Cologne-based Rheinenergie AG has commissioned IDS GmbH from Ettlingen, near Karlsruhe, with a pilot project to visualize its substation in Westhoven, in the south east of the city, in 3D. In a first step, IDS used a scan trolley from Munich-based NavVis to map two 236.5 m2 floors digitally. This created a point cloud, on the basis of which 2D floor plans, 3D plans, and CAD models were, in turn, generated. Rheinenergie employees can now leverage this data to view 360-degree images in an integrated web application and walk through the rooms virtually, enabling them to plan detailed renovations on their computer, for example.

The 3D model has also been integrated in IDS’s ACOS NMS Asset Information System. This means that information such as instructions, circuit diagrams, and plant-specific features can be called up for points of interest in the model. Rheinenergie hopes this will improve the documentation of its plants and optimize the maintenance process. It plans to scan further plants over the coming 30 years.