JPH08319086A - Position detecting method for cylindrical body - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To inexpensively, reliably and accurately detect the position of a coil even if a pallet is changed in size, and a coil is changed in position by scanning cylindrical bodies in the parallel direction while a plurality of lights or ultrasonic waves are being irradiated to the cylindrical bodies to be detected. CONSTITUTION: Since a range finder 30 is mounted on a crab 22 of a crane 20, the crab 22 is moved along the direction 50. Therefore, laser beams 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d and 31e (31) are moved in the order of 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d and 51e (51). Thus, whereever coils 10, 11 and 12 may be located over a pallet 13, scanning is performed over the coils, and data for their distance distribution is stored in a microcomputer in a body detection device 40. After scanning has been over, necessary data for transportation by the crane 20, that is, the number of the coils, size of each coil, width of each coil, the accurate center coordinates of each coil and the like are computed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cylindrical object position detecting method for accurately detecting the positions of distant cylindrical objects using light or ultrasonic waves.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a steelmaking coil (hereinafter referred to as a coil) produced in a steelmaking factory has a cylindrical shape, and when it is automatically transferred by an overhead crane, the position of the coil is accurately detected to It is necessary to lower the hanger. That is, of the plurality of coils carried into the coil yard by the truck,
In order to accurately guide the overhead crane onto the coil when automatically lifting the specified coil with the overhead crane,
It is necessary to accurately detect the position and size of the coil.
Therefore, as a conventional coil position detecting device, for example, there is an invention described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-263382. This is to measure the position of the coil by detecting the position in the longitudinal direction and the position in the lateral direction of the pallet on which the coil is placed by a laser distance meter.

[0003]

However, in the coil position measurement in the conventional device, the longitudinal position of the pallet,
Since it is necessary to measure the coil position by detecting only the position in the lateral direction, it is a condition that the coil is placed at a predetermined position on the pallet. Therefore, when the size of the pallet is changed or the coil position on the pallet is changed, there is a problem that the coil position cannot be measured.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and is inexpensive, highly reliable, and has a large pallet size.
The object is to be able to detect the coil position accurately even if the coil position changes.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above-mentioned object, and a central axis direction of a cylindrical object whose position where one or a plurality of objects are arranged in parallel is to be detected, and a cylindrical object is detected. The longitudinal direction of the trolley on which it is placed forms a substantially right angle,
While irradiating a plurality of light or ultrasonic waves onto the cylindrical object to be detected from above these cylindrical objects arranged in parallel, scanning is performed in the parallel direction of the cylindrical objects, and the reflected light or reflected wave is received or received. By doing so, it is a gist to collect the distance distribution data up to the cylindrical object and detect the position of the cylindrical object from this distance distribution data. In addition, the array of multiple lights or ultrasonic waves emitted from above the cylindrical objects arranged in parallel is set to the same direction as the central axis direction of the cylindrical object whose position is to be detected, and the surface of the cylindrical object by the multiple lights or ultrasonic waves The gist is that the upward scanning is performed once or plural times in the direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis direction of the cylindrical object. Further, the array of a plurality of light or ultrasonic waves radiated from above the cylindrical objects arranged in parallel is set to a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis direction of the cylindrical object whose position is to be detected, The gist is that the scanning on the surface is performed once or plural times in the same direction as the central axis direction of the cylindrical object.

[0006]

[Operation] The central axis direction of one or more cylindrical objects whose positions are to be detected and the longitudinal direction of the trolley on which the cylindrical objects are placed are substantially perpendicular to each other. A plurality of laser beam lights or ultrasonic waves are scanned from above the columnar objects arranged in parallel while irradiating the columnar object whose position is to be detected in the parallel direction of the columnar objects, and the reflected light or reflected wave By receiving or receiving, the distance distribution data to the cylindrical object is collected, and the position of the cylindrical object is detected from this distance distribution data, so the size of the pallet and the coil position change. In addition to being able to accurately detect the coil position, the position detection is highly reliable, and automatic transfer by an overhead crane can be reliably performed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A method for detecting the position of a cylindrical object of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. In the following description, the cylindrical object to be detected is
A coil will be described as an example. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a plurality of coils 10, 11, 12 having different coil diameters and lengths are used.
(Or a coil having the same diameter and the same length) is placed on the pallet 13 via the skids 14, 15, 16 and carried into the coil yard, and the overhead crane 20 is arranged so as to travel and traverse above the coil yard. Thus, a predetermined coil is automatically lifted from the pallet 13. In this case, the central axes of the coils 10, 11 and 12 and the longitudinal direction of the pallet 13 on which the coils are placed are arranged at substantially right angles.

When the traveling direction of the overhead crane 20 is X, the transverse direction orthogonal to the traveling direction is Y, and the height direction is Z, the pallet 13 is carried in the Y direction by the overhead crane 20. The coils 10, 11, 12 arranged on the pallet 13 are arranged in parallel on the pallet 13 with the central axes thereof oriented in the substantially X direction, and are positioned by the skids 14, 15, 16 on the pallet 13, respectively. It is fixed.

The overhead crane 20 has a girder 21 traveling in the X direction, a club 22 disposed on the girder and traversing in the Y direction orthogonal to the girder, and suspended from the club 22 in the ascending / descending direction and in the Z direction. Up and down coil suspension 23
It is composed of

Reference numeral 30 denotes a range finder, which is, for example, a laser range finder and is integrally attached to the club 22 as shown in FIG. 1. A plurality of laser light sources 32 are provided below the laser range finder 30. This laser light source 3 is installed
The arrangement direction of 2 is set to several places along the longitudinal axis direction of the outer surface of the coils 10, 11, 12, and the laser beam lights 31a, 31b, 31c, 3 from the respective laser light sources 32 are arranged.
Irradiate 1d and 31e (collectively referred to as 31). Then, the plurality of laser beam lights emitted from the plurality of laser light sources 32 impinge on the outer surfaces of the coils 10, 11, 12 at several points along the longitudinal axis direction, respectively, to receive reflected light 33 that is reflected and received. have. Therefore, this laser range finder 30 can measure the distance distribution to each coil by the principle of the triangulation method, and at the same time, it can detect a plurality of laser light sources 3.
The array of 2 is in the same direction as the central axis direction (that is, the X direction) of the coil whose position is to be detected.

The club 22 has an object detecting device 4
0 is also mounted, and the object detection device 40 is connected to the rangefinder 30, and the distance distribution data to the position detection target coil obtained by scanning the rangefinder 30 is once stored in the memory of the built-in microcomputer. After the scanning is completed, the data required for transportation by the crane 20, that is, the number of coils, the size of each coil, the width of each coil, the accurate center coordinates of each coil, and the like are calculated based on the data in the memory after the scanning is completed.

FIG. 5 shows a laser light source 32 in the rangefinder 30.
The scanning procedure by the crane 20 at the center of each irradiation port is shown. That is, since the rangefinder 30 is mounted on the club 22 of the crane 20, the club 22 is moved along the direction 50 shown in FIG. Therefore, the laser spot light is emitted from 51a, 51b, 51c, 51 shown in FIG.
d, 51e (collectively referred to as 51).
With such scanning, it is possible to scan all the coils, wherever the coils 10, 11 and 12 are located on the pallet 13. That is, the distance distribution data on all the coils can be stored in the microcomputer in the object detection device 40.

FIG. 2 shows a part of the measurement result of the distance distribution stored in the microcomputer in the object detecting device 40 when the range finder 30 is scanned in the Y direction, in the Y-Z direction plane. Is. In this case, since five laser beams are used as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to measure the distance distribution data at five points at the same time. Further, although the scanning is continuously performed, the distance distribution data is discretely sampled, so that the data in the circled portion in the figure is stored in the microcomputer. The circle marks in the figure indicate, for example, those relating to the laser beam 31a. Since the distance in the height direction from the distance meter 30 to the ground 17 is fixed, the vertical axis of the figure shows the coil height distribution from the origin when the origin 0 is on the ground 17 by coordinate conversion. . Where 100 is the coil 10
, 110 is the part of the coil 11, 120 is the coil 1
2 part, 150 is part of skid 15, 160 is part of skid 16, 130 is part of pallet 13 and 170
Is the part of the ground 17 and the coordinates are converted, so 170
The height of the part is 0. In this case, skid 1
4, the right side 151 of the skid 15, the left side 1 of the skid 16
In 61 and the like, the reflected light of the laser is blocked by the coil and does not reach the light receiving portion 34, so that the distance cannot be measured.

The position in the X direction in the figure is an encoder (not shown) attached to the girder 21 and a laser irradiation port 32.
It can be easily measured by the interval of. The position in the Y direction can be easily measured by an encoder (not shown) attached to the club 22.

FIG. 4 shows that the range finder is scanning in the Y direction.
The measurement result of the distance distribution stored in the microcomputer in the object detection device 40 while scanning the coil 10 is displayed on the Y-Z direction plane. In this case, since five laser beams are used, it is possible to measure the distance distribution data at five locations at the same time, as indicated by the circles.

Next, a method of calculating the number of coils, the size of each coil, the width of each coil, the accurate center coordinates of each coil, etc. in the microcomputer will be described based on these data. In FIG. 2, the data of the portion other than the coil surface is deleted by extracting the portion where the height value Z exceeds a predetermined constant value.

Next, a method of calculating the center coordinates of each coil in the Y and Z directions will be described. In FIG. 2, the distance distribution data at any three positions of the data 100 are represented by (Y1, Z
1), (Y2, Z2), and (Y3, Z3). When the center coordinate of the coil 10 is (Y0, Z0) and the radius is R,

[0018]

(Equation 1)

Therefore, from equations (4) to (5), Y0, Z0
The value of can be calculated by simple arithmetic operations, and the result is the following equation.

[0020]

(Equation 2)

By substituting this value into the equation (1) or (2), the radius R can be easily obtained. In this way, with other combinations of three data, Y0, Z0,
By obtaining the value of R and finally performing the arithmetic mean for each coil over the entire scanning range, the accurate center coordinates and size of each coil can be obtained.

Next, a method of calculating the center coordinates of the coil in the X direction and the width will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 shows the case where the coil 10 is being scanned, and data (X1, Z1), (X2, Z2), (X3, 5) at five locations are stored in the microcomputer.
Z3), (X4, Z4) and (X5, Z5) are obtained.
Also in this case, similarly to FIG. 2, the data (X5, Z5) of the portion other than the coil surface is deleted by extracting the portion in which the value of the coil height exceeds a predetermined constant value. As a result,
(X1, Z1), (X2, Z2), (X3, Z3),
(X4, Z4) is the data on the coil surface, and (X5, Z4)
Since the data of Z5) does not exist in the memory, the coil 10
It can be seen that the X coordinate of the right side surface 101 of X is between X4 and X5. Similarly, when the coordinates of the left side surface 102 of the coil 10 are known, the center coordinate X0 and the width W of the coil 10 in the X direction are obtained from the values of both coordinates.

The center coordinates and the width of other coils can be calculated in the same manner. The above operation contents will be described with reference to FIG. (S1) A pallet 13 on which the coils 10, 11, 12 are placed based on a command from a host computer (not shown) or the like.
When he enters the coil yard, the crane 20
0 moves to the sampling start position of the distance distribution data,
The following operations start. (S2) The laser light of the laser rangefinder is turned on, and (S3) scanning is started. That is, the distance meter 30 collects distance data while the club 22 traverses in the Y direction. (S4) The distance data obtained at the same time is stored in the microcomputer 40. (S5) Next, the girder 21 is run by a predetermined amount, and the above (S3) to (S5) are repeated a predetermined number of times. (S6) When the scanning is completed, (S7) the laser light is turned off, and (S8) based on the obtained distance distribution data, the microcomputer first calculates the coil width. Subsequently (S9), the center coordinate of the coil, the radius, and the radius are doubled to calculate the outer diameter. (S10) The result is reported to the host computer or the crane controller, and (S11) and above operations are stopped. In the above embodiment, the calculation order of S8 and S9 may be reversed or simultaneous.

Needless to say, in the above embodiments, other light or ultrasonic waves may be used instead of the laser light to have the same function. In this case, the light receiving unit 34
Operates as the receiving unit 34.

Although the distance meter 30 and the object detecting device 40 are integrally mounted on the club 22 in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be mounted below the girder 21. It may be attached to another place. Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the coil is placed on the pallet is shown as an example, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to the case where the coil is placed on the trailer.

8 to 14 show the second embodiment of the present invention. The coils on the pallets carried into the stockyard and the overhead crane 20 traveling on the stockyard are the first embodiment. Is the same as. In the second embodiment, the arrangement direction of the plurality of laser light sources 32 arranged in the club 22 is set to be substantially vertical to the central axis direction of the coil for detecting the position. The first embodiment is the laser light source. The arrangement direction of 32 is different. Therefore, the coil position detection method is also different. That is, the club 22 is set to 50 in FIG.
To move along.

FIG. 10 shows the measurement result of the distance distribution regarding the coil 10 stored in the microcomputer in the object detecting device 40 when the rangefinder 30 is scanned in the X direction, for example, regarding the laser beam 31a. Is.
Since the distance in the height direction from the distance meter 30 to the ground 17 is constant, the vertical axis of the figure shows the coil height distribution from the origin when the origin 0 is on the ground 17 by coordinate conversion. . Here, 100 is a portion of the coil 10, 140 is a portion of the skid 14, and 130 is a portion of the pallet 13. Since the coordinates are converted, the height of the portion 170 is 0. Further, in this case, the left side surface 131 of the pallet 13 and the left side surface 141 of the skid 14 cannot be measured because the reflected light of the laser is blocked by the coil 10 and does not reach the light receiving portion 34. Therefore, the height is set to 0 on the memory of the microcomputer. The position in the X direction in FIG. 10 can be easily measured by an encoder (not shown) attached to the girder 21. The position in the Y direction is the club 22
It is possible to easily measure by the distance between the encoder and the laser irradiation port which are not shown attached to the.

Further, by moving the club 22 as shown in FIG.
It moves like 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d, 51e (collectively called 51) shown in FIG. With such scanning, it is possible to scan all the coils, wherever the coils 10, 11 and 12 are located on the pallet 13. That is, the distance distribution data on all the coils can be stored in the microcomputer in the object detection device 40.

FIG. 13 shows a part of the measurement result of the distance distribution regarding the coil 10 stored in the microcomputer in the object detecting device 40 when the distance meter 30 scans the coil 10 as shown in FIG. Is. As in the case of FIG. 10, the vertical axis represents the height Z from the ground 17 to the coil 10, and the horizontal axis represents the Y direction. In this case, since five laser beams are used, the distance distribution data at five points can be measured at the same time. The distance distribution data at five points in FIG. 12 are (Y1, Z1), (Y2, Z2),
(Y3, Z3), (Y4, Z4), (Y5, Z5).

Next, a method of calculating the number of coils, the size of each coil, the width of each coil, the accurate center coordinates of each coil, etc. in the microcomputer will be described based on these data. In FIG. 10, by extracting a portion where the height value (Z) exceeds a predetermined constant value, the data 130, 140 and the like unrelated to the coil surface can be deleted. From the data 100 on the remaining coil surface, the number of coils, the coil width W1 and the center coordinate in the X direction can be calculated.

Next, the Y direction and Z of each coil according to FIG.
A method of calculating the center coordinates of directions will be described. In FIG. 13, arbitrary 3 sets of data among the 5 data obtained on the coil 10, for example, (Y1, Z1), (Y2, Z
2), using (Y3, Z3), the center coordinates are (Y0, Z
0) and the radius R, the central coordinates and the radius R can be obtained from the equations (1) to (9) in exactly the same way as in the first embodiment, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The operation contents described above will be described with reference to FIG. (S1) A pallet 13 on which the coils 10, 11, 12 are placed based on a command from a host computer (not shown) or the like.
When he enters the coil yard, the crane 20
0 moves to the sampling start position of the distance distribution data,
The following operations start. (S2) The laser light of the laser rangefinder is turned on, and (S3) scanning is started. That is, the distance meter 30 collects the distance data while the girder 21 travels a predetermined amount in the X direction. (S4) The distance data obtained at the same time is stored in the microcomputer 40. (S5) Next, the club 22 is traversed by a predetermined amount. The above (S3) to (S5) are repeated a predetermined number of times. (S6) When the scanning is completed, (S7) the laser light is turned off, and (S8) based on the obtained distance distribution data, the microcomputer first calculates the coil width. Subsequently (S9), the center coordinate of the coil, the radius, and the radius are doubled to calculate the outer diameter. (S10) The result is reported to the host computer or the crane controller, and (S11) and above operations are stopped. In the above embodiments, the calculation order of S8 and S9 may be reversed or simultaneous. .

[0033]

According to the method for detecting the position of a cylindrical object of the present invention, the center coordinates and outer diameter of each coil can be calculated by simple four arithmetic operations.
Since it is possible to accurately calculate and detect numbers and the like, it is ideal as a coil recognition device for cranes and the like that require high-speed processing and reliability. Also, although the description has been given with the distance in the height direction from the rangefinder to the pallet fixed, the distance in the height direction is not used directly in the calculation formula, so it is accurate even if the height of the pallet or skid changes. The effect is that the size and center coordinates of the coil can be calculated. Moreover, since the pallet itself has not been modified, it is not necessary to do anything such as the maintenance of the reflection plate installed on the pallet, which was necessary in the past. Further, there is an advantage that the coil position can be accurately recognized even when the size of the pallet changes or the coil position on the pallet changes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of an object detection device used in the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of measurement of distance distribution data by a distance meter.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an object detection device used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of measurement of distance distribution data by a distance meter.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a scanning procedure of a rangefinder.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a plurality of light or ultrasonic wave irradiation positions on a cylindrical object.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a flowchart of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a second embodiment of the object detection device used in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a side view of an object detection device used in the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of measurement of distance distribution data by a distance meter.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a scanning procedure of a rangefinder according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a plurality of light or ultrasonic wave irradiation positions on a cylindrical object.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of measurement of distance distribution data by a distance meter.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a flowchart in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11, 12 Coil 13 Pallet 14 Skid 20 Overhead crane 21 Girder 22 Club 23 Coil lifting device 30 Distance meter 31 Laser light 32 Laser light source 33 Reflected light 34 Light receiving part 40 Object detection device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A central axis direction of a columnar object whose position is to be detected, and a longitudinal direction of a carriage on which the columnar object is placed are arranged at substantially right angles. Scanning while irradiating a plurality of parallel-arranged columnar objects whose positions are to be detected with a plurality of lights or ultrasonic waves along the direction in which they are arranged in parallel, and receiving or receiving the reflected light or reflected waves By doing so, the distance distribution data up to the cylindrical object is collected, and the position of the cylindrical object is detected from this distance distribution data. 2. An array of a plurality of lights or ultrasonic waves radiated from above the columnar objects arranged in parallel is in the same direction as the central axis direction of the columnar objects whose position is to be detected, 2. The method for detecting the position of a cylindrical object according to claim 1, wherein the scanning on the surface of the cylindrical object is performed once or plural times in a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis direction of the cylindrical object. 3. An array of a plurality of lights or ultrasonic waves radiated from above the columnar objects arranged in parallel is set to a direction substantially perpendicular to the central axis direction of the columnar objects whose position is to be detected, and the plurality of lights or ultrasonic waves are used. The method for detecting the position of a cylindrical object according to claim 1, wherein scanning on the surface of the cylindrical object is performed once or plural times in the same direction as the central axis direction of the cylindrical object.