Hibbard Inshore Sets Tunnel Inspection Record in Australia – International Waterpower & Dam Construction

How do you inspect long tunnels without a time-consuming, costly and perhaps risky dewatering process? Hibbard Inshore leads the way with the inspection of the long tunnels of the Snowy Mountain Scheme.
Download PDF »

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at Collection Systems, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Auburn Hills, MI, March 3, 2014:

Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore announces that it will be exhibiting at Collection Systems 2014. The conference will be held in Baltimore, Maryland at The Baltimore Convention Center, March 11-14, 2014.

A leader in inspection and maintenance services for the water/wastewater industry, Hibbard Inshore specializes in using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to inspect flooded, partially flooded, and dry pipeline. Their capabilities include inspecting partially flooded interceptors and fully flooded siphons to 16,000 feet from a single access point as well as more typical dry pipelines.

Hibbard Inshore’s vehicles can be fitted with a variety of sensors to collect the best possible data for owners and engineers to make decisions on remaining lifespan and the prioritization of repairs or replacement. The data that is collected is coordinated and can be interfaced with city GIS database systems as necessary so that the information is easily accessible for future reference and comparison.
Please stop by booth 303 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering services company specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore is able to provide the expertise and technology necessary to solve the complex challenges of the sewer industry.

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at Asia 2014, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Auburn Hills, MI, February 27, 2014:

Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore announces that it will be exhibiting at Asia 2014. The conference will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka at The Bandaranaike International Conference Hall, March 11-13, 2013.

A leader in inspection, survey and maintenance services for power generation facilities, Hibbard Inshore looks forward to meeting with facility owners, operators, and engineers to discuss economical and safe solutions for the inspection and rehabilitation needs of their underwater critical structures. These can include long tunnels to 20 + km in length, water pipelines, intakes, penstocks, upstream face of dam, gates and seals, valves, stop logs, lower outlets, and dam aprons. Hibbard Inshore can also provide specialty construction services such as robotic debris removal and dredging, and temporary bulkhead plugging of pressure piping for valve replacements.

Please stop by booth 205 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering services company specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore is able to provide the expertise and technology necessary to solve the complex challenges of the inshore, offshore and hydro industries.

2013 Modern Power Systems BRICS Product Showcase

How do you inspect long tunnels without a time-consuming, costly and perhaps risky dewatering process? Do you wait to inspect and hope that they continue to function? Do you take the risk of causing movement of rock or lining materials by removing the water and hydrostatic pressure? Or do you look for a creative solution for these issues?
Download PDF »

Hibbard Inshore Breaking Flooded Tunnel Inspection Records in Cooma, Australia.

Auburn Hills, MI, December 10, 2013:
Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore recently broke the record for the longest distance tunnel inspection performed by a tethered vehicle, using their newest long range vehicle, the SAAB Sabertooth. Traveling over 12 kilometers in a single direction through the tunnel for a round-trip exceeding 24 kilometers, Hibbard Inshore was able to collect real time visual data as well as scan the tunnel with multiple types of multibeam sonar to take high density dimensional data, detect open cracks or holes, detect areas of debris buildup, detect lining failures, and identify rockfalls. With this information, Hibbard Inshore was able to create 3D models for analysis for maintenance and comparison to future inspection data to identify trends in the condition. The Sabertooth is capable of operating as either a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with a tether to allow for real-time data and pilot control or as an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to give flexibility in various tunnel inspection scenarios.

Hibbard Inshore has inspected six trans-mountain tunnels across the Snowy Hydro Scheme to date using this method and will return in 2014 for further inspections. Previously, these tunnels needed to be drained for inspection as suitable alternatives did not exist making the task both difficult and risky in terms of potential cave-ins. Now, using Hibbard’s AUV/ROV, the need to dewater is eliminated, the time to inspect is greatly decreased while the safety of the structure along with human safety improves significantly.

Chief Operating Officer of Snowy Hydro Ken Lister said, “The use of the unmanned sub for tunnel inspections now means that it can be done more frequently, more safely and without the need to shut down power stations or drain the tunnel. This multi-million dollar investment is a great outcome for the business, for the safety of our people and contractors and is part of our wider program of Scheme upgrades and ongoing maintenance”.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering service companies specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs, the latest sensing technologies and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore and Elétrica Paulistana are able to provide the expertise necessary to solve the complex challenges of underwater structures in the power generation industry.

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at CDA 2013 in Montreal, Canada.

Auburn Hills, MI, September 13, 2013:
Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore announces that it will be exhibiting at CDA 2013. The Conference will be held at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, in Montréal, Canada October 5-10, 2013.

Leaders in inspection and maintenance services for power generation facilities, Hibbard Inshore looks forward to meeting with facility owners, operators, and engineers to discuss economical and safe solutions for the inspection and rehabilitation needs of their underwater critical structures. These can include intakes, penstocks upstream face of dam, gates and seals, valves, stop logs, lower outlets, and dam aprons.

Please stop by booth 36 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and allow you to reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering service companies specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs, the latest sensing technologies and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore and Elétrica Paulistana are able to provide the expertise necessary to solve the complex challenges of underwater structures in the power generation industry.

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at Hydro 2013, in Innsbruck, Austria.

Auburn Hills, MI, September 13, 2013:
Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore announces that it will be exhibiting at Hydro 2013. The conference will be held in Innsbruck, Austria at The Congress Centre, October 7-9, 2013.

A leader in inspection, survey and maintenance services for power generation facilities, Hibbard Inshore looks forward to meeting with facility owners, operators, and engineers to discuss economical and safe solutions for the inspection and rehabilitation needs of their underwater critical structures. These can include long tunnels to 20 + km in length, water pipelines, intakes, penstocks, upstream face of dam, gates and seals, valves, stop logs, lower outlets, and dam aprons. Hibbard Inshore can also provide specialty construction services such as robotic debris removal and dredging, and temporary bulkhead plugging of pressure piping for valve replacements.

Please stop by booth 118 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering services company specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore is able to provide the expertise and technology necessary to solve the complex challenges of the inshore, offshore and hydro industries.

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at WEFTEC, in Chicago, Illinois.

Auburn Hills, MI, September 12, 2013:
Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore announces that it will be exhibiting at WEFTEC 2013. The conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois at The McCormick Place South, October 7-9, 2013.

A leader in inspection and maintenance services for the water/wastewater industry, Hibbard Inshore specializes in using remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to inspect flooded, partially flooded, and dry pipeline. Their capabilities include inspecting partially flooded interceptors and fully flooded siphons to 16,000 feet from a single access point as well as more typical dry pipelines.

Hibbard Inshore’s vehicles can be fitted with a variety of sensors to collect the best possible data for owners and engineers to make decisions on remaining lifespan and the prioritization of repairs or replacement. The data that is collected is coordinated and can be interfaced with city GIS database systems as necessary so that the information is easily accessible for future reference and comparison.

Please stop by booth 5461 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore is a global engineering services company specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore is able to provide the expertise and technology necessary to solve the complex challenges of the sewer industry.

Hibbard Inshore to Exhibit at HydroVision 2013, Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Auburn Hills, MI, September 12, 2013:
Leading underwater service provider, Hibbard Inshore along with partner Elétrica Paulistana announces that it will be exhibiting at HydroVision Brasil 2013. The Conference will be held at the Transamerica Expo Center in Sao Paulo, Brasil September 24-26, 2013.

Leaders in inspection and maintenance services for power generation facilities, Hibbard Inshore and Elétrica Paulistana look forward to meeting with facility owners, operators, and engineers to discuss economical and safe solutions for the inspection and rehabilitation needs of their underwater critical structures. These can include intakes, penstocks upstream face of dam, gates and seals, valves, stop logs, lower outlets, and dam aprons.

Please stop by booth 323 during the show to discuss how Hibbard Inshore’s and Elétrica Paulistana’s ROV solutions can improve safety, reduce structural risks and allow you to reduce operations downtime.

About Hibbard Inshore
Hibbard Inshore and Elétrica Paulistana are global engineering service companies specializing in the use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). With a diverse fleet of unmanned underwater ROVs, the latest sensing technologies and experienced staff, Hibbard Inshore and Elétrica Paulistana are able to provide the expertise necessary to solve the complex challenges of underwater structures in the power generation industry.

Robotic Underwater Tunnel Repair: Rock Trap Debris Removal and Trash Rack Replacement

Top of Displaced Trash Rack Section

A Hydro Electric Plant was faced with debris entering the turbines causing damage. The trash rack at the intake had failed and several miles down the tunnel, there was rock catcher, inline trash rack and surge shaft. This project was the result of the earlier inspection project detailed separately in the Hibbard Inshore website Project Gallery. During that inspection for a hydroelectric facility, Hibbard Inshore’s ROVs were able to identify that there was a conduit that was obstructing the surge shaft, that the rock trap was full of sediment and that the trash rack at the downstream end of the rock trap had failed. The rock trap and trash rack were located at approximately 355’ of depth. One of the sections of the trash rack had detached and moved down the penstock to approximately 850’ of depth. The rock trap was found to be in a condition where its drain was no longer clearing sediment and the 100’ long trap was overflowing with sediment and rock. There were approximately 277 cubic yards of debris identified, and the rock trap was capable of holding 133 cubic yards of debris before its dividers were completely covered.

Trash Rack Sections Out of Alignment and failed support beam

The tunnel for the power plant was very long and had been in use for many years. In addition to being used to generate power for the region, the tunnel was the primary method for providing additional water for irrigation in the region. The dam owner wanted a repair method that didn’t involve dewatering in order reduce risk of tunnel collapse during the repairs and to allow them to operate occasionally throughout the repair process. The repair method would need to be designed around having all equipment out of the tunnel quickly in case the tunnels needed to be used to provide water downstream. Because of these existing conditions, the dam owner wanted Hibbard Inshore to provide a robotic solution for removing the debris and damaged components, dredging the sediment out of the rock trap and then repairing the trash rack.

Navajo ROV with Manipulator to Perform Support Work for Mohican ROV

The first phase of the project was to attach tooling to the ROVs in order to perform the various cutting and lifting operations that would be necessary to remove the debris, conduit, and damaged racks from deep underwater. The surge shaft was used as an access point into the tunnel because it was more practical to lift the ROVs, pump and tooling into the 5’ diameter shaft than it would have been to try to access the area all the way from the intake end several miles away. In order to fit into the shaft, a customized tooling skid had to be built for the Hibbard Inshore Mohican ROV.

Mohican ROV with Rotary Saw on top of Dredge Pump Skid

This skid would hold two five-function manipulator arms which could be used to operate tooling and to grab onto the structures to allow cuts to be made and rigging to be placed. The skid was built to allow the arms to fold at their shoulder so they would hang underneath the vehicle as it was inside the surge shaft. This allowed the vehicle to fit into the work space dimensionally speaking. Cameras were added to the manipulator arms so the pilot could independently monitor the view from each arm.

The first tool attached was a rotary saw which was used to cut through the steel conduit that was lying across the surge shaft. This conduit was cut out and removed by the vehicle through the top of the surge shaft.

ROV Rotary Saw on Manipulator Arm

Once the conduit had been removed from the surge shaft, this gave the Mohican and Navajo vehicles free and clear access into the tunnel. They were flown into the tunnel, and a custom, high-head trash pump was lifted into the shaft. The pump was able to take solids up to 2” in diameter and pump them the lateral distance of 100’ as well as 355’ vertically to remove the sediment from the rock trap. The Mohican used its arms to maneuver the pump suction hose into all of the areas between the divider walls in the 100’ long trap to remove as much sediment and debris as possible in order to restore functionality to the rock trap.

Once the sediment was removed from the rock trap, the Mohican ROV was re-fit with a centerless saw that would allow it to make the deep cuts necessary to remove the existing trash rack support beam. The beam had buckled during the failure of the trash rack and needed to be replaced by the Hibbard Inshore team.

Bent Trash Rack Support Beam on Ground

Once the ROV had cut the beam and removed it through the surge shaft, the ROV went about the task of removing the 2 sections of the existing trash rack that were damaged too badly to be put back into place. One of these sections had slid to a depth of 850’ down a penstock with a 45 degree angle. The Hibbard team used the Mohican ROV along with the Navajo ROV, a pneumatic lift-bag, rigging, winches and hoists to accomplish the retrieval of the trash rack sections.

Damaged Trash Rack Section Being Removed Through Surge Shaft with ROV Lift Bag

They used the ROVs to attach lines to each section, used the lift bag to make them neutrally buoyant for lateral transport through the tunnel back to the surge shaft, and then lifted them through the surge shaft to the surface.

Hibbard CAD of the Mohican ROV Installing the New Trash Rack

Once the damaged trash rack sections were recovered, the rebuild process started by installing a new support beam to replace the failed beam. The remaining trash rack sections were slightly out of alignment and were brought back into alignment and structurally supported by bolting into the new support beam. The Hibbard Inshore crew went about installing newly designed trash rack sections. The Hibbard Inshore team redesigned the trash rack sections and support beam so that they would have increased strength and could be installed by a ROV. Brackets would be used to hold the sections together with bolts, and the sections would also be secured to the new beam.

New Trash Rack Support Beam for ROV Installation

The new beam would have further bracing at each end to support the rack sections. In order to make these repairs, first, the new support beam was installed by the Mohican and Navajo ROVs. Once the beam was in place, the new trash rack sections, brackets and bolts were put into place. The Mohican ROV was fit with a tool to torque nuts onto the bolts which pulled the trash rack sections into place properly.

Hibbard Inshore Mohican and Navajo ROVs at Completion of Work

During this project, Hibbard Inshore was able to help the customer to perform an inspection on areas of its intake tunnels that were difficult to reach, and they were able to do this without dewatering. Further, once problem areas were identified, Hibbard Inshore’s team went to work to devise tooling and methods to remove debris, remove damaged materials, and replace a trash rack in those same, difficult to reach areas. This allowed the customer to reduce stress to the tunnel system and to avoid the safety risks of using confined entry crews. Hibbard Inshore is currently working on the third phase of this project for the customer in order to place temporary bulkheads approximately 350’ underwater in each of the two penstocks so that the turbine shut off valves at the second plant can be replaced without dewatering the tunnel system.