JPH11292249A - Management system for conveying amount by belt conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a management system for the conveying amount by a belt conveyor, capable of easily calculating the accurate conveying amount by easily picking up an image of the conveying section in the surface perpendicular to the direction in which a transporting material is conveyed by the belt conveyor and by avoiding errors in performing image processing. SOLUTION: A conveying amount management system 10 for managing the conveying amount of excavated earth and sand 12 to be continuously conveyed while being loaded on a belt conveyor 11 is provided with a video camera 14 arranged in front of the dropping position of the excavated earth and sand 12 so as to face the front surface of a belt conveyor 11 and for picking up an image of the conveying section of the excavated earth and sand 12 just before dropping; an image processing means 15 for calculating the sectional area by taking in the static image obtained by the video camera 14, a speed detector 16 for detecting the conveying speed of the belt conveyor 11, a calculating means 15 for calculating the conveying amount of the excavated earth and sand from the conveying speed and the sectional area, and a laser scanner 21 for detecting the front surface shape of the excavated earth and sand 12 by scanning the front surface of it just before dropping.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveyance amount management system using a belt conveyor, and more particularly, to a conveyance amount management system for managing the conveyance amount of a conveyed article loaded on a belt conveyor and continuously conveyed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the earth pressure type shield method, excavated earth and sand taken out of an earth pressure chamber via a screw conveyor or the like is transported rearward by a belt conveyor, and then loaded and loaded on a scrap steel car. It will be excavated by transporting by a scrap steel car, but according to this earth pressure shield method, while accurately managing and grasping the amount of excavated earth and sand transported by such a belt conveyor,
It is necessary to adjust the excavation amount by the shield excavator and to perform the excavation work efficiently while maintaining the earth pressure balance in the earth pressure chamber.

[0003] In addition, for example, in the case of transporting earth and sand for landfilling on a carrier such as a bulk carrier, or in the case of transporting grains and the like, the amount of transportation and the amount of landfilled land are controlled. It is necessary to accurately grasp the amount of conveyance by the belt conveyor.

[0004] As a method for controlling the amount of excavated earth and sand, grains, and other conveyed materials that are continuously conveyed via the belt conveyor, for example, a load cell or the like is provided below the belt conveyor. It is known to detect the weight of the conveyed material per unit time, convert the volume from the weight per unit volume, and calculate the total transported amount by integrating this. According to such a method, when the conveyed material is, for example, excavated earth and sand, the weight per unit volume changes every moment due to the fluctuation of the water content ratio and the earth and sand component, so that a considerable error occurs. I was

On the other hand, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-0909, discloses means for imaging a contour of earth and sand conveyed on a conveyor at a fixed position, image processing means for calculating a cross-sectional area of earth and sand conveyed per unit time based on the imaged outline, Means for detecting the transport speed, wherein the image processing unit calculates the transport amount by multiplying the transport speed by the cross-sectional area of the transported soil calculated by, for example, binarization processing. In addition, it is described that this makes it possible to directly calculate the volume of the conveyed earth and sand, instead of converting the volume from the weight.

[0006]

However, according to the conventional conveyance amount management system including the image pickup means, the image processing means, and the speed detection means, the CCD video camera as the image pickup means has a problem. Since the contour of the excavated earth and sand that is arranged above the belt conveyor and conveyed on the conveyor will be imaged diagonally from above, it is necessary to accurately image the cross section of the conveyance in a plane perpendicular to the conveyance direction by the belt conveyor. Is difficult, and the surface of the belt conveyor is black, so the boundaries of the rubbed parts on the belt conveyor located on both sides of the placed excavated soil are not clear, and errors in image processing There is a problem that it is likely to be a factor of

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and it is possible to easily image a transport cross section in a plane perpendicular to a transport direction of a transported material by a belt conveyor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyance amount management system using a belt conveyor that can easily calculate an accurate conveyance amount while avoiding an error in performing image processing.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and a gist of the invention is to control a transport amount of a conveyed product which is loaded on a belt conveyor and continuously conveyed. A quantity management system, wherein the imaging means is disposed in front of the belt conveyor in front of the falling position of the conveyed object, and is imaged by an imaging unit for imaging a conveyance cross section immediately before the falling of the conveyed object; Image processing means for capturing a still image and calculating its cross-sectional area,
Speed detecting means for detecting a conveying speed by the belt conveyor, and calculating means for calculating a conveying amount of the conveyed article based on a conveying cross section obtained by the image processing means and a conveying speed obtained by the speed detecting means; And a conveyance amount management system using a belt conveyor.

Further, the transport amount management system according to the present invention comprises:
It is preferable that the apparatus further includes a non-contact scanning unit that is arranged above the drop position of the conveyed object and that scans a surface of the conveyed object immediately before the drop to detect a surface shape thereof.

According to the conveyance amount management system of the present invention, since the imaging means is disposed opposite to the front of the belt conveyor in front of the falling position of the conveyed object, the image pickup means is in a plane perpendicular to the conveyance direction by the belt conveyor. In addition to being able to easily image the transport cross section, the distance between the arranged imaging means and the falling position of the conveyed object is set or measured in advance, and the focal length of the imaging means is accurately adjusted to this distance Thereby, only the transport cross section of the transported product immediately before the fall can be captured as a clear image. Further, since the imaging means does not take an image of the surface of the belt conveyor by imaging the transport cross section from the front, it is possible to easily determine the boundary of the rubbed portion of the transported object on the belt conveyor.

Further, if non-contact scanning means for detecting the surface shape of the conveyed article by scanning the surface of the conveyed article immediately before the drop is disposed above the drop position of the conveyed article, the image is picked up by the image pickup means. The cross-sectional area of the transport cross section can be calculated by the image processing means while confirming whether or not the transport cross section of the conveyed article immediately before the drop indicates the transport cross section immediately before the fall, thereby more accurately transporting the transport cross section. The amount can be calculated.

According to the transport amount management system of the present invention, for example, three still images are taken in one second, image processing is performed, and these are averaged to calculate an average sectional area per second. This is multiplied by the transport speed obtained by the speed detecting means to calculate the volume per second, and the results are integrated to calculate the transport amount per fixed time.

[0013]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The transport amount management system according to this embodiment is, as an example, to manage the amount of excavated earth and sand removed from the earth pressure chamber via a screw conveyor or the like in the earth pressure type shield method,
This is used to accurately calculate the amount of excavated earth and sand conveyed backward by the belt conveyor. That is, according to the earth pressure type shield method, it is necessary to keep the excavating speed by the shield excavator and the amount of earth removed from the earth pressure chamber in a proportional relationship. It is not possible to maintain the size of the soil and it may cause settlement of the surrounding ground, etc. Accordingly, the excavation speed by the shield excavator is adjusted, and the excavation work is efficiently performed while maintaining the earth pressure balance in the earth pressure chamber. .

The transport amount management system 10 using a belt conveyor according to this embodiment is, as shown in FIG. 1, loaded on a belt conveyor 11 and continuously transported.
A system for managing the transport amount of excavated earth and sand 12 as a conveyed material discharged from an earth pressure chamber of a shield machine, wherein a belt conveyor 11 is provided in front of a drop-in position of excavated earth and sand 12 into a slip steel wheel 13. -Type video camera 14 as an image pickup means facing the front front of the camera
A personal computer 15 as image processing means for taking in a still image obtained by the video camera 14 and calculating its cross-sectional area, and an encoder-type rotational speed detection as speed detection means for detecting a transport speed by the belt conveyor 11. And a personal computer 15 as an arithmetic means for calculating the transport amount of the excavated earth and sand 12 based on the transport cross section obtained by the image processing means 15 and the transport speed obtained by the encoder type rotation speed detector 16. Is what is done. Note that the personal computer 15 serves both as an image processing unit and a calculation unit.

Here, a video camera 1 as an image pickup means
For example, an NTSC video camera device (manufactured by NEC Corporation) can be used as the video camera 4. Capture Board (Vide
o Through the Capture Board 17, three images per second (the number of captured images fluctuates in proportion to the speed of the conveyor belt) are captured by the personal computer 15 as still images. It has become. Note that the video camera 14 is opposed to the front of the belt conveyor 11 by the adjustment and holding mechanism in a state where the focal length matches the distance between the disposition position of the video camera 14 and the falling position of the excavated earth and sand 12, and The video camera 14 has a wiper, a waterproof and earthquake-resistant function, and the like.

As the personal computer 15 serving both as the image processing means and the arithmetic means, various types of commercially available personal computers having, for example, a server supplementary function can be used. Per unit time based on the software for capturing the still image to be captured, the software for image processing such as binarization processing to obtain the contour of the transport cross section, the software for calculating the cross sectional area of the transport cross section, and the transport speed of the belt conveyor 11 Software for calculating and integrating the amount of earth removal, software for displaying still images, contours of transport cross-sections, amount of earth removal, etc., and software for controlling the entire system are installed. 18 and the printer 19 are connected,
The still image, the contour of the section to be conveyed, the earth removal amount, and the like can be displayed and punched out.

Further, an encoder type rotation speed detector 16 as a speed detection means is connected to a rotation shaft 20 located at a tip end portion of the belt conveyor 11 and detects the rotation speed of the rotation shaft 20, whereby the rotation speed of the belt conveyor 11 is detected. It detects the transport speed, has a waterproof function, and is connected to a personal computer 15 so that data of the detected transport speed of the belt conveyor 11 can be transferred to the personal computer 15.

On the other hand, the transport amount management system 10 of this embodiment is further disposed above the dropping position of the excavated earth and sand 12, and detects the surface shape by scanning the surface of the excavated earth and sand 12 immediately before falling. A laser scanner device 21 is provided as non-contact scanning means.

Here, the laser scanner device 21
Is to project a laser beam toward the object to be measured, and to form an image of the light scattered by the laser beam on the object to be measured on the CCD by a condenser lens, and to input the CCD image forming position as a counter value. Is a device that can be converted into distance data by the principle of triangulation, and based on such a principle, the optical axis of the laser beam projecting part and the light receiving part is measured using a galvanometer mirror. By scanning at high speed along the surface of the object, it is possible to easily obtain multi-point point group coordinate data along such a scanning line.

As the laser scanner device 21, for example, a three-dimensional scanner TDS _SERIES (manufactured by Pulstec Industrial Co., Ltd.) can be used. A laser beam is projected in the transverse direction perpendicular to the direction of the back and forth, and reciprocating scanning is performed to constantly detect the surface shape of the excavated earth and sand 12 immediately before falling and easily grasp the shape of the transport cross section thereof. The laser scanner device 21 is connected to the personal computer 15 via the controller, so that the detected surface shape can be compared with the image processing data from the video camera 14. ing.

According to the present embodiment, three images per second captured by the personal computer 15 (the number of captured images fluctuates in proportion to the speed of the belt conveyor). The image processing data of the still image is averaged to calculate an average transport cross-sectional area for each second, and the average transport cross-sectional area and the belt conveyor 11 at the time of the imaging, which are detected by the encoder type rotation speed detector 16, are calculated. By multiplying the transfer amount per second by multiplying the transfer amount per second by sequentially multiplying the transfer amount per second, the total transfer amount in a certain time can be easily calculated. .

Here, the video camera 14 for imaging the cross section of the conveyance is disposed opposite to the front of the belt conveyor 11 in front of the falling position of the excavated earth and sand 12, so that the video camera 14 is in a plane perpendicular to the conveyance direction by the belt conveyor 11. Can be easily imaged, the focal length thereof is adjusted, and only the transport cross section of the excavated earth and sand 12 immediately before falling can be captured as a clear image,
Further, by imaging the transport cross section from the front, the boundary of the portion where the excavated earth and sand 12 is rubbed against the belt conveyor 11 can be easily determined, so that an accurate transport amount can be obtained.

According to this embodiment, the excavated earth 1
Since the laser scanner device 21 is disposed above the drop position of the laser scanner device 2, the data of the contour of the transport cross section obtained by performing image processing on a still image, for example, is transferred to the laser scanner device 2.
The cross-sectional area of the transport cross section can be calculated while comparing with the surface shape of the transport cross section immediately before the fall detected by 1 and confirming whether or not this contour indicates the transport cross section immediately before the fall, This makes it possible to calculate the transport amount more accurately.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments of the above embodiments, but can be variously modified and adopted within the scope of the constitution described in each claim. For example, the laser scanner device 21 as the non-contact scanning means is not necessarily provided, and the present invention is not limited to the excavated earth and sand in the earth pressure shield method, but also the amount of excavated earth and sand transported in various other works. Can be used to manage
It can also be used to control the transported amount of various other transported items, such as grains, which are transported by a belt conveyor.

[0025]

As described above in detail, according to the transport amount management system using the belt conveyor of the present invention, the image pickup means which is arranged in front of the belt conveyor in front of the falling position of the conveyed object, and Image processing means for capturing the still image obtained by the imaging means and calculating the cross-sectional area of the transport cross section, speed detecting means for detecting the transport speed by the belt conveyor, and the transported article from the calculated cross-sectional area and transport speed Calculation means for calculating the conveyance amount of the object, it is possible to easily image a conveyance cross section in a plane perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the conveyed goods by the belt conveyor, and to avoid an error when performing image processing. In addition, an accurate transport amount can be easily calculated.

Further, non-contact scanning means for detecting the surface shape by scanning the surface of the conveyed article immediately before dropping,
If it is arranged above the drop position of the conveyed object, the image processing unit checks whether or not the transport cross section of the conveyed object immediately before the drop imaged by the imaging unit indicates the transport cross section immediately before the drop. Thus, the cross-sectional area of the transport cross section can be calculated, whereby the transport amount can be calculated more accurately.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a transport amount management system using a belt conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 Conveyance amount management system 11 Belt conveyor 12 Excavated earth and sand (transported goods) 14 Video camera (imaging means) 15 Personal computer (image processing means, arithmetic means) 16 Encoder type rotation speed detector (speed detection means) 18 Display 20 Rotation axis 21 laser scanner (non-contact scanning means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A conveyance amount management system for managing a conveyance amount of a conveyed product loaded on a belt conveyor and continuously conveyed, wherein the conveyance amount management system is opposed to a front front of the belt conveyor in front of a drop position of the conveyed product. An imaging unit arranged to image a conveyance cross section immediately before dropping of the conveyed object, an image processing unit for capturing a still image obtained by the imaging unit and calculating a cross-sectional area thereof, and detecting a conveyance speed by the belt conveyor A belt detecting means for calculating a transport amount of the conveyed article based on a transport cross section obtained by the image processing means and a transport speed obtained by the speed detecting means. Conveyance control system by conveyor. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a non-contact scanning unit disposed above the falling position of the conveyed object and detecting a surface shape of the conveyed object by scanning the surface of the conveyed object immediately before the falling. Item 2. A conveyance amount management system using a belt conveyor according to Item 1.