At FEECO, we are constantly striving to find innovative solutions to overcome design and installation challenges. One substantial challenge has always been designing new equipment around existing equipment and/or building structures. In the past, these obstacles would have been difficult to accurately measure and would often result in extended installation time. However, FEECO’s service team now has the capability to accurately locate all existing equipment, building structures, and material feed/discharge points, using a technique referred to as point cloud mapping.
How Point Cloud Mapping Works
Point cloud mapping is a process in which a laser tracker locates several pre-designated points in a space and converts the information into a virtual map. For example, there may be a vertical building support close to where a new rotary dryer will be located. Using a laser tracker, that beam can be accurately located and measured in relation to the rest of the building. The process is so precise, that the service team can use our laser tracker to map components to within .001”.
Once the point cloud is created, it is uploaded into 3D CAD software where the designer performs some surface reconstruction, which creates a simplified block model of any obstructions and/or equipment. The result is an interactive three dimensional model of the area. When the new FEECO equipment is inserted into this virtual model, the designer and engineer can check to see if there is any interference with other equipment, as well as design an installation strategy.
The Benefits of Point Cloud Mapping
Because all FEECO equipment is custom designed and built to customer specifications, point cloud mapping allows us to account for items that previously made designing in correlation with an existing system difficult; obstacles such as an existing feed chute and other structures are now easily located. In the past, this information would have been acquired manually, typically with a tape measure, potentially causing a possible loss in accuracy and therefore increased equipment installation times. However, now that more accurate measurements can be acquired and virtually mapped, these issues are a thing of the past. With point cloud mapping, we can build equipment that integrates easily with any plant.
One key issue when integrating equipment into a process system is material feed and discharge. In many cases, it requires complex chute fabrication to get the material to its next location in the process. Usually difficult scenarios require a substantial amount of “field-fitting,” or on-site fabrication and adjustment, which increases installation time and cost. A point cloud map can remedy this issue by locating where the material is coming from and where it is going. The laser tracker can pinpoint both of these locations in correlation with the building and its equipment. A virtual point cloud is then generated and uploaded into a 3D CAD system where an accurate chute can be designed to meet the requirements and avoid any obstructions. This chute will then be fabricated to match the 3D design. This process results in more accurate equipment connections, reducing or excluding the need for “field-fitting.”
The Results
Our goal at FEECO is to design and build high quality, custom equipment that will meet our customer’s processing needs, and integrate seamlessly into their existing systems. Reducing installation time and expenses is a vital part of this goal. FEECO’s service engineers and our point cloud mapping system make it possible to design precise equipment that will integrate with our customer’s plant and/or existing equipment more quickly and more accurately than ever.