3 Reasons Why Industrial Facility Managers Should Use Remote Operated Vehicles for Water Tank Inspections
Water is getting scarce, which has resulted in the growth of competition between industrial water use and human consumption. However, businesses are taking it upon themselves to change the current state of affairs, for instance, by looking for alternative sources of water so that business activities are not affected. Trapping and storing rainwater in sizeable underground water tanks is one way that industrial facilities are tackling water scarcity. However, to benefit from stored rainwater, regular water tank inspections are mandatory. This article highlights the benefits of using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for inspecting water tanks.
Zero Water Wastage
Dry water tank inspection involves complete drainage of water tanks so that facility managers can have a closer look at the tank's interior. With most industrial underground rainwater tanks capable of holding tens of millions of gallons of water, draining a tank entirely is nothing short of being wasteful, especially if you consider the state of water scarcity in the world. The emergence of ROV technology in water tank inspection has eliminated the waste. Remote operated vehicles do not require water tanks to be drained to perform checks.
Time-Saving
As a facility manager, if you are going to drain a million gallons of water from the facility's water tank, then you are looking at tens of hours of draining activity. First, you have to drain the tank and then lower the inspection team into the tank to make assessments manually. With some tanks matching the size of a football pitch, manual inspection would be tiring let alone time-consuming. Water tank inspection using ROVs saves valuable time. All that an inspection team has to do is tether the machine and lower it inside a tank. With most ROVs capable of reaching an average of up to 3.5 knots, inspecting a football field-sized water tank might take only a few hours.
Real-Time Data Transmission
When human divers conduct water tank inspection services, they can only carry a couple of inspection instruments at a time. Furthermore, the data gathered must be presented physically to an analysis team for interpretation. It is also not easy to collect different data simultaneously with human divers because each instrument needs to be operated individually. Since ROVs are equipped with various sensors, they can collect temperature, depth, water content, images among other parameters at the same time. Most importantly, the information is transmitted to the analysis team in real time. Therefore, an inspection team can thus make conclusions even before pulling out the ROV.