JP2001059941A - Fiberscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily measure dimension of an object to be observed in the case of inspecting and examining an inner part of a complicated machine or narrow bent piping by irradiating the object to be observed with a laser beam and casting the reflected part of the laser beam on the object to be observed on a monitor together with an image of the object to be observed. SOLUTION: The laser beam is generated at a laser beam generation part 22 and two laser beams are radiated to the object to be observed 4 from tops of two laser beam transfer parts 12 arranged in parallel by leaving a fixed distance in between. The two radiated laser beams reach the object 4 while keeping parallelism owing to their characteristics and are reflected at a laser beam reflection point. The laser beam reflected at the laser beam reflection point is received from the top of a received light transfer part 13 together with the reflected light beam being the light beam emitted from a light source transfer part 11, and cast on the monitor 3 together with the image of defect of the object 4. Since a distance between two laser beam reflection points is known, the dimension of the defect is known by comparing the distance with the size of the defect being a measurement target.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fiberscope system for observing places where people and ordinary cameras cannot enter, such as inside a plant or machine, or inside a pipe. In particular, the present invention relates to a fiberscope system capable of measuring a dimension of an observation target and a dimension measuring method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A fiberscope is an endoscope utilizing the translucency and flexibility of glass fiber. In general, a fiberscope is composed of an image fiber, an objective lens, an eyepiece, and the like in which a large number of optical fibers are regularly arranged and bundled, and an object obtained from an objective lens provided on an end face of the image fiber is formed. An object is observed by taking out an image with an eyepiece provided on the other end face.

[0003] This fiberscope must be capable of producing a long one due to its low loss property, to have a small diameter,
In addition, it has features such as heat resistance and radiation resistance, so it is used in ordinary places such as power boilers and nuclear power plants, where people can not enter, inside machinery or inside long-distance piping such as gas pipes and water pipes. It is used in places where shooting with a camera is difficult. In recent years, it is frequently used not only for industrial purposes but also for medical purposes.

FIG. 3A is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional fiberscope system used for checking and inspecting the inside of a machine and the inside of a pipe. As shown in the figure, the fiberscope system includes a fiberscope 1, a controller 2, and a monitor 3. In the controller 2, a light source generator 21 and a light receiver 23 are provided.
Is provided. FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of the distal end portion of the fiberscope 1 (a portion in FIG. 3A), and the fiberscope 1 includes a light source transfer unit 11 and a light reception transfer unit 13.
Has been shown.

[0005] When observing the observation object 4, light emitted from the light source generator 21 is transmitted by the light source transfer unit 11 in the fiber scope 1, and the tip of the fiber scope 1 (the tip of the light source transfer unit 11). Irradiates the observation object 4 from. The irradiated light is reflected by the observation object 4 and received again at the tip of the fiberscope 1 (the tip of the light receiving and transferring unit 13). The received light forms an image of the observation target 4, which is displayed on the monitor 3 via the light receiving and transferring unit 13 and the light receiving unit 23 in the controller 2.

Conventionally, the inside of a machine such as an engine or the inside of a narrowly bent pipe has been observed in this manner.

[0007]

In the inspection / inspection using the fiber scope, not only is the object checked to determine whether there is an abnormality such as a defect, but also the defect or the like observed to determine the quality of the object is determined. It is necessary to know the size. However, in the above-described fiberscope system, the magnification (size) of an image displayed on the monitor 3 varies depending on the distance from the tip of the fiberscope 1 to the observation target 4 due to its characteristics, and the observation target 4 or its own can be easily obtained. The size of a defect or the like could not be measured.

[0008] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to inspect and inspect the inside of a complicated machine or the inside of a narrowly bent pipe.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fiberscope system capable of easily measuring the size of an observation object and a method of measuring the size thereof.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is to irradiate a laser light to an observation object from the tip of a fiberscope and reflect the laser light on the observation object. By projecting the portion on the monitor together with the image of the observation target, the dimension of the observation target or a defect or the like existing on the observation target is measured.
Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily measure the size of an observation target or a defect thereof regardless of the magnification of the image projected on the monitor.

In order to achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention is a fiberscope system for displaying an image of an object obtained by a fiberscope on a monitor via a controller, provided in the controller, Laser light generating means for generating laser light, transmitting the generated laser light and irradiating the object, laser light transfer means provided in the fiber scope, the irradiated laser light By displaying the portion that has reached and reflected on the object together with the image of the object on the monitor, the dimensions of the object or a dimension measurement object existing in the object are measured. .

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the laser light emitted from the laser light transfer means is a plurality of parallel laser lights having a known distance from each other, and the measurement of the dimension is performed by: The interval between a plurality of points at which the plurality of parallel laser beams displayed on the monitor reach and reflect on the object, and the object displayed on the monitor or a dimension measurement object existing in the object Is performed by comparing the sizes of the images.

Further, in the above invention, another aspect is further provided with a light source generating means provided in the controller, wherein the fiber scope generates a light source necessary for acquiring an image of the object, A light source transfer unit provided in the fiberscope for transmitting the generated light source and irradiating the object with the light source is provided.

To achieve the above object, another aspect of the present invention is a method for measuring dimensions in a fiberscope system for displaying an image of an object obtained by a fiberscope on a monitor, the method comprising: Irradiating the object with a plurality of parallel laser lights, the plurality of points of which the plurality of illuminated laser lights reach and reflect the object, and the monitor of the plurality of points together with the image of the object. And comparing the interval between the plurality of points displayed on the monitor and the size of the image of the object or the dimension measurement object present in the object displayed on the monitor. The step of measuring a dimension of the object or the dimension measuring object.

[0014] Further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the embodiments of the present invention described below.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, such embodiments do not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
In the drawings, the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals or reference symbols.

FIG. 1A is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a fiberscope system to which the present invention is applied.
FIG. 1B is an enlarged view of a distal end portion (a portion of FIG. 1A) of the fiberscope 1 shown in FIG. The fiberscope system shown in the figure has a configuration in which a laser light generation unit 22 in the controller 2 and two laser light transfer units 12 in the fiberscope 1 are added to the conventional system described with reference to FIG. I have. The fiberscope system in the present embodiment irradiates the observation target 4 with laser light by the laser light generation unit 22 and the laser light transfer unit 12 to measure the dimensions of the observation target 4 and its defects. .

The observation object 4 is observed, and its image is displayed on the monitor 3.
The basic principle at the time of projection is similar to that of the system of the related art described with reference to FIG. 3. Light emitted from the light source generation unit 21 is emitted from the tip of the light source transfer unit 11 to the observation target 4. The reflected light is received by the light receiving and transferring unit 13, and the received light is displayed on the monitor 3 as an image of the observation object 4.

At the time of this observation, a laser beam is generated in the laser beam generator 22 simultaneously with the above operation.
The observation object 4 is irradiated with two laser beams from the tips of the two laser beam transfer units 12 arranged in parallel at a predetermined distance (L shown in FIG. 1B). FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the state of the measurement using the laser light. Here, as shown in FIG. 2A, the dimension measurement of the fiberscope system in the present embodiment will be described on the assumption that the defect 5 existing on the observation target 4 is observed and its dimension is measured. I do.

The two irradiated laser beams reach the object 4 to be observed while keeping parallel due to their coherent (sharp directivity) characteristics, and are reflected at the laser beam reflection point 6. At this time, the distance L ′ between the two laser beam reflection points 6 is 2
Since the two laser beams are kept parallel, the distance L is equal to the distance L between the two laser beam transfer units 12 known in advance.

The light reflected at the laser light reflection point 6 is received from the tip of the light receiving and transferring unit 13 together with the reflected light of the light emitted from the light source transferring unit 11 and is monitored together with the image of the defect 5 of the observation object 4. It is projected on 3. FIG. 2B is a diagram showing a state displayed on the monitor 3. Here, as described above, since the distance L 'between the two laser light reflection points 6 is known, the size of the defect 5 can be known by comparing the distance with the size of the defect 5 which is the measurement target. it can.

FIG. 2B shows a photographing result when the distance between the observation object 4 and the fiberscope 1 is changed. Specifically, the fiberscope 1 is moved in the X direction shown in FIG.
Is shown in the case where is released. In this case, the projected image naturally becomes smaller as a whole as compared with FIG. 2B, but the distance L ′ between the two laser light reflection points 6 is already known, so that in this case as well, The size of the defect 5 can be measured. Therefore, it is possible to grasp the size of the object regardless of the magnification of the image projected on the monitor 3.

As described above, by using the fiberscope system according to the present embodiment, inspection and inspection of places where humans and ordinary cameras cannot enter can be performed.
In inspection, not only an image of an object is projected and observed, but also the size of the object can be easily measured.

In this embodiment, two laser light transfer units 12 are provided and a system for irradiating two laser lights is used. However, a system for irradiating three or more laser lights may be used. Further, a system may be used in which one laser beam is irradiated and the dimension is measured from the size of the laser beam reflection point 6. The fiberscope 1 shown in FIG.
The arrangement positions of the light source transfer unit 11, the laser light transfer unit 12, and the light reception transfer unit 13 are merely examples, and may be different from this.

The scope of protection of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but extends to the inventions described in the claims and their equivalents.

[0025]

As described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention has the following effects.

First, by irradiating the observation object with laser light from the tip of the fiber scope and projecting the reflected portion of the laser light on the observation object together with the image of the observation object on a monitor, the observation object or its The size of a defect or the like can be easily measured regardless of the magnification of the image projected on the monitor.

Second, the laser light applied to the object to be observed is converted into a plurality of parallel laser lights having a known distance from each other. By comparing the size of the image of the defect or the like, it is possible to easily measure the size of the observation object or the defect or the like.

Third, the provision of the light source generating means and the light source transferring means enables the image of the object to be observed to be clearly displayed, and ensures the dimensional measurement of the object to be observed or its defects. Becomes possible.

Fourth, a plurality of parallel laser beams having a known distance from each other are radiated to the observation object, and the distance between the reflection points on the observation object and the image of the observation object or its defect are determined. By comparing the sizes of the objects, it is possible to easily measure the size of the observation object or the defect thereof regardless of the magnification of the image projected on the monitor.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a fiberscope system to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining how dimensions are measured in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional fiberscope system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fiber scope 2 Controller 3 Monitor 4 Observation object 5 Defect 6 Laser light reflection point 11 Light source transfer part 12 Laser light transfer part 13 Light reception transfer part 21 Light source generation part 22 Laser light generation part 23 Light reception part

Continued on front page F term (reference) 2F065 AA21 AA49 AA60 BB08 CC00 FF04 FF42 GG04 HH03 JJ03 LL03 PP21 SS02 SS13 2H040 AA02 AA03 BA22 CA04 CA11 CA27 DA03 GA01 GA11 5C054 AA01 AA05 CA06 CC07 FC15 HA01

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A fiberscope system for displaying an image of an object obtained by a fiberscope on a monitor via a controller, a laser light generating means provided in the controller and generating laser light, A laser light transfer unit provided in the fiber scope for transmitting laser light and irradiating the object with the laser light; and a portion where the irradiated laser light reaches and reflects on the object. A fiberscope system for displaying dimensions on the monitor together with an image to measure a dimension of the object or a dimension measurement object existing in the object. 2. The laser beam emitted from the laser beam transfer means according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam is a plurality of parallel laser beams having a known distance from each other, and the measurement of the dimension is displayed on the monitor. The distance between the plurality of points at which the plurality of parallel laser beams reach and reflect the object, and the size of the image of the object or the dimension measurement object present in the object displayed on the monitor. A fiberscope system characterized by being compared by: 3. A light source generating means according to claim 1, further comprising: a light source generating means provided in said controller, wherein said fiberscope generates a light source necessary for acquiring an image of said object. A fiberscope system comprising: a light source transfer unit provided in the fiberscope, for transmitting the light source obtained and irradiating the object. 4. A size measuring method in a fiberscope system for displaying an image of an object obtained by a fiberscope on a monitor, wherein a plurality of parallel laser beams having a known interval from the fiberscope are applied to the object. Irradiating; and displaying, on the monitor, a plurality of points at which the plurality of irradiated laser beams reach and reflect the object, along with an image of the object; and displaying the plurality of points displayed on the monitor. Measure the dimensions of the object or the dimension measuring object by comparing the interval between the points and the size of the image of the object or the dimension measuring object present in the object displayed on the monitor. A dimension measuring method, comprising the step of: