Customer's Challenge
With the International Convention for the Control & Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004, entered into force globally on 8 September 2017, ships must manage their ballast water so that aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before the ballast water is released into a new location. This will help prevent the spread of invasive species as well as potentially harmful pathogens.
To incorporate a ballast treatment system into an existing vessel require as built data as she may have been through several retrofitting without updating the blueprint to reflect the changes. To gather these vital information during the vessel’s stopover at port is very challenging as the alongside time are very limited.
Solution
By studying our previous experience, the team continuously fine-tune and conduct trial to derive a set of systematic workflow to ensure all data are not missed out by the Faro Focus 3D terrestrial scanner.
With a comprehensive scanning plan and procedure, minimum detail were left out with short turnaround time (about 5 to 6hrs) which enable our field service team to disembark at PSA Singapore before the vessel set sail to her next destination. The completeness of scanned data are very important as any lapse will required rescanning which is very costly by transport the scanner and mobilize personnel to the next port of call.To ensure the integrity for each scan data, the files are transferred to a computer via SD card to verify using Faro Scene software after every 2 scans. This process is time consuming but is needed as all details are important to our client who is customizing the ballast water treatment system for the vessel.
Upon completion all the scanning at site, the process to merge the scan files was conducted back in the office by aligning all the images using the reference sphere targets (which are setup prior of each scan) to map out the interior layout of the vessel using Faro scene software. A total of 25 scans (around 6GB data) of FLS format file took around 5hrs to merge and the final combined file is shared with client through internet which enable their team to act them promptly.
Benefits
With the final combined output file, customer can “walk through” within the 820m3 of scanned compartments virtually when designing the piping and ballast treatment equipment even though he has never stepped onboard. By importing the scan file into their design software, our client can even identify the possible clash points by simulating the installation of ballast water treatment system and piping into the vessel.
