JP2759614B2 - In-pipe inspection camera device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-pipe inspection camera apparatus, and more particularly to an in-pipe inspection camera apparatus for inspecting an internal state of an exhaust pipe, a water distribution pipe, and the like.

In recent years, dangerous places where humans cannot enter such as inspection of aircraft and vehicles, maintenance and inspection of automobiles, inspection of chimneys, inspection of tanks, inspection of attics, etc. There are provided many inspection camera devices for performing inspection and inspection in place of human eyes in places that are too small to enter.

In such an inspection camera device, illumination is indispensable for imaging by a camera. For this reason, an inspection camera device generally includes an illumination device.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, such an inspection camera device has
It has an optical lens and a solid-state image sensor (CCD: Charg
e, a camera unit that is a color video camera using a Coupled Device), an illumination unit including a plurality of halogen lamps arranged around an optical lens of the camera unit, a case for mounting the camera unit and the illumination unit, And a cable for outputting a video signal from the camera unit.

[0005] In the above configuration, the inspection camera apparatus is provided with the optical lens of the camera section for the purpose.
A wide-angle lens exceeding the degree is used, and the case itself has a streamlined or spherical completely waterproof structure so that it can move smoothly in narrow piping, and a hard hard cable is used for the cable. Thereby, the operability is improved.

[0006] Even when used in a dark place, the illumination by the halogen lamp is built in, so that a clear image can be projected.

[0007]

However, in such a conventional inspection camera apparatus, a halogen lamp is used for illumination to obtain a clear image, and a color video camera is used for the camera. Therefore, there were problems as described below.

That is, halogen lamps used for illumination include: Relatively short life. (Life is several hundred to 1,000
(It is a short time, so it is necessary to replace it regularly.) It is difficult to adjust the amount of light with the lamp itself. (Applying a drive voltage that has an extreme difference from the rating to adjust the amount of light will affect the product life, so it is impossible.) High power consumption. (1 per halogen lamp
3. About 2V, 3W) The calorific value is large. (Because the halogen lamp is a heating bulb, the influence of heat generation on the camera unit and case must be considered.) Low mechanical strength. (Since halogen lamps are glass bulbs, they are vulnerable to shock.) It is difficult to control the wavelength of light in the lamp itself. (To output many wavelengths including infrared rays, special filters are required for light irradiation.)

In applications such as finding a defective portion such as a pipe in an inspection camera device, a monochrome video camera often satisfies the requirements without using a color video camera in many cases. The use of a color video camera has been a factor leading to an increase in the cost of the device itself.

[0010] In view of the above problems, a first object of the present invention is to provide a camera apparatus for in-pipe inspection provided with a small-sized, low-power-consumption, long-life lighting device.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a low-cost in-pipe inspection camera apparatus using a monochrome video camera.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention relates to a tube having a lighting unit for illuminating a subject and a camera unit for picking up an image of the subject illuminated by the lighting unit. In the inspection camera device, the illumination unit includes:
It is arranged on the circumference so as to surround the periphery of the camera unit.
Is, and a plurality of light emitting diodes which are arranged in point symmetry at the time of irradiation of <br/> a Rutotomoni light having a specific illumination angle θ
Therefore, simply arranging it horizontally will not
The illuminance of the light emission decreases as the distance increases
Each diode should be tilted by θ / 2 toward the center.
With this configuration, the plurality of light emitting diodes are arranged at a position where a combined beam of these beams is parallel to the optical axis of the optical lens of the camera unit, and the camera unit includes the plurality of light emitting diodes. It is characterized by comprising a monochrome video camera having a solid-state image pickup device for detecting monochromatic light reflected from an object from a diode.

[0013]

According to the present invention, since a plurality of light emitting diodes are used as the illumination source of the illumination unit, a long life, easy light quantity adjustment, low power consumption, and a small amount of heat generation are obtained as compared with the conventionally used halogen lamp. Numerous advantages such as high mechanical strength and easy control of the wavelength of illumination light can be obtained.

In this case, the irradiation light emitted from the light emitting diode is monochromatic light (hereinafter also referred to as single wavelength light),
By using the monochrome video camera corresponding to the single-wavelength light, a low-cost in-pipe inspection camera apparatus can be obtained without deteriorating the basic inspection performance.

[0015] Further, the illumination unit is provided around the camera unit.
Are arranged on the circumference so as to surround
And a plurality of light emitting diodes Tona Rutotomoni, light irradiation
Since it has a unique irradiation angle θ at the time of shooting, simply
With a flat arrangement, the illuminance on the object
The light emitting diodes, which become lower as
Tilting by θ / 2 toward the center,
Since the light-emitting diode is disposed at a position where a combined beam of these beams is parallel to the optical axis of the optical lens of the camera unit, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of light-dark differences and shadows of the illumination light, and to further suppress the irradiation light. Energy can be used effectively.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a camera apparatus for in-pipe inspection 1 of this embodiment. In FIG. 1, an in-pipe inspection camera device 1 is roughly divided into an illumination unit 2, a camera unit 3, a camera head 4 serving as a housing, a light amount adjustment unit 5, a control unit 6, a power supply unit 7, a display unit 8, a cable 9. It is composed of

FIG. 2 is a front view of the camera head 4 in the in-pipe inspection camera device 1 of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the camera head 4 in the in-pipe inspection camera device 1 of the present embodiment. is there.

As shown in FIG. 2, the illuminating section 2 has a plurality of light emitting diodes disposed so as to surround the camera section 3 which is disposed at the center of the opening formed in the camera head 4. (LED: Light Emittin
g Diode) 10. In this embodiment, the area on the circumference where the light-emitting diodes 10 are arranged is divided into six blocks by the protector rib 11, and four blocks are provided for each block, that is, a total of 24 blocks are provided. Light emitting diode 1
0 is arranged. Thereby, each light emitting diode 1
Since the 0s are arranged point-symmetrically, the occurrence of light-dark differences and shadows of the illumination light is suppressed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the light emitting diode 10 is protected in front of the light emitting diode 10 and water or the like is prevented from entering the camera head 4.
An LED window 10a made of red acrylic is provided. The LED window 10a is not limited to red acrylic, but may be selected according to the color of light emitted by the light emitting diode 10, or may be transparent acrylic.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view for explaining a mounting position of the light emitting diode 10. As shown in FIG. The light emitting diode 10
As shown in FIG. 4A, since the light has a specific irradiation angle θ at the time of light irradiation, if it is simply arranged horizontally,
The illuminance on the object decreases as the distance increases.

In this embodiment, the light emitting diodes 10 arranged on the circumference are inclined by θ / 2 toward the center as shown in FIG. The synthesized light that appears is
Since the beam is a parallel beam, the irradiation light can be used effectively. That is, since the plurality of light emitting diodes are disposed at positions where the combined beam of these beams is parallel to the optical axis of the optical lens of the camera unit, the energy of the irradiation light can be effectively used.

As shown in FIG. 3, the camera section 3 comprises an optical lens 12 and a monochrome video camera body 13 using a solid-state image pickup device.
A camera window 12a made of transparent acrylic is provided to protect the optical lens 12 and prevent water or the like from entering the inside of the camera head 4.

The camera head 4 is a housing for holding the illumination unit 2 and the camera unit 3 of the in-pipe inspection camera device 1 in this embodiment. The camera head 4 has a front part 4a made of aluminum and a middle part. 4b and a rear part 4c, which are fixed to the screw holes via bolt screws. In FIG. 3, screw holes 4 d are mounting screw holes for mounting a cover or the like, 11 is a protector serving as a block boundary on which the light emitting diode 10 is arranged, and 11 a is a camera. This is a protector for protecting the peripheral portion of the camera window 12a in the head 4.

The light quantity adjusting section 5 converts the power supply voltage supplied from the power supply section 7 into a predetermined power supply voltage value and supplies the power supply voltage value to the illumination section 2, whereby the illumination light quantity by the illumination section 2 can be freely adjusted. Since the adjustment can be changed, the aperture mechanism normally required in the camera unit 3 can be simplified or omitted, and the manufacturing cost of the camera unit 3 can be reduced.

The control section 6 outputs a control signal for controlling each section in the in-pipe inspection camera device 1 based on an input instruction from an input section (not shown). The adjustment of the light amount and the like are also performed by monitoring the voltage at the illumination unit 2 by the control unit 6.

The power supply unit 7 supplies a power supply voltage to each unit of the in-pipe inspection camera device 1. In particular, the illumination unit 2 and the camera unit 3 inside the camera head 4 have a light amount adjustment unit 5.
Via a cable 9.

The display unit 8 comprises a display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT: Cathode Ray Tube) of, for example, about 8 inches. The display unit 8 receives image information captured by the camera unit 3 via the cable 9 and displays the image information. It is. In this case, the display device used for the display unit 8 is not limited to the cathode ray tube, but may be, for example, a liquid crystal display (LC).
D: Liquid Crystal Display)
And a video cassette recorder for recording the received image information may be provided as an option or as a standard.

The cable 9 connects various signal lines, such as a power supply line from the light amount control unit 5, a control line from the control unit 6, and a video signal line to the display unit 8, for example, to the illumination unit 2 in the camera head 4.
And the camera unit 3.

Next, the operation (operation) of this embodiment will be described.

In-pipe inspection camera device 1 in this embodiment
For example, in applications such as finding a defective portion such as a pipe, a monochrome video camera often satisfies the requirements without using an expensive color video camera in the camera section 3 in many cases. In order to obtain an in-pipe inspection camera device 1, a monochrome video camera is used for the camera unit 3.

In this case, it is sufficient to use only light and dark as illumination for obtaining a monochrome image, and therefore, it is sufficient that illumination light of a single wavelength be obtained as the illumination.

In view of the above, instead of the illumination by the halogen lamp, which has many problems in the prior art, the illumination is switched to the illumination by a plurality of light emitting diodes 10, and the irradiation light emitted from the light emitting diodes 10 is made to be a single wavelength light. By adopting a monochrome video camera to be used in the camera unit 3, the lighting unit 2 can: Long-lived enough to be available semi-permanently,
1. No need for conventional replacement. 2. The light amount can be easily adjusted by the light amount adjusting unit 5, and Power consumption per light emitting diode is 2V, 60
3. The power consumption is as low as about mW, so that it is possible to realize a large number of arrays and drive with batteries or the like. 4. Since the light emitting diode generates a small amount of heat and has a small size, it can be arranged in a small space. 5. High mechanical strength, resistant to external shock. Because the wavelength control of the illumination light is easy, for example,
By irradiating only visible light, the filter conventionally required in the camera unit 3 becomes unnecessary, and the influence of infrared rays or the like on the subject can be reduced. Can have many advantages such that only the infrared rays can be irradiated by the light emitting diode 10.

Of course, the three primary colors of red (RE
D), green (GREEN), and blue (BLUE) can be configured to obtain a color image by using a light emitting diode 10 for illumination and using a color video camera for the camera unit 3.

As described above, in this embodiment, by using a plurality of light emitting diodes 10 as the illumination source of the illumination section 2, a number of advantages can be obtained as compared with the conventionally used halogen lamp. it can.

In this embodiment, the light emitting diode 10
A single-wavelength light is used as the irradiation light from the camera, and a monochrome video camera corresponding to the single-wavelength light is used for the camera unit 3 so that a low-cost in-pipe inspection camera can be performed without lowering the basic inspection performance. The device 1 can be obtained.

Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof. Needless to say,

For example, the arrangement pattern and the number of the light emitting diodes 10 can be arbitrarily set. Since the light emitting diodes are small in size and can be arranged at a high density, they can be arranged in a plurality of rows or in a staggered arrangement. It is also conceivable to arrange them.

In the above description, the invention made mainly by the inventor has been described as applied to a camera apparatus for in-pipe inspection, which is the background of use, but the invention is not limited to this.

For example, the present invention can be applied to a camera device for inspection such as inspection of an aircraft / vehicle, maintenance / inspection of a car, inspection of a chimney, inspection of a tank, inspection of an attic, and the like.

[0042]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by using a plurality of light emitting diodes as the illumination source of the illumination unit, a longer life (permanently available) than a conventionally used halogen lamp. Yes, no need for replacement, easy adjustment of light intensity, low power consumption (about 2V, 60mW per unit), many arrangements and driving by batteries, etc., small heat generation and small space Possible, high mechanical strength, strong shock resistance, easy control of illumination light wavelength.For example, by irradiating only visible light, there is no need for a filter in the camera unit, and there are few effects on the subject. Benefits can be obtained.

In addition to using the monochrome video camera corresponding to the single-wavelength light as the irradiation light emitted from the light-emitting diode as a single-wavelength light, in addition to the effects described above,
For example, in applications such as finding a defective portion such as a pipe in an inspection camera device, a low-cost in-pipe inspection camera device can be obtained without deteriorating basic inspection performance.

Further, the illumination unit is provided around the camera unit.
Are arranged on the circumference so as to surround
Irradiation of the plurality of light emitting diodes Tona Rutotomoni light
Since it has a unique irradiation angle θ at the time of shooting, simply
With a flat arrangement, the illuminance on the object
The light emitting diodes, which become lower as
Tilting by θ / 2 toward the center,
Since the light-emitting diode is disposed at a position where a combined beam of these beams is parallel to the optical axis of the optical lens of the camera unit, it is possible to suppress a difference in brightness and shadow of illumination light from occurring,
Further, the energy of the irradiation light can be used effectively.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the entire configuration of a camera apparatus for in-pipe inspection in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a camera head in the in-pipe inspection camera device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a camera head in the in-pipe inspection camera device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a mounting position of a light emitting diode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-pipe inspection camera device 2 Illumination part 3 Camera part 4 Camera head (housing) 4a Camera head front part 4b Camera head middle part 4c Camera head rear part 4d Mounting screw hole 5 Light intensity adjustment part 6 Control part 7 Power supply 8 Display part 9 Cable 10 Light emitting diode 10a LED window 11 Protector rib 11a Front protector 12 Optical lens 12a Camera window 13 Monochrome video camera body

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-3-1233311 (JP, A) JP-A-62-194444 (JP, A) JP-A-5-149885 (JP, A) JP-A-3-103375 (JP, A) JP-A-4-12838 (JP, A) JP-A-6-66534 (JP, A) JP-A-1-163855 (JP, U) JP-A-3-16051 (JP, U) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G01N 21/88

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An in-pipe inspection camera device comprising: a lighting unit for illuminating a subject; and a camera unit for imaging a subject illuminated by the lighting unit in a housing. To surround the circle
Disposed on the periphery, and point symmetry in arranged a plurality of light emitting diodes Tona Rutotomoni, irradiation inherent on irradiation of light
Because it has an angle θ, it was simply placed horizontally
Means that the illuminance on the object decreases as the distance increases.
The light-emitting diodes that become
The plurality of light emitting diodes can be tilted by two.
Is disposed at a position where a combined beam of these beams is parallel to the optical axis of the optical lens of the camera unit. The camera unit detects the subject reflected light of monochromatic light emitted from the plurality of light emitting diodes. An in-pipe inspection camera device comprising a monochrome video camera having a solid-state imaging device.