind and drafts, and that is in GPS mode. Haven't had the ball to play with dead reckoning mode yet.

 

[buckbuck]

My brother in law works at a petrochemical plant and they use drones for inspection of the stacks. Let us know what comes of your investigation.

 

[elcue]

Thanks for the info. They said the one they use in Virgina was about $2,000 dollars. I'm not sure if they got a special one or are these things that much. Our terminal manager is going to see what the guys in Virginia use and let me know. I personally would love to fly it down in the silo and get a nice visual of how much product is left.

 

[buckbuck]

I work in plants that have silos of gray cement, sands, calcium and other ingredients. All of them are enclosed with hatches at the top. It seems that whenever I open a hatch it is always a bit cloudy due to the dust collection systems. Without a lot of light I would think you are going to have trouble piloting inside the silo. The downdraft of the blades is also going to stir things up. Has your maintenance department looked into radar level transmitters? We have had good success with them.

 

[Ronnie]

I think the dji phantom 4 pro ( and possibly the mavic and inspire 2) could fly inside a silo without issue (anything with 270 / 360 degree obstacle avoidance). All of the dji products I mentioned transmit an hd video signal it's not 4K but still good enough to inspect a boom.

Depending on the conditions in the silo and transmitter's position you may need to add lights to drone/flying camera and a signal booster to the remote control if repositioning then antennae ears does not help. There are legal issues to consider as well, this may fall under commercial use which requires a special waiver / license from the FAA. I suggest you have your company's lawyer look into the legal aspects. It may be less expensive and faster to contact a third party company that is already set up to perform such services.

Consider joining phantom pilots.com for more info on the phantom's capabilities as well as possible commercial users. Also take a look at dslr pros, they build custom flying camera set ups based on dji products, really nice systems (e.g. With first person viewing gear, muliple batteries, in a hard case and possibly with specialized supplemental cameras) at a premium price.

 

[BigN8]

Would this be in a silo with portland cement? If so I doubt you would see anything. The down draft from the props would create an incredible dust storm in that silo I would guess.

 

[elcue]

Yea its Portland. I would assume it would need to be equipped with lights. I didn't think they created that much down draft but again I have no idea. Once I hear back from the guys in Virginia we will know if they ever used it for such a task.

 

[Ronnie]

By the way, I don't notice any down draft from my phantom once it is more than 5 feet or so over my head.