JP2009160624A - Head-mount type image monitoring device for welding - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image monitoring device for welding having a head-mount type camera and a display device capable of monitoring information of a state before, after and during the welding in a wide brightness range including the periphery. <P>SOLUTION: The head-mount type image monitoring device for welding sets the intensity of the image having a wide dynamic range before, after and during the welding to be an adequate intensity range of a visible area through the image processing of an image processing controller by changing the coefficient for changing the intensity of the intensity range of the image from the camera through compression or intensity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a head-mounted type image monitoring apparatus for welding.

In the conventional welding work by a welding operator, the face is covered with a protective surface for welding while bringing the welding rod close to the welded part, and the welding light emitted from the welded part that has started welding or the surrounding state irradiated by it is visually observed through the filter glass. Then, welding was performed. However, the light-shielding characteristics using the welded surface filter depend on the filter characteristics.For example, if the harmful blue part is specifically excluded, the amount of information is lost, the brightness is too strong, or the eyes are dazzled. When it is damaged, the light intensity is uniformly reduced regardless of the intensity, so if you take the part with high brightness to the eye and bring it to an appropriate state, the part with low brightness will become dark and invisible to the eyes End up. When welding, including the welded part and its periphery, the information has a wide range of brightness, so the conventional welded surface using filter glass has been insufficient. The welding surface has a drawback that information on a state in a wide luminance range including a state before welding and a periphery during welding cannot be monitored. This situation will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining inconveniences in the case of using a conventional welding surface. 3-A is the light intensity distribution of the welded part and its peripheral part on the horizontal axis, and there is a 4-digit difference between non-welded and welded. On the other hand, the vertical axis represents the light sensitivity of the human eye. The light intensity below aa is dark and invisible light intensity, about 0.1 lux or less, and bb is the light intensity that is too bright (dazzling or hurting the eyes), and is about 10000 lux or more. On the other hand, at the time of non-welding, the light intensity at the welding work place is 50 to 100 lux, and the welded part and its periphery at the time of welding are in the range of 100 to 100,000 lux. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a light intensity range related to these weldings. Therefore, when looking at the welded part and its surroundings when welding, it can be seen when it is not welded, but there are parts that can be seen when welding, and there are parts that are too bright and hurt the eyes, and dark parts that are too bright are dark due to backlighting Become. Therefore, when the portion that is too bright is attenuated through the filter 301 of the welding surface 300 shown in 3-B, the portion that is too bright enters the visible range below bb, as in 3-C. However, since it is attenuated uniformly with respect to the brightness by the filter, the welded part at the time of welding and the part around it appear dark and invisible. Further, since the welded portion and its periphery during non-welding are completely black and cannot be seen at all through this welded surface, there is a disadvantage that the positional relationship is determined by feeling before starting welding. Moreover, in order to prevent a blue light trouble in a filter of a welding surface, the blue 435-440 nm light is removed. For this reason, there is a disadvantage that the amount of information is reduced. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the light intensity distribution of arc welding light. It is known that blue 435 to 440 nm light is strong and damages the eyes.

However, Patent Document 1 has proposed a technique in which an image of welding light is acquired through a camera and displayed on a head-mounted display. This is a head-mounted display where the arc part of the weld and the weld pool part are photographed separately by at least two cameras equipped with optical filters with different transmittances, and the images are combined so that the positions of the images overlap. Is displayed. However, this synthesis has the following disadvantages. The transmissivity is not a continuous value, for example, two types, but a jump value. To make it finer, you need a lot of filters and a camera. If you choose two types, the image of the welded part and its surroundings are roughly represented, so there is a limit to observing the fine welding finish. In addition, if the weld and its surroundings are essentially included, information with a wide range of brightness is made visible with two types of coarse filters, so observing even darker parts when not welding further increases the number of filters. You can't do it without increasing the number of cameras. In addition, it is possible to separate the bright part and the dark part from the images taken with the two types of filters and the camera, and determine the boundary based on the threshold value of the brightness, but it is possible if the brightness changes greatly in a staircase pattern. However, this synthesis is naturally limited because it is not possible if the other slow brightness changes. Furthermore, since the threshold is processed by two types of transmittance filters and cameras on both sides of the boundary, there will be a step in brightness at the boundary, which is not a problem when the brightness is originally stepped. When the brightness changes gradually, it becomes a problem. Therefore, what does not become a problem in this system is a case where the composition area is separated at a portion where the brightness changes in a stepped manner, and the composition is divided into a welded portion with high luminance and a bead portion with low luminance. Patent Document 2 also has a similar description. These proposals also have the disadvantage that, as in the case of the welded surface, it is impossible to monitor information on a state in a wide luminance range including the state before welding and the periphery during welding.
JP 2000-176675 A Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-564084

In view of the circumstances as described above, the problem to be solved is a welding having a head-mounted camera and a display device capable of monitoring information on a state of a wide luminance range including a state before welding, a state after welding, and a periphery during welding. An image monitoring apparatus for use is provided.

As means for solving the above problems, a head mounted welding image monitoring device according to the present invention includes a head mount, a wide dynamic range camera attached thereto, an image memory for storing image data acquired by the camera, and an image An image processing controller for image processing of data, a display attached to the head mount, and a display controller for driving the display by the output of the image processing controller. After that, the intensity of the image having a wide dynamic range at the time of welding was changed to an appropriate intensity range in the visible region by compressing the intensity range of the image from the camera or switching a coefficient that changes the intensity depending on the intensity. It is a feature. Hereinafter, it demonstrates along a claim.

The invention according to claim 1 is an image monitoring apparatus for head mounted welding, comprising: a head mount for attaching to the head; a wide dynamic range camera attached to the head mount; and the wide dynamic range camera. An image processing controller that performs image processing on image data of the captured welded portion and its peripheral portion, an image memory that stores the image data, a display attached to the head mount, and the image processing controller A display controller for displaying image data on the display, and the image processing controller is configured to transmit light of the image data before and after welding, during non-welding after welding and during welding and its peripheral portion. Light intensity range compressor, light intensity range shifter, and light intensity range switching to make the intensity within the visible range of human eyes Characterized in that it comprises at least one of.
Thereby, the image of the whole range can be visually recognized and workability | operativity can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the head mounted welding image monitoring apparatus according to the first aspect, the head mount device is either a hat type or a belt type attached to a head, or a spectacle type having a vine applied to an ear. It is characterized by. Thereby, a means for head mounting can be secured.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the head mounted welding image monitoring apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the head mount device includes the light intensity range compressor, the light intensity range shifter, and the A setting input device is provided for setting the operation of the light intensity range switching device from the outside. This makes it possible to set optimum conditions while looking at the light intensity during welding.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the head-mounted welding image monitoring device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the light intensity range compressor compresses the light intensity before the compression process. It is characterized by linear compression that becomes light intensity after compression processing that is linearly proportional, or nonlinear compression that changes in a curve without linearly proportional to light intensity before compression processing. Thereby, compression is performed effectively.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image monitoring apparatus for head-mounted welding according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the image processing controller performs welding based on an isolight intensity distribution of the image data. A contrast enhancement process is performed on the part. This improves the recognizability of the part to be noticed.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the head-mounted welding image monitoring apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, blue light of 435 to 440 nm is observed in front of the wide dynamic range camera. A blue light failure is avoided by inserting an optical wavelength conversion element for converting into a visible light wavelength with less obstacles or performing wavelength conversion from the image data by calculation processing with an image processing controller. Thereby, an eye-friendly welding operation can be provided.

The invention according to claim 7 is the head mounted welding image monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the head is irradiated with light that is stronger than the arc light intensity at the time of welding, The image data is acquired by the wide dynamic range camera from the reflected light of the welded part and its peripheral part, or is stroboscopically irradiated with light having a wavelength that the arc light does not have, and the reflected part of the welded part and its peripheral part is reflected. When acquiring the image data from light through a filter with the wide dynamic range camera, the filter removes arc light at the time of welding, and allows only the wavelength component of irradiation light to pass through, so that the weld and The peripheral image data is acquired, and the image data is placed in a light intensity range that is easy to see with eyes. This facilitates matching of the light intensity range to the eye sensitivity.

Since it is configured as described above, in the head-mounted welding image monitoring apparatus according to the present invention, welding having a light intensity that is significantly larger than that of the weak light intensity at the time of non-welding that is present around the welded portion. It is possible to cope with both the light intensity at the time and continuously monitor the weld image before, during and after welding, so that the welding operation can be performed accurately.

An image monitoring apparatus for head-mounted welding according to the present invention includes a head mount for attaching to a head, a wide dynamic range camera attached to the head mount, an image processing controller that performs image processing on an image of a welded portion taken by the camera and its surroundings. An image memory for storing image data, a display attached to the head mount, and a display controller for displaying image data from the image processing controller on the display. Image processing is performed before welding. Light intensity range compressor for acquiring images of light intensity over a wide range after welding (when not welding) and during welding and its surroundings and making it in the visible range of the human eye Or it has a light intensity range switch. Hereinafter, it demonstrates with an embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of a head-mounted welding image monitoring apparatus according to the present invention. 1-A is a perspective view of the shape of an image monitoring device for head-mounted welding, 1-B is a block diagram showing its configuration, and 1-C shows the function of the image processing unit therein. It is a function explanatory view.

In 1-A, there is a head mount 100 for attaching to the head, to which a camera 101, particularly a wide dynamic range camera, is attached. With the head mount attached to the head, the camera faces the face. In the head mount 100, a display 102 is attached in a display housing 103. When the head is mounted, the display 102 is positioned in front of the eyes or can be adjusted to view an image. be able to. Here, an electronic circuit board 107 having an image processing controller 104, an image memory 105, and a display controller 106 is formed in the same housing 103 as the display. Further, a face protection plate 108 is attached to protect the face from welding spatter. Since the face protection plate 108 is not for the purpose of viewing, the face protection plate 108 does not need to be a filter, and may be one that does not transmit light. However, since it is preferable that light does not leak into the display 102, it is preferable that the face protection plate 108 near the display 102 does not transmit light. The housing 103 is provided with a setting input device 109 for manually or electronically setting the processing of the image processing controller 104 from the outside. If this is not present, the setting is fixed as specified. Note that the setting includes level shift, selection of a compression curve, designation of a target image portion, and the like. The face protection plate 108 may be detachably formed. In addition, as a form of the head mount device, it may be a hat type for wearing on the head or a spectacle type having eyeglasses to be worn on the ear. The dynamic range of a normal CCD camera is 60 dB (about 3 digits), but a wide dynamic range camera can acquire an image with a light intensity range of 120 dB or more (about 6 digits). Various means can be seen and used in Literature 5, Patent Literature 6, Patent Literature 7, Patent Literature 8, Patent Literature 9, and Patent Literature 10.
JP 2004-363666 A JP2004-282282 JP2003-250094 JP 2003-319250 A JP-A-2002-314885 JP 2002-314873 A JP2001-8104 JP 2000-78594 A

In 1 -B, the welded portion acquired by the camera 101 and the image in the vicinity thereof enter the image memory 105 via the image processing controller 104. The image processing controller 104 performs preset image processing on the image data in the image memory 105, sends it to the display controller 106, and displays it on the display 102. The display may be anything, but a liquid crystal display (LCD) is generally used. Further, after the image processing, the image data is temporarily stored in the image memory. The image processing controller 104 acquires an image of light intensity over a wide range of the welded part and its peripheral part before welding, after welding (non-welding), and during welding so that it becomes a visible range of human eyes. A light intensity range compressor or a light intensity range switch. The function will be described below.

1-C explains the function of the image processing controller, and 1-c1 is the same as 3-A in FIG. 1-c3 and 1-c4 show the light intensity ranges of the images of the welded part and its peripheral part when image processing is performed by the image processing controller through the camera 1-c2 and displayed on the display 102. It is. In 1-c3, the light intensity over a wide range of the welded part before and after welding (when not welding) and the welded part and its peripheral part is compressed by the light intensity range compressor in the image processing controller, and is easily visible to the eye. It falls within the range aa to bb. In 1-c4, the weak light intensity range is within the light intensity range aa to bb which is easy to see with eyes before welding and after welding (non-welding). A strong light intensity range at the time of welding falls within a light intensity range aa to bb which is easy to see with eyes. These two states are switched by detecting the light intensity. Since the above is a case where the welding light is directly photographed, the range of light intensity is wide, but it is also possible to irradiate light from the outside and photograph with the reflected light (irradiation light reflection type photographing). The black circles at 1-c1 indicate the light intensity of the reflected light that is stroboscopically irradiated with light that is much stronger than the strong light intensity range during welding. In 1-c3, this is within the light intensity range aa to bb that is easy to see with the eyes as indicated by black circles. In this case, since the range of the light intensity is narrow, it is easy to put it between the light intensity ranges aa to bb. In addition, when the image is acquired with a wide dynamic range camera through the filter from the reflected light of the welded part and its surroundings, the filter is used during welding. It is also possible to remove the arc light and pass only the wavelength component of the irradiated light, so that the image data of the welded part and its peripheral part can be acquired and the image data can be placed in the light intensity range that is easy to see with the eyes. is there.
In addition, in order to prevent blue light damage and to prevent loss of information, light that converts blue 435 to 440 nm light into a wavelength of visible light that is less harmful to other eyes, such as green, is removed. A wavelength conversion element can be inserted in front of the camera, or wavelength conversion can be performed by an image processing controller.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of image processing performed by the image processing controller 104. In 2-A, various compression curves are shown. The light intensity curve 200 of the welded part and its peripheral part before welding, after welding (non-welding) and during welding can be converted into a linear compression curve 201 and nonlinear compression curves 202 and 203. In 2-B, the compression curve is further translated (level shifted). In 2-C, it is shown that contrast enhancement processing such as coloring and edge enhancement is performed by designating a portion having the same light intensity.

As described above, the head-mounted welding image monitoring device according to the present invention acquires images of light intensity over a wide range of the welded part before and after welding (at the time of non-welding) and the welded part and its peripheral part, Since the workability and safety are improved in order to make it within the visible range of human eyes, it has great industrial applicability.

It is a figure explaining one embodiment of the image monitoring apparatus for head mount type welding by the present invention. It is a figure which shows one embodiment of the image processing of the image processing controller which comprises the image monitoring apparatus for head mounted welding by this invention. It is a figure explaining the inconvenience at the time of using the conventional welding surface. It is a figure which shows the light intensity range relevant to welding. It is a figure which shows the light intensity distribution of arc welding light.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Head mount tool 101 Camera 102 Display 103 Display housing 104 Image processing controller 105 Image memory 106 Display controller 107 Electronic circuit board 108 Face protection board 109 Setting input device 200 Before welding, after welding (at the time of non-welding), welding Light intensity curve 201 linear weld curve 202, 203 nonlinear compression curve
300 Welding surface 301 Filter

Claims (7)

A head mount for attaching to the head, a wide dynamic range camera attached to the head mount, an image processing controller for image processing of image data of a welded portion taken by the wide dynamic range camera and its peripheral portion, An image memory for storing the image data; a display attached to the head mount; a display controller for displaying the image data from the image processing controller on the display; An image processing controller is a light intensity range compressor for making the light intensity of the image data of the welded part and its peripheral part before welding, non-welded after welding, and its peripheral part into a visible range of human eyes. A head mount type comprising at least one of a light intensity range shifter and a light intensity range switch Contact image monitoring apparatus. 2. The head mount type welding image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the head mount device is one of a hat type or a belt type attached to a head, or an eyeglass type having a vine attached to an ear. The head mount is provided with a setting input device for setting the operation of the light intensity range compressor, the light intensity range shifter, and the light intensity range switch from the outside. The head-mount type welding image monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The compression of the light intensity range compressor is linear compression that becomes light intensity after compression processing that is linearly proportional to light intensity before compression processing, or nonlinear compression that changes in a curve without linearly proportional to light intensity before compression processing. The image monitoring apparatus for head-mounted welding according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: 5. The head-mounted welding image according to claim 1, wherein the image processing controller performs a contrast enhancement process on a welding site based on an equal light intensity distribution of the image data. Monitoring device. In front of the wide dynamic range camera, an optical wavelength conversion element for converting blue light of 435 to 440 nm into a visible light wavelength with less eye damage is inserted, or wavelength conversion is performed from the image data by calculation processing with an image processing controller. 6. The head mounted welding image monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein a blue light failure is avoided. Irradiate light stronger than the arc light intensity at the time of welding, and acquire the image data from the reflected light of the welded part and its peripheral part with the wide dynamic range camera, or do not have the arc light When the image data is acquired with the wide dynamic range camera from the reflected light of the welding portion and its peripheral portion through a filter, the filter removes arc light at the time of welding. The image data of the welded part and its peripheral part is acquired by passing only the wavelength component of the irradiation light, and the image data is placed in a light intensity range that is easy to see with eyes. The image monitoring device for head-mount welding according to claim 6.

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