JP2016060563A - Scraping amount measuring apparatus and scraping amount control method for continuous unloader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scraping amount measuring apparatus for a continuous unloader, which enables an accurate grasp of a scraping amount.SOLUTION: A scraping amount measuring apparatus includes: a camera 40 that continuously takes an image of loose matter 33 scraped off by a continuous unloader 10, together with a bucket 21; an image processing system 44 that classifies the images, taken by the camera 40, into images of the bucket 21 and a load 33L; and a load amount calculator 45 that calculates a load amount within the bucket 21 from the image obtained by the image processing system 44.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a continuous unloader for unloading loose objects in a cargo hold, and more particularly to a scraping amount measuring apparatus and a scraping amount control method for a continuous unloader that can measure the amount of loose articles scraped and conveyed by a continuous unloader. It is.

  The continuous unloader is installed so as to be able to travel along the wharf of the wharf, and continuously unloads iron ore and coal loaded in the bulk of a bulk carrier freighted on the wharf.

  In a bucket-type continuous unloader (hereinafter referred to as a continuous unloader), a cab is provided so as to be positioned above the hold so that the unloading situation in the hold loaded with loose objects can be grasped.

As a method to stabilize (stabilize) the scraping amount of this continuous unloader,
(1) The operator looks at the image of the ITV camera that reflects the amount of load in the bucket, and controls the operation speed (scraping section lateral feed speed) with a large amount and a small amount.
(2) Monitor the torque of the drive device driving the bucket elevator (bucket), and control the scraping speed so that the torque becomes a constant value,
The scraping amount is controlled by, for example.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-19168 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-223735

  However, since the accuracy of the method (1) varies depending on the skill of the operator, it is difficult to learn without experience. In particular, the number of skilled operators has recently decreased, and it is difficult to transfer skills.

  In the method (2), since the torque of the driving device is the sum of the load lifting force and the excavation force, the excavation force that is substantially proportional to the scraping amount is not necessarily constant even when the torque is controlled to be constant. In other words, there is a problem that accuracy is deteriorated.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a continuous unloader scraping amount measuring apparatus and a scraping amount control method capable of solving the above-described problems and accurately grasping the scraping amount.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a camera for continuously photographing a rose scraped by a continuous unloader together with a bucket, an image processing apparatus for dividing the image captured by the camera into a bucket and a load, and an image A continuous unloader scraping amount measuring device, comprising: a load amount calculator for calculating a load amount in a bucket from an image obtained by a processing device.

  Further, the present invention is characterized in that the load amount in the bucket obtained by the above-described continuous unloader scraping amount measuring device is compared with the set scraping amount, and based on this, the scraping speed of the continuous unloader is controlled. This is a scraping amount control method for a continuous unloader.

  In the present invention, the inside of the bucket being scraped is photographed with a camera, and the image is processed to obtain the load in the bucket, and based on this, the scraping speed can be controlled to be constant. Demonstrate the excellent effect of being able to.

It is a figure which shows the continuous unloader of this invention. The scraping part of the continuous unloader of this invention is shown, (a) is a figure which shows the time of a scraping part longest, (b) is a figure which shows the time of scraping part shortest. In this invention, (a) is a figure which shows the state of the bucket and load image | photographed with the ITV camera, (b) is a figure which shows the cross section of a bucket. In this invention, it is a figure which shows the relationship between the load amount of a bucket, and the position of the load in a bucket. It is a block diagram of the scraping amount measuring apparatus of the continuous unloader in the present invention. In this invention, it is a figure which shows the fixed quantity scraping control flow by the scraping amount measuring apparatus of a continuous unloader.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  First, the continuous unloader 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the continuous unloader 10 includes a portal portion 13 that travels on a rail 12 provided on a quay 11 such as a wharf, and a turning frame 14 that is provided on the portal portion 13 so as to be horizontally rotatable. , A balancing lever 15 provided on the top of the swivel frame 14 so as to be able to be lifted and lowered, a bucket elevator casing 17 provided on the balancing lever 15 via a top frame 16 so as to be able to swivel, and swiveling with the top frame 16 A frame 18 is connected, and a boom 18 that forms a parallel link with the balancing lever 15 is provided.

  The balancing lever 15 extends to the rear of the revolving frame 14, and a counterweight 19 is provided at the rear end. The balancing lever 15 and the revolving frame 14 are connected by a lifting / lowering cylinder 20, and the balancing lever 15 and the boom 18 are lifted / lowered by expanding / contracting the lifting / lowering cylinder 20.

  The counterweight 19 balances with the weights of the balancing lever 15, the top frame 16, the bucket elevator casing 17, and the boom 18, and is set to an optimum weight that can be lifted and lowered by the lifting and lowering cylinder 20.

  The bucket elevator casing 17 also serves as a casing for the bucket elevator 23 in which a large number of buckets 21 are connected by a chain 22. The chain 22 of the bucket elevator 23 is wound around a drive sprocket 24 provided in the upper part of the bucket elevator casing 17, and a front sprocket 26 a and a rear end sprocket 26 b that form a scraping portion 25 below the bucket elevator casing 17. The sprockets 26 a and 26 b are connected to the lower part of the bucket elevator casing 17 by the link mechanism 27.

  The link mechanism 27 adjusts the distance between the sprockets 26a and 26b with a hydraulic cylinder (not shown), and the longest scraping portion shown in FIG. 2 (a) and the shortest scraping portion shown in FIG. 2 (b). The length of the scraping part 25 can be adjusted between the two.

  In the unloading by the continuous unloader 10, a hull 30 such as a cargo ship is attached to the quay 11, a hatch 32 on the hold 31 of the hull 30 is opened, a bucket elevator casing 17 is inserted into the hold 31, and a scraping unit 25 is moved to a predetermined position in the hold 31 and positioned on the loose article 33. In this state, the bucket elevator 23 is driven to scrape the loose article 33.

  The roses 33 scraped by the buckets 21 of the scraping section 25 are passed through the bucket elevator casing 17, and chutes (not shown) in the swivel frame 14 from a conveyor (not shown) provided in the boom 18. From the transfer device 34 provided in the portal portion 13 to the landing conveyor 35 provided on the quay 11, and conveyed from the landing conveyor 35 to the storage facility.

  The scraping by the scraping unit 25 is performed by causing the portal unit 13 to travel, turning the turning frame 14, turning the boom 18, scraping the loose objects 33 in the hold 31, and scraping together with the scraping unit 25. Is scraped and unloaded while moving in the hold 31.

  In the unloading operation of the continuous unloader 10, the operator in the cab 28 provided at the tip of the top frame 16 on the side opposite to the balancing lever 15 is moved by the travel position of the portal portion 13 and the lifting / lowering of the balancing lever 15 by the lifting cylinder 20. The angle and the turning angle of the bucket elevator casing 17 are operated to adjust the position and height of the scraping portion 25 of the continuous unloader 10, and the link mechanism 27 of the scraping portion 25 is operated to perform the unloading operation manually or automatically. Unloading operation is performed.

  A camera (ITV camera) 40 is provided below the bucket elevator casing 17 of the continuous unloader 10. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the camera 40 may be in any position as long as the load (rose material) scraped by the scraping unit 25 and taken into the bucket 21 can be photographed together with the bucket 21. Considering the influence of dust, for example, a transparent window may be provided in the bucket elevator casing 17, and a camera may be provided outside the window to photograph the bucket through the window.

  FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of a continuous unloader scraping amount measuring apparatus according to the present invention.

  The ITV system 41 provided with the camera 40 monitors the bucket with the camera 40, the video signal is input to the ITV control panel 42, and the video is displayed on the monitor 43 in the cab. The ITV control panel 42 is operated with another camera for monitoring the continuous unloader 10 and its video signal is inputted, and the video can be switched and displayed on the monitor 43.

  The bucket video signal captured by the camera 40 is input from the ITV control panel 42 to the image processing device 44.

  The image processing device 44 captures an image in which the entire bucket is moved from images continuously shot by a camera, and divides the image into a bucket surface and a load surface by image processing. The boundary line of the surface can be recognized.

  The processed image obtained by the image processing device 44 is input to the load calculator 45. The load calculator 45 obtains the height of the load in the bucket from the boundary line formed by the bucket wall surface and the load surface from the image processing image, and calculates the load amount in the bucket from the height.

  The load calculated by the load calculator 45 is input to the unloader control device 46, and a control signal from the unloader control device 46 is input to the drive control device (inverter device) 47. Each motor M of the unloader (running, boom turning, bucket elevator turning, bucket elevator driving speed motor) is controlled.

  The unloader control device 46 can adjust the boom undulation and the length of the scraping portion by controlling the extension / contraction length of the hydraulic cylinder S via the hydraulic control device 48.

  The image processing device 44 and the load calculator 45 of this continuous unloader scraping amount measuring device will be further described.

  FIG. 3A shows an image of the bucket 21 and the load 33L taken by the camera.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the bucket 21 is held between the chains 22, and the upper opening 21a of the bucket 21 is photographed by the camera.

  The image processing device 44 detects the edges 21el and 21er on the left and right sides of the upper opening 21a of the bucket 21, and divides the image into the bucket inner wall surface 21w and the load surface 33p between the edges 21el and 21er.

  Thereby, since the bucket inner wall surface 21w and the load surface 33p are separated by the boundary line L, the height of the load 33L in the bucket 21 can be known from the position of the boundary line L, and the load amount in the bucket can be detected.

  FIG. 3B shows a cross section of the bucket, where 100% is when the load reaches the upper opening 21a, 50% when the load is half, and 0% when the load is empty.

  FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the load and the height of the load.

  The load calculator 45 obtains the position of the boundary line L from the processed image from the image processing device 44, sets the boundary line L100 as the load amount 100%, and sets the boundary line L50 when the load is half as 50% as the load amount 50%. The amount of load is calculated according to the position.

  Since the boundary line L is not necessarily horizontal with respect to the bucket, the position of the boundary line L is determined by the average value of the maximum height and the minimum height of the inclination, or the boundary line L If it is hit or uneven, the center of the wave or unevenness is defined as the boundary line L.

In the calculation of the load by the load calculator 45, the load in the bucket is V (ton), the position of the boundary line L with respect to the capacity 100% is x%, the bucket volume Vb (m ³ ), the load specific gravity d (ton). / M ³ )
V = Vb × d × (x / 100)
Then, the load V is obtained.

  This load V is the load per bucket, and the amount of unloading per unit time and the average amount of load in the bucket can be obtained by calculating the amount of load in the bucket that is sequentially photographed and integrating it. it can.

  The operator inputs the set scraping amount to the unloader control device 46 shown in FIG. 5, so that the unloader control device 46 sets the scraping amount based on the load amount calculated by the load amount calculator 45. The drive control device 47 can control each motor M (running, boom turning, bucket elevator turning, bucket elevator driving speed) of the continuous unloader so as to obtain a set load amount.

  This control flow will be described with reference to FIG.

  Control is started (step S10), image data is captured in step S11, and image processing is performed (step S12). In step S13, it is determined whether the processed image is a bucket image. If the image is not a bucket (No), steps S11 and S12 are repeated. If the image is a bucket image (Yes), the load calculation is performed in step S14. I do. Thereafter, in step S15, it is determined whether or not the load calculation has been performed a set number of times. If the number is less than the set number (No), the process returns to step S11. Then, the unloader moving speed is PID controlled (step S16). This step S16 is performed when an operator's operation signal is input in step S17, and then in step S18, a speed command is output to the drive device. The unloader is driven based on the speed command value and controlled so that the scraping amount becomes the set scraping amount, and the process returns to step S11 again to repeat the above steps.

  As described above, the present invention captures the inside of the bucket being scraped with a camera, calculates the amount of load in the bucket by image processing the image, calculates the scraping amount based on the amount of load, By controlling the travel of the continuous unloader, the turning of the boom, the turning of the bucket elevator, and the driving speed of the bucket elevator based on the scraping amount data, the scraping speed can be controlled to be constant.

  In this case, since speed control is performed based on the image in which the bucket is loaded, the responsiveness is fast, and the amount of scraping in the bucket can be measured continuously or quantitatively. it can.

10 Continuous unloader 21 Bucket 33L Load 40 Camera 44 Image processing device 45 Load calculator

Claims (5)

  A camera that continuously shoots the roses scraped by the continuous unloader together with the bucket, an image processing device that divides the image captured by the camera into a bucket and a load, and an image obtained by the image processing device. A scraping amount measuring device for a continuous unloader, comprising a load calculator for calculating a load.   2. The image processing apparatus divides an image into a bucket surface and a load surface, and the load amount calculator obtains a position of a boundary line between the bucket surface and the load surface and obtains a load amount from the position. Scraper measuring device for continuous unloader.   The load calculator calculates V = Vb × d × (x / 100), where V is the load in the bucket, x is the position of the boundary with respect to 100% capacity, bucket volume Vb, and load specific gravity d. 4. The continuous unloader scraping amount measuring device according to claim 2, wherein the load amount V is obtained.   The scrap amount measuring apparatus for a continuous unloader according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the load amount calculator calculates the load amount in the plurality of buckets and uses the average value as the load amount in the bucket.   The load amount in the bucket obtained by the continuous unloader scraping amount measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is compared with the set scraping amount, and based on this, the scraping speed of the continuous unloader is controlled. A method for controlling a scraping amount of a continuous unloader.