JP2002137049A - Liquid level monitor for continuous casting equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquid level monitor for a continuous casting equipment which is a simple and inexpensive image processor and can decide whether the dispersing condition of powder on the liquid level of melted steel is good or not. SOLUTION: The liquid level monitor for the continuous casting equipment watches and checks the liquid level of molten steel which is filled into a mold of the continuous casting equipment. The liquid level of molten steel that powder is scattered is photographed by a camera. The image processor memorizes the liquid level of melted steel which stands when powder is in a good scattering condition as a reference image, compares the image of the level which is photographed by the camera with the reference image and inform that the scattering condition of powder is not good, when it has detected that there is a difference between these images.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid level monitoring apparatus for a continuous casting machine for monitoring a liquid level of molten steel filled in a mold of the continuous casting machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a general continuous casting machine. The continuous casting machine 1 pours molten steel or the like into a water-cooled mold, draws out the solidified portion while cooling it,
Is a device for continuously producing. The steel slab 2 is a strip-shaped steel slab continuously cast by the continuous casting machine 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the continuous casting machine 1 includes a ladle (a ladle) 3,
A ladle crane 4, a ladle turret 5, a tundish 6, a mold (mold) 7, a cooling device 71,
A transport device 8 and a cutting device 9 are provided.

The ladle 3 is a container for transporting molten steel, and the ladle crane 4 is a device for mounting the ladle 3 on a ladle turret 5. The ladle turret 5 is a swivel arm that carries the ladle 3 and turns. The ladle turret 5 has one ladle 3 mounted on both ends.
After rotating by 80 degrees, the ladle 3 is stopped on the tundish 6, and molten steel is supplied from the ladle 3 to the tundish 6. The tundish 6 is a device that serves as a buffer tank that keeps the flow speed of the molten steel static and the head pressure constant when the molten steel is injected from the ladle 3 into the mold 7. The tundish 6 has a steel plate whose outer plate is lined with a refractory material, and keeps a constant amount of molten steel inside so that the flow velocity of the molten steel becomes static. The mold 7 is a mold for injecting molten steel to make a casting. The mold 7 has a structure in which cooling water for cooling the molten steel can pass through the outer peripheral portion. Cooling device 71
Cools the molten steel and gradually turns the molten steel from outside to inside. The transport device 8 is a device that transports the billet 2. The transport device 8 includes a plurality of upper and lower pinch rollers, and transports the steel piece 2 in a horizontal direction while pressing the steel piece 2 between the pair of pinch rollers.

[0004] The cutting device 9 is a device for cutting the steel slab 2 to a predetermined length. The cutting device 9 is a continuously cast steel piece 2
Torch cutters and gas cutters that blow out the steel slab 2 by blowing gas.

FIG. 3 is a structural view of a main part of the continuous casting machine of FIG. In FIG. 3, the molten steel 10 put in the ladle 3 is supplied to the tundish 6, where the flow of the molten steel is made static by the tundish 6, and then injected into the mold 7. Powder 13 is applied to liquid level 12 of molten steel 11 injected into mold 7.
Has been sprayed. Powder 13 is a metal powder. The reason why the powder 13 is sprayed is that when the mold 7 is shaken,
This is for reducing the frictional force generated between the molten steel 11 and the inner wall of the mold 7. The powder 13 plays a role of a lubricating oil. The swing device 14 swings the mold 7 in the vertical direction.
The reason why the mold 7 is shaken is to prevent the mold 7 and the molten steel from sticking to each other. Since the mold 7 is made of, for example, copper, if the mold 7 is not shaken, metals may adhere to each other between the mold 7 and the molten steel.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a liquid level image when the powder 13 is in a good spray state, and FIG. 5 is a view showing a liquid level image when the powder 13 is in a bad spray state. When the spraying state is good as shown in FIG. 4, the powder 13 covers the entire surface of the liquid. As shown in FIG. 5, when the spraying state is poor, the molten steel 11 is exposed at a part of the liquid level. If the spraying condition is poor, the exposed part of the molten steel must be filled with powder. Monitoring of the liquid level is necessary in order to maintain a good dusting state of the powder. Since molten steel generates radiant heat at a high temperature of about 1500 ° C., it is difficult for an observer to visually monitor the molten steel. When the surveillance camera is installed near the mold 7, remote monitoring becomes possible. However, in the conventional remote monitoring, software for judging whether or not the scattered state is good based on the image of the monitoring camera has to be built in the image processing apparatus. In addition, an expensive image processing device is required to analyze the photographed image of the camera to determine the quality of the scattered state. For this reason, there has been a demand for monitoring the liquid level of the molten steel using a low-cost device.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a liquid level image of molten steel when a powder is in a good spraying state is prepared as a reference image. By using an image measurement device that has only the function of comparing the image actually taken by the camera with the reference image and making a quality judgment, the powder is sprayed on the liquid surface of the molten steel with a simple and low-cost image processing device. It is an object of the present invention to realize a liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine capable of determining the quality of a state.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a liquid level monitoring apparatus for a continuous casting machine having the following configuration.

(1) A liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine for monitoring the liquid level of molten steel filled in a mold of a continuous casting machine, comprising: a camera for photographing the liquid level of powdered molten steel; and a powder. The storage means for storing the liquid level image of the molten steel when the spraying state is good as a reference image, comparing the image taken by the camera with the reference image, and determining whether there is a difference between these images. When the difference detecting means to detect and the difference detecting means detect a difference,
A liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine, comprising: an image processing device provided with a notifying unit for notifying that the powder spraying state is defective.

(2) The continuous casting machine according to (1), wherein the difference detecting means detects whether or not there is a difference based on the color or luminance of the image photographed by the camera and the reference image. Liquid level monitoring device.

(3) The liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine according to (1), wherein the notifying means notifies by an e-mail message output or a contact output.

(4) The liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine according to (1), wherein the notifying unit notifies the control unit of the powder injecting device that the powder spraying state is defective.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the same components as those described above are denoted by the same reference numerals.
In FIG. 1, the camera 20 captures an image of the liquid level 12 of the molten steel 11 on which the powder 13 has been sprayed. The camera 20 is, for example, CC
D camera.

The image processing device 30 processes an image captured by the camera 20. In the image processing device 30, storage means 31
Stores the liquid level image of the molten steel when the powder is in a good spraying state as the reference image 32. A good screen taken immediately after the start of the operation of the continuous casting machine, during the operation, etc., is used as the reference screen. The difference detection unit 33 compares the image captured by the camera 20 with the reference image 32 and detects whether there is a difference between these images. The difference detection unit 33 detects a difference between an image captured by the camera and a reference image, for example, based on whether there is a difference in color or luminance.

When the difference detecting means 33 detects that there is a difference, the notifying means 34 notifies that the powder distribution state is defective. The notification is performed, for example, by e-mail message output or contact output. The e-mail message output is sent to the observer's computer via the network. Contact output to powder injection device 40
Control unit 41, the control unit 41 knows that the dusting state of the powder is poor, and makes it possible for the powder injection device 40 to spray the powder.

The operation of the apparatus thus constructed will be described. The camera 20 photographs the liquid surface 12 of the molten steel. The shot image shows the dusting state of the powder. The image processing device 30 has, as a reference image, an image of a good example of the powder scattering state. The reference image is, for example, as shown in FIG.
3 is a black liquid level image in which the liquid level is covered with powder over the entire area.

The difference detecting means 33 compares the image taken by the camera 20 with the reference image. When the captured image is a black liquid level image, no difference is detected between the captured image of the camera 20 and the reference image. At this time, the dusting state of the powder is good. As shown in FIG. 5, when the captured image has a red portion, the red portion is detected as a different portion when the captured image of the camera 20 is compared with the reference image. The red part is the part where the molten steel is exposed. At this time, the notification means 3
No. 4 notifies that the dispersion state of powder is bad.

In this manner, the quality of the dusting state of the powder is determined by simple image processing in which the image taken by the camera 20 is compared with the reference image.

[0019]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a liquid surface image of the molten steel when the powder is in a good spraying state is prepared as a reference image, and an image actually taken by a camera is compared with the reference image. The quality of the powder being sprayed is determined using an image measuring device having only a function of determining the quality. With this, it is possible to judge the quality of the powder dispersion on the liquid surface of the molten steel with a simple and inexpensive image processing device.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the difference between the photographed image of the camera and the reference image is detected based on the color or luminance, the portion where the molten steel is exposed to the liquid surface can be accurately detected.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to notify that the dusting state of the powder is bad by e-mail message output or contact output. For this reason, it is possible to notify the monitoring personnel who is remotely monitoring of the spraying state failure. Also,
A powder spraying trigger can be applied to a control device such as a sequencer.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the control unit of the powder injecting device is notified that the powder distribution state is defective, it is possible to quickly take a countermeasure (powder distribution).

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a general continuous casting machine.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the continuous casting machine of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a liquid level image when a powder is sprayed well.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a liquid level image when a powder is not properly sprayed;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 continuous casting machine 7 mold 11 molten steel 12 liquid level 13 powder 20 camera 30 image processing device 31 storage device 32 reference image 33 difference detection device 34 notification device 40 powder injection device 41 control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine for monitoring a liquid level of molten steel filled in a mold of a continuous casting machine, comprising: a camera for photographing a liquid level of molten steel on which powder is sprayed; Storage means for storing a liquid level image of molten steel in a good spraying state as a reference image, comparing an image taken by the camera with the reference image, and detecting whether there is a difference between these images An image processing apparatus, comprising: a difference detecting means for detecting the difference in the powder distribution state when the difference detecting means detects a difference. Liquid level monitoring device for continuous casting machines. 2. The liquid for a continuous casting machine according to claim 1, wherein said difference detecting means detects whether or not there is a difference based on the color or luminance of an image photographed by a camera and a reference image. Surface monitoring device. 3. The liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine according to claim 1, wherein said notifying means gives a notification by e-mail message output or contact output. 4. The liquid level monitoring device for a continuous casting machine according to claim 1, wherein the notifying unit notifies the control unit of the powder injecting device that the spraying state of the powder is defective.