Drones

Flight Elios 2 RAD

Flyability launches Elios 2 RAD for the remote detection of indoor radiation

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Flyability, a Switzerland-based company focused on indoor drones for inspections in difficult environments, has launched the Elios 2 RAD, a drone with a radiation sensor for inspections in nuclear power plants.

Nuclear power plants traditionally rely on staff to keep radiation exposure low. The introduction of the Elios 2 RAD offers a significant increase in work safety. The model was developed to reduce radiation exposure wherever possible and replaces personnel in collecting visual and radiation data. It is also able to provide high quality data for planning procedures that require exposure in order to keep it to a minimum.

With its built-in Geiger-Müller energy detector, the Elios 2 RAD can detect radiation during flight using the Flyability pilot app. Engineers can then use Flyability’s Inspector 3.0 software to map the radiation along the drone’s trajectory and show the exact location of dangerous dose levels. You can then replay the inspection flight in Inspector 3.0 and thus display dose rate measurements over the video material.

“The Elios 2 RAD is the first chapter in our efforts to develop indoor drones specifically for each of our key industries and accelerate our mission to use robots instead of humans for dangerous indoor inspection tasks,” said Patrick Thévoz, CEO of Flyability. “The Elios 2 RAD has the potential to greatly reduce the need for inspectors to be exposed to harmful radiation or the hazards of intruding into confined spaces when performing routine inspections.”

Prior to the introduction of the Elios 2 RAD, Flyability was already well established in nuclear facilities around the world. Its predecessor, the Elios 2 model, has been successfully tested at up to 800 R / H and nuclear inspectors have reported that it saved six-digit amounts on a single inspection flight by reducing downtime and eliminating the need for scaffolding and other costly temporary structures became . In addition, the auditors find that these results are not unique, but actually repeatable and a regular part of the new workflows made possible by the Elios 2.

“Over 80% of US nuclear power operators already use Flyability’s indoor drones for their visual inspections,” says Alexandre Meldem, VP of Sales. “Now we can extend that support by enabling engineers to collect actionable, high quality dose data. Helping the nuclear inspectors collect this data remotely means fewer people are exposed to the potential damage from radiation. “

In 2020, Flyability released footage of a flight with its Elios drone at the Chernobyl disaster site, the aim of which was to collect visual data inside Reactor 5, which was never activated, to confirm the absence of nuclear fuel bars. With the release of the Elios 2 RAD, it will now be possible to go back and not only test for the presence of bars, but also record the amount of radiation present across the site.

Ian attended the Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now a contributor to DroneLife.

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