JPH06305580A - Scattered object pile shape detecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a scattered object pile shape detecting device wherein a surface shape (three-dimensional height distribution) of a scattered object pile can be automatically detected. CONSTITUTION:A device has range finders 6, 7 mounted onto a scattered object handling machine 2 for handling a scattered object pile 1 to measure a distance to a surface of the scattered object pile 1 in a measuring direction, oscillating units 4, 5 mounted on a boom 3 of the scattered object handling machine 2 to deflect the measuring direction of the range finders 6, 7 to a width direction of the scattered object pile 1 and an arithmetic unit 10 for obtaining a surface shape of the scattered object pile 1 by using an output obtained from the range finders 6, 7 according to moving in the lengthwise direction of scattered object pile of the scattered object handling machine 2 and deflection in the measuring direction by the oscillating units 4, 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an equipment pile shape detecting device applied to an automation of an equipment handling machine, an inventory management system for an equipment storage yard, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a storage yard for deposits such as coal and ore, a deposit handling machine such as a stacker for storage and a reclaimer for dispensing is used. In the case of carrying out the work of handling the pickle pile using such a picking and handling machine, conventionally, the surface shape and position of the pickle pile have been grasped visually. That is, the operator recognizes the initial position and the stop position of the load handling machine, sets it, changes the cut-out stage, and prevents overload by the operator's visual judgment.
On the other hand, in the case of managing the inventory of the pesticide storage yard, conventionally, the pesticide raw material on the conveyor was weighed, or the pesticide pile was measured by a measure.

[0003]

Recently, there has been a demand for automation of the above-described picking and handling machine. For this purpose, it is necessary to detect the surface shape of the pickle pile (three-dimensional height distribution) in addition to the position / orientation information of the body of the pickle handling machine. There is no conceivable effective technique for automatically detecting.

Also in the inventory management of the pesticide storage yard, if the surface shape of the pesticide pile can be automatically detected, it is considered that the pimple pile can be weighed more accurately.

Therefore, the present invention is directed to the surface shape of the pickle pile,
That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a pickle pile shape detecting device capable of automatically detecting the three-dimensional height distribution of a pickle pile.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the apparatus for detecting the shape of a pile of pimples according to the present invention is mounted on a picking and handling machine for handling pickle piles, and detects the pile of pickle piles in the measuring direction. A range finder for measuring the distance to the surface, a swinging device mounted on the picking and handling machine for deflecting the measuring direction in the width direction of the picking pile,
An arithmetic unit for obtaining the surface shape of the pickle pile by using the output obtained from the range finder in accordance with the movement of the pickle handling machine in the longitudinal direction of the pickle pile and the deflection of the measuring direction by the swinging device. It is characterized by including.

[0007]

In the picked pile shape detecting device constructed as described above, the measuring direction of the rangefinder is deflected by the swinging device in the width direction of the picked pile (direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction), and the picked article is accordingly A two-dimensional height distribution in the width direction of the pile is calculated by a calculation device.

That is, for example, the computing device first calculates the relative angle of the angle measuring point on the basis of the range finder based on the swing angle of the swinging device, that is, the measuring direction and the distance to the measuring point on the pickle pile measured by the range finder. Find the coordinates. Next, the two-dimensional height distribution is obtained by reading the information on the position and orientation of the load handling machine in synchronization with the distance measurement of the range finder and converting the relative coordinates described above into absolute coordinates based on the information. Accordingly, the three-dimensional height distribution of the pickle pile, that is, the surface shape is obtained by moving the pickle handling machine in the longitudinal direction of the pickle pile and performing the same calculation process.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a pickle pile shape detecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, a picking and handling machine 2 is arranged on the side of a picking pile 1 such as coal and ore. The load handling machine 2 is, for example, a stacker, a reclaimer, or the like, and has a boom 3 that is provided so as to be rotatable and vertically rotatable.

The peculiar pile shape detecting device for obtaining the surface shape (three-dimensional height distribution) of the pimple pile 1 is configured as follows. That is, the boom 3 is provided with swinging devices 4 and 5 at a predetermined interval, and distance measuring devices 6 and 7 are attached to these swinging devices 4 and 5, respectively.

The oscillating devices 4, 5 are devices for deflecting, ie, reciprocating, the rangefinders 6, 7 in the width direction of the pickle pile 1 (direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction). It consists of a swing angle detection unit. The rangefinders 6 and 7 are devices that measure the distance to the pickle pile 1 in the measurement direction, and the measurement directions are deflected by the swinging devices 4 and 5. In principle, only the swinging device 4 and the range finder 6 may be used, but in the present embodiment, another set of swinging device 5 and range finder 7 is added for speeding up.

On the other hand, the load handling machine 2 has a position detecting device 8 for detecting coordinates in an absolute coordinate space fixed to a reference point in the yard, and a posture of the load handling machine 2, in this example, a swing of the boom 3. An attitude detection device 9 that detects an angle and an elevation angle is installed.

Signals from the above-described swing angle detecting section, rangefinders 6, 7 and position detecting device 8 and posture detecting device 9 built in the swinging devices 4 and 5 are input to the computing device 10, and this computing device is operated. According to 10, the three-dimensional height distribution representing the surface shape of the pickle pile 1 is obtained as follows.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the boom 3 of the picking and handling machine 2 is projected onto the picking pile 1, and the swinging device 4 and the range finder 6 attached thereto are positioned above the center of the picking pile 1 and the range finder 6 The measurement direction of is directed to the surface of the pickle pile 1. In this state, the distance meter 6 is used to measure the distance L to the measurement point P on the surface of the pickle pile 1, and the swinging device 4 causes the rangefinder 6 to measure in the width direction of the pickle pile 1. Deflection in a reciprocating manner. As a result, the distance L from the rangefinder 6 to the discrete measurement points P on the widthwise surface of the pickle pile 1 is measured. In synchronism with this distance measurement, the above-described swinging angle detection unit in the swinging device 4 swings the swinging angle θ in the width direction of the pickle pile 1 of the rangefinder 6.
Is detected. Then, from the information on the swing angle θ and the information on the distance L detected by the distance meter 6, the arithmetic device 10 obtains the relative coordinates of each measurement point P based on the position S of the distance meter 6.

Further, the position detecting device 8 and the posture detecting device 9
The coordinate position and posture (turning angle, elevation angle, etc. of the boom 3) of the lift handling machine 2 are detected in synchronization with the above measurement by the rangefinder 6. The mounting positions of the swinging device 4 and the distance meter 6 with respect to the boom 3 of the picking and handling machine 2 are known. The computing device 10 is detected by the distance meter 6 from the information on the position and the attitude of the weapon handling machine 2 from the position detecting device 8 and the attitude detecting device 9 and the information on the mounting positions of the swinging device 4 and the distance meter 6. The relative coordinates of the measurement point P obtained based on the information of the distance L are converted into absolute coordinates in the absolute coordinate space fixed in the yard. In this way, a one-dimensional height distribution in the width direction at a certain position in the longitudinal direction of the pickle pile 1 is obtained.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how to obtain the absolute coordinates of the measurement point P. A direction vector α of the measurement direction is obtained from the swing angle θ of the swing device 4 and the mounting direction, and the distance L at that time is calculated. From the position S of the range finder 6, the coordinates P of the measurement point P can be obtained by the following equation by P 2 = f (S, α, L).

Then, while the picking and handling machine 2 is sequentially moved in the longitudinal direction of the picking pile 1 from the end of the measuring range, the above-mentioned arithmetic processing is repeatedly performed, so that the picking pile 1 in absolute coordinates is moved. Find the two-dimensional height distribution.

Since the two-dimensional height distribution thus obtained is not a distribution at equal intervals, interpolation processing is performed on this two-dimensional height distribution to create a curved surface, so that an arbitrary interval as shown in FIG. 3 is obtained. It is possible to obtain the height distribution of the grid with a constant interval of. In this way, the surface shape of the pickle pile 1 can be automatically detected.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically detect the surface shape of a piling pile such as coal or ore. Therefore, by using the device of the present invention, it is possible to automate the load handling machine such as a stacker and a reclaimer, and the load handling machine can be operated without an operator.

Further, by applying the apparatus of the present invention to the inventory management system of the pickled product, the pickled pile can be directly measured from its surface shape, and the improvement of the weighing accuracy and the unmanned weighing can be realized. Is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a pickle pile shape detecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the principle of how to obtain measurement points on a pickle pile in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an interpolation method of grid points on a pick pile in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Pile of piles 2 ... Pump load handling machine 3 ... Boom 4 ... Swinging device 5 ... Swinging device 6 ... Distance meter 7 ... Distance meter 8 ... Position detecting device 9 ... Posture detecting device 10 ... Computing device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A range finder which is mounted on a pesticide handling machine for handling a pesticide pile and which measures a distance to a surface of the pimple pile in a measuring direction, and which is mounted on the pesticide handling machine and measures the distance. A swinging device for deflecting the direction in the width direction of the pickle pile; a movement in the longitudinal direction of the pickle pile of the picking and loading machine and a deflection in the measuring direction by the swinging device to obtain from the range finder. And a computing device that obtains the surface shape of the pickle pile using the output of the pickle pile.