U.S. Navy adopts Creaform MAXscan to assist submarine repair

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

LEVIS, QC, 1 July 2010. The U.S. Navy has chosen to use Creaform’s Handyscan 3D technology to scan submarine hulls for damage. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, will be the first to receive an order of MAXscan scanners, the 2-in-1 photogrammetrylaser scanner for large parts developed by Creaform. The other Naval Shipyards--Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wa.--are assessing the use of the scanners.

The MAXscan 3D laser scanners will be used to scan submarine hulls covered in a special kind of rubber and detect any damage done to the rubber tiles, so that customized replacement parts can be quickly manufactured.

"This is perfect work for the MAXscan," says Charles Mony, president for Creaform. "It's like we actually created the MAXscan for this assignment! Large scale, precision, retrofitting of new parts--every aspect of the work pushes our technology. This type of work confirms the superiority of the Handyscan 3D line-up of handheld laser scanners as a 3D data acquisition system that performs flawlessly under, real-life conditions."

Creaform was one of many companies invited to offer presentations and a bid for this procurement contract. The competition "was like the Olympics," says Scott Mitchell, Creaform regional sales manager in the U.S. "We brought in our specialists to properly demonstrate the entire range of possibilities with the technology. We believe we impressed the Navy engineers with the technical advantages of the MAXscan: it is portable and can acquire data even when the user is bouncing on a lift, it works fast because of the photogrammetry capability, and it offers good precision of up to 50 micrometers.”