ASME Northern Alberta Section: 3D Laser Scanning

Description

With increased brownfield projects undertaken to support aging infrastructure, knowing what is in the field is crucial to project success. Often, as-built information is either incomplete, out of date, or non-existent. Multiple site visits may be needed to gather this information which can be time consuming and expensive. Also, site visits have their inherent safety risks due to travel, proximity to operating equipment, and unfamiliar surroundings. It is not uncommon to require additional site visits to gather missed information or verify suspect data resulting in additional costs, delays, and safety risks. 3D scanning continues to be one of the most effective solutions for gathering site information. One or more laser scanners can capture millions of datapoints creating a three-dimensional point cloud. Point cloud data is dimensionally accurate and shareable in various formats and used by designers to create new CAD models of the scanned environment or confirm existing ones. New equipment can be overlayed onto the point cloud or other representation of the data (3D CAD Model, photo real images) to perform clash checks, check accessibility, etc. 3D point clouds can be created for difficult to reach areas avoiding the need for scaffolding. Aerial scans using drones can generate a point cloud for a facility to centimeter accuracy in days which could take over a month with multiple scanning stations. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also finding its way into 3D scanning. One application of AI is automatic recognition of discrete components such as flanges and valves. With the advent of cloud computing and cloud storage, point cloud data can be hosted on remote servers in various user-friendly formats which can be quickly accessed from almost any location. The Northern Alberta Section of ASME invites you to join us and Nick Gordon from MiraCAD who will be discussing the current state of 3D laser measuring technology and what the future may hold.