Bridge Inspections & High Mast Light Pole Inspections
Go Robotic!
By:Doug Thaler 4/26/17
Seeing infrastructures around the world deteriorating faster than they can be maintained and budgets
being diverted and reduced, managing infrastructure for countries around the world with limited assets and resources has become a challenge.
After a long study of the industry and their methods it became clear that the subjective testing being conducted was an inadequate and antiquated method to identifying issues necessary to properly maintain these vital assets. A company based in the USA, Infrastructure Preservation Corporation, "IPC" created very specific infrastructure inspections using modern technology and robotics to help asset managers or in the case of the US., the Department Of Transportation better understand the current condition. Surprisingly enough inspections conducted till now do not give asset managers what they need to properly maintain their existing assets.
With IPC's services these asset managers can now better allocate whatever limited funds they have to the most urgent need. By finding early stage deterioration we are able to make repairs that can extend the service life and save billions in infrastructure costs. By utilizing modern technology and robotics, IPC's bridge inspection services and high mast light pole inspections offer comprehensive quantitative data with actionable items. Inspections are safer for the inspector and for the public. Many of the inspections do away with lane closures and placing heavy equipment on the bridge so they are less burdensome to the public and many fewer accidents occur.
IPC’s patented robotic bridge inspection services take the 50 year old subject inspections of yesterday and using the federal and state guidelines created inspections that revolutionize both bridge inspections and high mast light pole inspections. IPC will soon adapt their technology into many other industries.
Some of the service robots peer through concrete and steel structures to locate early stage corrosion. IPC utilizes many different technologies to produce the asset manager or department of transportation with the information it so badly needs to not only make budgetary decisions but to take action.
Some of bridge inspection services include:
CableScan® is a robotic bridge inspection service that inspects the external cable stays of cable stay bridges. Cable Stay Inspections today close a lane on the bridge, park a bucket truck and heavy equipment on a bridge and send a man up at night to look at the cable with a helmet flashlight and a pad and paper. How much of a cable can the inspector actually see? With the bucket truck blowing in the wind 100 feet up, how can we rely on the data produced. The inspectors today are doing the best they can with the equipment and procedures that they were given. These antiquated inspection methods should no longer be tolerated.
With modern technology and robotics, bridge inspections no longer requires lane closures or heavy equipment like bucket trucks park on the bridge. The inspection robot and base station is portable, wireless and is controlled from a ground station. It can be steered around obstructions and has multiple redundancies such as rollover backup batteries and an automatic return to base in the event of a power failure. There is just no way for inspectors today to match the quantitative data that can be produced with robotics. There is just no match for the technology IPC provides.
Cable Stay bridge inspection services conducted today. IPC bridge inspection services provide asset managers (department of transportation) with quantitative data unlike anything they have seen to date. Quantitative data will allow the Department Of Transportation to properly allocate their limited maintenance dollars in a much more efficient manner. By locating early stage deterioration and properly maintaining & conducting repairs in order of severity, the service life of our critical infrastructure assets can be extended and untimely replacements avoided, saving billions in infrastructure costs.
CableScan® provides a 360 degree inspection of Cable stays with no lane closures or boom trucks. . It records high definition video and stills of the cable, seams, grout ports, saddle and more. All issues are recorded and photographed as well as the position along the stay and deck. LIDAR is used to measure the length and width of cracks. The device is wirelessly controlled from a ground station and can steer around obstructions (grout ports).
No lane closures or bucket trucks are required. Inspections can take place during the day with no danger to the inspector or the public.
CableScan®-R is a repair bot that can make specific minor repairs without lane closures or boom trucks
Currently bridge inspections require lane closures and bucket trucks or inspectors that climb the stays. A man visually inspects what he can see. During the last manual inspection of 84 cable stays on one bridge, the engineering company found 1 issue on all 84 cables. IPC was asked to conduct a quality control inspection of just 9 of those stays and found 12 issues on those 9 stays that were missed by the original inspectors. In addition, during the manual inspection with the bucket truck on the bridge, there were 9 traffic accidents that occurred over the 6 week inspection period .
Another inspection service provided inspects high mast light poles (HMLP). High Mast Light Poles
Todays
Visual HMLP Inspection IPC’s
Robotic HMLP Inspection
Manual
from ground PoleScan® “Patented” 360 degree views
Scans poles, seams, luminaries.
In the United States and Canada, Infrastructure Preservation Corporation, "IPC" is the service company and conducts bridge inspection services directly. Internationally, IPC will license their technology to various engineering firms/partners.
Infrastructure Preservation Corporation, “IPC” is a professional services bridge inspection and robotic engineering company advancing infrastructure inspections worldwide.
For more information on IPC’s services contact: Doug Thaler at info@infrastructurepc.com.
Cable Stay Video
High Mast Light Pole Video
TendonScan
