Predictive Maintenance of Concrete Now In Demand Due to Recent South Florida Building Collapse
Elop Technology has started its entry into the major U.S. infrastructure market by delivering the company’s technologies for inspection and predictive maintenance of concrete infrastructure to U.S.- based SealTech. SealTech, a Florida-based company that specializes in delivering products and services to extend the lifetime of concrete, has tapped Elop Technology for delivery of 10 Elop Insight units and one InsightCrawler.
The patented rolling Elop Insight ultrasound scanner helps to identify issues that owners of concrete infrastructure must address. It is designed to quickly inspect and assess large surface areas. The live 3D visualization of the concrete structure on the scanner screen, provides a real-time interpretation of the concrete’s internal state, including elements and defects such as cracks, air pockets, voids, delamination and rebars.
Further, Elop Technology last week entered into an agreement with U.S.-based ICM (International Climbing Machines). This agreement secures Elop the rights to combine its ultrasound scanner with ICM’s suction-held climbing robots to create the “InsightCrawler” – a tool that will be able to climb vertically on concrete infrastructure such as buildings, dams, cooling towers and bridges to provide an efficient mapping of its internal condition.
“This opens the U.S. market for Elop where we know there is significant aging infrastructure and great potential. It is obviously of strategic importance to us, and the U.S. market is facing major investments in the years to come, where an increased focus on environment and safety is creating opportunity for our unique solutions. We look forward to working closely with ICM and SealTech, and we will assist them with what we can to ensure that they can deliver the best possible service to their customers,” says Øivind Horpestad, CEO of Elop AS.
Florida-based SealTech has requested the delivery of 10 hand-held Elop Insight ultrasound scanners and one InsightCrawler – an inspection robot that will be able to climb vertically on concrete infrastructure such as buildings, dams, cooling towers and bridges to provide an efficient mapping of their internal condition. SealTech aims to roll-out inspection services based on Elop Technology’s solutions from the beginning of 2022.
The Elop Insight scanners will be delivered during 2022 while the InsightCrawler, which is currently under development with Dekra Visatec and ICM, is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2022. Equipment deliveries in 2022 will allow for sufficient time to facilitate customary US regulatory approvals for the technologies.
“The tragic building collapse in Florida earlier this year has raised awareness from U.S. authorities and infrastructure owners in both public and private sector about the necessity to find a more reliable way of monitoring the internal state of concrete infrastructure. Until now most inspections of concrete infrastructure have been done visually. Through utilizing Elop Insight, we want to radically improve the way infrastructure inspection and monitoring is done in the U.S.,” says Maria P. Conde, President of SealTech.
According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) 2021 Infrastructure Report Card, which is published every four years, the long-term infrastructure investment gap in the USA continues to grow. That gap has risen from $2.1 trillion over 10 years to $2.59 trillion in the latest study, meaning a funding gap of $259 billion per year.
In August this year, the U.S Senate passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill that includes $550 billion in new federal investments in America’s infrastructure over five years. This includes $110 billion investments in roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects, and $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement and rehabilitation.
“The combination of aging infrastructure, an increasing maintenance lag and significant investment plans in the coming years gives us good reason to be optimistic on Elop’s behalf. We know that you can secure infrastructure and significantly increase its lifespan if maintenance is correctly performed, and our technology can give the overview and insight to do so,” adds Øivind Horpestad.
About Elop
Elop is a Norwegian holding company with two operating subsidiaries. Elop Technology develops tools and digital solutions to inspect, monitor and manage infrastructure worldwide using patented ultrasound technology. Through data-driven and AI-based solutions for inspection and predictive maintenance of concrete infrastructure, the vision is to provide asset owners with solutions that improve safety, extend asset lifetime, minimize total lifecycle cost and environmental footprint. Simplifai offers automation solutions using artificial intelligence. Simplifai’s Digital Employee solutions automate labor intensive work process where natural language communication including email, chat or documents are central. For more information, please visit https://elop.no/elop-insight/.
