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【2021 Application Example】 Maintaining the reputation of the “Kingdom of Yachts” - Kha Shing Enterprise introduces the first domestic FRP ultrasonic smart inspection of composite materials

The Kaohsiung-based Kha Shing Enterprise Co., Ltd. was established over 40 years ago, and is Taiwan's largest customized yacht company with customers all over America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, earning Taiwan the reputation of the "Kingdom of Yachts." Current FRP hull inspection still relies on traditional methods, such as visual inspection and knocking sounds, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Kha Shing has applied PAUT array ultrasonic inspection to hull FRP composite materials for the first time, and combined it with AI to interpret ultrasound images, develop complete intelligent solutions, and create emerging markets for inspection companies.

Kha Shing Enterprise Co., Ltd. was formerly Kha Shing Wood Industry Co., Ltd., and was a factory specializing in wood import in Kaohsiung Linhai Industrial Park when it was first established. It began to design, manufacture, and sell yachts in 1977. After the second-generation successor of the company, President Kung Chun-Hao entered the company, he made a breakthrough in the previous manufacturing model that relied mainly on the skills of master craftsmen, introduced digital manufacturing to accelerate shipbuilding, and began to make larger yachts, ranking in the top 20 manufacturers worldwide among manufacturers of large yachts over 24 feet. It also set a record of delivering 94 yachts within one year, earning Taiwan the reputation of "Kingdom of Yachts."

Defect detection ensures yacht quality, using AI to replace humans to achieve higher efficiency

Defect detection is very important to ensuring yacht quality. At present, the yacht industry still uses very traditional defect detection methods. The hull structure is usually made by hand lay-up or the vacuum infusion process, using visual inspection or knocking and the frequency of the sound to determine defects. It requires time-consuming manual inspection. If there are any defects, they must be reworked and repaired, and a gel coat subsequently sprayed. The hull must be constructed in sections to facilitate inspection. For large yachts over 24 meters long, construction in sections is very time-consuming and labor-intensive.

To shorten the time of the yacht manufacturing process, Kha Shing Enterprise will first carry out the gel coating process for the hull, and then perform the hand lay-on process. The hull manufacturing process has two types of composite material test specimen structures. In terms of 54-foot yacht hulls, the hull contains gel coat, core material, fiber and resin, and the total thickness is about 3.2cm±0.1cm, which is twice the total thickness of FRP hull without core material of about 1.6cm±0.1cm. Defects such as incomplete impregnation of glass fiber or residual air bubbles between glass fiber and resin occasionally occur during the manufacturing process. The types of defects include insufficient resin, voids, and delamination. Once defects occur, the supply of hull materials will be insufficient and yacht delivery will be delayed.

Schematic diagram of the types of fiberglass hull defects.

▲Schematic diagram of types of FRP hull.

In order to solve this problem, Kha Shing Enterprise has engaged in technical cooperated with the metal materials industry and the AI technology industry, combining the ultrasonic inspection expertise of the metal materials industry with AI technologies developed by the AI technology industry in recent years to help solve issues of Kha Shing Enterprise with defect detection. The method uses PAUT on the composite material structure of yachts, conducts FRP ultrasonic evaluation to determine the thickness of the yacht hull and material properties, and evaluates the ultrasonic probe frequency applicable to the hull structure based on professional ultrasonic experience. After testing, a frequency of 5MHz and a probe width of 45mm can successfully find the location and size of defects in the simulated defect test specimen.

Three-party cooperation from array super Acoustic evaluation, AI technology model development and actual ship demonstration application to obtain defect detection solutions

▲The three parties jointly found defect detection solutions from array ultrasonic evaluation, AI technology model development, and actual application in yachts.

The image inspected is an ultrasound image. The image displays different colors based on the ultrasonic feedback signal. An AI model that automatically identifies defective parts is established through the YOLO algorithm. If the amount of abnormal data collected is insufficient for training, the CNN-based Autoencoder algorithm is used to collect normal image data for training and construct an AI model for abnormality detection. The object detection YOLO model is trained by inputting image data marked as having defects, while the abnormality detection model is trained by inputting image data without defects.

▲Simulated defective specimen corresponding to PAUT results

Defect detection by and AI system can shorten the construction period by 1.5 months and speed up determination by 50%

After the development of this AI system is completed, it will be validated on actual 54-foot yachts of Kha Shing Enterprise, and can effectively resolve issues with defects. The application of AI technology in ultrasonic inspection for intelligent determination is expected to accelerate determination by approximately 50%, and will also shortens the construction period by 1.5 months, effectively improving the speed and quality of the yacht manufacturing process.

As Taiwan develops larger and more refined yachts, it will create opportunities for industry optimization and transformation, as well as opportunities for the development of key technologies. The application of an AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials is the first of its kind in the yacht industry, and is expected to attract more yacht manufacturers with inspection needs. The AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials has three major competitive advantages:

1. Professional inspection experience and digital database to facilitate process management and analysis.

2. Automatic AI determination and identification quickly identifies defects and provides immediate feedback to process engineers.

3. High-efficiency process inspection provides defect repair recommendations, reduces damage rate, and improves the strength and quality of composite materials.

The application of AI technology can optimize the yacht manufacturing process, reduce manual inspection, create added value through the application of AI in Taiwan’s yacht industry, increase international purchase orders, and allow Taiwan yachts to continue to enjoy a good reputation in the world. Furthermore, this business model has also spread to fields of application related to composite materials, increasing cross-sector market usage. It is estimated to contribute approximately NT$1.4 to NT$2 billion in economic benefits to Taiwan's equipment maintenance and non-destructive testing market.

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【導入案例】維繫遊艇王國美譽 嘉信遊艇導入國內第一套FRP複材超音波智慧檢測
Maintaining the reputation of the “Kingdom of Yachts” - Kha Shing Enterprise introduces the first domestic FRP ultrasonic smart inspection of composite materials

The Kaohsiung-based Kha Shing Enterprise Co, Ltd was established over 40 years ago, and is Taiwan's largest customized yacht company with customers all over America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, earning Taiwan the reputation of the "Kingdom of Yachts" Current FRP hull inspection still relies on traditional methods, such as visual inspection and knocking sounds, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive Kha Shing has applied PAUT array ultrasonic inspection to hull FRP composite materials for the first time, and combined it with AI to interpret ultrasound images, develop complete intelligent solutions, and create emerging markets for inspection companies Kha Shing Enterprise Co, Ltd was formerly Kha Shing Wood Industry Co, Ltd, and was a factory specializing in wood import in Kaohsiung Linhai Industrial Park when it was first established It began to design, manufacture, and sell yachts in 1977 After the second-generation successor of the company, President Kung Chun-Hao entered the company, he made a breakthrough in the previous manufacturing model that relied mainly on the skills of master craftsmen, introduced digital manufacturing to accelerate shipbuilding, and began to make larger yachts, ranking in the top 20 manufacturers worldwide among manufacturers of large yachts over 24 feet It also set a record of delivering 94 yachts within one year, earning Taiwan the reputation of "Kingdom of Yachts" Defect detection ensures yacht quality, using AI to replace humans to achieve higher efficiency Defect detection is very important to ensuring yacht quality At present, the yacht industry still uses very traditional defect detection methods The hull structure is usually made by hand lay-up or the vacuum infusion process, using visual inspection or knocking and the frequency of the sound to determine defects It requires time-consuming manual inspection If there are any defects, they must be reworked and repaired, and a gel coat subsequently sprayed The hull must be constructed in sections to facilitate inspection For large yachts over 24 meters long, construction in sections is very time-consuming and labor-intensive To shorten the time of the yacht manufacturing process, Kha Shing Enterprise will first carry out the gel coating process for the hull, and then perform the hand lay-on process The hull manufacturing process has two types of composite material test specimen structures In terms of 54-foot yacht hulls, the hull contains gel coat, core material, fiber and resin, and the total thickness is about 32cmplusmn01cm, which is twice the total thickness of FRP hull without core material of about 16cmplusmn01cm Defects such as incomplete impregnation of glass fiber or residual air bubbles between glass fiber and resin occasionally occur during the manufacturing process The types of defects include insufficient resin, voids, and delamination Once defects occur, the supply of hull materials will be insufficient and yacht delivery will be delayed Schematic diagram of types of FRP hull In order to solve this problem, Kha Shing Enterprise has engaged in technical cooperated with the metal materials industry and the AI technology industry, combining the ultrasonic inspection expertise of the metal materials industry with AI technologies developed by the AI technology industry in recent years to help solve issues of Kha Shing Enterprise with defect detection The method uses PAUT on the composite material structure of yachts, conducts FRP ultrasonic evaluation to determine the thickness of the yacht hull and material properties, and evaluates the ultrasonic probe frequency applicable to the hull structure based on professional ultrasonic experience After testing, a frequency of 5MHz and a probe width of 45mm can successfully find the location and size of defects in the simulated defect test specimen The three parties jointly found defect detection solutions from array ultrasonic evaluation, AI technology model development, and actual application in yachts The image inspected is an ultrasound image The image displays different colors based on the ultrasonic feedback signal An AI model that automatically identifies defective parts is established through the YOLO algorithm If the amount of abnormal data collected is insufficient for training, the CNN-based Autoencoder algorithm is used to collect normal image data for training and construct an AI model for abnormality detection The object detection YOLO model is trained by inputting image data marked as having defects, while the abnormality detection model is trained by inputting image data without defects Simulated defective specimen corresponding to PAUT results Defect detection by and AI system can shorten the construction period by 15 months and speed up determination by 50 After the development of this AI system is completed, it will be validated on actual 54-foot yachts of Kha Shing Enterprise, and can effectively resolve issues with defects The application of AI technology in ultrasonic inspection for intelligent determination is expected to accelerate determination by approximately 50, and will also shortens the construction period by 15 months, effectively improving the speed and quality of the yacht manufacturing process As Taiwan develops larger and more refined yachts, it will create opportunities for industry optimization and transformation, as well as opportunities for the development of key technologies The application of an AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials is the first of its kind in the yacht industry, and is expected to attract more yacht manufacturers with inspection needs The AI ultrasonic inspection solution for composite materials has three major competitive advantages 1 Professional inspection experience and digital database to facilitate process management and analysis 2 Automatic AI determination and identification quickly identifies defects and provides immediate feedback to process engineers 3 High-efficiency process inspection provides defect repair recommendations, reduces damage rate, and improves the strength and quality of composite materials The application of AI technology can optimize the yacht manufacturing process, reduce manual inspection, create added value through the application of AI in Taiwanrsquos yacht industry, increase international purchase orders, and allow Taiwan yachts to continue to enjoy a good reputation in the world Furthermore, this business model has also spread to fields of application related to composite materials, increasing cross-sector market usage It is estimated to contribute approximately NT14 to NT2 billion in economic benefits to Taiwan's equipment maintenance and non-destructive testing market

【導入案例】峰漁運用AI知識化養魚 有效提升10水產產量
Fongyu Uses AI Knowledge-based Fish Farming to Effectively Increase Aquatic Production by 10%

Fisheries is an important industry in an island economy However, the fish farming industry has faced severe challenges in recent years, including climate change, labor shortage, and rising costs In particular, nearly 110,000 workers in agriculture will retire due to old age over the next 10 years For this reason, the need for aquaculture to move towards smart farming is becoming increasingly urgent Founded in 2014, Fongyu Corp Ltd has developed a unique eco-friendly farming model based on its own fish farming It uses AI knowledge-based fish farming to effectively increase aquatic product production by 10, and reduced labor cost by 15 The word "Fongyu" has a profound meaning "Fong" represents good mountains and "Yu" represents good water, and is the hope that companies will allow Taiwan to always have good mountains and good waterIt is also a homophone for "having a full figure," expressing the hope that products will give consumers a full and healthy body and mind The founder of the company, Liu Chien-Shen, has been through the difficult entrepreneurial journey of becoming an apprentice in fish farming, raising funds, renting fish farms, establishing a fish farming company, building a brand, and expanding sales Labor shortage and aging workers are hidden worries in the fish farming industry Currently, fish farms in Taiwan are still mainly traditional fish farms, and farming techniques are still passed down through word-of-mouth In addition, the labor shortage and average age of workers exceeding 60 years old has made it impossible to effectively stably improve productivity and yield This farming method makes it difficult to prevent and control diseases, and greatly increases the possibility of excessive use of drugs, environmental pollution, and water quality and ecological damage, creating a vicious cycle that lowers the quality of fish farming In addition, 651 of workers in Taiwan's fish farming industry are inadequately skilled With limited support from IoT sensors, traditional fish farmers still mainly rely on their own experience and knowledge for water quality management, feeding, and disease detection Fish farming management relies heavily on the ability of individual fishermen Once experienced workers retire, the industry will not only face the issue of succession, but also the difficult of stably supplying a certain amount of harvest that meets quality standards This may cause a dilemma for the entire industry from fish farming to sales In order to improve the pain point of inability to pass on experience in fish farming, and at the same time create a "digital" foundation for fish farming, the top priority must be to collect farming behavior data and develop AI services as an important starting point Fishery digital twin technology helps fishermen transition to smart farming With the assistance of the Institute for Information Technology III, Fongyu implemented the "fishery digital twin" technology to dynamically adjust the farming schedule In other words, the fish farming schedule is adjusted according to the species, habits, and variables of the fish The use of AI in fish farming not only effectively increase aquatic production by 10, but also reduced labor cost by 15 In terms of specific methods, we first digitalized the fish ponds, feed, and decision-making behavior for each species, such as sea bass and Taiwan tilapia, and recorded the seasonal temperature changes from releasing seedlings to harvesting, all of which were digitalized, gradually recording the experience and methods of experienced workers into a rich database Based on the recorded data, we analyzed the compound variables to find the best farming behavior and generate a dynamic farming schedule The records for each pool provide data on workers' experience However, fish farming behavior generally relies on rules of thumb Even experienced fish farmers cannot ensure that they will find the best solution Therefore, new methods are proposed to solve this issue That is, "to determine the best fish farming behavior by predicting the interaction with water quality and past data on feeding, and evaluating fish farming behavior based on water quality and fish farming," and provide fishermen with the most intuitive recommendations through daily schedules To continue optimizing the dynamic fish farming calendar on a rolling basis, iterations of the model will be developed through the three-step cycle 1 Input the current fish farming calendar into the model 2 The model predicts the future environment 3 Shortcomings of the fish farming calendar are corrected based on the future environment to obtain a new version of the fish farming calendar In the process, the experience of aquaculture experts is used to establish the causal relationship between fish farming behavior and the environment The establishment of a dynamic fish farming process and technology-based fish farming recommendation services provide a traceable and detailed fish farming process It is one of the few technologies that can digitalize fish farming Fishermen can quickly and easily record their daily behaviors to build knowledge without taking up too much time, but in the long run it can reduce labor cost by 15 and increase output and revenue by an average of 10 Smart fish farming has achieved outstanding results, reducing labor cost by 15 and increasing output by 10 At the same time, the fish farming calendar can also be extended to different aquatic species, such as white shrimp, milkfish, clams, and Taiwan tilapia, to produce fish farming schedules for ponds with different specifications, and the harvested aquatic species can be traced according to different specifications, establishing vertically integrated services for safe food products Fongyu's main products are divided into two categories One is aquaculture modules, including fry, feed, materials and probiotics, production planning and processes, and monitoring, which can be sold separately or exported as modules The high-quality aquatic products produced by Fongyu have repeatedly won awards Figure Fongyursquos official website The other category is high-quality aquatic products, including seabass fillets, seabass balls, oil-free seabass balls, seabass dumplings, and seabass soup The products have won various awards, including the top ten souvenirs in Pingtung in 2017, "Barramundi Fillet" won the 2017 Eatender of the Council of Agriculture COA, "Oil-Free Barramundi Fillet" won the 2018 Eatender Gold Food Award of the COA, and "Dumplings of Barramundi" and "Barramundi Broth" won the 2019 Eatender of the COA The consecutive awards represent that the "quality" of Fongyursquos aquatic products can be seen and eaten with peace of mind In addition, Fongyu has exclusive fingerlings that meet international needs, such as Pure seawater cultured tilapia fingerlings and seawater Taiwan tilapia fingerlings from selective breeding FY-01 are items that aquaculture companies in many countries are looking forward to The company also has aquaculture modules, disease monitoring tools, and feeding materials designed in accordance with the environment, in order to provide customers with more stable income

【解決方案】佐翼科技無人機導入高爾夫球場域 可節省一半人力
Droxo Tech Applies Drones in Golf Courses to Reduce Manpower by Half

For most golf courses, the operations and management is a headache "Golf courses are selling turf and need to be properly taken care of," a golf course manager bluntly pointed out Facing the market pain points of labor shortage, aging population and high cost, the use of AI drones for pesticide spraying and pest control will reduce labor costs by more than half and greatly improve the overall operational efficiency At noon in early summer, an AI drone is slowly taking off at the Taipei Golf Club in Taoyuan Its main task is to test AI drone fertilizing and pesticide spraying on the golf course In fact, drones of Droxo Tech, the company performing this task, are widely used for fertilization, pesticide spraying, and pest and disease control for rice, bananas, and tea trees For golf courses with turfs that often cover tens to hundreds of hectares, AI drones are needed to assist in turf maintenance Data collection, development of pesticide spraying AI models, and multispectral image analysis and testing will be carried out in the current stage In the future, large-scale technology implementation and verification will be carried out to set an example for applying drones to golf courses Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides can reduce the manpower required by half The traditional way of maintaining the turf in golf courses is to carry spray buckets or drive spraying vehicles to spray areas one by one "Domestic golf courses began to plant ultra-dwarf Bermuda grass in 2001 This grass species prefers a cool climate and is not suitable for Taiwan's hot and humid weather" Droxo Techrsquos CEO further pointed out that to prevent turf from pests and diseases, pesticide spraying is necessary For an 18-hole golf course, it is equivalent to spraying pesticides once a week, and the T-ground and fairways are sprayed every two months For golf courses, spraying pesticides is time-consuming and labor-intensive It is important to note that large-scale spraying will increase the risk of personnel poisoning and increase the amount of pesticide used Benefits of applying agricultural drones to golf courses According to Droxo Techrsquos research, golf course pests include Spodoptera litura, which comes out at night to look for food, so pesticide spraying must be carried out in the evening According to the traditional method, pesticide spraying requires two vehicles and three personnel for a total of 45 hours If AI drones are used for fertilizing and pesticide spraying, it only takes one operator to spray 08 hectares of land in 20 minutes, saving about two-thirds of the manpower and reducing operating costs by about 30 Using AI drones to fertilize and spray pesticides on golf courses can reduce the manpower required by half In addition to the significant benefits of using agricultural drones for golf course turf maintenance, Droxo Tech also specially introduced AI multispectral image recognition for NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis "The so-called multispectral is to direct light with different wavelengths on the turf, and the reflected images are collected for analysis" Droxo Tech CEO Liu continued to explain that each plant absorbs light with different wavelengths, so multispectral imaging can determine the growth status of grass species At the same time, combined with AI image recognition, the distribution of pests and diseases can be accurately detected, and the amount of pesticide used is determined on this basis Cross-domain collaboration to build a multi-source turf image databasenbsp Using AI multispectral image recognition technology, Droxo Tech will collect visible light, multispectral, thermal images, and hyperspectral images to establish a multi-source turf image database to fully understand the growth cycle of Bermuda grass Droxo Tech has accumulated rich experience in agricultural AI drone pesticide spraying , but there are still many problems that need to be overcome to implement AI solutions in golf courses For example, it is necessary to establish a new pesticide spraying model and test flight methods, especially the application of multispectral image recognition PoC is not difficult, but actual implementation requires more test evidence, repeated inferences, and collaboration with plant experts This part must rely on the cross-domain integration of legal entities such as the Institute for Information Technology III, gathering more fields for verification, and creating a paradigm before it can be more widely adopted by golf courses There are not many international cases on the application of AI drones in golf courses During the verification process, it is not yet known whether it can be quickly copied to the next golf course However, Droxo Tech CEO Liu believes that through cross-domain collaboration, clearly defining the problems and listing them one by one, supply and demand parties can reach a consensus, propose solutions to each problem, and seek cooperation with internal and external resources Only then will we be able to gradually achieve the goal of making golf courses smarter and smoothly assist the industry with transformation Zuoyi Technology's CEO, Liu Junlin 「Translated content is generated by ChatGPT and is for reference only Translation date:2024-05-19」