JPH0815995B2 - Surveillance camera device for crane - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a crane monitoring camera device used for visually confirming the working status of a crane used at a construction site or the like through a monitor television to ensure the safety of crane operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Crane work at a construction site or the like is performed by an operator who operates the crane only by visually recognizing a sling worker's signal. May be very difficult to see from the operator's position, or may not be in sight of the operator at all. In addition, there is a risk that a slinging worker may make a mistake. Not only is work in such a situation inefficient, but there is also a problem in terms of ensuring safety.

Therefore, especially in a large crane,
A surveillance camera device is being installed so that the operator can check the crane work status on the monitor TV image. FIG. 5 shows an example of a crane equipped with such a surveillance camera device. This crane suspends a wire (2) for suspending a load from the tip of a boom (1) extending so as to be tiltable and revolvable from an operator cab (4). The hook (3) is connected to the lower end of the wire (2),
A load (40) is hung on the. The operator in the cab (4) hoists and lowers the wire (2), tilts and swivels the boom (1) vertically and horizontally, and transfers the load (40).

As shown in FIG. 6, the surveillance camera device includes a camera housing (41) which is always held vertically at the tip of a boom (1) and a monitor television (42) installed in a driver's cab (4). ) And a remote controller (43). The camera housing (41) is suspended and supported by the boom (1) via a hydraulic damper (44). Hydraulic damper (44)
Even if the boom (1) suddenly tilts in the vertical direction, the camera housing (41) does not swing and always operates in a vertical posture.

Inside the camera housing (41), there is a television camera (4 which can swing about a horizontal support shaft (46).
5) is stored. Although not shown, a rotary drive system of the television camera (45), a heater for preventing dew condensation, and the like are housed inside the camera housing (41). The TV camera (45) includes a lens unit (45a) having a zoom function,
It is composed of a camera body (45b) having an image pickup function, is arranged with the lens part (45a) facing down, and is swingable about a support shaft (46) by a driving device (not shown). Is configured. At the bottom of the camera housing (41) facing the lens part (45a), a transparent glass window (4
7) is formed and the TV camera (45) is fitted with this glass window (4
The area around the wire (2) below the camera housing (41) and its hook (3) is imaged through the camera (7).

The video signal of the television camera (45) is sent to the monitor television (42) by the cable (48) wired along the boom (1), and the screen (42 ') of this is hooked (3).
A monitor image (m) of the peripheral area is displayed. An operator looks at this monitor image (m) to confirm the safety of the sling worker's signal and the surrounding condition of the hook (3), and the crane such as tilting of the boom (1), turning, and vertical movement of the wire (2). Do the operation.

The remote controller (43) includes buttons for swinging the television camera (45) in the camera housing (41) and for zooming and focusing the television camera (45). By manually operating the button of the remote controller (43), the image around the hook is mainly included in the monitor image (m) of the monitor television (42). That is, the monitor image (m) first captured by the television camera (45) has a small hook image (n) as shown in FIG. 9 (a), which is present at one corner of the screen (42 '). The area around the hook may be difficult to see. In such a case, the operator operates the remote controller (43) with a button to swing the television camera (45) in one direction so that the hook image (n) moves to the center of the screen (42 '). After that, the television camera (45) is zoomed or focused as necessary to make the monitor image (m) easy to see.

[0008]

By the way, when the wire (2) is extended from the boom (1) for a long time, the image around the hook may not be displayed in the center of the screen (42 '). For example, when the monitor image (m) displayed on the screen (42 ') when the wire (2) is extended from the boom (1) as shown in Fig. 8 (a), the TV camera (45) is used. Although the hook image (n) of the monitor image (m) is moved to the center of the screen (42 ′) by swinging, FIG.
As shown in (b), the hook image (n) may be displaced from the center of the screen (42 '). In such a case, when the monitor image (m) is zoomed and the image of the central portion of the screen (42 ′) surrounded by the broken line in FIG.
As shown in (c), the visual field around the hook was not sufficiently displayed on the screen (42 '), which sometimes made it difficult to confirm the safety of the crane work.

Further, the television camera (45) is mounted in the camera housing (41), and the support shaft (46) of the camera body (45b).
When it is swung about, the lens part (45a) of the television camera (45) moves left and right above the glass window (47). Therefore, the left and right dimensions of the glass window (47) should be set to the lens part (45
Since it is necessary to set a large size in consideration of the maximum left and right movement amount of a), it is difficult to reduce the diameter of the glass window (47).

Further, the viewpoint of the TV camera (45) is moved left and right by the left and right movement of the lens portion (45a) above the glass window (47), and the viewpoint of the monitor image (m) of the monitor TV (42). Moves left and right. The amount of horizontal movement of the viewpoint of such a monitor image (m) is small, but
If the viewpoint movement is repeated in 2 '), it becomes difficult to see, especially when the monitor image (m) is an image enlarged by zooming.

An object of the present invention is to provide a high-performance crane monitoring camera device for displaying a hook image of a wire hung by a crane on a monitor television without blind spots so that a monitor image can be easily viewed.

[0012]

According to the present invention, there is provided a camera housing in which a television camera for holding a wire for hanging a load is held at a front end portion of a boom and a television camera for picking up an image of a lower end portion of the wire is housed downward. In a surveillance camera device for a crane, which is located away from the camera housing and displays a video image captured by the television camera on a screen, a glass formed in the center of the bottom plate (13) of the camera housing. A window (26), a pivot (15) horizontally disposed adjacent to and above the glass window (26), and a swing base (14) swingably supported by the pivot (15). An upper end of a column (21) provided upright on the bottom plate (13), and a peripheral edge of a disk (20) attached to the swing table (14) and rotated in one direction by a motor (19). Connect A rod (22), the pivot (1
5) A support shaft (18) arranged orthogonally to the swing base (14), a camera base (17) swingably supported by the support shaft (18), and the swing base. (14) A rod (25) for connecting the upper end of a column standing upright to the peripheral edge of a disk (24) rotated in one direction by a motor (23) attached to the camera stand (17). ), A television camera (6) mounted on the camera stand (17) with the lens center (P) aligned with the orthogonal portion of the pivot (15) and the support shaft (18), the motor (19), A button for camera swinging which is connected to (23) via a cable (27) and continuously rotates the motors (19) and (23) while being pressed and stops the motors (19) and (23) when released. (3
There is provided a surveillance camera device for a crane, characterized by having 0) and (31).

[0013]

By swinging the television camera in two horizontal orthogonal directions in the vertical camera housing, an arbitrary view around the hook of the wire suspended from the boom of the crane is imaged in a wide range without blind spots. Also, when the TV camera is swung around the lens center in the camera housing, the viewpoint is fixed at one point even if the TV camera is swung, and the viewpoint movement of the monitor image on the monitor TV is eliminated, and the monitor image is It becomes easy to see.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The crane monitoring camera device in this embodiment has a camera housing (5) attached to the tip of the boom (1) of the crane shown in FIG. 5, and a monitor TV (7) and a remote controller (8) in the cab (4). It is a configuration that deploys.

The camera housing (5) is an airtight container containing the TV camera (6), and the TV camera (6) is provided inside.
Is stored so as to be swingable downward and in two horizontal orthogonal directions. In addition, an inert gas, for example, nitrogen gas is sealed inside the camera housing (5). This nitrogen gas removes moisture and oxygen from the inside of the camera housing (5), causes dew condensation inside the camera housing (5), corrosion due to oxidation of metal parts such as the TV camera drive system, and sparks at electrical contact parts. Prevent. Of course, other inert gas such as argon or helium may be filled instead of the nitrogen gas. This eliminates the need for a dew condensation prevention heater.

The camera housing (5) is vertically attached to the tip of the boom (1) via an air damper (10). The air damper (10) operates so that the camera camera housing (5) does not swing even when the boom (1) tilts suddenly and always maintains a vertical posture. As a result, the screen hardly blurs even during boom (1) sudden movement.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the air damper (10) is attached to the tip of an arm (11) fixed at a right angle to the side wall of the tip of the boom (1). Such an air damper (10) is smaller and lighter than a hydraulic damper and has no fear of oil leakage, and is suitable for application to a small crane and crane work in a clean environment.

The camera housing (5) is made of a lightweight metal such as aluminum and has a cylindrical shape having a vertically sealed opening. The upper end of the camera housing (5) is connected to the air damper (10), and the ring member (12) is attached to the outer periphery of the lower end.

A television camera (6) is housed downward in a camera housing (5). This television camera (6) is composed of a lens portion (6a) and a camera body (6b), and a lens center P of the lens portion (6a) is set as a swing center in the camera housing (5) as shown in FIG. , X direction that is orthogonal to the horizontal direction (arrow direction in FIG. 1 (a))
And the Y direction (the arrow direction in FIG. 1B) are swingably housed.

An example of the swing mechanism of the television camera (6) in the X and Y directions is shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the lower end opening of the camera housing (5) is sealed by a bottom plate (13), and an inverted L-shaped swing table (14) is mounted on the bottom plate (13).
Are rotatably connected in the X direction with the pivot (15) in the Y direction as a fulcrum. The pivot (15) of the rocking table (14) is attached to the bottom plate (1
3) It is supported by a bearing (16) protruding from above.

As shown in FIG. 1 (b), the lower part of the camera base (17) is connected to the swing base (14) so as to be rotatable in the Y direction with the support shaft (18) in the X direction as a fulcrum. There is. The camera body (6b) of the television camera (6) is fixed to the camera stand (17). The lens center P of the TV camera (6) is
It coincides with the intersection of the center lines of the axis (15) and the support shaft (18).

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), a motor (19) and a disk (20) that can be rotated in one direction by the motor (19) are attached to the upper part of the rocking base (14). Bottom plate (1
The upper end of the column (21) which is erected in 3) is connected to one end of the disk (20) by the rod (22). Both ends of the rod (22) are equipped with ball joints,
(22) is configured so as not to be twisted or bent. When the disk (20) is rotated by the motor (19), the rod (2
2) relatively pulls or pushes the upper part of the rocking base (14), so that the rocking base (14) together with the television camera (6) has a maximum deflection angle in the X direction about the lens center P as a center. It is configured to oscillate at about 10 °.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the camera stand (17)
A motor (23) and a disk (24) which can be rotated in one direction by the motor (23) are attached to the upper part of the. Disc (24)
There is a rod (2
5) are linked together. Both ends of the rod (25) are provided with ball joints so that the rod (25) is not twisted or bent. When the disk (24) is rotated by the motor (23), the camera base (17) moves together with the television camera (6) with respect to the rocking base (14) about the lens center P in the Y direction, for example, the maximum deflection angle. It is configured to oscillate at about 10 °. The maximum deflection angles in the X and Y directions are determined by the rods (22) (2) with respect to the discs (20) (24).
It is possible to easily increase or decrease by changing the connection position of 5) in the radial direction.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a transparent circular glass window (2) is formed on the bottom plate (13) of the camera housing (5).
6) has been formed. The glass window (26) faces the lens portion (6a) of the television camera (6), and the glass window (2)
A television camera (6) images the area around the hook of the wire (2) through (6).

The video signal picked up by the television camera (6) is sent to the monitor television (7) in the driver's cab (4) by a cable (27) and is visualized. The cable (27) is a composite cable and is a remote control device (8) in the cab (4).
The control signal from is also sent to the camera housing (5) side by the cable (27). The remote controller (8) shown in FIG. 1 (b) includes a pair of camera swing buttons (30) (31) for swinging the television camera (6) separately in the X and Y directions.
The TV camera (6) has buttons (28) (29) (enlargement and reduction) for zooming.

As shown in FIG. 2, the television camera (6) in the camera housing (5) is independently swung in the horizontal X and Y directions around the lens center P as a center. (6) swings in a swinging manner, and images the area around the hook at the lower end of the wire (2) without blind spots.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the hook image (n) of the monitor image (m) first captured by the television camera (6) is at one corner of the screen (7 '), When the area around the hook is difficult to see, the operator operates the remote controller (8) with buttons as follows. Since the remote control device (8) can be operated at hand while looking at the screen (7 '), it is very easy to operate.

First, for example, the Y-direction button (29) is pressed. As a result, the Y-direction motor (2
3) operates, the disc (24) rotates in one direction, the TV camera (6) rotates in the Y direction, and the monitor image (m) of the monitor TV (7) moves in the Y direction. When the hook image (n) of the monitor image (m) moves to the center of the screen (7 ′) in the Y direction as shown in FIG. 4B, the Y direction button (29) is operated. Stop. If the Y direction button (29) is continuously pressed, the television camera (6) oscillates up to the maximum angle and then oscillates in the opposite direction (so-called return type operation).

Next, the X-direction button (28) is pressed. As a result, the television camera (6) rotates in the X direction while maintaining the previous angle in the Y direction, and the monitor image (m) on the screen (7 ') moves in the X direction. As shown in FIG. 4 (c),
When the hook image (n) moves to the center of the screen (7 ') in the X direction, the operation of the X direction button (28) is stopped.
As a result, the hook image (n) is stopped at the center of the screen (7 '), and the area around the hook is widely projected on the screen (7').
Note that the television camera (6) repeats the return-type operation even when the X direction button (28) is held down. This return type operation completes one round trip in a few seconds, so the shooting direction can be adjusted speedily.

The operator looks at the monitor image (m) in FIG. 4 (c), presses the zoom buttons (28) and (29) as necessary, and displays the image of the area around the hook at the center of the screen (7 '). Make sure the magnification is easy to see and clearly check the condition around the hook.

The monitor image (m) of FIG. 4 (a) is moved only in the X direction (or Y direction) as in the conventional case, and the hook image (n) is displayed at the center of the screen (7 '). It cannot be moved. Especially in the case of zooming up, the hook image (n) may come off in the lower right direction of the screen (7 '), and the signal confirmation and safety confirmation may not be possible. However, in the present invention, since the monitor image (m) can be moved in two directions of X and Y, the hook image (n) can be always located at the center of the screen (7 '), and the hook (3) and You can check the area around the hook without any blind spots.

Further, since the TV camera (6) swings around the lens center P in the camera housing (5), the monitor image (m) displayed on the monitor TV (7) is viewed from a fixed camera viewpoint. It becomes the imaged image. Therefore, when the monitor image (m) is moved on the screen (7 '), the camera viewpoint is constant, so that the screen (7') has little blurring and is very easy to see. You can feel it from '). In this respect, in the conventional surveillance camera device, since the TV camera (45) is swung about the support shaft (46) supporting the camera body (45b), the lens unit is swung every time the TV camera (45) is swung. Since (45a) moved and the viewpoint of the camera changed, the image (7 ') was blurred and very difficult to see, and it was difficult to feel the sense of direction.

The TV camera (6) has a lens center P
Since the lens portion (6a) hardly swings in the radial direction because it swings at, the size of the glass window (26) can be very small. This is convenient for hermetically sealing the periphery of the glass window (26) and reduces the possibility of damage to the glass window.

The screen (7 ') of the monitor TV (7)
Displaying the turning direction angle of the crane and the length of wire (2) fed out from the boom (1) is useful for grasping the situation around the hook. This can be easily configured, for example, by attaching a direction sensor to the driver's seat (4) and attaching a rotary payout length measuring machine to the wire (2).

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, the television camera can be swung in the two orthogonal directions in the camera housing. Therefore, the hook can be perfectly tracked vertically and horizontally by the television camera, and even when the area around the hook is zoomed up. Since the hook can always be positioned in the center of the image, the area around the hook can be widely captured on the image without a blind spot, and the safety confirmation of the crane operation can be easily performed.

Further, since the TV camera is made to swing around the lens center, the viewpoint of the TV camera is fixed at one point, and the monitor image projected on the monitor TV is the same as the image picked up from a fixed camera viewpoint. Become. Therefore, even when the monitor image is moved on the screen, since the camera viewpoint is constant, there is little blurring of the screen, it is very easy to see, and the accurate direction interval can be actually felt from the screen. Furthermore, if the camera rocking button is held down, the TV camera swings up to the maximum swing angle and then automatically reverses and rocks in the opposite direction. It is possible to adjust the swing of the TV camera in two orthogonal directions using only the swing buttons. Since there are only two buttons, you can perform reliable swing adjustment operations with a so-called blind touch only with your fingertips without looking at each of these buttons. Therefore, it is easy to work while constantly watching the monitor TV.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B show an embodiment of a camera housing in a surveillance camera device according to the present invention, where FIG. 1A is a front view including a partial cross section, and FIG. 1B is a side view including a partial cross section.

2 is a schematic front view showing a swing example of a television camera built in the camera housing of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a main part of an embodiment of the surveillance camera apparatus of the present invention including the camera housing of FIG.

FIG. 4 shows an example of moving a monitor image of a monitor TV in the apparatus of FIG. 3, (a) before moving the image, (b) when moving in the image Y direction, (c) when moving the image in the X direction.

FIG. 5: Side view of a crane equipped with a conventional surveillance camera device

6 is a side view of the main part of the surveillance camera device in the crane of FIG.

7A and 7B show monitor images of a monitor TV in the surveillance camera apparatus of FIG. 6, where FIG. 7A is an image diagram before image movement and FIG. 7B is an image diagram after image movement.

8A and 8B show an example of a defect of a monitor image of a monitor TV in the surveillance camera apparatus of FIG. 6, where FIG. 8A is an image before moving the image, FIG. 8B is after moving the image, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 boom 2 wire 5 camera housing 6 TV camera 7 monitor TV P lens center

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A camera housing which holds a television camera for holding a wire for hanging a load, which is held at a tip end of a boom, and which internally captures an image of the periphery of the lower end of the wire, and a position apart from the camera housing. A monitor camera device for a crane, which has a monitor TV for displaying an image captured by the TV camera, wherein a glass window (26) formed in the center of the bottom plate (13) of the camera housing, and the glass A pivot (15) horizontally arranged adjacent to the upper side of the window (26), and a swing base (1) swingably supported by the pivot (15).
4), the upper ends of the columns (21) standing upright on the bottom plate (13), and the disk (20) attached to the swing table (14) and rotated in one direction by a motor (19). A rod (22) connecting the peripheral portion, a support shaft (18) arranged on the swing base (14) orthogonal to the pivot shaft (15), and swingable on the support shaft (18). Camera stand supported by (1
7), the upper end of a column standing upright on the rocking base (14), and the periphery of a disk (24) rotated in one direction by a motor (23) attached to the camera base (17). A television camera (6) attached to the camera stand (17) with a rod (25) connecting the parts and a lens center (P) aligned with the orthogonal part of the pivot (15) and the support shaft (18). Is connected to the motors (19) and (23) via a cable (27), and the motors (19) and (2
3) is continuously rotated and released, the motors (19), (2
3) The camera swing buttons (30) and (31) at which the camera stops
A surveillance camera device for a crane, comprising: