JP2005249503A - Device for inspecting slider of pantograph - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that it is difficult to separate the upper surface and side surface of a slider with high precision by a method for inspecting the slider of a pantograph by a conventional camera though the pantograph is picked up by applying the lighting on the side surface of the slider. <P>SOLUTION: A strobe lighting for irradiating the upper surface of the slider of the pantograph when the pantograph is picked up by a camera, and another strobe lighting for irradiating the side surface of the slider of the pantograph are provided. The light quantity of the strobe lighting for irradiating the side surface of the slider is reduced as compared with the strobe lighting for irradiating the upper surface of the slider to pick up. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a pantograph slip plate inspection device for inspecting the wear amount and the like of a pantograph slide plate mounted on a roof of an electric vehicle.

  As a conventional pantograph inspection device, an inspection device using an ultrasonic sensor and an inspection device using a camera have been proposed. In the prior art of Patent Document 1, a pantograph is irradiated with light when imaged using a television camera, the pantograph is projected on the monitor by the television camera, and the observer looks at the state of the pantograph from the image and makes the above determination. Has been described. In addition, this patent document 1 discloses a measuring apparatus that automatically obtains the thickness of a pantograph sliding plate using an image processing technique from what a conventional person has monitored the state of the pantograph. This device is an object in which an illuminance meter for measuring ambient illuminance is installed, a pantograph is imaged by a random shutter camera, and the brightness of the camera is automatically adjusted according to the ambient illuminance at that time.

JP-A-9-265524

  In the method of Patent Document 1, the illumination is configured to irradiate light from the vicinity of the camera installation position with an illuminance that can detect the edge of the pantograph. In this case, since high-intensity illumination for performing image processing is applied, it is not suitable for monitoring the state of the pantograph on the monitor screen. To monitor the state of the pantograph, automatically detect the wear state of the scraper etc. using image processing technology, and notify the supervisor when an abnormality is detected. It is required to be able to confirm. For this reason, it is necessary to change the illuminance around the pantograph and the illuminance at the part where image processing is actually performed to capture the pantograph.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to arrange lighting such that binarization of the pantograph and the like can be detected and a camera and lighting so that the monitor can judge the state by displaying an image on the monitor screen. Therefore, a device that can detect anomalies of pantographs is applied.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an intrusion detection sensor for detecting an approach of a vehicle, a pantograph detection sensor for detecting that a pantograph has entered the imaging region, and a pantograph when the pantograph detection sensor detects a pantograph It is configured to illuminate the top surface of the slide plate with flash illumination for top surface illumination and illuminate the flash light for illumination on the side of the pantograph side plate installed on the imaging camera side and simultaneously operate the camera to capture the pantograph. The amount of flash light for irradiating the pantograph slab plate side surface with respect to the flash light irradiating the top surface of the slab plate is reduced.

  By changing the amount of light applied to the top and side surfaces of the pantograph's sliding plate, the edges can be extracted reliably, the wear amount of the sliding plate can be accurately grasped, and the captured image is directly displayed on the monitor. The video was projected so that the observer could check the image.

  When inspecting the state of the pantograph sliding plate using image processing, it is necessary to capture the entire pantograph from diagonally upward so that the deformation, breakage, and wear state of the pantograph can be automatically detected. . In particular, the sliding plate portion is frequently worn and damaged, so it is necessary to monitor it intensively. In order to detect wear and damage of the sliding plate portion by image processing, it is necessary to obtain an image having a sufficient contrast (luminance difference) between the upper surface portion of the sliding plate and the side surface portion of the sliding plate.

  Therefore, the present invention proposes an arrangement of illumination for obtaining an image with a large contrast between the upper surface and side surfaces of the sliding plate.

  Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a pantograph slip plate inspection apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a pantograph sliding plate 4 is provided with a beam 17 parallel to the track and a beam 17 provided so as to straddle the track 15 on a column 16 provided in parallel to the track so as to image from obliquely above. is there. The beam 17 is provided with a plurality of cameras 2 and flash illumination 10 (sometimes referred to as strobe illumination). Further, the arm 19 is extended from the column 16 or the beam 17 in the vehicle approach direction and the exit direction, respectively, and the pantograph detection sensor 5 and the flash illumination 20 for illuminating the pantograph upper part (slide plate surface) are provided on the arm 19 part. It is provided. Further, a plurality of roof equipment monitoring lights (halogen lamps) 11 for monitoring the state of the vehicle roof equipment other than the pantograph are installed on the beam 18 so as to sandwich the track. The rooftop equipment monitoring cameras 3 are provided at both ends of the entrance side beam 17 and at the center of the exit side beam 17.

  When the vehicle entry detection sensor 6 for detecting the entry of the separately installed vehicle 25 is operated, the inspection device (not shown) is turned on. After that, when the pantograph detection sensor 5 detects the pantograph sliding plate 4, the beam 17 The flash illumination 20a in the upper vehicle approach direction and the pantograph detection sensor 5 are provided side by side, and the flash illumination 20a that illuminates the pantograph slide plate surface is turned on. At the same time, the camera 2a in the same direction images the vicinity of the pantograph slide plate. Thereafter, when the pantograph detection sensor 7 in the vehicle exit direction detects passage of the pantograph, the flash illumination 10b in the vehicle exit direction and the flash illumination 20b attached to the pantograph detection sensor are turned on, and at the same time, the camera 2b in the exit direction slides the pantograph. Image near the plate. A receiver 9 for receiving vehicle information such as a formation number is provided on the ground side of the vehicle, and a transmitter 8 for transmitting vehicle information such as a formation number is provided at the head of the vehicle.

  As described above, by imaging the pantograph at the two places on the entry side and the exit side of the vehicle, it is possible to correct the portion of the pantograph slide plate that cannot be imaged due to the shadow of the overhead line. This is because the overhead wire is not generally stretched in parallel with the track but is stretched so as to meander at a predetermined angle so as to slide in contact with the sliding plate portion evenly. In addition, there is an effect that the detection accuracy can be improved by imaging twice when entering and leaving the vehicle and processing each of them. For example, since the contact sliding state between the pantograph sliding plate and the overhead wire is different when the vehicle enters and exits, uneven wear may occur at the sliding plate edge. Since both side edges can be measured, the wear state of the sliding plate can be inspected more correctly.

  Next, the relationship between the flash illumination and the installation position of the camera will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the arrangement of flash illumination and cameras.

  In a conventional pantograph sliding plate thickness measuring device, when a pantograph is imaged, the camera to be imaged and the position of the flash illumination are arranged at substantially the same position, and the pantograph is imaged obliquely from above. At this time, the irradiation light of the flash illumination hits the pantograph obliquely from above, and the difference in luminance between the top surface portion of the sliding plate and the side surface portion of the sliding plate is small, making it difficult to detect the edge. Therefore, the edge detection accuracy was greatly improved by directly irradiating the upper part of the sliding plate to increase the brightness and arranging the flash illumination. However, when this imaging screen is displayed on the monitor, the hull portion becomes too dark, which is not suitable for visually observing the state of the sliding plate.

  Therefore, in the present invention, illumination from an oblique upper part facing the vehicle approach direction and flash illumination to irradiate the pantograph from above are arranged. In that case, the light quantity of each flash illumination irradiated from the upper part and obliquely forward or obliquely rearward was changed for irradiation. That is, in order to change the amount of light, the flash illumination with the same light emission amount was arranged at different irradiation distances as shown in FIG. For example, the distance in the height direction is set to the same distance h, and in the width direction (inter-track direction), the side that irradiates the top surface of the pantograph is 0.5 W, which is half the distance W from the front side of the pantograph. 4. The distance (vehicle bidirectional distance) from the flash illumination arranged on the camera side to the pantograph imaging position is approximately 5 with respect to the distance (vehicle traveling direction distance) L from the position of the flash illumination that illuminates the upper part to the irradiation pantograph. It arrange | positioned so that it might be 5.5L of 5 times. The vehicle travel direction distance and the width direction are slightly different depending on the type of pantograph, but there is a problem if they are arranged so as to be in a positional relationship of about 4.6 to 6.5 times and about 1 to 4 times. I have confirmed that there is nothing. If you take an image while illuminating the pantograph sleeve plate in such an arrangement, the upper surface of the slide plate is bright and the side of the slide plate can be taken slightly darker, the edges can be reliably separated, and the state of wear can be determined visually. I was able to do it.

  As mentioned above, the flash light that is emitted at the moment of capturing the pantograph with the camera is irradiated so that the upper side of the pantograph is bright and the side is slightly darker, so that edge detection during image processing can be performed reliably and the monitor Even if the captured image is directly projected, it has become possible to observe details.

  In the configuration of FIG. 2, the amount of flash light to be issued (100 to 200 J / F (joule / flash)) is assumed to be the same, and the illumination arrangement using the decrease in the amount of light with distance is used. This can also be handled by changing the amount of light emitted by the flash illumination at the same distance.

  FIG. 3 shows an outline of the control system configuration of each device in FIG. As shown in the figure, in this system, when roughly classified, the information from the pantograph slide board measuring device 35, the roof equipment imaging device 45 and the two devices is received, the thickness of the slide board is obtained, and the state of the roof equipment is determined. The information processing apparatus 50 stores an image to be monitored.

  As described above, the pantograph sliding plate measuring device 35 mainly includes a plurality of sliding plate imaging cameras 2a and 2b for imaging the pantograph sliding plate unit, and a plurality of units that irradiate the pantograph with light at a predetermined timing. The flash illumination 10a, 10b and the flash illumination 20a, 20b for illuminating the top surface of the slide plate, the pantograph detection sensor 5 for detecting the passage of the pantograph at a predetermined position, and the slide plate imaging camera 2 and the flash illumination 10a, 10b, 20a, 20b It comprises a control device 30 for pantograph plate thickness measurement for control. In addition to this, the control device 30 can receive signals from the vehicle approach detection sensors 6 and 7 and a signal from the vehicle information receiver 9. FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of the vehicle approach detection sensor.

  The roof equipment imaging device 45 includes a plurality of roof equipment monitoring cameras 3 for roof equipment imaging, and a roof equipment monitoring illumination 11 including a plurality of halogen lamps for illuminating the vehicle roof. It consists of a rooftop monitoring control device 40. Further, the pantograph detection sensor 5, the vehicle detection sensors 6, 7 and the vehicle information receiver 9 which are also used in the previous pantograph sliding plate measuring device 35 are shared, and these are connected to the rooftop monitoring control device 40 by a signal cable or the like. Has been. Further, the pantograph slide board measuring device 35 and the on-roof equipment imaging device 45 are connected to the information processing device 50 by an optical cable.

  In this information processing device 50, the wear amount is obtained based on the image information from the pantograph wear plate measuring device 35, and when a wear plate that has caused abnormal wear is detected, an alarm is issued to prompt the change of the wear plate, and the wear state is rubbed. It has a function to predict the replacement time of the plate and notify the monitor. In addition, the image signal from the rooftop apparatus imaging device 45 has a function of adding and storing the imaging date and time in accordance with the vehicle organization number. The monitor has a function that can also monitor the state of the equipment on the roof in a moving image state.

  Next, details of the operation of each device will be described.

  First, in the pantograph sliding plate measuring device 35, when the vehicle entry detection sensor 6 first detects the entry of the vehicle 25 at the measurement position, the pantograph detection sensor 5 starts detecting the presence or absence of the pantograph sliding plate 4, and for pantograph sliding plate measurement. These cameras 2 are also ready for imaging. When the pantograph detection sensor 5 on the vehicle entry side detects the pantograph slide plate 4, the flash illumination 10a on the vehicle entry side and the flash illumination 20a for pantograph slide plate upper irradiation are emitted, and a plurality of pantograph slide image pickup cameras 2a are simultaneously provided. An image of the pantast plate is captured, and the captured image is taken into the memory of the control device 30. The captured image data is subjected to image processing by the control device 30. Thereafter, when the pantograph detection sensor 5 on the vehicle exit side detects the pantograph slide plate 4, the flash illumination 10 b on the vehicle exit side and the flash illumination 20 b for illuminating the top surface of the slide plate emit light and simultaneously image the pantograph slide plate portion in the same direction. The pantograph slide plate imaging camera 2b takes a picture of the pantograph slide plate portion, and takes the taken image into the memory of the control device 30. Then, the image processing is performed by the control device 30 as in the front side. In this way, by capturing and processing the same pantograph slide plate part twice before and after, the position of the overhead wire in contact with the slide plate at the time of pantograph imaging is different, so the influence of the overhead wire can be removed. it can.

  A rough procedure for image processing is described below.

  First, the approximate position of the pantograph is extracted from the displayed image area. For this purpose, a gray area is extracted based on a threshold range that designates the displayed image area. The threshold range is set based on the average gray value and standard deviation of the entire display image. In this extraction, since the value is shifted by a part of the shining part, the shining part is replaced with a certain gray value.

  When a gray area is extracted, only the pantograph needs to exist in this area, but there are many cases where there is equipment on the roof other than the pantograph. Therefore, the pantograph region and the rooftop device region are separated by repeatedly performing expansion and contraction processing of the extracted gray region using a rectangular structural element that is long in the horizontal direction. A pantograph region is selected from the separated regions based on shape feature amounts such as area and position.

  A minimum rectangular position surrounding the selected area is obtained and set as a pantograph position for the entire image.

  Next, a long line segment in the horizontal direction in the extracted area is extracted, and if there is an inclination, it is roughly rotated to a substantially horizontal position. This process is performed as follows.

  First, the previously selected area is set as a pantograph area, and a line segment long in the horizontal direction in this area is extracted. In the horizontal line segment extraction, a smoothing process is performed using a large filter in the horizontal direction in order to emphasize the horizontal line segment. As a result, a horizontal line segment in the region is extracted. The threshold for extraction is set based on the average gray value and standard deviation of the image in the area.

  A plurality of line segments may be extracted by the above processing. In this case, one line segment is selected based on characteristics such as length and position. Next, the selected line segment with an inclination is rotated to make it roughly horizontal.

  Next, in order to obtain an accurate position as a reference in the rotated image, a characteristic part of the pantograph is detected. In this embodiment, the rivet position provided on the side surface of the pantograph boat body is determined. However, since some rivets may not be provided, a method for detecting the end of the hull may be used. First, the search area is smoothed to smooth the image. A line segment is extracted from the smoothed image with a predetermined threshold. Divide into arcs and straight lines from the extracted line segments and extract only arcs. Since a plurality of extracted arcs may be extracted, it is determined that the rivet is based on the characteristics of length, roundness, and position, and the rivet is selected. A reference line search area is set based on the rivet position. A horizontal line segment in the set area is searched. For this purpose, the smoothing process is performed using a large filter in the horizontal direction as in the previous extraction of the rough pantograph position.

  Next, a line segment long in the horizontal direction in the reference line search area is extracted. The threshold for extraction is set based on the average gray value and standard deviation of the images in the search area. There may be a plurality of line segments to be extracted. At this time, the line segment of the joint surface between the hull and the sliding board is extracted based on characteristics such as length and position.

  Next, the inclination of the extracted line segment (reference line) is obtained, and the image is rotated so that the inclination becomes zero. Then, in the rotated image, the position of the minimum rectangle surrounding the line segment of the joint surface between the boat body and the sliding board is obtained by calculation, and the position is set as the position of the reference line.

  When the reference line position is determined, the edge detection process is executed next.

  The surface of the sliding plate provided in the pantograph is a portion where there are many scratches and dirt due to contact with the overhead wire. For this reason, many small luminance differences are generated, and if edges are simply detected, it is recognized that there are many edges. Therefore, the edge detection area is binarized in advance to divide it into white and black areas, and the top surface of the slab plate becomes a white region and the side surface of the slab plate becomes a black region. . And the line segment which connected the calculated | required lowest point was made into the edge. A space between the obtained edge and the reference line is extracted as the thickness of the ground plate.

  As described above, the wear state is determined by obtaining the thickness of each part of the sliding plate by image processing, and when the wear of a predetermined amount or more is detected, the watcher is notified that it is time to replace the sliding plate, and at the same time, the wear amount, etc. The original image before image processing is displayed together with the data so that the monitor can check the state of wear.

  The above configuration is the case where it is placed at a position that is not affected by sunlight, etc., but when it is placed at a position that is affected by sunlight, the illuminance and camera aperture are switched depending on the presence or absence of sunlight. There is a need to. Therefore, an example of the arrangement of the flash illumination and the camera when the present apparatus is arranged outdoors affected by sunlight will be described.

  FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of cameras when the camera is switched for imaging.

  In the case of daytime imaging, the two cameras 2 ″ are arranged so that the height direction is the same as the flash illumination installation height and h and the track width direction is W. The distance between the flash illuminations in the track width direction is 1.9 W. The aperture is set to 4, the focus is set to 1.5 m, the visual field size is set to 650, the height of the camera 2 for night imaging is set to 1.3 h that is about 1.3 times, and the width direction is set to a position of 0.65 W The aperture of the camera was set to 2, the focus was set to 1.6 m, and the field size was set to 670.

  A standard image is imaged using each of these cameras (daytime and nighttime cameras), and a pantograph to be inspected is imaged using a camera that can obtain a desired image. In this method, a selection unit is provided on the detector side so that a standard image is captured by each camera at ambient brightness or at a predetermined time, and a camera having a threshold brightness for image processing is selected. is there. The selection means performs the selection determination according to the time (having a predetermined range according to the sunshine time) and the weather of the day for the determination of day and night, and the number of times the determination is performed. Is reduced to achieve a high-speed processing effect.

  In this way, by switching between cameras that capture images during the daytime and at night that are affected by sunlight, it is possible to remove the effects of sunlight and obtain highly accurate images.

It is a figure which shows the arrangement | positioning of the camera and illumination for a pantograph and equipment on a roof. It is a figure for demonstrating arrangement | positioning of the camera for a panta slip board, and illumination. It is a block diagram of the roof top equipment inspection system of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a device layout diagram when imaging is performed by switching between daytime and nighttime cameras. It is a figure which shows arrangement | positioning of a vehicle approach detection apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Pantograph imaging camera, 3 ... Roof equipment monitoring camera, 4 ... Pantograph slide board, 5 ... Pantograph detection sensor, 6, 7 ... Vehicle approach detection sensor, 8 ... Vehicle information transmitter, 9 ... Vehicle information receiver 10: Flash illumination, 20: Flash illumination for the top surface of the sliding plate.

Claims (4)

In the pantograph sliding plate inspection device having a function of automatically measuring the wear state of the sliding plate of the pantograph for electric vehicles and notifying the state to the monitor,
A vehicle entry detection sensor that detects the entry of a vehicle, a pantograph detection sensor that detects that the pantograph has entered the imaging area, and an upper surface irradiation that emits light to the upper surface of the pantograph slide plate when the pantograph detection sensor detects the pantograph Pantograph for flash light that illuminates the pantograph by irradiating flash illumination and flash illumination for pantograph side plate side illumination that is installed on the imaging camera side and operating the camera at the same time. A pantograph slip plate inspection apparatus characterized by reducing the amount of flash light for side plate irradiation. In the pantograph slip board inspection device according to claim 1,
A flash illumination for irradiating the upper surface of the sliding plate in the vehicle traveling direction is disposed so as to face the flash illumination for irradiating the camera and the pantograph sliding plate side surface, and the position of the flash light for irradiating the upper surface is set in the vehicle traveling direction. An apparatus for inspecting a pantograph slide plate, characterized in that the pantograph is disposed at a position close to a pantograph for imaging. In the pantograph slip board inspection device according to claim 1,
A pantograph characterized in that the camera is provided with two types of daytime imaging cameras and nighttime imaging cameras, and a selection function for selecting a camera to be used by using the results of imaging with both types of cameras is provided in the control unit. Sliding board inspection device. In the pantograph sliding plate inspection device having a function of automatically measuring the wear state of the sliding plate of the pantograph for electric vehicles and notifying the state to the monitor,
A vehicle entry detection sensor that detects entry of a vehicle, an entry side pantograph detection sensor that detects that the pantograph has entered the imaging region, and illuminates the top surface of the pantograph slide plate when the entry side pantograph detection sensor detects the pantograph The entrance side top side illumination flash illumination and the entry side imaging camera side installed flash illumination for the pantograph slide plate side illumination, and simultaneously the entry side imaging camera is operated to capture the pantograph, and the vehicle exit side pantograph When the detection sensor detects a pantograph, it emits light on the upper surface of the exit side that illuminates the upper surface of the pantograph slide plate, and on the exit side of the camera for exit side imaging. Operate the camera to capture the pantograph, By causing butted each image by image processing, sliding plate inspection device of pantograph and removing the influence of the overhead line.

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