Vehiculation Aspiration
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
<< Cover Story Operations PIGs, Planes and Pipes: CKHH’s VeHiCles Forget what you think you know about vehicles and business. CKHH companies are stretching the definitions to deliver world-class operations. ou probably think you Piggies in the PiPes The original pigs were mini-vehicles, have a pretty good idea of Ice pigs, smart pigs, pig traps – the Group and the smart pigs that Husky Energy uses what vehicles are and what has more than one firm that is big on still are. Northumbrian Water, however, they do. They have wings, pigs. These pigs don’t make for good ham has deployed a new, carefully created Ywheels, or rudders, are however, but they do help Northumbrian post-vehicle “ice pig” to clean pipes. made of steel, plastic and glass, and burn Water Limited in the UK and Husky Energy A special freezing point suppressant is fossil fuels to carry people and things Inc in Canada to bring home the bacon. introduced into water, allowing it to freeze from here to there. You may think vehicles to just the right consistency to flow down are incidental to most of our businesses. Pigging is the term that applies to the the pipes. It has enough abrasiveness to And you may very well think that is all technology of Pipe Inspection Gauges – clean the walls of the pipe, but doesn’t there is to it. PIGs. In the old days, water, oil and gas damage the lining of the pipe wall. pipes had to be dug up to be inspected, You would be entirely wrong. cleaned and, if needed, replaced: a costly, Trials in 2010 led to widespread time-consuming methodology. adoption in 2012 with comparable results CK Hutchison vehicles play crucial roles in to traditional cleaning methods. Ice pigging all our businesses. Some are made of ice, Later, simple PIGs made their way into the has since cleaned over 50km of pipe in the some hum along silently, some watch from pipes, allowing firms to clean them through Northumbrian Water network. the skies, and some plumb watery depths. abrasion. But now Northumbrian Water A new world of vehicles is upon us, made and Husky Energy have taken pigs – so possible by massive computing power, often used that the acronym has become AI, and the creativity and adaptability of a standard word – into the 21st century. CKHH staff. Sphere #40 2016 14 >> 15 Sphere #40 2016 << vehiCulation Aspiration These pigs don’t make for good ham, but do … bring home the bacon. smart Pigs and real-time inspection technology Husky Energy has over 30,000km of may allow technicians to piggyback on small-to-medium diameter pipelines smart pigs to inspect pipes in situ, making spread across the vastness of Western operations even more efficient. Canada. These pipes must be regularly maintained and monitored – and smart in a yellow submarine pigs are part of the solution. Smart pigs are Moving from pipes to tanks, Northumbrian wee vehicles that travel the pipes using an Water has partnered with tech provider, on-board computer. Old pigs would scrape UK-based Panton McLeod Ltd, to bring a the pipe to remove contamination, but little of The Beatles to water management. newer smart pigs also collect information on minute pipe fractures, wear and tear Yellow submarines, individually bearing and other vital data that helps engineers staff-given names like Ringo (Starr) and decide whether they need to make repairs, Macca (Paul McCartney), are Remote or can leave a pipe be and focus elsewhere. Operated Vehicles (ROVs), controlled by expert engineers who send them Pig traps are set into a pipe where it pops into the massive water storage tanks of above ground and these provide an access Northumbrian Water. point for catching or deploying pigs. The strategic pipeline integrity management About the size of a football, they can programme is aided by engineers learning access places staff otherwise can’t, and from the pigs where efforts should be can take water samples in real time. Old focused to get ahead of potential problems, inspection protocols required tanks to be and what can be left in the ground, making drained, a costly and expensive procedure the whole operation more efficient. Pigs that put additional strain on the rest of may be used to clean a given pipe once the system. Now the feisty little ROVs can a month or more, while smart pigs may save time and improve information about inspect pipes every two to five years. water quality in the tanks and about which parts of the tanks need to be prioritised for As pigs become even smarter, engineers cleaning and maintenance. anticipate that high-definition 3D cameras Sphere #40 2016 16 >> Cleaning with WALL·e eye in the sky They aren’t the only ROVs in the High tech can be used in constrained Northumbrian Water underwater in-tank places like pipes and tanks, but has ringo (Starr) and Macca (paul fleet. The company also works with Panton also “slipped the surly bonds of Earth McCartney), are remote McLeod to deploy the VR480, VR600 and and danced the skies on laughter- VR700 WALL·E-like robots underwater to silvered wings.” Operated Vehicles, controlled clean and inspect the tanks. by expert engineers. UK Power Networks Holdings Limited has The number in the model type refers to its a vast web of powerlines spreading over size: the VR480 moves on tracks 480mm London, the South East and the East of wide; the VR600 on 600mm tracks and England, criss-crossing cities, towns, vast so on. The height of each model is about tracts of countryside and even forests. 600mm – a little more than half a metre. Staff have had to pick their way across public and private lands to determine The robots travel in tanks, vacuuming up whether those powerlines were at threat sediment when cleaning, and inspecting of damage from encroaching vegetation for faults and cracks. Northumbrian growing into the powerlines or being Water first adopted the technology in brought into contact from storm or other 2003, becoming an industry leader. structural impacts (for example, age or The Horsley Project saw Northumbrian tree trauma). Water recognise Panton McLeod for their contribution in helping the company But now, new technology not only “achieve its goal to be the national leader allows the entire surveying process to in sustainable water and waste water happen from the sky, but it allows those services.” Using the high-tech service, an responsible for surveying the entire extremely difficult-to-access 34-megalitre network to see a periodically updated tank was cleaned, inspected and image whenever they want. Cutting-edge structurally modified without disrupting new technology known as LiDAR makes regular service to customers. this possible. A portmanteau of the words 17 Sphere #40 2016 << vehiCulation Aspiration light and radar, LiDAR is a means of by using the LiDAR technology, all of EVs. Various HK Electric offices’ car parks using lasers to take images and store our network can be covered in three are fitted with chargers and, as vehicles them in a massive database. In this case, months with much less disturbance to are used in Hong Kong’s small area and UK Power Networks makes use of aircraft stakeholders. And it’s much safer from spend overnight in a parking bay, charging with the LiDAR technology to fly over the an injury perspective for the many staff and range is never a problem. With fewer transmission network to create an image of that had to venture across rough land, moving parts, the vehicles have less powerlines and anything around them. rivers and ditches.” downtime for repair, meaning they are on the road much more often which lends to Six years ago, the firm first started In the future, the technology may greater operational efficiency. looking at the technology, but deemed it allow for identifying specific vegetative not quite ready for prime time in terms of species and their current growth rates, HK Electric’s experience in running its own costs and proven technology. A second making pruning schedules even more operations is also enabling it to align itself look led to a trial in 2013, scanning two cost-effective. Other power providers in with government incentives for consumers parts of the network. The successful the UK have taken note and at least two to use cleaner cars, and with consumer experiment led to the system being have followed UK Power Networks in using preferences and spending trends. implemented across the entire network. this technology, according to Mr Peters. HK going green The aircraft does the heavy lifting and eV-eryone is driVing eVs Hong Kong has possibly the highest provides the overhead vantage point that Operational efficiency has been a boon first registration tax on new cars in the allows the LiDAR to work. The scanning for The Hongkong Electric Company world. However, in a bid to reduce roadside provides masses of data. Almost too much Limited (HK Electric) as it has become pollution, the Hong Kong government has – the biggest challenge in implementation one of the major users of Electric Vehicles waived the tax on purely electric cars, was updating the asset management (EVs) in Hong Kong. But it has also kept making them popular in the crowded city. database to take on the huge amounts of track of market developments, staying Their widespread adoption is now leading new, detailed data that is now available. ahead of its customers’ demands. to a demand for more charging stations. The impact on business is real. Martin It has a growing fleet of EVs in Hong Kong, HK Electric has responded to this market Peters, Tree Manager at UK Power with these now making up around 37 per demand and is helping to smooth the way Networks, explains, “From a survey cent of its vehicles.