JPH0617172B2 - Positioning method for continuous unloader - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a positioning method for a continuous unloader used for unloading coal, iron ore, grains, and other pesticides stored in the hold of a ship. In particular, the present invention relates to a positioning method for irradiating ultrasonic waves, a laser beam or the like while rotating the bucket elevator to measure the distance between the bucket elevator and the hatch coaming.

"Prior Art" Fig. 5 shows a conventional example of a continuous unloader. This continuous unloader is provided with a swing boom 3 which is horizontally swingable on a main frame 2 erected on a quay 1. A bucket elevator 5 housed in a tubular casing 4 is provided at the tip of the swing boom 3, and the bucket P is excavated by inserting the bucket elevator 5 into a hold 7 of a ship 6 and operating it. It is configured to be transported to the quay wall conveyor 11 via the boom conveyor 8 and the in-machine conveyor 9.

By the way, in the above continuous unloader,
In order to prevent the casing 4 of the bucket elevator 5 from coming into contact with the inner periphery of the upper opening (hereinafter referred to as hatch coaming) 10, the movement path of the bucket elevator 5 is set to a computer, a programmable logic controller, or the like before starting the unloading work. There is a need for an operation for inputting to the storage device, and this operation is conventionally performed by the method shown in FIG.

That is, the bucket elevator 5 is moved along the inner circumference of the hatch coaming 10 as shown by the arrow in FIG. 6, and at the four points indicated by (a) (b) (c) (d) in the figure, or (a) ) (b) (c) stores the positions of the three points in the storage device, and then the bucket elevator 5 is horizontally moved while controlling the swing boom 3 and the like based on the stored data, and I try to unload the soybeans P.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the operation of moving a large structure such as the bucket elevator 5 by the turning of the turning boom 3 has a slow operation speed and, as in the above-mentioned one conventional example, it is necessary to perform positioning. When the bucket elevator 5 is horizontally moved twice for unloading, there is a problem that the unloading work takes a long time. There is also a problem that skill is required for the operation of rotating the swing boom 3 and moving the bucket elevator 5 while avoiding contact with the hatch coaming 10. An object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of unloading work by a bucket elevator.

"Means for solving the problems" In order to achieve the above object, a distance sensor is attached to the casing of the bucket elevator that is vertically inserted into the hold from the hatch coaming, and the bucket elevator is inserted into the hold and the vertical movement is performed. While maintaining the state, the distance sensor is horizontally rotated integrally with the casing, and one distance sensor irradiates inspection beams such as ultrasonic waves and laser beams in each horizontal direction, and the inspection beam reflected vertically from the inner surface of the hatch coaming. By detecting the distance between the casing and the hatch coaming by detection, the coordinates of the bucket elevator are obtained from the distances in a plurality of directions, and the position control of the continuous unloader is performed.

[Embodiment] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure of a continuous unloader controlled by applying the method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. This continuous unloader is a swing boom that is horizontally swingable on a main frame 2 erected on a quay 1. 3 is provided and this swing boom 3
A bucket elevator 5 housed in a tubular casing 4 is provided at the tip of the vessel, and the bucket elevator 5 is attached to the ship 6
Of the contents P and excavating the contents P while moving horizontally in the cargo hold 7, and further transporting the contents P upwardly to the quay conveyor 11 via the boom conveyor 8 and the in-machine conveyor 9. In addition to the conventional continuous unloader configured as described above, a distance sensor S that measures the distance from the hatch coaming 10 while horizontally rotating integrally with the casing 4 and the bucket elevator 5 is provided. ing.

The distance sensor S horizontally irradiates an inspection beam such as an ultrasonic wave or a laser beam outward (outward in the radial direction of the rotation of the bucket elevator 5 itself) and detects reflection from the inner surface of the hatch coaming 10. It has a function. Further, the distance sensor S is attached to the lower end portion of the casing 4 in consideration of the fact that the unloading work by the continuous unloader starts from a state where the content P of the hold 7 is high.

The unloading work by the continuous unloader configured as described above is performed as follows.

(I) As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the distance sensor S
While vertically lowering the casing 4 and the bucket elevator 5 to a position having the same height as the hatch coaming 10 and having a space in the horizontal direction between the hatch combing 10 and the hatch combing 10 and operating the bucket elevator 5 to start unloading. While maintaining the vertical state of the casing 4 and the bucket elevator 5, the distance sensor S is horizontally rotated integrally with them.

(Ii) When the distance sensor S rotates horizontally, the distance sensor S faces the inner surface of the hatch coaming 10 and the inspection beam is perpendicular to the hatch coaming 10, for example, as indicated by an arrow in FIGS. 2 and 3. When the inspection beam is vertically reflected and is incident on the distance sensor to measure the distance from the hatch coaming 10, on the other hand, when the inspection beam is obliquely incident on the hatch coaming 5, FIG. As indicated by the arrow on the
Since the inner surface of the sensor is reflected one after another, the inspection beam does not enter the distance sensor S, or the beam is attenuated even if there is, so that the distance becomes a very large value.

(Iii) The measurement data obtained by irradiating the inspection beam in each horizontal direction from one distance sensor S is continuously stored, and the data obtained at every rotation angle of the distance sensor S of 90 degrees (that is, the distance). The distances between the casing 4 and the four sides of the hatch coaming 5 are measured by calculating the data when the sensor S directly faces the four sides of the hatch coaming 10.
Then, the coordinates of the bucket elevator 5 are determined from this data, and the subsequent horizontal movement of the bucket elevator 5 can be controlled based on these coordinates.

In the above-described embodiment, the bucket elevator 5 is operated to perform unloading and position detection at the same time, but it goes without saying that the bucket elevator 5 may be stopped and only position detection may be performed. In addition, although the distance sensor S is provided at the lower end of the casing 4 in the above-described embodiment, a plurality of distance sensors S are provided side by side in the vertical direction,
The measurement may be performed regardless of the level in the hold 7.

"Effects of the Invention" As is apparent from the above description, the present invention has the following effects.

(A) Insert the bucket elevator into the hold from the hatch coaming, rotate the distance sensor horizontally with the casing at that position while maintaining the vertical state, and measure the distance to each inner surface of the hatch coaming with one distance sensor. Therefore, as compared with the method of obtaining the position by turning the turning boom or the like, the speed can be significantly increased and the work efficiency can be improved.

(B) Since the distance from each inner surface of the hatch coaming is obtained by lowering the bucket elevator within the hatch coaming range and horizontally rotating the distance sensor at that position, it is necessary to have skill in positioning operation. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a collision accident between the unloader and the hatch coaming.

(C) The inspection beam is radiated horizontally from one distance sensor, and the inspection beam reflected vertically from each inner surface of the hatch coaming is detected to measure the distances in a plurality of directions to obtain the coordinates of the bucket elevator. Therefore, compared to the case where a plurality of distance sensors are installed, the structure can be simplified, and the distance detection error due to the variation of the characteristics of the distance sensor can be eliminated to perform the accurate positioning of the unloader. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a continuous unloader to which the method of the present invention is applied, FIGS. 2 to 4 are plan views for explaining the principle of distance measurement by the method of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a side view showing a conventional example of a continuous unloader, No. 6
The figure is a plan view for explaining the principle of a conventional distance measuring method. 3 ... Revolving boom, 4 ... Casing, 5 ... Bucket elevator, 7 ... Hold, 10 ... Hatch combing, S ... Distance sensor, P ... Scatter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Hatch combing (10) to hold (7)
The distance sensor (S) is attached to the casing (4) of the bucket elevator (5) vertically inserted therein, and the distance sensor is integrated with the casing while keeping the vertical state by inserting the bucket elevator into the hold. It is rotated horizontally and the inspection beam such as ultrasonic wave and laser beam is radiated in each horizontal direction from one distance sensor. , A continuous unloader positioning method, characterized in that the coordinates of a bucket elevator are obtained from distances in a plurality of directions.