"People shouldn’t worry about it seeing through walls and stuff like that. People’s privacy is completely safe,” assures Sune, answering the concerns over the drone flying close to people’s homes and gardens.
300,000 DKK. That is the amount of money VIA student, Sune Yde Nielsen, has saved the residents in Rønde on Djursland in less than four weeks. How? By coming up with a good idea for how to thermograph water lines on people's private property last year – all while leaving them completely undisturbed. With help from VIA and especially the internship in Rønde Fjernvarme, the idea is now a reality – and a career in the long term.
Water loss is halved
Eight arms, pulsating buzzing and infrared cards – it sounds like something from the military or a computer game. Thirty-six-year-old Sune spends the majority of his internship workday on reducing the water loss. One of the tools for doing this is a drone, which can map the district heating plant’s supply network.
In the stillness of night, when the drone is flying at a height of up to 50 metres over Rønde’s supply network, you avoid most of the disruptions such as traffic and prying eyes. Due to the on-board thermal camera, it can measure surface temperatures, and using special software the drone automatically sends images to the district heating plant, so they can find significant temperature differences, which are often a sign of leaks, where the money is literally gushing out.
"There had been a loss of 12 cubic metres of water per day, that cost 600,000 DKK a year. That has now been halved, which means that we have already saved 300,000 DKK annually," Sune says of the result of just four drone flights during the last month.
VIA is more than teaching
Sune has always been very interested in technology, and as the winner of the Innovation Award 2015 and its 50,000 DKK prize, he was able to realise the project 'Airborne thermographic mapping' by investing in the proper equipment. But interest and equipment is not enough. Actual professional knowledge is required, and VIA has been an important factor here in several ways.
"VIA has given me much more than just schooling," Sune says.
He is actually a trained carpenter and has also tried his hand at university.
"I can use the basic subjects, but VIA has also been a source of inspiration for the specific project. Teaching is not a monologue but a dialogue with the students, where there is always time for an additional talk. The teachers certainly look for possibilities rather than limitations," Sune says. He has also benefited from professional discussions about entrepreneurship. Sune started the company, Drone Systems, where he refines and sells drone flights to other district heating plants. Three have already signed up as future customers. However, he would like to complete his education, especially because he can use the flexibility in the optional courses to specialise even more.
It was actually through dialoguing with VIA that the project, which was initially intended to address heat loss in buildings, instead grew to be about water leaks. And with it came an immediate internship.
"The internship was arranged even before I had applied," he says about the internship at Rønde District Heating Plant, which, in addition, to potential customers gives him practical experience to build upon.
"After getting my fingers dirty, I have realised how much I can actually offer the business community. It is great to be a part of day-to-day operations and see, in practice, how I can contribute in the longer term. I am better informed about the real challenges of the industry."
New eyes strengthen the company
At Rønde District Heating Plant there is no doubt that it was the right decision to hire Sune as an intern.
"Maintaining our pipeline system is a challenge, so Sune’s idea has come at a good time. We will give him everything he needs and help him to adapt the product for district heating plants," the manager, Torben Olsen. He clearly sees the advantages of having in-house trainees.
"It is a long way from a busy working day to inventing and launching a project like Sune’s. So timewise, trainees are an advantage. But we also have to rely on the latest knowledge in the field. The trainees bring that, too – along with a let’s-do-it attitude and creative ideas," the plant manager adds and concludes: "It is the first time we have a VIA-student as an intern – but he certainly won’t be the last."