Page 22 - Energize May 2021

NEWS

Rope access, drone combo

deployed for power station

inspection

combination of rope access and drone technology allowed for a
maintenance inspection at a coal-fired power station in Limpopo to be
A undertaken in record time, reports Skyriders Marketing Manager Mike
Zinn. “This was another great example of the synergy between traditional rope
access and our Elios SkyEye drones,” comments Zinn.
A two-person rope-access team and a three-person drone team, the latter
consisting of a pilot, a back-up pilot, and an inspection manager, were dispatched
to site in November last year to carry out an inspection of the back-pass ducting
in Unit 4 of the power station. The back-pass ducting conveys the hot exhaust
gases and fly ash to the precip hoppers and ultimately to the smokestack.
The inspection was carried out quickly within a day, as opposed to the
time-consuming and potentially dangerous traditional approach of erecting
scaffolding in this 6 m by 6 m and 45 m high space in order to gain access to the
ducting.
Thereafter a report detailing the findings was compiled, which identified
two areas that required a follow-up inspection. Another team was dispatched to
conduct ultrasonic (UT) wall thickness readings, which ultimately revealed that
the areas of concern were indeed safe and had experienced no degradation due
to normal wear and tear. If that had been the case, the team would have carried
out the necessary welding repairs using rope access.
Time constraints are a major challenge when dealing with any kind of
inspection or maintenance work at Eskom’s power station fleet. The tight
schedules means that such work has to be completed as quickly as possible. This
is why the particular combination of rope access and drones that Skyriders can
offer is an ideal solution that is also safe and cost-effective, concludes Zinn.
Contact Mike Zinn, Skyriders, Tel 011 312-1418,
mike@ropeaccess.co.za

Demolition plays a vital role in urban renewal and redevelopment

ohannesburg is planning several development projects. Redundant buildings pose a safety risk once they are beyond
According to Tembeka Mhlekwa, Executive Director for Economic their serviceable life. In-house specialists from Jet Demolition
JDevelopment, the focus will be on transformation and housing can assist in all planning and execution of controlled implosions
opportunities in the inner city. within dense urban environments. This ranges from permitting
to implosion design, building preparations, evacuation plans,
implosion execution, clean-up and rehabilitation as part of a
turnkey demolition solution.
The company successfully imploded the 108-m-high, 31-storey
Bank of Lisbon building on 24 November 2019. The closest building
was only 7,8 m away, revealing the challenges posed by demolition in a
dense urban environment.
Further afield, the demolition specialist successfully completed
a three-building implosion project in the Maradu region of Kochi in
Kerala in January 2020. This was not only its first project in India,
but also the first time that a high-rise building in that country was
demolished successfully by means of implosion.

Contact Kate Bester, Jet Demolition, Tel 011 495-3800,
kate@jetdemolition.co.za

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