Drones in Chemical Industry

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as they are known technically have been around for a very long time now. The term ‘Drone’ was coined by US Navy, since it was inspired by Queen Bee, the remotely controlled aircraft used by British Navy. This was in 1935 and since then drones have got smaller, swifter and smarter. One industry which hopes to benefit immensely from drones is the US$ 4 trillion chemical industry.

Drones literally elevate process plant inspection into a different orbit. Firstly the frequency of inspection can be as warranted by the situation and not tied down to the availability of infrastructure and / or experts. No need to fly out experts to the site. High resolution images can be viewed by experts sitting in the comfort of their offices or homes. No time wasted on erecting clumsy scaffoldings in difficult to access areas. Flying a drone is as simple as throwing up a paper plane. And the drones can fly irrespective of the rough weather. 

Secondly the quality of drone inspection is superior. The probes carried by the drones can get much close to the metal than the human face or hand without fear of making contact. The human subjectivity while collecting data can be completely eliminated by building artificial intelligence into the drone. Some people are calling Drones “the flying computers”. Also the data collected by the drone can be analysed by more than one expert at multiple locations, in real time. And lastly, but most importantly, Drones make inspections safer, totally eliminating the need for workmen weighed down by protective equipment to ascend vertiginous heights in inclement weather. Dow Chemical became the first company to use drones for plant inspection after getting approval from US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015.