Leveraging Air Vehicle Technology to Inspect Tanks and Surfaces Will Reduce Time While Increasing Accuracy and Safety

S2788 — Tank Inspection Using Drones

Objective

Inspections of over 700 new tanks and enclosed areas on the CVN 78 Class aircraft carrier
are currently performed manually. Manual inspections, both internal and external, are
time consuming, generate opportunities for human error, and create safety concerns as
personnel use ladders, scaffolding, or man-lifts to visually inspect areas for defects. This
Electro-Optics Center (EOC) project will develop and test a prototype unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) inspection system(s) and implement processes to inspect tanks and surfaces
with UAVs, thereby reducing inspection time, while increasing accuracy and safety.
In the first phase, Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS)
will lead the evaluation and enumeration of all inspection processes, both internal and
external, from which UAV inspection requirements and specifications will be derived.
The goal is to identify the inspections which will yield the most benefit from UAV
inspection and supply the requirements for performance and payload capabilities to
support subsequent phases. In the second phase, EOC will lead the development and
selection of the UAV platform(s), developing hardware and software modifications to
commercial-off-the-shelf products, as required. In the final phase, the shipyard and
EOC will work cooperatively to test the prototype system(s) in mockups and actual
environments in order to validate the UAV inspection process.

Payoff

For the initial business case, which is focused predominantly on CVN 80, savings are
estimated at approximately $4M, if fully implemented. The savings result from an
estimated 50 percent reduction in labor and rework using UAVs for remote inspection
of internal and external spaces. Long-term benefits of this project will be applicable well
beyond new hull construction for CVN 80, and may potentially include new inspections
of enclosed areas, voids, tanks, and external structures for DDG 51, LHA, LPD, and
NSC platforms, as well as overhaul inspections of all platforms. Additional benefits
include reduced occupational, health, and safety risks for personnel; and reduced human
error when transcribing inspection data for analysis and recordkeeping, as well as the
transition to digital inspection processes to reduce analysis time and maintain permanent
inspection records for the life of the ship.

Implementation

The primary focus of the project is to reduce labor costs and improve safety for the
inspection of tanks and surfaces on CVN 78. Refinements to procedures and equipment
will become evident as the shipyard gains experience with the system. Using the system
on other platforms at other shipyards will reveal additional refinements and likely some
unexpected benefits as users develop their own methods and implementation plans. NNS
is acting as the transition shipyard and expects this technology to be implemented during
the summer of 2021 to support the build of CVN 80. Additionally, as part of the project
team, Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding will be implementing this
technology for DDG 51 platforms. EOC will work closely with the shipyards to develop
a system that produces the most benefit in reducing labor while increasing safety for
inspectors. The shipyards will prioritize those areas that will benefit most from the use of
such a system. One hundred percent replacement of human inspectors for all tasks is not
likely at the close of this project; however, significant reduction in man-hours for setup,
inspections, tear-down, and support is expected.