JP6634314B2 - Facility inspection system using unmanned aerial vehicles - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle in which an unmanned aerial vehicle having an inspection function is automatically flown and inspected in a facility in which a facility requiring inspection is housed, and in particular, a work environment and the like. The present invention relates to an in-house inspection system which is suitably applied to an in-house inspection of an incineration treatment facility which places a heavy burden on workers due to the above.

  In recent years, for example, waste incineration facilities have been highly automated and labor-saving, but from the viewpoint of early detection of trouble and implementation of appropriate preventive maintenance, regular patrols in the incineration facilities by workers・ Inspection work is indispensable.

  In the past inspection work in incineration facilities, workers patrol the site, visually confirming and inspecting when equipment is abnormal, etc., to grasp the detailed situation. When inspecting and patrol inside the vast incineration facility, the range that can be inspected is limited to the flow line with scaffolding, and when inspecting high places without scaffolding, it is necessary to work with scaffolding Accompany. In the case of high-temperature steam or chemicals leaking out, workers should wear protective clothing and check.

  For example, in a garbage pit that stores collected waste, monitoring is performed by multiple surveillance cameras, and a garbage crane that inputs waste stored in the garbage pit to an incinerator stops abnormally. In such a case, the worker goes to the rail that guides the traveling of the garbage crane and manually lifts the bucket to perform an inspection. Further, in the case of an operation of saving the record of the inspection at the site as data, the operation is manually performed by an operator, such as manually inputting the data into a management personal computer or scanning the recording paper (base paper).

The on-site inspection work described above has the following problems.
(1) It is burdensome for a worker to perform a round inspection inside a vast incineration facility, and the range of quick inspection is limited to a place where a scaffold is provided.
(2) Inspection of a high place where a scaffold is not provided involves a work of assembling the scaffold, which requires a great deal of labor, manpower and time.
(3) Although the inside of the garbage pit is monitored by a plurality of surveillance cameras, blind spots occur depending on the state of garbage accumulation and the stop position of the garbage crane, and there are places where detailed conditions cannot be confirmed.
(4) When the garbage crane stops abnormally, etc., the work in the garbage pit has a balance with odor, and the physical and mental burden on the worker becomes enormous.
(5) Workers cannot approach the space where high-pressure steam or chemicals are leaking unless they wear protective clothing, and preparation time is required before checking the site.
(6) In order to save the records of the field inspection as data, labor is required by the operator, such as manually inputting the data into a management personal computer or scanning the recording paper (base paper).

  As a device capable of solving the above-mentioned problem, an inspection robot that travels along a rail laid in an incineration plant performs patrol and inspection in the incineration plant. It has been proposed.

Japanese Patent No. 4293998

  However, according to the above-mentioned Patent Literature 1, inspection can be performed only in the range where the rail is laid, so that the range that can be checked is narrow, and an attempt is made to widen the range in which the rail is laid in order to increase the range that can be checked. However, there is a physical and cost limit to laying rails in a vast incineration facility, and there is a problem that it is not possible to expand the range that can be inspected as desired.

  Therefore, it is conceivable to perform the inspection using an unmanned aerial vehicle having an inspection function. Examples of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles that have been established today include manual wall surveys and chimney inspections, all of which are mainly intended for manual flight outdoors. The GPS is used to specify a route and automatically fly. Here, the GPS is a Global Positioning System, which refers to a positioning system using a satellite (a system for measuring the current position on the earth), and a measurement error is about 10 m. is there.

  However, in the case where the unmanned aerial vehicle is made to fly automatically in the facility using the GPS to perform inspection, the measurement error by the GPS positioning system when obtaining the current three-dimensional position of the unmanned aerial vehicle is too large (measurement error : About 10 m), it is difficult to automatically fly an unmanned aerial vehicle accurately along a flight route determined based on the arrangement of the facilities in the facility, and focuses and accurately images a predetermined location of the facility that requires inspection. In addition, there is a problem that it is not possible to perform a necessary and sufficient inspection on behalf of a worker.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and allows an unmanned aerial vehicle having an inspection function to automatically and accurately fly along a predetermined flight route in a facility accommodating facilities that require inspection. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an in-facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of inspecting equipment installed in the facility without a worker visiting the site.

In order to achieve the above object, an in-facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention,
An unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with inspection equipment and controlled in flight in accordance with a predetermined flight control signal is automatically flown inside a facility accommodating the equipment requiring inspection. Inspection system in the facility
A plurality of fixing devices arranged at predetermined three-dimensionally different positions in the facility,
A mobile device mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle,
Flight control means for transmitting a predetermined flight control signal to the unmanned aerial vehicle and controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle,
Radio signals can be propagated between the fixed device and the mobile device,
The flight control means, current three-dimensional position information in the facility of the unmanned aerial vehicle measured using the air propagation time of the radio signal between the fixed device and the mobile device, Based on the three-dimensional position information of the flight route determined based on the arrangement of the equipment in the above, the unmanned aircraft performs arithmetic processing so as to automatically fly along the flight route, and a flight control signal according to the arithmetic result Is transmitted to the unmanned aerial vehicle to control the unmanned aerial vehicle to automatically fly along the flight route (first invention).

In the present invention, the unmanned aerial vehicle is an obstacle detector that detects an obstacle, and determines whether an obstacle is approaching the flight route based on an obstacle detection signal from the obstacle detector. A collision judging section for judging, and an independent flight control section for controlling the unmanned aerial vehicle preferentially independently of the flight control by the flight control means. When it is determined that an obstacle is approaching near the route, it is preferable to control the flight so that the unmanned aerial vehicle moves away from the obstacle in order to avoid collision with the obstacle (second invention).
The operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle after the collision is avoided can be arbitrarily determined by the flight control means (more specifically, the “control PC 10” described later) (eg, stop at a safe place). Or, as soon as safety is confirmed, automatic flight is continued).

In the present invention, the inspection equipment mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle includes an imaging device having a function of imaging an instrument attached to the facility and recognizing a numerical value indicated by the instrument as numerical data, and the flight control means includes: Controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle so that the imaging device can image the instrument based on the position data of the instrument, and converting the numerical data recognized by the imaging of the instrument by the imaging device to the unmanned aircraft. It is preferable that the numerical data transmitted wirelessly is transmitted by a wireless communication device mounted on the computer and that the numerical data transmitted wirelessly is stored and managed by a data storing and managing means (third invention).
Here, as the data storage / management means, for example, a server 9 disposed in a central control room 11, which will be described later, can be cited. A data sheet is prepared in the server 9, and the received measurement data is stored in the server 9. It is more preferable to automatically fill in the corresponding column of the corresponding tag number on the data sheet.

  In the present invention, a power feeding stand capable of wirelessly feeding power to the unmanned aerial vehicle is installed in the facility, and the flight control means controls flight so that the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the power feeding stand. It is preferable to wirelessly supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle that has landed at (fourth invention).

  According to the present invention, between a plurality of fixed devices arranged at predetermined three-dimensionally different positions in a facility and a mobile device mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle so that radio signals can be propagated between the fixed devices. Based on the current three-dimensional position information in the facility of the unmanned aerial vehicle measured using the air propagation time of the wireless signal and the three-dimensional position information of the flight route determined based on the arrangement of the facilities in the facility Since the unmanned aerial vehicle is controlled to fly automatically along its flight route, it is necessary to automatically and automatically fly the unmanned aerial vehicle for inspection along a predetermined flight route in a facility containing the equipment requiring inspection. Thus, the equipment installed in the facility can be inspected without the worker having to go to the site.

  In addition, by adopting the configuration of the second invention, the reaction speed of the collision avoidance flight can be improved, so that collision with an obstacle can be avoided more reliably, and safety can be improved. .

  In addition, by adopting the configuration of the third invention, it is possible to automatically save and manage the numerical data indicated by the instruments attached to the equipment, and to input the numerical data of the instruments conventionally performed by the worker. Becomes unnecessary, and the labor of the worker can be reduced.

  In addition, by employing the configuration of the fourth aspect of the invention, when charging an unmanned aerial vehicle, the trouble of making a physical connection such as a wired connection can be omitted, and full automation can be realized.

1 is a schematic system configuration diagram of an in-facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the unmanned aerial vehicle used in the same system, (a) is a top view, (b) is a side view. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a controller mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle. It is flight control explanatory drawing of the same unmanned aerial vehicle, (a) is a top view which looked at the inside of an incineration plant, and (b) is a sectional view which looked at the inside of an incineration plant from the side. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of a collision avoidance flight program.

  Next, a specific embodiment of a facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is an example in which the present invention is applied to an incineration facility that incinerates waste, but is not limited to this.

<Outline of the facility inspection system>
An in-facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle shown in FIG. 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as an “in-facility inspection system”) 1 accommodates equipment 2 that needs to be inspected (see FIGS. 4A and 4B). Unmanned aerial vehicle 4 that can move three-dimensionally in the incineration facility 3, a plurality of fixing devices 5 arranged at predetermined three-dimensionally different positions in the incineration plant 3, and these fixing devices 5 A hub 6 and a WiFi (registered trademark) wireless communication device (hereinafter, referred to as a “WiFi router”) 7 connected by a wire (for example, a USB cable or the like) and a hub 6 via a communication network 8. And a control personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a “control PC”) 10.

  Here, the hub 6 connects the plurality of fixed devices 5 and collectively manages turning on / off of power and transmission / reception of data. The server 9 includes the fixed devices 5, a mobile device 33 described later, and the like. The control PC 10 serves to analyze positional information and control the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4. The hub 6, the server 9, the control PC 10, etc. are located in the central control room 11. Are located in

<Explanation of unmanned aircraft>
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 includes an aircraft body 12 constituting a body portion thereof, four arms 13 projecting horizontally from the aircraft body 12 in four directions, and each arm. A motor 14 is provided at an end of the motor 13, and a propeller 15 is rotated by the motors 14.
The unmanned aerial vehicle 4 having such a configuration can take off and land by rotating a plurality of (four in this example) propellers 15, and can expect a larger payload than a so-called helicopter type single rotor. Furthermore, since the hovering ability (the ability to stop in the air) is high, the stability is high, and fine flight is possible, the in-facility inspection system 1 of this embodiment is most suitable for use.

<Description of controller>
The aircraft main body 12 has a built-in controller 20 as shown in FIG. 3. The controller 20 mainly includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a memory 22 for storing various data and predetermined programs, and the like. It is constituted by hardware (not shown) such as other electric circuits.

<Description of devices connected to controller>
To the controller 20, four motors 14, a wireless interface 23, an imaging device 24, an obstacle detector 25, and various sensors 26 are connected so as to be able to transmit predetermined signals.

  The four motors 14 are each connected to the CPU 21 via a motor drive circuit (not shown) so as to be able to transmit signals, and function as a drive device for driving the unmanned aerial vehicle 4.

  The wireless interface 23 is provided to the server 9 via the WiFi router 7 and the mobile device 33 having an arithmetic processing function, which is mounted at an appropriate position on the aircraft main body 12 so that wireless signals can be transmitted to and from the plurality of fixed devices 5. And a wireless transmitter 34 mounted on the aircraft body 12 so that data can be wirelessly transmitted.

Here, as a method of exchanging wireless signals between the plurality of fixed devices 5 and the mobile device 33, for example, a communication method based on UWB (Ultra Wide Band) is suitable.
UWB is a communication system that uses a band covering several GHz. A detailed communication method employs an impulse method. This is a method of exchanging signals between the fixed unit 5 and the mobile unit 33 at intervals of 0.5 nsec with a pulse having a pulse width of about 0.2 nsec, for example, by utilizing the air propagation time of the pulse. An accurate three-dimensional positioning / ranging sensor can be realized. This is a technology that can measure without being affected by disturbances such as illuminance, temperature, and wind because radio waves are used.
The distance between the plurality of fixed devices 5 installed in the incineration facility 3 and the mobile device 33 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 to be measured is calculated based on the signal arrival time, and the spatial position is measured. By using a very short pulse radio wave of about several nsec, the current position can be measured in real time with an accuracy of an error within several cm at the maximum.
While the error of the position measurement using the GPS is 10 m or more, UWB can perform the position measurement with extremely high accuracy as described above. The measurable distance from the fixing device 5 is about 30 m. If a plurality of fixing devices 5 are arranged at important points, the area in the incineration treatment facility 3 can be covered. Another feature is that since the transmission output is very small, there is almost no power consumption.

The imaging device 24 is attached to a lower portion of the aircraft main body 12 or the like (see FIG. 2B), is configured by a digital camera or a video camera that captures a still image or a moving image, and is configured by a lens, an imaging element, and the like. The incident light representing the subject image is formed on, for example, a light receiving surface of a CCD, and the image data is transmitted to the CPU 21 via a camera signal processing circuit, an A / D converter, and the like.
Further, the imaging device 24 has a function of imaging an instrument attached to the facility 2 and recognizing a numerical value indicated by the instrument as numerical data.
Image data and numerical data from the imaging device 24 are wirelessly transmitted from the wireless communication device 34 and transmitted to the server 9 via the WiFi router 7.

  The obstacle detector 25 detects an obstacle on a flight route, for example, a laser scanner that detects an obstacle by scanning with a laser beam, or detects an obstacle by receiving a reflected wave of an emitted radio wave. A radar or the like is preferably used. The detection signal from the obstacle detector 25 is transmitted to the CPU 21.

  The various sensors 26 are attached to appropriate places of the aircraft main body 12 and are a group of sensors that acquire various information such as the position, altitude, speed, and direction of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4. It consists of an axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope for detecting the angular velocity of an unmanned aerial vehicle, and the like. Detection signals from the various sensors 26 are transmitted to the CPU 21.

<Description of CPU functional modules>
In the CPU 21, various functional modules such as a route flight control unit 35, a collision determination unit 36, an independent flight control unit 37, and an imaging control unit 38 are virtually constructed by appropriately reading and executing programs from the memory 22. Then, the operation of each unit is controlled by the constructed functional modules.

The route flight control unit 35 controls the rotation of each motor 14 in accordance with the flight control signal from the control PC 10 (see FIG. 1) while reading detection signals from the various sensors 26 in real time. The configuration including the route flight control unit 35 and the control PC 10 corresponds to a “flight control unit” of the present invention.
The collision determination unit 36 determines whether an obstacle is approaching near the flight route based on a detection signal from the obstacle detector 25.
When the collision determination unit 36 determines that an obstacle is approaching near the flight route, the independent flight control unit 37 determines the flight control by the route flight control unit 35 based on the flight control signal from the control PC 10. Independently and preferentially, it serves to control unmanned aerial vehicle 4 to avoid collision with obstacles.
The imaging control unit 38 has a function of adjusting the focus, zoom, and lens direction of the imaging device 24.

<Automatic power supply system using wireless power supply>
Since the drive battery mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 needs to be charged, an automatic power supply system using wireless power supply is desired to automate the unmanned aerial vehicle 4. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 1, an electromagnetic induction type or magnetic field resonance type power supply stand 40 is installed in one corner of the incineration facility 3. A transmitter is provided so that the control PC 10 can determine the position information. Then, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 becomes less charged or after the automatic flight is completed, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 is landed on the power supply stand 40 and wirelessly supplies power.
As described above, when charging, the trouble of making a physical connection such as a wired connection can be omitted, and full automation can be realized.

  In the in-facility inspection system 1 configured as described above, the principle up to grasping the position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 by UWB will be described below with reference to FIG.

<Explanation on acquisition of current location information of unmanned aircraft>
When measuring the distance between the plurality of fixed devices 5 and the mobile device 33, the mobile device 33 measures the propagation time of the UWB signal between the plurality of fixed devices 5 and obtains the distances a to f. At this time, the distance information from each fixed device 5 is held by the mobile device 33, and the distance information acquired by the mobile device 33 is transmitted to the server 10 via the WiFi router 7.
The control PC 10 calculates the current position of the mobile device 33, that is, the current position of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4, based on the distance information from each of the fixed devices 5 received from the mobile device 33. The calculated position data is plotted on a map in the control PC 10 and can be confirmed on the screen. It is assumed that the position measurement information can be plotted on a map created using commercially available software capable of creating a 3D space such as CAD. Any point (x, y, z) in the map can be determined based on the distance information of each fixing device 5.
As described above, the current position information in the incineration facility 3 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 equipped with the mobile unit 33 is grasped by the control PC 10.

  Next, flight control of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 based on the UWB position information in the facility inspection system 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4A and 4B.

<Explanation of flight control in plane direction>
In the plan view of the inside of the incineration plant 3 shown in FIG. 4A from above, along the flight route determined based on the arrangement of the equipment 2 in the incineration plant 3, that is, in FIG. It is assumed that control is performed to automatically fly the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 at a plurality of points indicated by (1) to (5) in ascending order according to a path indicated by a white arrow.
First, it is assumed that automatic flight starts from the point (1). (1) The position information of the point is determined based on the distances a, b, c, and d from the plurality of fixed devices 5. Next, it is assumed that the user goes to the point (2). (2) The position information of the point can be determined from the distances a ′, b ′, c ′, and d ′ from the plurality of fixing devices 5. The acquired position information of the point (2) is recognized on the control PC 10. The control PC 10 outputs to the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 a series of operation instructions such as advancing, decelerating, stopping, hovering, etc., toward the point (2). The timing of the operation instruction is determined based on the position information of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4.
Here, with respect to the output of the operation instruction from the control PC 10 to the unmanned aerial vehicle 4, more specifically, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 outputs (1) based on the positional information of the point (1) and the positional information of the point (2). The control PC 10 performs an arithmetic process so that the control PC 10 moves forward from the point) toward the point (2) along the path indicated by the white arrow, and then automatically flies with a series of operations such as deceleration, stop, and hovering. This is performed by transmitting a flight control signal according to the calculation result from the control PC 10 to the controller 20 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 via the WiFi router 7 and the wireless communication device 34 (see FIG. 3). Then, the route flight control unit 35 of the controller 20 controls the rotation of each motor 14 in accordance with the flight control signal from the control PC 10 while reading the detection signals from the various sensors 26 in real time, and controls the unmanned aircraft 4 to (2). Automatically fly straight to the point. (2) If the automatic flight is performed in the same manner after the point, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 can be automatically and accurately flown along the planned flight route.

<Explanation of flight control in three dimensions including height>
Further, in the cross-sectional view of the inside of the incineration facility 3 shown in FIG. 4 (b), a plurality of (three in this example) fixers 5 are arranged at different predetermined height positions, so that the distance a , B, and c, the point including the height can be designated. By adding this three-dimensional element in addition to the two-dimensional position control described above, three-dimensional position control including height can be performed.
As described above, high-precision automatic flight, which was impossible with GPS control, becomes possible, and it is possible to automatically fly in a designated space in both the plane direction and the height direction. In addition, even a high place where no scaffold is provided can be easily inspected simply by inputting coordinates.

<Explanation of collision avoidance control of unmanned aerial vehicles by obstacle detector>
As described above, the use of UWB greatly improves the flight accuracy, but the accuracy is still within a few centimeters at the maximum. Then, in a space with many obstacles, anxiety remains for safely flying the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 automatically. Therefore, in order to further improve safety, collision avoidance control of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 by the obstacle detector 25 is performed. The collision avoidance control will be described below mainly with reference to a functional block diagram of FIG. 3 and a flowchart shown in FIG. The symbol “S” in FIG. 5 represents a step.

First, in a state where the automatic flight control is performed by the route flight control unit 35 in accordance with the flight control signal from the control PC 10 (S1), the collision determination unit 36 performs the following based on the detection signal from the obstacle detector 25: It is determined whether an obstacle is approaching near the flight route (S2).
If it is determined in step S2 that an obstacle is not approaching near the flight route, the automatic flight control is continuously executed. On the other hand, when determining that an obstacle is approaching near the flight route, the mobile unit 33 calculates the positional relationship between the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 and the obstacle based on the detection signal from the obstacle detector 25. After processing, the positional relationship between them is grasped based on the calculation result (S3).
Next, based on the positional relationship between the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 and the obstacle grasped in step S3, the self-sustained flight control unit 37 flies so that the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 moves away from the obstacle in order to avoid a collision with the obstacle. Control is performed (S4). The position information of the collision avoidance operation, the result of the collision avoidance operation, and the like are transmitted from the wireless communication device 34 to the server 9 via the WiFi router 7 so that the flight state of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 can be grasped remotely. I do. Further, the operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle after the collision avoidance can be arbitrarily determined by the control PC 10 such as, for example, stopping at a safe place or continuing the automatic flight as soon as the safety can be confirmed ( S5).
In this way, when the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 approaches an obstacle, the obstacle is detected by an obstacle detector 25 such as a laser scanner, and the detection signal is determined by the CPU 21 so that the obstacle can be avoided immediately. As a result, the transmission distance can be reduced as compared with the case where the control PC 10 makes the determination, so that the reaction speed is improved and the safety is improved.
In addition, for a moving obstacle such as a person or a garbage crane, a transmitter similar to the moving unit 33 is provided so that the control PC 10 can grasp the position information of the moving obstacle and obtain the obstacle in advance. Should be avoided.
As described above, it is possible to safely fly the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 automatically even in a space with many obstacles, which is difficult under the control using the GPS. In addition, by installing the obstacle detector 25 on the unmanned aerial vehicle 4, the inspection work of the crane, which was previously performed by a person entering the garbage pit, can be performed more safely and without human labor. Becomes possible.

  The operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 after the collision avoidance described above can be arbitrarily determined by the control PC 10 (eg, stop at a safe place or continue automatic flight as soon as safety can be confirmed). ).

<Explanation of acquisition of numerical data of field instruments>
Next, the image data of the field instruments and the like collected by the patrol inspection of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 is converted into numerical data by the numerical recognition function of the imaging device 24, and the data is transmitted to a remote place such as the central control room 11 by wireless or the like. A control method for transmission will be described below.

  The position information and the flight route of the on-site instrument for which the user wants to check the measurement value of the equipment 2 installed in the incineration facility 3 are registered in the control PC 10. The control PC 10 registers the registration information and the current tertiary of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4. Based on the original position information, advance along the flight route from the current location of the four unmanned aerial vehicles to the field instruments whose measurement values you want to check, and then automatically perform a series of operations such as deceleration, stopping, hovering, etc. The arithmetic processing is performed so as to fly, and a flight control signal according to the arithmetic result is transmitted from the control PC 10 to the controller 20 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 via the WiFi router 7 and the wireless communication device 34. The route flight control unit 35 of the controller 20 controls the rotation of each motor 14 in accordance with the flight control signal from the control PC 10 while reading the detection signals from the various sensors 26 in real time, and controls the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 for the target on-site instrument. Automatically fly straight to a certain point. This allows the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 to accurately reach the vicinity of the field instrument.

  By adding a transmitter for transmitting data such as its own tag number to the on-site instrument, the positional relationship is determined by the control PC 10, and the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 automatically more accurately sends it to the on-site instrument. It is possible to fly. In other words, by grasping the positional relationship between the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 (mobile unit 33) and the on-site instrument (transmitter) with the control PC 10, it becomes easy to adjust the direction and height of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 and aim. , Accuracy is also improved.

When acquiring the measurement data, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 is hovered in front of the on-site instrument, imaged by the imaging device 24, and numerical data including information tag information is obtained. The measurement data replaced with the numerical value is transmitted to the server 9 in the central control room 11 in real time via the WiFi router 7. A data sheet is prepared in the server 9, and the received measurement data is automatically entered in a corresponding column of a corresponding tag number on the data sheet.
As described above, it becomes possible to automatically save the measurement data of the on-site instrument which has been handled by the manual input or the like.

  In addition, by using an omnidirectional camera as a camera mounted on the imaging device 24, omnidirectional imaging on a flight route can be performed. It is possible to grasp the situation over a wider range. Thereby, more efficient automatic flight becomes possible within a limited flight time (continuous search distance) depending on the driving battery mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 4. Further, by setting the mounted camera 24 to the far-infrared specification, more detailed information such as abnormal temperature can be confirmed.

<Explanation of operation and effect>
According to the in-facility inspection system 1 of the present embodiment, a plurality of fixing devices 5 arranged at predetermined three-dimensionally different positions in the incineration plant 3 and wireless signals can be transmitted between the fixing devices 5. The present three-dimensional position information in the incineration facility 3 of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 measured using the air propagation time of a radio signal with the mobile unit 33 mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle 4, and the incineration facility 3 Since the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 is controlled to automatically fly along the flight route based on the three-dimensional position information of the flight route determined based on the arrangement of the facility 2 in the facility, the facility 2 requiring inspection is accommodated. The inspection unmanned aerial vehicle 4 can be automatically and accurately flown along the predetermined incineration facility 3 along a predetermined flight route, so that it can be installed in the incineration facility 3 without a worker going to the site. Equipment 2 It can be inspected.
Therefore, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) It is possible to reduce the burden on workers for patrol inspections in the incineration facility 3 and the like.
(2) Regardless of the presence or absence of a scaffold, such as a high place, the state of a place where a person cannot easily access can also be confirmed.
(3) When the garbage crane is abnormally stopped, it is possible to confirm that the garbage crane is directly approached.
(4) When the garbage pit falls or the garbage pit fires, it can be applied to grasp details in the garbage pit.
(5) It is possible to access places where there is a danger to the human body, such as places where high-pressure steam or chemicals leak.

  Further, in the in-facility inspection system 1 of the present embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 includes an obstacle detector 25 for detecting an obstacle and an obstacle near the flight route based on an obstacle detection signal from the obstacle detector 25. An independent flight control unit includes a collision determination unit that determines whether an object is approaching and an independent flight control unit that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle preferentially independently of the flight control by the control PC. The unit 37 controls the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 so as to avoid the collision with the obstacle when the collision determination unit 36 determines that the obstacle is approaching near the flight route. Since the transmission distance can be reduced as compared with the case where the judgment is made by the PC 10, the reaction speed of the collision avoidance flight can be improved, and the collision with the obstacle can be avoided more reliably, and the safety can be improved.

  Further, in the in-facility inspection system 1 of the present embodiment, the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 is equipped with an imaging device 24 having a function of imaging an instrument attached to the facility 2 and recognizing a numerical value indicated by the instrument as numerical data, The control PC 10 controls the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle 4 based on the position data of the instrument so that the imaging device 24 can take an image of the instrument, and outputs the numerical data recognized by the imaging of the instrument by the imaging device 24 to the unmanned aerial vehicle. The numerical data indicated by the meter attached to the equipment 2 is automatically stored and managed by wirelessly transmitting the numerical data transmitted by the wireless communication device 34 mounted on the computer 4 and storing and managing the numerical data transmitted wirelessly by the server 9. This eliminates the need for the operator to input the numerical data of the meter, which has been conventionally performed by the worker, and can reduce the labor of the worker.

  As described above, the in-facility inspection system using the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention has been described based on one embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above embodiment, and a range that does not depart from the gist of the present invention. The configuration can be changed as appropriate.

  The in-facility inspection system using the unmanned aerial vehicle of the present invention can accurately and automatically fly an unmanned aerial vehicle having an inspection function along a predetermined flight route in a facility in which equipment requiring inspection is accommodated. The incineration treatment facility has a characteristic that the workers installed in the facility can be inspected even if the workers do not go to the site. It can be used suitably for internal inspection of waste treatment facilities including wastewater treatment facilities, and can also be used for internal inspection of water treatment facilities and power generation facilities. It is.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-facility inspection system 2 Equipment 3 Incineration facility 4 Unmanned aerial vehicle 5 Fixed device 6 Hub 7 WiFi router 9 Server (data storage / management means)
10 PC for control (flight control means)
24 Imaging device (inspection equipment)
25 obstacle detector 33 mobile unit 34 wireless communication device 35 route flight control unit (flight control means)
36 Collision judgment unit 37 Independent flight control unit 38 Imaging control unit

Claims (3)

An unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with inspection equipment and controlled in flight in accordance with a predetermined flight control signal is automatically flown inside a facility accommodating the equipment requiring inspection. Inspection system in the facility
A plurality of fixing devices arranged at predetermined positions that differ three-dimensionally, including the height direction in addition to the plane direction in the facility,
A mobile device mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle,
Flight control means for transmitting a predetermined flight control signal to the unmanned aerial vehicle and controlling the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle,
Radio signals can be propagated between the fixed device and the mobile device,
The flight control means, current three-dimensional position information in the facility of the unmanned aerial vehicle measured using the air propagation time of the radio signal between the fixed device and the mobile device, Based on the three-dimensional position information of the flight route determined based on the arrangement of the equipment in the above, the unmanned aircraft performs arithmetic processing so as to automatically fly along the flight route, and a flight control signal according to the arithmetic result By transmitting to the unmanned aerial vehicle, by performing three-dimensional position control including the height direction in addition to the plane direction, the unmanned aircraft is controlled to automatically fly along the flight route ,
The inspection equipment mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle includes an imaging device having a function of imaging a gauge attached to the facility and recognizing a numerical value indicated by the gauge as numerical data,
The flight control means controls automatic flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle such that the unmanned aerial vehicle arrives near the instrument so that the imaging device can image the instrument, based on the position data of the instrument, Wirelessly transmitting numerical data recognized by the imaging device by the imaging of the instrument by a wireless communication device mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle, and storing and managing the wirelessly transmitted numerical data by a data storage / management unit. In-facility inspection system using unmanned aerial vehicles.   The unmanned aerial vehicle includes an obstacle detector that detects an obstacle, and a collision determination that determines whether an obstacle is approaching near the flight route based on an obstacle detection signal from the obstacle detector. And an independent flight control unit that controls the unmanned aerial vehicle preferentially independently of the flight control by the flight control unit, wherein the independent flight control unit is configured such that the collision determination unit is located near the flight route. The unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that an obstacle is approaching, the unmanned aerial vehicle controls flight so that the unmanned aircraft moves away from the obstacle in order to avoid collision with the obstacle. Facility inspection system used. A feeder that can wirelessly supply power to the unmanned aerial vehicle is installed in the facility, and the flight control unit controls flight so that the unmanned aerial vehicle lands on the feeder, and lands on the feeder. The facility inspection system using an unmanned aerial vehicle according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein power is supplied wirelessly to the unmanned aerial vehicle.

Images