Michal Vláčil has experience as a risk manager in the insurance industry and runs Inspection Services. He uses drones and advanced technology to gather essential information from the air that helps keep the company running. The service output is highly processed, accurate and has detailed information on the condition of a power line or photovoltaic plant without the complications associated with high-altitude technology.
Saving heat and energy is an up-todate topic today. Is it possible to map media leaks on heating and hot water networks with a drone?
The current situation forces us all to look for savings wherever we can. Heat leaks from hot water or heating pipes are more costly today than they used to be, and these costs are noticeably reflected in the payments of our end customers. The condition of the heating and hot water networks in the Czech Republic shows certain deficiencies, let us call them anomalies, which mean losses, either purely thermal, due to damaged or degraded insulation, but also direct failures, when a heating medium leaks from the pipes. This condition is undesirable from several points of view. Firstly, there is a loss of heating medium, but also the water coming out of the pipes can have a negative effect on nearby buildings or cause a crater, which collapses, as we have seen in recent months in several locations across the country. Thanks to the technologies that are already on the market today that are affordable, we have been able to expand our thermographic inspection services to search for these anomalies in the heat distribution. A service that has already helped dozens of heating plants has emerged. It involves pinpointing the exact location of a heating water or steam leak in an underground piping system through thermographic analysis, which we perform using drones fitted with special sensors.
New constructions, the reconstruction of monuments and development of the area. Can drones be used for laser scanning in these areas?
Of course, this is already a relatively wellmapped and frequently used area of drone technology. Thanks to drones capable of carrying a laser scan or possibly a camera for photogrammetric mapping, we are now able to “map” and then efficiently process the acquired data for construction needs quickly and with millimetre accuracy. By using ground-based laser scanning in combination with aerial data collection, we have a highly effective tool for accurately recording all the required details, whether it is for construction needs or to create an accurate model of a cultural monument in case something happens to it. The best thing about this modern technology is undoubtedly the speed of data acquisition and processing compared to conventional surveying technologies. As we say, a drone is just a tool. The whole know-how of this activity lies in processing the acquired data and delivering the outputs in a format that has a maximum benefit for the end customer.
Roof inspections are necessary for managers to make decisions about placing photovoltaic (PV) equipment on the roofs of industrial buildings. To what extent do you offer this service?
The quality and condition of the roof are among the main factors that determine the life of a building. If I decide to put PV technology on the roof, I should be sure that the lifetime of the roof will be longer than the lifetime of the PV equipment because replacing the roof covering after installing PV technology is a rather complex and costly operation. With the help of a drone with a powerful camera, we are able to create a 2D and 3D model of the roof cladding and perform an inspection that reveals multiple types of damage. Alternatively, we are also able to detect leaks under the roofing membrane thanks to thermographic images. With this inspection, the building owner has a better idea of the condition of the roofing, but also a record of the condition before handing the building over to the installation company. Roof inspections are especially performed before and after PV installation. Firstly, to check the roofing after the building has been handed over, but also to detect deficiencies in the newly built PV system, which unfortunately happens from time to time.
Thank you for the interview.
