JP3001665B2 - Track inspection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a track inspection for inspecting a track laid on the ground from a running track vehicle, and more particularly, to an inspection based on a detection result of a structure on a track. The present invention relates to a trajectory inspection device that captures an image of an object.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Since railroad tracks are generally used under severe conditions, track management for maintaining safe running of vehicles is indispensable, and it is necessary to monitor all structures of the tracks. Conventional track inspections, except for some examples such as track irregularity inspections such as rail gauge, level, height, flatness, etc.
It has been performed by using a human eye or a measuring device while actually walking on a track.

[0003]

However, the conventional measuring method as described above has a problem that a great deal of labor and time are required because a human walks on a track.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a track inspection apparatus capable of photographing only a required inspection object from a traveling vehicle and inspecting a track based on the photographed image. It is intended to do so.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a transmitting means for irradiating an energy beam on an orbit,
Receiving means for receiving an energy beam reflected from the orbit, detecting means for detecting the presence of a specific structure on the orbit from a signal received by the receiving means, and a specific structure on the orbit by the detecting means A trajectory inspection device having an imaging unit for taking in an image on the trajectory based on a signal from which an object is detected and an illumination unit for supplying illumination light for the imaging unit is employed. The illuminating means is a dark-field illuminating means having a pair of light-emitting parts, and the pair of illuminating parts are arranged in a rail longitudinal direction, and the imaging means is arranged at a central portion inside the dark-field illuminating means. The transmitting means and the receiving means are arranged on opposite sides of the imaging means.

[0006]

According to the present invention as described above, an energy beam is applied to a structure on an orbit and an energy beam reflected from the orbit is received. The detection means detects that the received signal from the reflected energy beam from the orbit is from a specific structure, and detects the presence of the specific structure on the orbit. Then, based on the detection signal, an image of the inspection object on the track is photographed by the imaging means and the dark-field illumination means. The positional relationship between the specific structure on the track detected by the detection means and the inspection target captured as an image needs to be substantially constant, and may be the same. That is, for example, by detecting the play of the rail, the play of the rail itself can be photographed as an object to be inspected, and the rail joint plate located in a substantially constant direction and at a substantially constant distance near the play of the rail. Can be taken as an inspection object.

For this reason, even when there are a large number of inspection objects on the track at random and the vehicle equipped with the track inspection device is running at high speed, the inspection object is on a specific structure on the track. As long as there is a certain positional relationship, images of all the inspection objects can be reliably taken. The quality of the object to be inspected can be automatically determined by passing the captured image through the image processing device on the spot or after bringing it back, and the quality is determined by viewing the captured image by a human. You may.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a pair of rod-shaped strobes are arranged outside a transmitting means for irradiating an energy beam and a receiving means for receiving a reflected energy beam from an orbit, and an inspection object on the orbit is provided. By increasing the opening angle between the camera and the pair of rod-shaped strobes, the inspection object on the track is illuminated by dark field illumination. Then, an image of the inspection object on the track is photographed by the imaging means. Since the contrast of the edge portion of the inspection object on the trajectory photographed by the imaging means is enhanced by dark field illumination compared with the other imaging regions, the size of the inspection object on the trajectory by image processing is calculated. It is possible to increase the processing speed.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. The present embodiment relates to the inspection of the rail joint play and shows an apparatus for automatically taking an image of the seam play from a running vehicle.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and shows a schematic configuration cut in a direction parallel to a direction in which a rail extends.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the arrangement of the main parts of the configuration shown in FIG.

The entire device is mounted on the lower or side of a running vehicle 20. The laser light emitted from the transmitting means 1 toward the rail 11 is reflected by the surface of the rail 11 and then received by the photodetector of the receiving means 2. As shown in FIG. 3, which is a plan view seen from above the rail,
Is irradiated on the rail 11 as a slit-like light beam extending in a direction perpendicular to the rail extending direction by the optical system in the transmitting means. As the vehicle travels, the laser light 12 sequentially scans the rails 11, and when the vehicle crosses the seam gap 13, the reflected light from the rail is temporarily cut off, and the reflected light received by the receiving means 2 The strength temporarily decreases. By detecting the temporary decrease in the amount of received light by the detecting means 3, the rail joint gap 13 is detected.

Next, a detection signal of the seam gap 13 obtained by the detection means 3 is converted into a TV camera 4 corresponding to the imaging means and a pair of rod-shaped strobes 5 corresponding to the illumination means.
By inputting the values into a and 5b, an image of the rail joint play 13 which is an inspection object is automatically taken. However, if the image of the seam and the laser light are simultaneously photographed by the TV camera, the accuracy of the play measurement is affected, so the laser light is turned off during the photographing, or the wavelength filter 10 is attached in front of the TV camera 4. By doing so, laser light can be cut. If, for example, an infrared semiconductor laser is used as the laser beam 12 and a filter that cuts off this infrared wavelength is selected as the wavelength filter 10, a clear image can be obtained without reducing the amount of illumination in the visible region necessary for capturing a play image. A play image can be obtained.

Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the TV camera 4 is disposed at the center inside a pair of rod-shaped strobes 5a, 5b, and the transmitting means 1 and the receiving means 2 are composed of a pair of rod-shaped strobes 5a, 5a. 5b, they are arranged on opposite sides of the TV camera 4 respectively. With such an arrangement, it is possible to configure a device that emphasizes the following functions. By disposing the rod-shaped strobes 5a and 5b in the rail extension direction and increasing the opening angle between the pair of rod-shaped strobes 5a and 5b with respect to the inspection object on the track, the darkness of the inspection object on the track is increased. The field of view is illuminated. That is, the edge of the inspection object on the track to be photographed is
It is brightly illuminated as compared with other photographing areas. This will be described in detail. FIG. 4 shows a photographing area of the TV camera 4 as a photographing means. In order to shorten the image processing time of a subject photographed by the TV camera 4, the TV camera 4 is arranged so that the scanning line direction of the TV camera 4 matches the rail extension direction. Since the entire device is mounted on a lower portion or a side surface of a running vehicle, the vehicle vibrates in a direction perpendicular to a rail extending direction, a lateral shake, and the like occur. In order to increase the accuracy of image processing, it is necessary to photograph the object under magnification as much as possible. In this case, however, there is a problem in that the object to be measured deviates from the screen due to vibration and lateral vibration of the vehicle. Accordingly, in order to prevent the subject from being missed due to vibration, lateral shake, or the like, in the shooting area of the TV camera 4, the vehicle vibration,
Lateral swing is also taken into account.

Assuming that the width of the rail is W, the maximum lateral displacement of the object to be measured is X, and the length of the shooting area of the TV camera 4 in the direction perpendicular to the rail extension direction is L, the following equation is established. . L = W + 2X (1)

TV in a direction perpendicular to the rail extension direction
Assuming that the length of the shooting area of the camera 4 is L, the length of the shooting area in the rail extension direction is the length L in the vertical direction multiplied by the aspect ratio a of the screen, and the length is aL.

FIG. 5 shows an arrangement of illumination means composed of a pair of light sources 5a and 5b. In the figure, 5c, 5d
Is the light source 5 when the surface of the rail 11 is assumed to be a mirror surface.
a, 5b, each virtual image, and a TV camera 4 as a photographing means
Is the half angle of view of the shooting range of θ ₁ ,
Assuming that the distance to the surface of No. 1 is R, the following equation holds. θ ₁ = arctan (aL / 2R) (2)

Assuming that the opening angle formed by the virtual images 5c and 5d of the light sources 5a and 5b with respect to the TV camera 4 is θ ₂ , the present illuminating means allows θ ₂ to be larger than the photographic field angle 2θ ₁ of the TV camera 4. , Light sources 5a and 5b. That is, by satisfying the condition of θ ₂ > 2θ ₁ (3), the specular reflection light on the rail surface does not enter the TV camera, but only the scattered light from the edge such as the gap between the rail joints enters. Dark field illumination.

A TV camera 4 is provided at the center of the inside of the lighting means.
Is arranged, the illuminated shooting area can be shot from directly above. On the other hand, transmission means 1
The direction of the optical axis of the laser beam emitted from the laser beam and the direction of the optical axis of the laser beam incident on the receiving means 2 are specularly reflected with respect to the rail surface as shown in FIG. Can be received efficiently. Transmission means 1
Since the laser light irradiated on the rail by the TV camera 4 is located near the center of the area of the rail photographed by the TV camera 4, after the detecting means 3 detects the seam gap,
If the time until the rail image is captured by the TV camera 4 is sufficiently short, during the joint play, the image is captured almost at the center of the screen regardless of the speed of the traveling vehicle.
The fact that the image of the seam is always photographed from the top right in the center of the screen means that it takes more time to search for the position of the image than when it takes time to search for an image at a different position each time. Because there is no, the process of the subsequent image processing can be simplified,
The image processing time as a whole can be shortened.

The transmitting means 1 and the receiving means 2 show the respective plan views of FIGS. 6A and 6B as viewed from the top of the rail, and the slit light beam imaged on the rail surface by the transmitting means 1. As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the laser light 12 is transmitted on the rail 11 by an optical system (including a laser light source 14, a collimator 16, and a cylindrical lens 17) in the transmitting means 1. The light is emitted as a slit-like light beam extending in a direction perpendicular to the rail extending direction. As an embodiment in which the transmitting means 1 and the receiving means 2 are arranged, a case where the transmitting means 1 and the receiving means 2 are arranged in the rail extending direction as shown in FIG. 6A and a case where the rail 11 is interposed therebetween as shown in FIG. There are two ways to do this. In the case of the arrangement of FIG. 6B, as shown in FIG. 7B, the optical system (laser light source 14, collimator 16, cylindrical lens 1)
7), a slit-shaped light beam (laser light 1)
2) forms an image inclined with respect to the surface of the rail 11, so that the width of the slit-shaped light beam becomes large as a whole, which causes a reduction in the detection efficiency of the seam gap 13. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 6A, as shown in FIG. 7A, the slit-shaped light beam (laser beam 12) forms an image without tilting on the rail 11 surface, so that the slit-shaped light beam width Is narrow and almost uniform, and is a small factor in lowering the detection efficiency of the seam gap 13. Therefore, it is effective to arrange the transmitting means 1 and the receiving means 2 in the rail extending direction as shown in FIG.

The slit-shaped light beam projected on the rail surface to detect the rail gap 13 is received in the same manner as when the shooting range of the TV camera 4 is determined based on the amount of vibration and lateral vibration of the vehicle. It is desirable that the length of the slit-shaped light beam is set so that the amount of light received by the means 2 does not decrease due to the amount of vibration or lateral vibration of the vehicle.

In this embodiment, in order to protect the TV camera 4, the transmitting means 1, the receiving means 2 and the like from dust, water droplets, etc., the whole apparatus is housed in a housing 7, and the reflection of laser light, Shooting of the images of the entrance and rail seam play is performed through the transparent window 8. As shown in FIG. 1, there is a sunshade cover 9 extending downward around the housing 7. This cover works as follows. The reason why the strobe is used in the present embodiment is that the light emission time is sufficiently short and the light emission intensity is sufficiently strong, so that a seamless play image can be taken even from a high-speed running vehicle. However, when the rail portion of the object to be photographed is exposed to direct sunlight, if the illuminance is equal to or greater than the contribution of the strobe, it causes blurring of the seam play image. Therefore, it is necessary to block direct sunlight hitting the rail portion to be photographed, and is blocked by the cover 9. However, the sunshade cover 9 is parallel to the extension direction of the rail,
It is also provided on the vehicle side surface.

In the present embodiment, in order to obtain a still image, a strobe light source for instantaneously illuminating the rails with a seam play detection signal is used as dark-field illuminating means comprising a pair of rod-shaped strobes. However, it is not limited to this. A still image is obtained by using a rod-shaped light source as a point light source or a rod-shaped and point light source that illuminates continuously, using a TV camera having a high-speed shutter, and inputting a detection signal between seam play to the high-speed shutter TV camera. You may do so. However, in this case, in order to obtain a still image sufficient for measuring the play value, the shutter speed of the TV camera needs to be sufficiently shorter than the running speed of the vehicle. The image of the seam gap thus obtained is recorded in the image memory 6. Then, the play value can be automatically measured by passing this image through an image processing device on the spot or after bringing it back. In addition, it is also possible for a human to make a rough judgment of quality by looking at this image.

By the way, when measuring the play value of the rail, it is necessary to measure the rail temperature at the same time. If a radiation thermometer is used, the temperature can be measured in a non-contact manner in parallel with the photographing of the seam play image. . FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view in a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the rail extends. As shown here, the radiation thermometers 15 and 15 'are arranged on both sides of the housing 7 accommodating the above-mentioned trajectory inspection device. The radiation thermometers 15 and 15 'are connected to the rail 1 on the opposite side.
The temperature of each side surface of each of 1 'and 11 is measured. The reason for measuring the temperature on the side surface of the rail is that the emissivity is almost zero and accurate measurement cannot be performed because the upper surface of the rail is close to a mirror surface. With such an arrangement, the entire apparatus including the radiation thermometer can be made compact. Further, by inputting the seam play detection signal to the radiation thermometer and measuring the temperature, the rail temperature corresponding to the location can be obtained at the time of each seam play measurement.

In the above description, the inspection of the gap between the rail joints has been described. However, the track inspection device of the present invention is not limited to this, and can be used for inspection of a rail joint plate, inspection of a rail fastening device, and the like. can do. In addition, although the optical configuration has been described for detecting a specific structure on the orbit, the present invention is not limited to this. An energy beam may be used.

[0026]

According to the orbit inspection apparatus of the present invention as described above, the energy beam is irradiated on the orbit, the energy beam reflected from the orbit is received, and the orbit is specified based on the received signal. Detects the existence of the structure on the orbit and takes an image of the inspection object on the orbit, so long as the inspection object has a certain positional relationship with the specific structure on the orbit, the inspection object on the orbit Even if there are many at random and a vehicle equipped with a track inspection device is running at high speed, it is possible to reliably capture images of all inspection objects.

[0027] Then, the imaging means is arranged at the center inside the dark-field illumination means, and the transmission means and the reception means are arranged on the inner part of the dark-field illumination means, and the imaging means are arranged on opposite sides of the imaging means. Thereby, the detection rate and the inspection accuracy of the inspection object on the track can be improved.

By mounting such a track inspection device on a traveling vehicle and performing a track inspection, a large number of track inspections can be accurately performed in a short period of time, and track maintenance management is significantly more efficient than in the past. Can be

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, showing a schematic configuration cut in a direction parallel to a direction in which a rail extends.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an arrangement of a main part of the configuration shown in FIG. 1 for easy understanding.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state of detection of a gap between rail joints by a laser beam.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a shooting area of the TV camera in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of the arrangement of the dark field illumination means of the present invention.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are plan views illustrating the arrangement direction of the transmission means and the reception means with respect to the rail extension direction.

7 (A) and (B) are FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B)
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the inclination of a slit-like light beam that forms an image near the rail surface, corresponding to the arrangement direction of the transmission means.

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing the configuration of the entire device of the present invention having a radiation thermometer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 transmitting means 2 receiving means 3 detecting means 4 imaging means 5a, 5b dark field illuminating means 12 energy beam (laser beam) 13 specific structure (seam gap)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Nobutaka Hatada 1-6-3 Nishioi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Nikon Oi Works (72) Inventor Seiichiro Ooi 1-6-5 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. East Japan Railway Company Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhisa Kono 1-6-5 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo East Japan Railway Company Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-2-85704 (JP, A) JP-A Sho 64-404 (JP, A) JP-A-57-23809 (JP, A) JP-A-2-190707 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01B 11/00 -11/30

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transmitting means for irradiating an energy beam on an orbit, a receiving means for receiving an energy beam reflected from the orbit, and the presence of a specific structure on the orbit from a signal received by the receiving means. Supply means for detecting an image on the orbit based on a signal indicating detection of a specific structure on the orbit by the detection means, and illumination light for the imaging means A lighting device having a pair of light-emitting portions, and the pair of light-emitting portions are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the rail. A trajectory inspection apparatus, which is arranged at a central portion inside a field illumination means, and wherein the transmission means and the reception means are respectively arranged on opposite sides of the imaging means. 2. Assuming that the rail surface is a mirror surface, the opening angle between each virtual image of the pair of light-emitting portions with respect to the imaging means is θ ₂ , and the half angle of view of the imaging range of the imaging means is θ ₁ . _2. The trajectory inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of light emitting units are arranged so as to satisfy a condition θ ₂ > 2θ ₁ . 3. The trajectory inspection device according to claim 1, wherein the energy beam is a laser beam.