ULTRASEAL INTERNATIONAL has incorporated virtual technology for acceptance testing of its porosity-sealing systems – a functionality developed during the Covid-19 pandemic for a new user of the Semi-Automatic C size (1 m cubed payload) impregnation system.
Normally, a buyer would visit Ultraseal’s factory in the U.K. for factory acceptance testing (FAT) prior to delivery. However, the pandemic restrictions prevented international travel and threatened to delay an installation for a Japanese customer.
Ultraseal engineers adopted the Microsoft HoloLens 2 virtual technology to overcome the limitations.
Developed by a partnership of Microsoft and MicroVision, HoloLens 2 is a pair of mixed-reality smartglasses that overlays digital information on a customer’s real-world set-up: the MR system renders high-definition holograms that stay in place and respond like physical objects when customers interact with or gesture to them.
The system also allows others to see the MR presentation while wearing the HoloLens2, via a PC/device anywhere in the world.
In practical terms, Ultraseal technicians can inspect the equipment at the U.K. factory while presenting the same experience to users anywhere – walking around the equipment, checking items for inclusion and viewing each module for functionality, including running processes, creating faults, and testing the system for reliability and performance.
While the time taken to accept and sign-off on high-value equipment differs between projects, it typically involves two to three people working together across an entire week. During the Covid-19 pandemic this was multiplied, owing to isolation and travel restrictions. By using HoloLens 2, acceptance testing was achieved within just one day.
“With low costs, accelerated timeframes and zero airmiles and carbon footprint, we were able to fully support the customers’ environmental commitment while also ensuring the project remained firmly on track,” recalled Kashiwa San, Ultraseal Japan branch manager. “To date, the customer has only used HoloLens 2 for remote acceptance testing, but we’re also in discussions about using if for maintenance, giving immediate access to engineering support and opening up wider cost and productivity improvements, all of which will feed into their sustainability agenda.”
Learn more at www.ultraseal-impregnation.com