JP5375239B2 - Image processing apparatus, inspection apparatus for long objects, and computer program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for inspecting the presence or absence of an abnormal part due to a defect or deformation of the surface of a long object.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an apparatus for measuring a light quantity for each light emitting point and detecting a defect of the light emitting point with respect to an object to be measured having a plurality of light emitting points such as a printer head. Specifically, the light emission point is photographed while moving the line sensor, the light amount value of each light emission point is calculated from the image, and the light amount value is corrected based on the photographing distance measured by the laser displacement meter. A technique for improving the measurement accuracy of values is disclosed.

JP 2008-76142 A

  The technique of Patent Document 1 captures an object to be measured while moving a line sensor, but uses a captured image by a line sensor for calculation of a light amount value and takes into account a result of distance measurement by a laser displacement meter. It's just something that raises the accuracy of value calculation. In other words, only a method for increasing the accuracy of the light amount value is disclosed, and in order to improve the inspection accuracy of the abnormal part of the long object, a specific method for increasing the resolution of the photographing data obtained from the line sensor. There is no description.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and inspects a long object as an inspection object using an image of a line sensor, obtains a high-resolution image, and increases the reliability of inspection accuracy. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus, an inspection apparatus for a long object, and a computer program that are suitable for detecting an abnormal portion of a long object by photographing while moving at high speed.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is an image processing apparatus used in an inspection apparatus for a long object that inspects an abnormal part of a long object that is an inspection object, along the longitudinal direction of the inspection object. A plurality of moving bodies are provided on the moving body, and shooting data acquisition is performed to acquire each shooting data shot by each line sensor including a large number of light receiving bodies arranged in a straight line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. And image combining means for combining a plurality of pieces of photographing data acquired by the photographing data acquisition means as a two-dimensional image having dimensions of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the photographing time, and the image There is provided an image processing apparatus characterized by comprising an abnormality determining means for analyzing the two-dimensional image synthesized by the synthesizing means and judging the presence or absence of an abnormal part.

  In the image processing apparatus, the imaging data acquisition unit records the imaging data together with time data, and the image synthesis unit calculates the width direction of the inspection object from the time interval between the imaging data and the imaging data. It is preferable that the two-dimensional image is synthesized with the length of the image and the shooting time as dimensions. The abnormality determining means preferably has a configuration in which the synthesized two-dimensional image is differentiated in space and the presence / absence of an abnormal portion is determined based on whether or not the differential value exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

  The present invention also provides a plurality of line sensors that are movable in the longitudinal direction of a long object that is an object to be inspected, and that include a large number of photoreceptors arranged on a single line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. A moving body arranged at predetermined intervals along the moving direction, imaging data acquisition means for acquiring each imaging data acquired by each line sensor, and a plurality of imaging data acquired by the imaging data acquisition means Image synthesis means for synthesizing as a two-dimensional image having a dimension of the length in the width direction of the object to be inspected and the shooting time, and the presence or absence of an abnormal portion by analyzing the two-dimensional image synthesized by the image synthesis means And an image processing apparatus having an abnormality determining means for determining whether or not a long object inspection apparatus is provided.

  The long object inspection apparatus includes a light emitting unit that emits ultraviolet light while the moving body moves to the inspection object, and each line sensor images reflected light from the inspection object. It is preferable that Moreover, it is preferable that the said mobile body is provided between the said line sensor and to-be-inspected object, and is provided with the magnifying lens which can acquire the imaging | photography data which expanded the to-be-inspected object.

  In the long section inspection apparatus, the imaging data acquisition unit of the image processing apparatus records the imaging data together with time data, and the image synthesis unit calculates the time interval between each imaging data and each imaging data. It is preferable that the two-dimensional image is synthesized with a dimension of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the time of photographing. The abnormality determination means of the image processing apparatus is configured to differentiate the synthesized two-dimensional image in space and determine the presence / absence of an abnormal portion based on whether or not the differential value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. Is preferred.

  Further, the present invention is a computer program set in an image processing apparatus used in an inspection apparatus for a long object that inspects an abnormal portion of a long object that is an inspection object, along the longitudinal direction of the inspection object. A plurality of moving bodies are provided on the moving body, and shooting data acquisition is performed to acquire each shooting data shot by each line sensor including a large number of light receiving bodies arranged in a straight line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. An image composition procedure for composing a plurality of pieces of photographing data acquired by the photographing data acquisition procedure as a two-dimensional image having dimensions of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the photographing time; An abnormality determination procedure for analyzing the two-dimensional image synthesized by the synthesis procedure and determining the presence or absence of an abnormal part is provided.

  In the computer program, the imaging data acquisition procedure records the imaging data together with time data, and the image composition procedure determines the width direction of the inspection object from the time interval between each imaging data and each imaging data. It is preferable that the two-dimensional image is synthesized with the length and time taken as a dimension. It is preferable that the abnormality determination procedure has a configuration in which the synthesized two-dimensional image is differentiated in space and the presence / absence of an abnormal portion is determined based on whether or not the differential value exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of line sensors that take an image of a long object that is an object to be inspected are provided on a moving body that moves along the longitudinal direction of the long object, and the image processing apparatus includes each line sensor. In this configuration, each piece of photographing data photographed in step S1 is acquired, a plurality of pieces of photographing data are synthesized as a two-dimensional image, and the two-dimensional image is analyzed to determine the presence or absence of an abnormal portion. Since a plurality of pieces of photographing data photographed by a plurality of line sensors are synthesized, the obtained two-dimensional image has a high resolution. Thereby, even if the moving body moves at a high speed along the longitudinal direction of the long object, an image with high resolution can be obtained, so that the detection accuracy of the presence or absence of an abnormal portion is improved.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an overall configuration of a long object inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a moving object of the long object inspection apparatus and a long object that is an object to be measured. FIG. 3 is a side view showing the moving object of the long object inspection apparatus and the long object as the object to be measured. FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the configuration of the image processing apparatus. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a plurality of pieces of shooting data acquired by the shooting data acquisition unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a process of combining a plurality of pieces of shooting data. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an output result when there is an abnormal portion in the combined photographing data.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the long object inspection apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a moving body 10 and an image processing apparatus 20.

  The moving body 10 is provided so as to be movable along the longitudinal direction of the long object 100 which is an inspection object. In FIG. 1, a traveling rail 200 is laid along both sides of the long object 100, and the moving body 10 moves along the traveling rail 200. However, this is merely an example. The moving means is not limited as long as it can move along the longitudinal direction of the long object 100.

  The moving body 10 is provided with a plurality of line sensors 11 along the direction of arrow A, which is the moving direction of the moving body 10. Each line sensor 11 includes a large number of light receiving bodies (imaging elements) 11a arranged on a single line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. The photoreceptor 11a is composed of, for example, a CCD image sensor and a C-MOS image sensor.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the moving body 10 preferably includes an ultraviolet light emitting lamp 12 as a light emitting unit that emits ultraviolet light toward the long object 100. Thereby, the photoreceptor 11a which comprises each line sensor 11 image | photographs the reflected light of the ultraviolet light reflected by the elongate object 100. FIG. In addition, it is preferable that the magnifying lens 13 is attached to the moving body 10 so as to be positioned between the line sensor 11 and the long object 100. Since an enlarged image is obtained, it is useful for detecting a minute defect portion or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the image processing apparatus 20 is electrically connected to each line sensor 11 of the moving body 10 via the control unit, and the storage unit acquires shooting data as a computer program. Means (imaging data acquisition procedure) 21, image composition means (image composition procedure) 22, abnormality determination means (abnormality determination procedure) 23, and the like are set. These computer programs can be provided by being stored in a recording medium such as a flexible disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an MO (magneto-optical disk), a DVD-ROM, or transmitted through a communication line. It is.

  The shooting data acquisition means (shooting data acquisition procedure) 21 acquires each shooting data shot by each line sensor 11 together with the shooting time data. As described above, each line sensor 11 is arranged at predetermined intervals along the moving direction of the moving body 10 and the moving body 10 travels at a predetermined speed. Imaging data sent from each line sensor 11 is acquired at intervals of t1 to t3.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 5, the photographing data acquisition unit 21 first takes photographing data (area 1) of the length direction X1 of the long object 100 by the line sensor 11 at the head in the moving direction. Get. Next, photographing data (area 2) of the length 100 in the width direction of the long object 100 is obtained from the second line sensor 11 photographed at the time interval t1. Similarly, at the time interval t2 and the time interval t3, the third line sensor 11 and the fourth line sensor 11 sequentially capture the image data (X3, X4 in the width direction length X3, X4, respectively). Area 3 and area 4) are obtained. It is assumed that each area 1 to 4 includes a defect (dent) P on the surface of the long object 100.

  The image synthesizing unit (image synthesizing procedure) 22 synthesizes a plurality of shooting data acquired by the shooting data acquiring unit 21 as a two-dimensional image. As shown in FIG. 5, the shooting data of areas 1 to 4 are shot at time intervals of t1, t2, and t3, so areas 1 to 4 are data of the same area. X1 to X4 are all the same length. Therefore, the image synthesizing unit 22 takes into consideration the time intervals t1 to t4 (or the moving speed of the moving body 10) from the respective photographing data obtained as shown in FIG. 4 is extracted, and the photographic data are integrated and averaged. When a plurality of (N) shooting data are integrated and averaged, the resolution is improved by “√N times”. In the example of FIGS. 5 and 6, since four pieces of shooting data are used, the resolution is twice as high as that in the case of one piece of shooting data.

  The abnormality determination means (abnormality determination procedure) 23 analyzes the two-dimensional image and determines the presence / absence of an abnormal portion. In this embodiment, the synthesized two-dimensional image is differentiated in space, and the differential value is determined in advance. The presence or absence of an abnormal point is determined by whether or not the threshold value is exceeded. For example, it is assumed that a defect (dent) P exists on the surface of the long object 100 as shown in FIGS. When the synthesized two-dimensional image including the defect (dent) P is spatially differentiated, the differential value greatly changes at the outer edge of the defect (dent) P. Therefore, if this differential value is compared with a predetermined threshold value, the presence of a defect (dent) P can be detected. Since the defect (dent) P is automatically detected by the abnormality determining means 23 and is not determined by human eyes, it can be detected even if the defect (dent) P is fine.

  When the abnormality determining unit 23 detects the defect (dent) P in this way, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, positional information of the defect (dent) P (X coordinate value and Y coordinate value in the long object 100). Are displayed on the display 25 to alert the administrator. Further, an alarm such as a sound may be issued together with the display on the display 25.

  Note that if the photographic data acquisition unit 21 acquires the photographic data, the information may be displayed on the display 25 as shown in FIG. 5, for example. Similarly, the image synthesizing unit 22 may display the synthesized photographing data on the display 25 as shown in FIG. 6, for example.

  According to the present embodiment, an abnormal location such as a defect on the surface of the long object 100 can be quickly found without visual observation. In addition, since the analysis is performed using an image obtained by combining a plurality of pieces of shooting data, even when the moving body 10 is shot at a high speed along the longitudinal direction of the long object 100, an image with high resolution is obtained. Is obtained.

  The present invention is effective for accurate inspection of abnormal places in various long objects, and can be applied to inspection of defects, deformation, etc. of train rails and power transmission lines. Conventionally, in the case of train rails, it was determined by abnormal noise or abnormal vibration during driving, but the present invention is applied, and a moving body provided with a plurality of line sensors is moved along the rail that is the inspection object. By moving and photographing, it is possible to accurately detect a defect or deformation of the rail surface. Similarly, damage to the jacket of the power transmission line has been conventionally performed by visual confirmation or photography, but by moving the moving body along the power transmission line, it is possible to accurately determine the damaged part and the like. Then, it is possible to surely detect a minute breakage or the like that has been overlooked.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inspection apparatus for long objects 10 Moving body 11 Line sensor 11a Photoreceptor 12 Ultraviolet light emission lamp 13 Magnifying lens 20 Image processing apparatus 21 Imaging data acquisition means (imaging data acquisition procedure)
22 Image composition means (image composition procedure)
23 Abnormality judging means (abnormality judging procedure)
25 Display 100 Long object 200 Traveling rail P Defect (dent)

Claims (8)

An image processing apparatus used in a long object inspection apparatus for inspecting an abnormal part of a long object as an inspection object,
A plurality of moving bodies moving along the longitudinal direction of the object to be inspected were photographed by each line sensor provided with a plurality of light receiving bodies arranged on a single line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. Shooting data acquisition means for acquiring each shooting data;
Image synthesizing means for synthesizing a plurality of pieces of imaging data acquired by the imaging data acquisition means as a two-dimensional image having dimensions of the length in the width direction of the object to be inspected and the imaging time;
An abnormality determining means for analyzing the two-dimensional image synthesized by the image synthesizing means and judging the presence or absence of an abnormal location ;
The shooting data acquisition means records the shooting data together with time data,
The image synthesizing unit is configured to synthesize the two-dimensional image having the dimension of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the time of photographing from the time interval between the photographing data and the photographing data. A featured image processing apparatus.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the abnormality determination unit differentiates the synthesized two-dimensional image in space, and determines whether there is an abnormal portion based on whether the differential value exceeds a predetermined threshold value. A plurality of line sensors that are movable in the longitudinal direction of a long object that is an object to be inspected and that have a large number of photoreceptors arranged on a single-line straight line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction are predetermined along the moving direction. A moving body arranged at every interval;
Imaging data acquisition means for acquiring each imaging data acquired by each line sensor, a plurality of imaging data acquired by the imaging data acquisition means, the length in the width direction of the object to be inspected, and the time of imaging An image synthesizing unit that synthesizes the image as a two-dimensional image, and an image processing apparatus that includes an abnormality determining unit that analyzes the two-dimensional image synthesized by the image synthesizing unit to determine the presence or absence of an abnormal part ,
The shooting data acquisition means of the image processing apparatus records the shooting data together with time data,
The image synthesizing unit is configured to synthesize the two-dimensional image having the dimension of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the time of photographing from the time interval between the photographing data and the photographing data. A long-length inspection device. The moving body, the comprises a light emitting means for emitting ultraviolet light while moving in the inspection object, wherein the line sensors are elongated according to claim 3, wherein a structure for capturing the reflected light from the object to be inspected Inspection equipment for objects. The inspection apparatus for a long object according to claim 3 or 4 , wherein the movable body includes a magnifying lens that is disposed between the line sensor and the object to be inspected and capable of acquiring photographing data obtained by enlarging the object to be inspected. Wherein said abnormality determination means of the image processing apparatus, a combined two-dimensional images were differentiated by space, according to claim 3, wherein determining the presence or absence of abnormality location according to whether exceeds its threshold differential value is predetermined Inspection device for long objects. A computer program set in an image processing apparatus used in a long object inspection apparatus for inspecting an abnormal part of a long object as an inspection object,
A plurality of moving bodies moving along the longitudinal direction of the object to be inspected were photographed by each line sensor provided with a plurality of light receiving bodies arranged on a single line in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction. Shooting data acquisition procedure for acquiring each shooting data;
An image synthesis procedure for synthesizing a plurality of pieces of imaging data acquired by the imaging data acquisition procedure as a two-dimensional image having a dimension of the length in the width direction of the object to be inspected and the time of imaging;
An abnormality determination procedure for analyzing the two-dimensional image synthesized by the image synthesis procedure to determine the presence or absence of an abnormal part;
Is executed by the image processing apparatus, and
The shooting data acquisition procedure records the shooting data together with time data,
In the image processing, the image processing includes synthesizing the two-dimensional image having the dimension of the length in the width direction of the inspection object and the time of shooting from the time interval between the shooting data and the shooting data. A computer program that is executed by an apparatus . The computer program according to claim 7 , wherein the abnormality determination procedure differentiates the synthesized two-dimensional image in space and determines the presence or absence of an abnormal portion based on whether or not the differential value exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

Images