JP2013185234A - Method and apparatus for observing condition of blast furnace tuyere - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for observing conditions of a blast furnace tuyere capable of more easily observing conditions adjacent to the blast furnace tuyere.SOLUTION: A method for observing conditions of a blast furnace tuyere is a method for observing conditions in the tuyere by utilizing a thermal radiance image taken by an image pickup apparatus provided at the blast furnace tuyere. The method includes: an image-geometric transformation step of performing geometric transformation on the thermal radiance image such that a contour shape of the tuyere in the thermal radiance image becomes a normalized circle and producing a normalized image, and also of performing polar conversion on the normalized image; a binary image production step of producing a binary image by binarizing the normalized image after the polar conversion; and a distribution information production step of producing distribution information of bright sections which shows the distribution of bright sections existing in the binary image in the radial direction of the normalized circle.

Description

  The present invention relates to a blast furnace tuyere state observation method and a blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus.

  A blast furnace is a complex and large-scale reaction vessel in which a reduction reaction composed of a plurality of chemical reactions proceeds using iron ore or coke as a raw material. A blast furnace is a type of vertical furnace with a cylindrical bottle shape, with raw materials charged from the top of the furnace (top of the furnace) and hot air (high temperature) supplied from the tuyere provided below the furnace. The reducing gas produced by the air) is used as a raw material, and the hot metal (molten pig iron) is continuously discharged from the outlet at the bottom of the blast furnace by the reduction reaction. The raw material charging from the furnace top is intermittently performed, and each raw material layer in the blast furnace gradually moves downward. Thus, in the continuous operation in the blast furnace, the reaction proceeds in the presence of solid, liquid, and gas.

  Here, predicting the reduction reaction proceeding in the blast furnace is important for stable operation. Conventionally, the degree of combustion of pulverized coal has attracted attention as an important index for predicting the reaction in the blast furnace. After observing the combustion state of pulverized coal in the vicinity of the tuyere with a radiation thermometer, the pulverized coal is analyzed by fuzzy inference. Estimation of the combustion state of charcoal is performed (for example, refer to Patent Document 1 below).

JP-A-5-256705

  However, the method described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that a determination rule based on fuzzy inference is complicated, and tuning and maintenance are difficult. Furthermore, in the method described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to create a decision rule for inference based on six types of indicators, and there is a problem that it is difficult to create a decision rule.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a blast furnace tuyere state observation method and a blast furnace tuyere state observation method capable of more easily observing the state near the blast furnace tuyere. It is to provide a blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for observing a state in a tuyere using a thermal radiance image captured by an imaging device provided in a blast furnace tuyere. The geometrical transformation is performed on the thermal radiance image so that the contour shape of the tuyere in the thermal radiance image becomes a normalized circle, and the normalized image is generated. An image conversion step for performing polar coordinate conversion, a binarized image generation step for generating a binarized image by binarizing the normalized image after the polar coordinate conversion, and using the generated binarized image And a bright part distribution information generation step of generating bright part distribution information indicating a distribution in the radial direction of the normalized circle of the bright part present in the binarized image. The

  In the bright part distribution information generation step, pixel values corresponding to a plurality of pixels having the same radial position and different declination positions are provided for each radial position in the binarized image. It is preferable to integrate and use the obtained integrated value as an element of the bright part distribution information at the corresponding radial position.

  The time series for generating the time series transition information indicating the time series transition of the light part distribution information by generating the light part distribution information for a plurality of different times, respectively, and arranging the light part distribution information in time order It is preferable to further include a transition information generation step.

  The method further includes a feature amount calculating step for calculating a feature amount characterizing the bright portion distribution information at a certain time using the generated bright portion distribution information, and the feature amount calculating step includes a predetermined radial direction range. It is preferable to calculate at least an element number feature amount that characterizes the number of elements included and a radial position feature amount that indicates the radial position that gives the maximum value of the element.

  Using the calculated feature quantity, a feature quantity coordinate system defined using the feature quantity is set, and specified by a combination of the feature quantities corresponding to the bright part distribution information at a plurality of different times. A trajectory information generation step of generating trajectory information indicating the trajectory of the point in the feature amount coordinate system with time transition may be further included.

  In the binarized image generating step, the normalized image is obtained by multiplying the maximum luminance value in the thermal radiance image by a preset coefficient and a preset luminance value, which has a larger value. It is good also as a binarization threshold value at the time of binarizing.

  At least one of the thermal radiance image and the information generated based on the thermal radiance image may be used after being smoothed with a preset time constant.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, an imaging device that is provided at a blast furnace tuyere and that captures a thermal radiance image at the blast furnace tuyere is captured by the imaging device. An arithmetic processing unit that performs image processing on the thermal radiance image, and the arithmetic processing unit is configured so that the contour of the tuyere in the thermal radiance image is a normalized circle. Perform geometric conversion on the luminance image, generate a normalized image, and binarize the normalized image after polar coordinate conversion, an image conversion unit that performs polar coordinate conversion on the normalized image, Using the binarized image generating unit that generates the binarized image and the generated binarized image, the distribution in the radial direction of the normalized circle of the bright portion existing in the binarized image is obtained. A bright part distribution information generation unit for generating bright part distribution information That blast furnace tuyeres state observation device is provided.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to more easily observe the state near the blast furnace tuyere by generating bright part distribution information based on the thermal radiance image at the blast furnace tuyere. .

It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating a blast furnace. It is explanatory drawing which showed the structure of the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing shown about the imaging device with which the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment is provided. It is explanatory drawing which showed the example of the thermal radiance luminance image which concerns on the same embodiment. It is the block diagram shown about the structure of the image processing part of the arithmetic processing apparatus with which the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment is provided. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the image conversion part which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the binarized image which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the bright part distribution information which concerns on the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the bright part distribution information which concerns on the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the bright part distribution information which concerns on the embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the feature-value calculation part which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the locus | trajectory information which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the example of the locus | trajectory information which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the judgment method of a blast furnace tuyere state concerning the embodiment. It is the flowchart which showed an example of the flow of the blast furnace tuyere state observation method which concerns on the embodiment. It is the block diagram which showed the hardware constitutions of the arithmetic processing unit which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the graph which showed the comparison result with the judgment result by the blast furnace tuyere state observation method concerning the embodiment of the present invention, and a sensory test.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in this specification and drawing, about the component which has the substantially same function structure, duplication description is abbreviate | omitted by attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol.

(Outline of the reaction proceeding in the blast furnace)
First, with reference to FIG. 1, the blast furnace to which attention is paid in the embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a blast furnace to which attention is paid in an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the blast furnace is a kind of vertical furnace having a cylindrical virtue shape. From a raw material supplied from the top (furnace top) of the furnace and a tuyere provided below the furnace. It functions as a reaction device that reacts with the reducing gas generated by the supplied hot air.

  Examples of raw materials supplied from the top of the furnace include iron oxides such as iron ore and sintered ore, coke, and limestone. Iron ore is a source of iron for pig iron produced by reactions in the blast furnace, and coke not only functions as a heat source for melting iron ore reducing agent and raw materials, but also provides air permeability in the blast furnace. Have a role to hold. Limestone functions as a solvent added to react with the gangue component of iron ore to produce slag having a low melting point and good fluidity.

  As shown in FIG. 1, layers of iron ore (and limestone) and layers of coke are alternately stacked inside the blast furnace. These raw materials move downward in the furnace while maintaining the laminated state as shown in FIG.

  In addition, pulverized coal that functions as a supplementary reducing agent for hot air and coke is supplied from the tuyere shown in FIG. In a region called a raceway near the tuyere, pulverized coal and coke are gasified by combustion by the supplied hot air, and a high-temperature reducing gas composed of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, or the like is generated. This high-temperature reducing gas blows up to the top of the furnace as an ascending current that moves in the furnace. The iron ore in the furnace is reduced by this reducing gas (indirect reduction), and further changes from solid to liquid by the heat of the reducing gas. The iron component that has become liquid is further reduced by the carbon of the coke while dropping in the coke layer (direct reduction), and becomes molten iron containing about 5% of carbon.

  The cohesive zone shown in FIG. 1 is a portion where solid coke exists in the form of slits between the iron components in a semi-molten state, and the phase change of iron as described above mainly occurs in this cohesive zone. Has occurred.

  Thus, in a reactor called a blast furnace, the reaction proceeds in the presence of solid, liquid, and gas. In order to perform stable operation, it is important to predict the reduction reaction that is proceeding in the blast furnace. In the embodiment of the present invention described below, as an index for grasping the situation in the blast furnace, whether or not the phenomenon of “Ore fallen” has occurred and whether or not the phenomenon of “pulverized coal expansion” has occurred Attention is focused on at least two indicators of whether or not.

  “Occurrence of raw ore” is a phenomenon in which unmelted ore falls, and the occurrence of such a phenomenon means that the amount of heat in the blast furnace is insufficient. Therefore, when a raw ore drop occurs, it is necessary to take measures to increase the amount of heat in the furnace, such as increasing the amount of coke.

  “Pulverized coal expansion” is a phenomenon in which an image of unburned pulverized coal that normally occupies about 1/3 of an image of the tip of a nozzle in a captured image obtained by imaging a tuyere rapidly expands. The occurrence of such a phenomenon suggests that the shape of the raceway has changed from a preferable shape, and therefore, a measure for making the shape of the raceway in a good state is necessary.

<About the blast furnace tuyere observation device>
First, the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the blast furnace tuyere state observation device 10 according to the present embodiment includes an imaging device 100 and an arithmetic processing device 200.

[Imaging device]
The imaging device 100 is a device that captures the distribution of thermal radiance at the tuyere and generates a thermal radiance image. The imaging apparatus 100 includes various optical elements such as a lens and an imaging element such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor). Here, the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may be capable of generating a still image or may be capable of generating a moving image. Further, the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment may be capable of capturing a monochrome image or may be capable of capturing a color image. Note that when an imaging device capable of capturing a color image is used, a one-channel luminance image may be generated. That is, as the luminance image generating means, only one of R, G, and B among the RGB components may be used, or conversion from the RGB color space to the YCbCr color space is performed, and only the Y component is used. May be used.

  The imaging device 100 is controlled by an arithmetic processing device 200 described later, and a trigger signal for imaging is output from the arithmetic processing device 200 at every predetermined frame rate. The imaging device 100 captures thermal radiation from the tuyere in response to the trigger signal output from the arithmetic processing device 200 and outputs the generated thermal radiance image to the arithmetic processing device 200.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an installation state of the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a thermal radiance image according to the present embodiment. Although the blast furnace is covered with heat-resistant bricks, as shown in FIG. 3, pulverized coal is supplied near the tuyere by a PC lance and hot air of about 1200 ° C. is supplied. A raceway is formed in a range of about 1 m from the tuyere, and in this raceway, the temperature is higher than 2000 ° C. due to combustion of pulverized coal, coke and the like.

  The imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment is installed in an observation window for observing the state of the tuyere, and images thermal radiation from the raceway near the tuyere to obtain a thermal radiance image. The tuyere is usually circular, but the imaging device 100 takes an image so that the tuyere is looked down obliquely from above, so the tuyere shape of the captured thermal radiance image is as shown in the upper left of FIG. Moreover, it becomes a substantially elliptical shape.

  When it is determined that the operating state of the blast furnace is good, the imaging device 100 has an imaging field of view, a focus, and the like adjusted in advance, and appropriate imaging processing is performed. When the blast furnace tuyere is in good condition, as shown in the upper right of FIG. 4, the tip of the PC lance is reflected in the field of view, and the pulverized coal supplied from the tip of the PC lance is It will occupy about 1/3. Further, in areas other than the PC lance and pulverized coal, heat radiation caused by the raceway temperature is reflected.

  When a raw ore drop occurs, as shown schematically in the lower left of FIG. 4, the ore that falls is reflected, so that the entire field of view temporarily becomes dark and the thermal radiance decreases. Further, when pulverized coal expansion occurs, as schematically shown in the lower right of FIG. 4, the area occupied by the pulverized coal rapidly expands from the lower right to the upper left of the field of view, and then in the upper right of FIG. A characteristic pattern of recovery to the state shown is observed.

  The example of the thermal radiance image according to the present embodiment has been specifically described above with reference to FIG.

[Overall configuration of arithmetic processing unit]
Next, returning to FIG. 2 again, the overall configuration of the arithmetic processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  The arithmetic processing device 200 according to the present embodiment performs image processing on the thermal radiance image captured by the imaging device 100 to generate bright part distribution information described later. Moreover, the arithmetic processing unit 200 can also determine the state of the tuyere (that is, the occurrence of raw mining or pulverized coal expansion) based on the generated bright part distribution information.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the arithmetic processing device 200 mainly includes an imaging control unit 201, an image processing unit 203, a display control unit 205, and a storage unit 207.

  The imaging control unit 201 is realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a communication device, and the like. The imaging control unit 201 performs tuyere imaging control by the imaging apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. More specifically, the imaging control unit 201 sends a control signal for starting imaging to the imaging apparatus 100 when imaging of the thermal radiance image of the tuyere is started.

  The image processing unit 203 is realized by, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication device, and the like. The image processing unit 203 performs image processing as described below on the imaging data of the thermal radiance image acquired from the imaging device 100, and generates bright part distribution information described later. Further, the image processing unit 203 determines whether or not a raw mineral drop or pulverized coal expansion has occurred based on the generated bright part distribution information. The image processing unit 203 transmits the generated bright part distribution information and information related to the determination result such as raw mining loss and pulverized coal expansion to the display control unit 205.

  The image processing unit 203 will be described in detail later again.

  The display control unit 205 is realized by, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an output device, and the like. The display control unit 205 outputs the bright part distribution information and the determination result of the raw mine dropping / pulverized coal expansion transmitted from the image processing unit 203 to an output device such as a display provided in the arithmetic processing device 200 or the arithmetic processing device 200. Display control when displaying on an external output device or the like is performed. Thereby, the user of the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 can grasp the bright part distribution information and information on the state of the blast furnace tuyere on the spot.

  The storage unit 207 is an example of a storage device included in the arithmetic processing device 200. The storage unit 207 stores various parameters, intermediate progress of processing, and various databases and programs that need to be saved when the arithmetic processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment performs some processing, as appropriate. To be recorded. The storage unit 207 can be freely read and written by the imaging control unit 201, the image processing unit 203, the display control unit 205, and the like.

[About the image processing unit]
Next, the image processing unit 203 included in the arithmetic processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing unit included in the arithmetic processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the image conversion unit according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a binarized image according to the present embodiment. 8-10 is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the bright part distribution information which concerns on this embodiment. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for describing a feature amount calculation unit according to the present embodiment. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram for describing the trajectory information according to the present embodiment. FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram for describing an example of trajectory information according to the present embodiment. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of determining the blast furnace tuyere state according to the present embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 5, the image processing unit 203 according to the present embodiment includes an image conversion unit 211, a binarized image generation unit 213, a bright part distribution information generation unit 215, a feature amount calculation unit 217, A trajectory information generation unit 219 and a state determination unit 221 are mainly provided.

  The image conversion unit 211 is realized by a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, for example. The image conversion unit 211 performs geometric conversion on the thermal radiance image generated by the imaging device 100 to generate a normalized image, and performs polar coordinate conversion on the normalized image.

  In addition, when the image conversion unit 211 does not perform ellipse approximation on the tuyere shape observed by the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10, elliptical approximation is performed in accordance with the tuyere shape reflected in the thermal radiance image. Perform the process. This ellipse approximation process may be performed at least once, and may not be performed every time a thermal radiance image is captured.

  Hereinafter, a case where the geometric conversion process and the polar coordinate conversion process are performed after the image conversion unit 211 performs the ellipse approximation process will be described.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the contour shape of the tuyere reflected in the thermal radiance image according to the present embodiment is substantially elliptical. Therefore, the image conversion unit 211 approximates the contour shape of the tuyere with an ellipse represented by the following expression 101, and obtains the center position (center of gravity position) of the ellipse and the lengths of the major axis and the minor axis. calculate. Here, in the following formula 101, the coordinates (x _C , y _C ) represent the center coordinates of the ellipse, the parameter a represents the length of ½ of the major axis, and the parameter b represents 1 / of the minor axis. 2 represents the length.

In addition, in order to obtain the elliptical outline of the tuyere reflected in the thermal radiance image, what is necessary is to use a so-called off-air image in which hot air blown to the blast furnace is stopped for equipment repair or the like. As shown in FIG. 4, the image at the time of the resting wind is such that there is no pulverized coal in the field of view and only the PC lance is reflected. Therefore, considering the contour of the portion excluding the PC lance from the image when the wind is off, an ellipse that fits this contour is drawn using an image processing application executed on a computer, and then the drawn ellipse The parameters (x _C , y _C , a, b) relating to the image may be measured on the image.

When the ellipse approximation process is completed, or when the ellipse approximation process has already been performed, the image conversion unit 211 performs the geometric conversion process on the thermal radiance image after the ellipse approximation, and The oval shape that is the outline of the mouth is normalized to a perfect circle. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the image conversion unit 211 reduces the x axis corresponding to the long axis by (b / a) times, and has a radius b and a center ((b / a) × x _C , y _C ), and a normalized image is generated.

  Here, as the geometric transformation when the elliptical shape is normalized to a circle, a known one can be used, and for example, affine transformation may be used.

  Subsequently, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the image conversion unit 211 performs polar coordinate conversion on the generated normalized image. By calculating the center position of the normalized circle, the position of each pixel constituting the normalized image can be represented by polar coordinates (r, θ). The image conversion unit 211 performs polar coordinate conversion with the calculated center position as a reference, with the range of the radius r and the range of the deflection angle θ set to 0 ≦ r ≦ b and 0 ° ≦ θ <360 °, respectively. By performing polar coordinate conversion, the normalized image becomes a band-like image as shown in FIG.

  Here, in the belt-like image as shown in FIG. 6, the length of the side parallel to the radial direction r corresponds to the radius of the normalized circle, and the side parallel to the declination direction θ. The length of corresponds to the circumference of the normalized circle. Of the sides parallel to the declination direction θ, one corresponds to the center of the normalized circle, and the other corresponds to the outer periphery of the normalized circle.

  The image conversion unit 211 outputs data corresponding to the band-shaped image generated by polar coordinate conversion to the binarized image generation unit 213.

  The binarized image generation unit 213 is realized by, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The binarized image generation unit 213 binarizes the band-like image that is a normalized image after polar coordinate conversion, and generates a binarized image. More specifically, the binarized image generation unit 213 binarizes the band image by comparing the pixel value (luminance value) of each pixel constituting the band image with the binarization threshold value, Generate a digitized image.

  Here, the binarization threshold value used by the binarized image generation unit 213 in the binarization process is not a fixed threshold value, but the maximum luminance included in the thermal radiance image (and thus the binarized image). The threshold value is changed accordingly. If the thermal radiance image has a luminance value of a certain level or more and the luminance distribution is uniform, the blast furnace tuyere regardless of the temperature (raceway temperature) near the tuyere It is because it can be judged that the state of is good. Specifically, the binarized image generation unit 213 uses, as a binarization threshold, (a) a preset luminance threshold and (b) a product obtained by multiplying the highest luminance value by a preset coefficient, , Whichever is larger is used as the binarization threshold. The brightness threshold value and coefficient may be set as appropriate according to the characteristics and operating conditions unique to the blast furnace.For example, a low brightness value corresponding to a low temperature that is clearly not possible as a combustion part in normal operation is used as the brightness threshold value. Set. By setting the binarization threshold in this way, a binary image normalized with respect to fluctuations in the maximum brightness, that is, raceway temperature, is obtained during normal operation, and abnormal conditions such as visual field occlusion due to missing raw minerals, Detection can be performed under the condition that all binary images are zero.

  The binarized image generation unit 213 generates a binarized image as shown in FIG. 7 by binarizing the belt-like image using such a binarization threshold. In a binarized image, a pixel having a luminance value equal to or higher than the binarization threshold becomes a portion having a pixel value of 1 (hereinafter also referred to as a bright portion) and has a luminance value less than the binarization threshold. The pixel that has been used is a portion having a pixel value of 0 (hereinafter also referred to as a dark portion).

  The binarized image generation unit 213 outputs data corresponding to the generated binarized image to the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 described later.

  The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 is realized by, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 uses the generated binarized image to generate bright part distribution information indicating the distribution in the radial direction of the normalization circle of the bright part present in the binarized image. .

  More specifically, the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 corresponds to a plurality of pixels having the same radial position and different declination positions for each radial position r in the binarized image. The pixel values to be integrated are integrated, and the obtained integrated value is used as an element of the bright portion distribution information at the corresponding radial position. Such pixel value integration processing corresponds to projecting the binarized image in the direction of the broken-line arrow shown in FIG. Since the image used by the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 is a binarized image, the pixel value integration result represents the number of pixels corresponding to the bright part at the radial position of interest. Will be. By executing such processing for each position (0 ≦ r ≦ b) in the radial direction r, the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 generates the bright part distribution information as illustrated in FIG. can do. The bright portion distribution information is not limited to the projection value (Σθ), and W (r) Σθ multiplied by the weight W (r) that is a function of the radial direction r may be used as the bright portion distribution information. As the weight W (r), for example, if W (r) = r, the distribution information is multiplied by a weight proportional to the radial position.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a bright portion remains only at the outer peripheral portion of the image when the pulverized coal expands, but there is a feature that the outer peripheral portion and the inner peripheral portion of the image become dark when the raw mineral is dropped. There is a difference in the projection value (Σθ) at the position r.

  When the elements constituting the bright portion distribution information are plotted for each radial position, a graph as shown in FIG. 8 can be generated. This is a graph showing how many pixels corresponding to a portion exist. Therefore, when the polar coordinate conversion is performed, for example, in increments of 1 ° with respect to the declination direction θ, the generated bright portion distribution information includes bright portions having a luminance value equal to or higher than the binarization threshold at the position of the radius r. This is information indicating how many minutes have existed.

  The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 performs such bright part distribution information generation processing for each captured thermal radiance image. The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 can generate time series transition information indicating the time series transition of the bright part distribution information by arranging the bright part distribution information at each time t generated in order of time. . Specifically, when acquiring the binarized image corresponding to the thermal radiance image at a certain time t, the bright part distribution information generating unit 215 generates the bright part distribution information based on the acquired binarized image, By sequentially storing the generated bright part distribution information in a memory area provided in the storage unit 207 or the like, it is possible to generate time series transition information as described above.

  The arithmetic processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment may represent the time-series transition information generated in this way as a three-dimensional graph as shown in FIG. 9, or a projection as shown in FIG. It may be expressed as a two-dimensional graph (shading diagram) in which the shading of the color changes according to the magnitude of the value.

  Here, in the shading diagram shown in FIG. 10, the larger the projection value is, the more white it is displayed. In addition, FIG. 10 also shows grayscale diagrams in each of the states of the blast furnace tuyere: (a) good, (b) slightly good, (c) raw mineral loss, and (d) pulverized coal expansion. Yes.

  In the good state shown in FIG. 10 (a), the proportion of the bright portion increases as it approaches the outer periphery of the tuyere, and the proportion of the bright portion in the belt-like image is one even when time elapses. It is like. Further, in the slightly good state shown in FIG. 10B, although the proportion of the bright portion is small, the proportion of the bright portion in the belt-like image is uniform even when time elapses.

  Moreover, FIG.10 (c) is time-sequential transition information when a raw ore drop occurs in 60 to 80 seconds. As is clear from FIG. 10C, almost the entire radial direction is dark when the raw ore drop occurs. On the other hand, FIG. 10 (d) shows time-series transition information when pulverized coal expansion occurs in 10 to 30 seconds. As is clear from FIG. 10 (d), when pulverized coal expansion occurs, the dark part increases toward the periphery of the tuyere, and then the bright part increases toward the center of the tuyere, that is, toward a position where the radial direction is small. It shows a specific behavior like

  When the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 generates the bright part distribution information and the time series transition information by the method described above, the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 outputs the generated information to the feature amount calculation unit 217 described later. The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 may output the generated information to the display control unit 205 and display the information on the display screen.

  In the above description, the case where the processing as described above is performed for each generated thermal radiance image has been described. However, it is generated based on the thermal radiance image or the thermal radiance image. At least one of the information may be used after being smoothed with a predetermined time constant. That is, a thermal radiance image, a binarized image, a belt-like image, etc. may be used after being smoothed by exponential smoothing or moving average having a preset time constant, or using an unsmoothed image. The generated bright part distribution information and time series transition information may be smoothed by exponential smoothing or moving average having a preset time constant. The smoothing time constant may be set to about 1/10 of the duration of the phenomenon to be observed. For example, since the expansion of pulverized coal is a phenomenon that continues for about 10 seconds, the time constant is set to about 1 second.

  The feature amount calculation unit 217 is realized by, for example, a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The feature quantity calculation unit 217 uses the bright part distribution information generated by the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 to calculate a feature quantity that characterizes the bright part distribution information at a certain time.

  More specifically, the feature amount calculation unit 217 determines the number of elements that characterizes the number of elements included in a predetermined radial range and the radial position that gives the maximum value of the elements for the bright portion distribution information at each time. And at least a radial position feature quantity indicating Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the feature amount calculation unit 217 calculates the bright portion average pixel number m within the specified range as the element number feature amount and also outputs the projected value as the radial position feature amount. The highest pixel radius n, which is the radius where is the maximum, is calculated. Here, the designated range in FIG. 11 may be selected from the range in which the shading changes in the shading diagram of FIG.

  Here, the bright part average pixel number m is a feature amount indicating how much bright part is included in the bright part distribution information (in other words, how much dark part is included), and the maximum pixel radius n is This is a feature amount indicating in which part of the binarized image the bright portion remains in the radial direction.

  In the following description, the case where the bright portion average pixel number m within the specified range is calculated as the element number feature amount will be described as an example. However, the maximum pixel within the specified range is used instead of the bright portion average pixel number m. The intermediate value of the number, the number of pixels, the mode value, etc. may be calculated, or the maximum number of pixels, the intermediate value of the number of pixels, the mode value, etc. may be calculated in addition to the bright portion average pixel number m.

  When the feature amount calculation unit 217 calculates the bright portion average pixel number m and the maximum pixel radius n for the bright portion distribution information at each time, the feature amount calculation unit 217 outputs the calculated feature amounts to the trajectory information generation unit 219.

  The trajectory information generation unit 219 is realized by a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, for example. The trajectory information generation unit 219 uses the feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 217 to set a feature amount coordinate system defined using the feature amount. After that, the trajectory information generation unit 219 generates trajectory information indicating the trajectory of the point in the feature amount coordinate system specified by the combination of feature amounts corresponding to the bright portion distribution information at a plurality of different times with time transition. To do.

  FIG. 12 shows an example of trajectory information generated by the trajectory information generation unit 219. The combination (m, n) of the feature values calculated by the feature value calculation unit 217 indicates where the bright part exists in the binarized image, and the state near the tuyere at a certain time. It can be said that it is a representative point to represent. Therefore, by representing the time transition of the point (m, n) as a trajectory, it is possible to easily grasp the state change near the tuyere.

  FIG. 13 also shows the locus information in each state where the state of the blast furnace tuyere is (a) good, (b) slightly good, (c) mine dropping, and (d) pulverized coal expansion. When the state of the blast furnace tuyere is good, as shown in FIG. 13A, the locus of the point represented by (m, n) is concentrated on the upper right of the mn plane, When the state of the blast furnace tuyere is slightly good, as shown in FIG. 13B, the locus of the point represented by (m, n) is slightly lower left from the center of the mn plane. Concentrated over the area. On the other hand, when a raw ore drop occurs, as shown in FIG. 13 (c), the locus of the point represented by (m, n) is from the substantially central portion of the mn plane to the vicinity of the origin. When pulverized coal expansion occurs, the locus of the point represented by (m, n) moves horizontally in the mn plane as shown in FIG. doing.

  As described above, when the trajectory information is generated based on the calculated feature amount, it is understood that a trajectory characteristic of these phenomena is drawn when a raw mining drop or pulverized coal expansion occurs.

  When the trajectory information generation unit 219 generates trajectory information as described above, the trajectory information generation unit 219 outputs the generated trajectory information to a state determination unit 221 described later. Further, the trajectory information generation unit 219 may output the generated trajectory information to the display control unit 205 and display it on the display screen.

  The state determination unit 221 is realized by a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like, for example. The state determination unit 221 determines the state of the blast furnace tuyere based on the trajectory information generated by the trajectory information generation unit 219. More specifically, the state determination unit 221 determines whether or not raw ore dropping or pulverized coal expansion has occurred in the blast furnace tuyere by paying attention to the region where the locus exists.

  As illustrated in FIG. 13, there is a great difference in the transition of the trajectory information between the case where the state of the blast furnace tuyere is good and the case where raw mining or pulverized coal expansion occurs. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the state determination unit 221 divides the feature amount coordinate system (mn plane) into a plurality of regions, and assigns labels indicating the state of tuyere in advance to each region. In addition, the state of the tuyere is determined based on in which region the point representing the state exists.

  In the example shown in FIG. 14, the mn plane is divided into four areas, and a point (m, n) is present in the upper right area at time t. In this case, the state determination unit 221 determines the tuyere state that the combustion state is good because the point (m, n) at time t is in the region labeled “good”. It will be.

  The region classification as shown in FIG. 14 may be performed by classifying the locus of the point (m, n) in the past operation state as shown in FIG. Any known method can be used for classification.

  When the state determination unit 221 determines the state of the blast furnace tuyere using the method described above, the state determination unit 221 outputs information indicating the determination result to the display control unit 205. Thereby, the user of the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 can grasp the determination result regarding the state of the blast furnace tuyere on the spot.

  14 illustrates the case where the mn plane is divided into four regions. However, the number of regions to be divided is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 14 and is less than four. There may be four or more.

  Further, in the above description, the case where a person divides the mn plane in advance and determines the state of the blast furnace tuyere by giving a label has been described. It is not limited. For example, a discriminator such as a neural network or a support vector machine (SVM) is generated by learning processing using past feature values m and n and a sensory test result by a tester based on the image data as teacher data. May be used for state determination in the feature quantity mn space.

  The configuration of the image processing unit 203 included in the arithmetic processing device 200 according to the present embodiment has been described above in detail.

  Heretofore, an example of the function of the arithmetic processing apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment has been shown. Each component described above may be configured using a general-purpose member or circuit, or may be configured by hardware specialized for the function of each component. In addition, the CPU or the like may perform all functions of each component. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately change the configuration to be used according to the technical level at the time of carrying out the present embodiment.

  A computer program for realizing each function of the arithmetic processing apparatus according to the present embodiment as described above can be produced and installed in a personal computer or the like. In addition, a computer-readable recording medium storing such a computer program can be provided. The recording medium is, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a flash memory, or the like. Further, the above computer program may be distributed via a network, for example, without using a recording medium.

  Thus, in the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to quantitatively determine each of the two states, namely, the loss of raw minerals and the expansion of pulverized coal. In the state where raw ore dropping and pulverized coal expansion occurred, characteristic bright part distribution information and trajectory information are observed compared to the case where the state of the blast furnace tuyere is good, so the occurrence of these phenomena, Judgment can be easily made without relying on a sensory test. Moreover, in the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, since the number of feature quantities used for processing is two, it can be easily visualized by a locus on the mn plane.

<About blast furnace tuyere state observation method>
Next, an example of the flow of the blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to the present embodiment will be briefly described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to the present embodiment.

  The imaging device 100 of the blast furnace tuyere state observation device 10 according to the present embodiment images the tuyere under the control of the imaging control unit 201 in the arithmetic processing device 200, and generates a thermal radiance image (step S101). ), And outputs the generated thermal radiance image to the arithmetic processing unit 200.

  When the image processing unit 203 included in the arithmetic processing device 200 of the blast furnace tuyere state observation device 10 acquires the thermal radiance image output from the imaging device 100, the acquired image data of the thermal radiance image is transmitted to the image conversion unit 211. To do. The image conversion unit 211 performs ellipse approximation processing on the acquired thermal radiance image, and further performs geometric conversion to generate a normalized image (step S103). Subsequently, the image conversion unit 211 performs polar coordinate conversion on the generated normalized image (step S105), and outputs the normalized image (band image) after the polar coordinate conversion to the binarized image generation unit 213.

  The binarized image generation unit 213 binarizes the normalized image (that is, the band-shaped image) after the polar coordinate conversion based on the binarization threshold value to generate a binarized image (step S107), and the generated binary The converted image is output to the bright part distribution information generation unit 215.

  The bright part distribution information generation unit 215 generates bright part distribution information based on the binarized image output from the binarized image generation unit 213 (step S109), and uses the generated bright part distribution information as a feature amount calculation unit. To 217.

  The feature quantity calculation unit 217 refers to the bright part distribution information output from the bright part distribution information generation unit 215 and refers to the element number feature quantity and the radial position feature quantity (for example, the bright part average pixel number m and the maximum pixel radius). n) is calculated (step S111). Thereafter, the feature amount calculation unit 217 outputs the calculated feature amounts to the trajectory information generation unit 219.

  The trajectory information generation unit 219 associates a point defined by the combination of feature amounts calculated in the feature amount coordinate system based on the feature amount calculated by the feature amount calculation unit 217, and the feature amount according to the time transition The trajectory information indicating the change in the number is generated (step S113). Thereafter, the trajectory information generation unit 219 outputs the generated trajectory information to the state determination unit 221.

  The state determination unit 221 determines the state of the blast furnace tuyere based on the time transition of the trajectory information generated by the trajectory information generation unit 219 (step S115).

  The flow of the blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to the present embodiment has been briefly described above with reference to FIG.

(About hardware configuration)
Next, a hardware configuration of the arithmetic processing device 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 16 is a block diagram for explaining a hardware configuration of the arithmetic processing device 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The arithmetic processing device 200 mainly includes a CPU 901, a ROM 903, and a RAM 905. The arithmetic processing device 200 further includes a bus 907, an input device 909, an output device 911, a storage device 913, a drive 915, a connection port 917, and a communication device 919.

  The CPU 901 functions as an arithmetic processing device and a control device, and controls all or a part of the operation in the arithmetic processing device 200 according to various programs recorded in the ROM 903, the RAM 905, the storage device 913, or the removable recording medium 921. The ROM 903 stores programs used by the CPU 901, calculation parameters, and the like. The RAM 905 primarily stores programs used by the CPU 901, parameters that change as appropriate during execution of the programs, and the like. These are connected to each other by a bus 907 constituted by an internal bus such as a CPU bus.

  The bus 907 is connected to an external bus such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect / Interface) bus via a bridge.

  The input device 909 is an operation unit operated by the user, such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, a button, a switch, and a lever. The input device 909 may be, for example, remote control means (so-called remote control) using infrared rays or other radio waves, or may be an external connection device 923 such as a PDA corresponding to the operation of the arithmetic processing device 200. May be. Furthermore, the input device 909 includes, for example, an input control circuit that generates an input signal based on information input by a user using the operation unit and outputs the input signal to the CPU 901. The user of the arithmetic processing device 200 can input various data and instruct processing operations to the arithmetic processing device 200 by operating the input device 909.

  The output device 911 is configured by a device that can notify the user of the acquired information visually or audibly. Examples of such devices include CRT display devices, liquid crystal display devices, plasma display devices, EL display devices and display devices such as lamps, audio output devices such as speakers and headphones, printer devices, mobile phones, and facsimiles. The output device 911 outputs results obtained by various processes performed by the arithmetic processing device 200, for example. Specifically, the display device displays results obtained by various processes performed by the arithmetic processing device 200 as text or images. On the other hand, the audio output device converts an audio signal composed of reproduced audio data, acoustic data, and the like into an analog signal and outputs the analog signal.

  The storage device 913 is a data storage device configured as an example of a storage unit of the arithmetic processing device 200. The storage device 913 includes, for example, a magnetic storage device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a semiconductor storage device, an optical storage device, or a magneto-optical storage device. The storage device 913 stores programs executed by the CPU 901, various data, various data acquired from the outside, and the like.

  The drive 915 is a recording medium reader / writer, and is built in or externally attached to the arithmetic processing unit 200. The drive 915 reads information recorded on a removable recording medium 921 such as a mounted magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory, and outputs the information to the RAM 905. The drive 915 can also write a record on a removable recording medium 921 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory. The removable recording medium 921 is, for example, a CD medium, a DVD medium, a Blu-ray medium, or the like. The removable recording medium 921 may be a CompactFlash (registered trademark) (CompactFlash: CF), a flash memory, an SD memory card (Secure Digital memory card), or the like. Further, the removable recording medium 921 may be, for example, an IC card (Integrated Circuit card) on which a non-contact IC chip is mounted, an electronic device, or the like.

  The connection port 917 is a port for directly connecting a device to the arithmetic processing device 200. Examples of the connection port 917 include a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, an IEEE 1394 port, a SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) port, and an RS-232C port. By connecting the external connection device 923 to the connection port 917, the arithmetic processing apparatus 200 acquires various data directly from the external connection device 923 or provides various data to the external connection device 923.

  The communication device 919 is a communication interface configured with, for example, a communication device for connecting to the communication network 925. The communication device 919 is, for example, a communication card for wired or wireless LAN (Local Area Network), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or WUSB (Wireless USB). The communication device 919 may be a router for optical communication, a router for ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), or a modem for various communication. The communication device 919 can transmit and receive signals and the like according to a predetermined protocol such as TCP / IP, for example, with the Internet and other communication devices. The communication network 925 connected to the communication device 919 is configured by a wired or wireless network, and may be, for example, the Internet, a home LAN, infrared communication, radio wave communication, satellite communication, or the like. .

  Heretofore, an example of the hardware configuration capable of realizing the function of the arithmetic processing device 200 according to the embodiment of the present invention has been shown. Each component described above may be configured using a general-purpose member, or may be configured by hardware specialized for the function of each component. Therefore, it is possible to change the hardware configuration to be used as appropriate according to the technical level at the time of carrying out this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus and the blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to the embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples. In addition, the Example shown below is an example to the last, and the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus and blast furnace tuyere state observation method which concern on embodiment of this invention are not necessarily limited to the Example shown below.

  In this example, five different thermal radiance images (moving images) having a width of 480 pixels and a height of 360 pixels were prepared. These five types of thermal radiance images are obtained when raw ore dropping occurs, and the degrees of dropping ore are different. In the present embodiment, these five types of thermal radiance images are actually observed by a sensory test expert, and the degree of goodness is determined from a good state (evaluation: 5) to a severe drop of raw minerals (evaluation: 1). I got it.

  At the same time, using the five types of thermal radiance images, the processing by the arithmetic processing unit 200 is performed, and for each thermal radiance image, the average number m of bright portion pixels is used as an index representing the degree of raw ore loss Calculated. In the arithmetic processing in the arithmetic processing device 200, the radius of the normalized circle is 170 pixels, and the designated range when calculating the bright portion average pixel number m is 70 ≦ r ≦ 160.

  FIG. 17 shows a correspondence relationship between the determination result of a good degree by the expert and the calculated bright portion average pixel number m. As is clear from FIG. 17, the bright part average pixel count m calculated by the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention and the judgment result by a sensory test expert have a one-to-one correspondence. doing. From this result, various information and feature quantities calculated by the blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention may be useful when observing or determining the state of the blast furnace tuyere. It became clear.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can come up with various changes or modifications within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. Of course, it is understood that these also belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus 100 Imaging apparatus 200 Arithmetic processing apparatus 201 Imaging control part 203 Image processing part 205 Display control part 207 Storage part 211 Image conversion part 213 Binarized image generation part 215 Bright part distribution information generation part 217 Feature value Calculation unit 219 Trajectory information generation unit 221 State determination unit

Claims (8)

A method for observing the state in the tuyere using a thermal radiance image captured by an imaging device provided in the blast furnace tuyere,
The geometrical transformation is performed on the thermal radiance image so that the contour shape of the tuyere in the thermal radiance image becomes a normalized circle, and a normalized image is generated. An image conversion step for performing the conversion;
A binarized image generating step of binarizing the normalized image after polar coordinate conversion to generate a binarized image;
A bright part distribution information generating step for generating bright part distribution information indicating a distribution in a radial direction of the normalized circle of bright parts existing in the binarized image using the generated binary image; ,
A method of observing a blast furnace tuyere state. In the bright part distribution information generation step, pixel values corresponding to a plurality of pixels having the same radial position and different declination positions are provided for each radial position in the binarized image. 2. The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to claim 1, wherein integration is performed and the obtained integrated value is used as an element of the bright portion distribution information at the corresponding radial position. The time series for generating the time series transition information indicating the time series transition of the light part distribution information by generating the light part distribution information for a plurality of different times, respectively, and arranging the light part distribution information in time order The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a transition information generation step. A feature amount calculating step of calculating a feature amount characterizing the bright portion distribution information at a certain time by using the generated bright portion distribution information;
In the feature amount calculating step, at least an element number feature amount characterizing the number of elements included in a predetermined radial direction range, and a radial position feature amount indicating the radial position giving the maximum value of the element are at least The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to claim 2, wherein calculation is performed. Using the calculated feature quantity, a feature quantity coordinate system defined using the feature quantity is set, and specified by a combination of the feature quantities corresponding to the bright part distribution information at a plurality of different times. The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to claim 4, further comprising a trajectory information generation step of generating trajectory information indicating a trajectory of the point in the feature amount coordinate system with time transition. In the binarized image generating step, the normalized image is obtained by multiplying the maximum luminance value in the thermal radiance image by a preset coefficient and a preset luminance value, which has a larger value. The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a binarization threshold value when binarizing is used. 7. The thermal radiance image and / or at least one of information generated based on the thermal radiance image is used after being smoothed with a preset time constant. The blast furnace tuyere state observation method according to any one of the above. An imaging device provided at a blast furnace tuyere and capturing a thermal radiance image at the blast furnace tuyere,
An arithmetic processing device that performs image processing on the thermal radiance image captured by the imaging device;
With
The arithmetic processing unit includes:
The geometrical transformation is performed on the thermal radiance image so that the contour shape of the tuyere in the thermal radiance image becomes a normalized circle, and a normalized image is generated. An image conversion unit for performing conversion,
A binarized image generating unit that binarizes the normalized image after polar coordinate conversion and generates a binarized image;
A bright part distribution information generating unit that generates bright part distribution information indicating a distribution in a radial direction of the normalized circle of bright parts existing in the binarized image using the generated binary image; ,
A blast furnace tuyere state observation apparatus characterized by comprising: