Pharmaceuticals Industry Use Cases for Indoor Drones: An Overview of Assets and Applications

Professionals in the pharmaceuticals industry are using indoor drones in a variety of ways—read this article to get the details.

Wondering how indoor drones are being used in the pharmaceuticals industry?

The primary way they are being used is to collect visual data remotely during internal inspections. 

Below we'll cover information highlighting all the different use cases you'll find today for indoor drones in the pharmaceuticals industry, including:

  • Key use cases for indoor drones in the pharmaceuticals industry
  • Case studies featuring the use of indoor drones in the pharmaceuticals industry

Key Use Cases for Indoor Drones in the Pharmaceuticals Industry

Here's a list of the most common assets where inspectors are using indoor drones to support their internal inspections in the pharmaceuticals industry, including notes about what inspectors are looking for and doing when inspecting them.

PRESSURE VESSELS 

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Bioreactors used in the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals are made of a series of pressure vessels, which start quite small and go up in size until getting quite large.

When inspecting these large pressure vessels by drone, inspectors are looking for any signs of scratching or defects on the interior surface. Gouges, scratches, and even discoloration indicating rouge (a type of corrosion) can trap and spread contaminants in the vessel and throughout the system, and spoil an entire production batch.

Here are the things that indoor drones are being used to inspect inside of pressure vessels:

  • Agitators. Agitators are large blades that drop into the middle of pressure vessels.  They must be inspected periodically to ensure they’re still functioning properly, and aren’t scratching the surface of the vessel.
  • Mag mixers. Mag mixers come up from the bottom of a pressure vessel and serve the same function as agitators. They must also be inspected periodically to ensure they aren’t scratching the vessel.
  • Baffles. Baffles are commonly used in pressure vessels to divide the interior volume either horizontally or vertically into two different compartments. Like agitators and mag mixers, baffles must be periodically inspected to maintain their integrity and ensure they haven’t scratched the interior of the vessel.

PIPING AND PIPE RACKS

Pharmaceuticals Industry Case Studies

Want to learn even more about how indoor drones are being used in the pharmaceuticals industry?

Read these case studies to learn the details of specific missions performed with indoor drones in the pharmaceuticals industry.

MAJOR PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY REDUCES DOWNTIMES, IMPROVES SAFETY USING THE ELIOS 2 FOR TANK INSPECTIONS

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A major pharmaceutical company used the Elios 2 for the tank inspections that are an important part of a Riboflavin test—here are the results. Read the case study.

INSPECTOR 3.0 HELPS SAVE HOURS OF WORK LOCATING DEFECTS IN A HYDROGEN REFORMER

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An inspector tested Flyability's new software Inspector 3.0 during a challenging hydrogen reformer inspection and found that it helped them easily return to the location of defects. Read the case study.

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