By Vinod Handi
The ascent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has garnered significant attention from businesses. AI tools come equipped with a range of novel features and capabilities, and numerous enterprises have already integrated AI into their operations to enhance their technological prowess. Experts forecast that AI will assert its dominance across various sectors, encompassing business, consumer, and public realms, in the forthcoming years. TARDID Technologies stands as a trailblazer in this arena. We harness the power of AI to create comprehensive predictive solutions tailored for heavy industries, including shipping, aerospace, defence, oil and gas, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and government.
So, what does this signify for businesses within these industries? It translates into an opportunity for them to harness TARDID Technologies’ solutions to enhance their efficiency, performance, and safety. For instance, BRAINBOX can be deployed to forecast maintenance needs for machinery, detect product defects, and optimise supply chain operations. In essence, AI emerges as a potent tool poised to revolutionise numerous sectors, and TARDID Technologies occupies the forefront of this revolution, offering businesses the means to reap the rewards of AI advancements.
Introducing SPICA
At TARDID, we have developed a range of AI-powered Autonomous Quality Inspection solutions within a category we call SPICA. SPICA stands for the Smart Platform for Indicating Cracks and Anomalies, which effectively resolves the persistent challenge of inspection. This innovative system employs AI to automatically analyse data collected from various sources and combines it with physics models to provide real-time assessments of an object’s overall condition, safety, and projected remaining lifespan.
One of our notable offerings, Brainbox SPICA, specifically focuses on evaluating the structural integrity of diverse metallic structures. Its primary goal is to establish the soundness of these structures by identifying irregularities through a physics-based AI platform. SPICA handles vast quantities of digitised data and combines it with specialised model-driven techniques to predict structural performance. In essence, it assesses the current state of the structure, estimates its future operating conditions, and forecasts how much useful life remains for the structure.
To put it simply, SPICA is a system that leverages AI to inspect objects, providing insights into their safety and overall health, as well as projecting their anticipated lifespan. This is achieved by utilising AI to analyse data gathered from sensors and applying principles from physics models. SPICA has been deployed and successfully running for the following applications:
SPICA-IS (Intrinsically Safe)
SPICA-IS represents an intelligent inspection station that harnesses the power of AI to autonomously identify issues such as cracks, reduced wall thickness, leaks, and the absence of pins or O-rings in LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders. Its precision surpasses that of any prior inspection method.
In simpler terms, SPICA-IS is a machine equipped with AI capabilities that can examine LPG cylinders, determining their safety and overall condition while estimating their remaining lifespan. This is accomplished through AI-driven analysis of data collected from sensors and cameras. SPICA-IS holds immense value for companies engaged in LPG cylinder distribution, as it plays a pivotal role in accident prevention and ensures the safety of both workers and the general public.
Currently, manual inspection lacks assurance and performance metrics for human evaluators. By achieving a remarkable 99% accuracy rate in detecting cylinder defects, SPICA-IS guarantees the delivery of safe cylinders to households. Furthermore, it is fully compliant with Zone-1 Oil & Gas application standards. TARDID offers SPICA-IS as a two-step process, comprising SPICA-IS Prefill and SPICA-IS Post-fill procedures.
SPICA-IS Prefill offers a solution for identifying and rejecting cylinders with expired DPT (Due for Pressure Test), as well as cylinders exhibiting valve defects such as missing O-rings and pin defects, achieving a remarkable accuracy rate of 99%. These inspections are conducted prior to filling the cylinders with gas and ensuring their proper functionality.
SPICA-IS Post-fill is responsible for identifying and pinpointing leaks within the cylinders once they are in an active state after being filled. It can even detect tiny pinhole cracks that may lead to leaks in the cylinder.
For both of the solutions mentioned above, SPICA-IS fully aligns with the plant’s production speed, offering complete autonomy in the process of detecting anomalies in LPG cylinders.
SPICA-IS BG
The Indian Navy had expressed concerns about the unanticipated wear and tear experienced by gun components on its ships. Such deterioration not only posed safety risks but also diminished the defense capabilities of these vessels. The Navy sought methods to enhance the monitoring of the condition of these gun parts, aiming to identify and address issues before they escalated into significant problems.
Existing approaches for monitoring the health of these parts were periodic and necessitated onshore evaluation. This approach had the potential to lead to increased unplanned downtime and prolonged periods of docked status for the ships.
Upon grasping the problem at hand, TARDID has introduced SPICA-IS BG, an AI-driven software-hardware integrated platform designed to address the issue. This platform delves into intricate features to scrutinise gun components, identifying and pinpointing surface-based defects such as alterations in profile, surface cracks, corrosion, and pitting. Brainbox SPICA possesses several noteworthy attributes:
- It operates as a deep learning system, featuring embedded AI algorithms engineered to detect surface cracks and anomalies in metallic structures or components.
- It conducts real-time inspections and evaluations of metallic components.
- The system has the capability to identify and autonomously reject components that fail to meet acceptable standards or exhibit signs of being in an unhealthy condition.
- By enabling periodic health assessments, it contributes to a reduction in downtime and an increase in asset availability.
- It eliminates the need for subjective and intuitive inspections.
SPICA-Crawler
Expanding upon the previously mentioned solution, TARDID has introduced a crawler model designed to detect and pinpoint defects in gun barrels, torpedo tubes, and rocket launchers through in-situ application utilising a pipe crawler robot.
While the problem statement presented inherent complexities such as confined spaces and the necessity to inspect tubes with varying diameters, SPICA-Crawler has been meticulously developed to surmount these challenges and execute inspections while delivering real-time situational awareness regarding the health of gun barrels, torpedo tubes, and rocket launchers.
Key features of SPICA-Crawler include:
- Automatic diameter adjustment capability.
- Precise profile defect measurement with a resolution of 10 microns and an accuracy level of 5 microns.
- Integration of a camera module for visual inspections.
- An automated solution that requires minimal human intervention.
- Portability and ease of deployment, making it ideal for in-situ inspections.
- Execution of inspections through clustering, classification, and the utilisation of computer vision and laser profilers.
The applications described above are just a glimpse of their potential in the Defense sector. However, their utility extends far beyond, finding relevance in virtually any manufacturing industry that demands 100% quality assurance.
Vinod Handi is the Product Head of SPICA at TARDID Technologies Private Limited
