KR102380637B1 - Monitoring apparatus for excavator - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a peripheral monitoring device for an excavator, and more particularly, to a peripheral monitoring device for an excavator capable of preventing a camera from being damaged due to a wavefront scattered during the crushing operation of the excavator.
An apparatus for monitoring the surroundings of an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of cameras for acquiring a plurality of images in different directions from the excavator by positioning a lens to be exposed through an opening formed in a vehicle body of the excavator It includes a unit, a work mode determination unit for determining the working mode of the excavator, and, when the working mode is determined to be a crushing operation, a control unit for concealing the lens of the target camera among the plurality of cameras to be concealed from the outside.

Description

Monitoring apparatus for excavator

The present invention relates to a peripheral monitoring device for an excavator, and more particularly, to a peripheral monitoring device for an excavator capable of preventing a camera from being damaged due to a wavefront scattered during the crushing operation of the excavator.

In general, an excavator is a construction equipment that performs excavation work for digging the ground at civil engineering, construction, and construction sites, loading work for transporting soil to a dump truck, crushing work for dismantling buildings or stones, and cleaning work to clear the ground.

The excavator may include a lower traveling body, an upper revolving body mounted on the upper portion of the lower traveling body and rotating, and a work body attached to the upper revolving body, and the upper revolving body is provided with a driver's seat for the driver to ride, and the work body is It may include a boom, an arm, and a bucket that are operated by a hydraulic cylinder to perform a task according to a driver's will.

Construction equipment, such as an excavator, has a greater visual disturbance due to a large body compared to a general vehicle, so a camera is installed on the vehicle body to reduce the possibility of a safety accident, and an image of the surrounding area of the excavator is provided while the excavator is driving and working.

At this time, when the excavator performs a work with a high probability of scattering debris, such as crushing work, the likelihood of the debris collide with the camera installed on the excavator is high. The chance of an accident increases, and the cost of replacing and repairing the camera increases.

Therefore, there is a need for a method for preventing the camera from being damaged by the debris collided with the camera during the crushing operation of the excavator.

Laid-open Patent Publication No. 10-1993-0018106 (published on September 21, 1993)

The present invention was devised to solve the above problems, and the technical object of the present invention is to cover the lens of the camera so that the fragments scattered during the crushing operation of the excavator collide with the camera and damage to the camera are prevented. to provide a monitoring device.

The problems of the present invention are not limited to the problems mentioned above, and other problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to achieve the above object, the peripheral monitoring apparatus of an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention is positioned such that a lens is exposed through an opening formed in a vehicle body of the excavator to obtain a plurality of images in different directions from the excavator An image acquisition unit including a camera of a work mode determination unit for determining the working mode of the excavator, and when the working mode is determined to be a crushing operation, so that the lens of the camera to be concealed among the plurality of cameras is concealed from the outside includes a control unit.

The details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the peripheral monitoring device of the excavator of the present invention as described above, there are one or more of the following effects.

When the excavator performs a task with a high probability of scattering debris, the camera lens with a high probability of collision with debris is concealed, thereby preventing damage to the camera, preventing malfunctions, and improving operator convenience.

Effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

1 is a block diagram showing a peripheral monitoring device of an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic view showing a camera installed in an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing an image obtained by a camera installed in an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a peripheral image generated by an image processing unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;
5 to 7 are schematic views showing a camera whose position is adjusted so that the lens is hidden according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 to 12 are schematic views showing a cover having a variable position so that the camera is hidden according to an embodiment of the present invention.
13 and 14 are schematic views showing peripheral images generated during the crushing operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various different forms, and only these embodiments allow the disclosure of the present invention to be complete, and common knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains It is provided to fully inform those who have the scope of the invention, and the present invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, well-known process steps, well-known structures, and well-known techniques have not been specifically described in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the embodiments and is not intended to limit the present invention. In this specification, the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise in the phrase. As used herein, includes and/or comprising means not excluding the presence or addition of one or more other components, steps and/or actions other than the stated components, steps and/or actions. use it as And, “and/or” includes each and every combination of one or more of the recited items.

Further, the embodiments described herein will be described with reference to perspective views, cross-sectional views, side views, and/or schematic views that are ideal illustrative views of the present invention. Accordingly, the shape of the illustrative drawing may be modified due to manufacturing technology and/or tolerance. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific form shown, but also include changes in the form generated according to the manufacturing process. In addition, in each of the drawings shown in the present invention, each component may be enlarged or reduced to some extent in consideration of convenience of description.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings for explaining the peripheral monitoring apparatus of an excavator according to embodiments of the present invention.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a peripheral monitoring apparatus of an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 , a peripheral monitoring apparatus 1 of an excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image acquisition unit 100 , an image processing unit 200 , a display unit 300 , a work mode determination unit 400 , and a control unit. (500).

The image acquisition unit 100 may include a plurality of cameras 110 to 140 installed in different directions of the excavator 10 to acquire images for each direction as shown in FIG. 2 .

The excavator 10 includes a lower traveling body 11 , an upper revolving body 12 rotatably mounted on the upper portion of the lower traveling body 11 , and a boom 13a and an arm 13b attached to the upper revolving body 12 . ) and a work body 13 including a breaker 13c, etc., in the embodiment of the present invention, when the excavator 10 is provided with a breaker 13c on the work body 13 for crushing operation will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the excavator 10 may be replaced with a bucket or the like instead of the breaker 13c depending on the operation mode.

The plurality of cameras 110 to 140 may acquire an image for the periphery of the excavator 10, that is, a 360-degree direction, and the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 of the excavator 10 as shown in FIG. When installed in the front, rear, left, and right directions, each of the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 may use a wide-angle lens having an angle of view of approximately 180 degrees as shown in FIG. 3 .

Hereinafter, in an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 include a first camera 110 for acquiring a front image, a second camera 120 for acquiring a rear image, and a third camera for acquiring a left image ( 130) and a case including the fourth camera 140 for acquiring the right image will be described as an example, and the first to fourth images obtained by the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140, respectively The images 111 to 141 will be referred to as images.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a case in which four cameras are installed in the front, rear, left, right directions of the excavator 10 is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the number and installation positions of the cameras are variously changed according to the angle of view of the camera. can be

When a wide-angle lens is used for the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140, it is not in a perfect spherical shape and the focal length is shortened, so geometric distortion of the lens, that is, radial distortion or tangential distortion, may occur. Since the images 111 to 141 acquired by the cameras 110 to 140 are distorted as the refractive index increases toward the edge region, the images acquired by the plurality of cameras 110 to 140 are distortion corrected by a distortion correction algorithm. processing may be made.

The image processing unit 200 may generate a peripheral image S obtained by matching the first to fourth images 111 to 141 acquired by the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140 as shown in FIG. 4 , The image processing unit 200 may perform a process of correcting distortion occurring in the first to fourth images 111 to 141 through the aforementioned distortion correction process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the image processing unit 200 removes at least some of the overlapping regions in the first to fourth images 111 to 141, that is, the edge regions 111a to 141a in which relatively severe distortion occurs. A case of generating the surrounding image S by registering the images will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the image processing unit 200 performs image matching of at least one of the first to fourth images 111 to 141 during image registration. A peripheral image S may be generated by removing some regions.

In this case, when there is no overlapping region in the first to fourth images 111 to 141 , the process of removing the edge regions 111a to 141a may be omitted.

The above-described FIG. 4 is an example of a case in which the image processing unit 120 generates a top-view type of surrounding image S, but is not limited thereto. At least one of the first to fourth images 111 to 141 may be included.

The display unit 130 may display the surrounding image S generated by the image processing unit 120 , and in an embodiment of the present invention, the display unit 130 includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), a head up display (HUD) ), navigation, etc., but is not limited thereto, and may be a variety of display devices capable of displaying the surrounding image (S).

On the other hand, the excavator 10 may provide various work modes such as excavation work, loading work, cleaning work, and crushing work. There is a high possibility that the fragments are scattered, and when the fragments collide with the image acquisition unit 100 and the lens of the camera is damaged, a situation in which it is difficult to normally acquire an image may occur.

Therefore, in the present invention, according to the working mode of the excavator 10, the lens of the camera with a high probability of collision with debris is concealed from the outside so that the lens of the camera can be prevented from being damaged due to debris scattered during the crushing operation. to prevent damage caused by

To this end, the peripheral monitoring apparatus 1 of the excavator according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a work mode determination unit 400 that determines a work mode of the excavator 10 and first to fourth cameras ( 110 to 140) may include a control unit 500 for concealing at least one lens from the outside.

Hereinafter, in the embodiment of the present invention, the camera with a high probability of collision of debris during the crushing operation of the excavator 10 will be referred to as a concealment target camera, and in the embodiment of the present invention, since the crushing operation is performed in front of the driver, a front image is obtained A case in which the first camera 110 is a concealment target camera will be described as an example, but if there is a possibility that the remaining cameras 120 to 140 also collide with debris, similarly to the first camera 110, the lens will be concealed from the outside. can

The work mode determining unit 400 may serve to determine the work mode of the excavator 10, such as excavation work, loading work, cleaning work, and crushing work, as described above.

When it is determined that the operation mode of the excavator 10 is the crushing operation, the controller 500 may cause at least one lens of the first to fourth cameras 110 to 140 to be concealed from the outside.

5 to 7 are schematic views showing a camera whose position is adjusted so that a lens is hidden according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 and 6, the control unit 500 according to the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that the working mode of the excavator 10 is a crushing operation, the lens through the opening 10a formed in the vehicle body of the excavator 10 By adjusting the position of the first camera 110 positioned to be exposed so that the lens 110a is positioned outside the opening 10a, the lens 110a of the first camera 110 can be hidden from the outside.

At this time, in FIGS. 5 and 6 , a case in which the controller 500 rotates the first camera 110 so that the lens 110a is hidden from the outside and the remaining part is exposed will be described as an example, but limited to this The control unit 500 may adjust the position so that the entire first camera 110 is hidden from the outside.

In addition, in FIGS. 5 and 6 , a case in which the control unit 500 rotates the first camera 110 to use a position adjustment method in which the lens 110a is concealed from the outside is described as an example, but is not limited thereto 7 , the controller 500 may linearly move the first camera 110 in a predetermined direction so that the lens 110a is concealed from the outside.

At this time, although the case where the first camera 110 is linearly moved in a single direction is described as an example in FIG. 7 , the present invention is not limited thereto, and the first camera 110 is linearly moved in at least one direction so that the lens 110a . The position may be adjusted so that it is positioned outside the opening 10a.

The control unit 500 rotates or linearly moves the first camera 110 as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 to hide the lens 110a, for rotating or linearly moving the first camera 110 . An actuator providing a driving force and at least one gear transmitting the driving force of the actuator to the rotation shaft of the first camera 110 may be included, and the type of the actuator or gear may be variously changed according to the position adjustment method.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the control unit 500 rotates the first camera 110 and the case where the first camera 110 moves in a straight line are separately described, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the control unit 500 may perform a linear movement, a rotational movement, or these The lens 110a of the first camera 110 may be concealed from the outside through a position adjustment method having a combination of .

In the above-described embodiment, a case in which the controller 500 adjusts the position of the first camera 110 so that the lens 110a is hidden from the outside has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the first camera 110 is not limited thereto. The lens 110a of the first camera 110 may be concealed in a state where the position of is fixed.

8 to 11 are schematic diagrams showing a control unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.

8 to 11 , the control unit 500 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a cover 510 whose position is variable to open or shield the opening 10a formed in the vehicle body of the excavator 10 . In addition, when acquiring the front image through the first camera 110, the control unit 500 positions the cover 510 to open the opening 10a as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, and in the case of crushing operation, FIG. 10 And as shown in FIG. 11 , the cover 510 may be positioned to shield the opening 10a so that the lens 110a of the first camera 110 is hidden.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a case in which the cover 510 is formed in a flat shape and is linearly moved by the control unit 500 will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the body shape or the opening 10a of the excavator 10 is not limited thereto. ) Depending on the shape, etc., the cover 510 may have a curved shape, and in this case, the cover 510 may be rotated by the controller 510 to change the position to open or shield the opening 10a.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 500 may include various types of actuators according to the movement method of the cover 510 .

At this time, in another embodiment of the present invention, the case in which the cover 510 opens or shields the entire opening 10a is described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the cover 510 is the first camera 110 . It may have a size capable of opening or blocking only an area corresponding to the lens 110a.

In the above-described embodiments, a case in which the lens 110a is concealed by adjusting the position of the first camera 110 itself and a case in which the lens 110a is concealed through the cover 510 are separately described. Instead, the first camera 110 and the cover 510 are combined so that the position of the first camera 110 and the position of the cover 510 may be simultaneously adjusted. In this case, the cover 510 opens the opening 10a. 8, when the lens 110a of the first camera 110 is exposed through the opening 10a, and the cover 510 is positioned to shield the opening 10a, as shown in FIG. 12, the lens 110a of the first camera 110 may be positioned so as to be out of the opening 10a.

In FIG. 12 described above, a case in which the controller 500 controls the positions of the first camera 110 and the cover 510 has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the first camera 110 and the cover 510 are not limited thereto. ) is coupled, when the position of any one of the first camera 110 and the cover 510 is controlled, the other one may be linked to control the position.

On the other hand, as described above, when the working mode of the excavator 10 is determined to be a crushing operation, when the lens 110a of the first camera 110 is concealed in order to prevent damage due to debris, the first camera 110 Since it becomes a situation in which an image cannot be acquired by By displaying the regions 113a and 114a removed during image registration in the fourth image 141 , as shown in FIG. 13 , the non-monitoring region B generated by failure to acquire the first image 111 may be reduced.

At this time, a warning message M that may indicate the operation mode of the excavator 10 or warn the driver may be displayed in the non-monitored area B, but the present invention is not limited thereto and the excavator 10 is located in the non-monitored area B. ), various information necessary for the driver during work can be displayed.

As described above, the peripheral monitoring device 1 of the excavator of the present invention can prevent the camera from being damaged due to scattered debris by concealing the lens of the camera to prevent the lens of the camera from being damaged during the crushing operation.

Those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains will understand that the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is indicated by the claims described below rather than the above detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts are included in the scope of the present invention. should be interpreted

100: image acquisition unit
110, 120, 130, 140: Camera
200: image processing unit
300: display unit
400: work mode determination unit
500: control

Claims (10)

An image acquisition unit including a plurality of cameras positioned to expose a lens through an opening formed in the vehicle body of the excavator to acquire a plurality of images in different directions from the excavator;
a work mode determination unit for determining a work mode of the excavator; and
When it is determined that the operation mode is a crushing operation, a control unit for concealing a lens of a camera to be hidden among the plurality of cameras from the outside,
Further comprising an image processing unit for generating a matched peripheral image by removing at least some of the regions overlapping each other between the plurality of images,
The image processing unit,
When it is determined that the crushing operation is performed, the peripheral monitoring apparatus of the excavator is configured to display an area removed for the registration in at least one image that overlaps with the image acquired by the concealment target camera among the plurality of images. The method of claim 1,
The concealment target camera,
A peripheral monitoring apparatus of an excavator which is a camera for acquiring a front image of the excavator among the plurality of cameras. The method of claim 1,
The control unit is
Surrounding monitoring device of an excavator for adjusting the position of the concealment target camera so that the lens is out of the opening. 4. The method of claim 3,
The control unit is
A peripheral monitoring device of the excavator that rotates the concealed target camera. 4. The method of claim 3,
The control unit is
A peripheral monitoring device of an excavator for linearly moving the concealed target camera in at least one direction. The method of claim 1,
The control unit is
and a cover whose position is variable to open and close the opening,
The control unit is
If it is determined that the crushing operation, the excavator peripheral monitoring device for positioning the cover to shield the opening. 7. The method of claim 6,
The concealment target camera,
Surrounding monitoring device of the excavator in which the position is adjusted by interlocking with the cover when the position of the cover is changed. 8. The method of claim 7,
The concealment target camera,
positioned such that the lens is exposed through the opening when the cover is positioned to open the opening;
A perimeter monitoring device for an excavator positioned such that the lens exits the opening when the cover is positioned to obscure the opening. delete The method of claim 1,
The surrounding image is
When the lens of the target camera is concealed, a non-monitoring area is formed in an area where the image acquired by the concealment target camera is displayed,
The image processing unit,
Surrounding monitoring device of the excavator for displaying a warning message indicating the working mode of the excavator in the non-monitoring area.

Images