The THALEA project kick-off was held at Hydromea in Renens on Tuesday 3 February.
In the near future, THALEA will be able to inspect both run-of-river power plants and high head schemes, and to examine critical components such as Francis turbine blades, steel penstocks and concrete or rock galleries, without having to drain the systems.
Thalea is a collaboration between :
• Hydromea, a Swiss company providing innovative, untethered robotic solutions for underwater inspections,
• Schwartz NDT, a Swiss expert in non-destructive testing for hydroelectric installations,
- The Automation, Robotics and Machines Laboratory (ARM) of the University of Applied Sciences of Italian-speaking Switzerland SUPSI, which develops automated production systems based on robotics, as well as reconfigurable industrial robots, systems and industrial technologies,
- The Hydro Alps Lab of the HES-SO in Sion, whose research focuses on developing solutions for sustainable, state-of-the-art hydroelectric production systems.
