KR20030059762A - A robot for inspecting a cable, method the same, and media embeded with a program for it - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A robot for inspecting a cable and a method thereof, and a recording medium including program are provided to inspect the surface and the inside of the cable simultaneously and accurately by moving the robot along the cable. CONSTITUTION: A cable inspection robot comprises a robot body(100) having a fixing body(110) moving on the surface of the cable by a wheel, and a rotating body(120) rotated and combined with the end of the fixing body; an image photographing part having a CT(Computed Tomography) module(122) arranged opposite to a detector(124), the detector photographing perspective image of the cable by detecting X-rays from the CT module, a camera(126) arranged between the CT module and the detector to photograph the surface image of the cable, and a rotating motor turning the rotating body; a surface image processing unit converting analog surface image data from the image photographing part into digital surface image data; first and second compression units compressing digital surface and perspective image data; a perspective image processing unit converting analog data from the detector to the digital perspective image data; a control unit controlling the motor, the image photographing part, the surface and perspective image processing units and the compression unit; and a transmitting and receiving unit transmitting and receiving image data and control data from a remote control computer. The surface or the inside of the cable is inspected accurately with using the robot.

Description

Robot for cable inspection and recording media incorporating methods and programs {A ROBOT FOR INSPECTING A CABLE, METHOD THE SAME, AND MEDIA EMBEDED WITH A PROGRAM FOR IT}

The present invention relates to a cable inspection robot, and more particularly, a cable inspection robot and method capable of simultaneously inspecting the inside and outside of a cable for a large bridge cable-stayed bridge, or a cable car, a lift, an elevator or an electric power cable. And a recording medium in which a computer program for a cable inspection robot is embedded.

Figure 1 discloses a side view of a large cable-stayed bridge.

In general, when inspecting a cable of a cable-stayed bridge, or a cable car, a lift, an elevator, or a cable for a power line (hereinafter, referred to as a cable), the surface state is inspected by visually checking the cable. However, it is extremely difficult to check a cable of a large cable-stayed bridge with the naked eye or a telescope, and thus it is not accurate.

Moreover, the development of not only the surface of these cables, but also the equipment for internal viewing was not achieved, so that the inside of the cables were projected by X-rays by hand.

Due to these practical difficulties, a method of measuring and maintaining a change in the vibration of the cable in measuring the state of a large and long cable has been proposed (Korean Patent Application No. 2000-81235; Pohang Institute of Industrial Science). The patent application discloses a configuration in which a plurality of X-shaped bases and piezoelectric elements are installed on the cable surface of the cable-stayed bridge so that the vibration of the bridge cable can be measured and monitored and maintained at all times. This takes advantage of the fact that the bending strain of the cable leads to the vibration strain.

However, the patent application can only measure whether the cable is normal or abnormal, there is a problem that can not determine the specific defective position of the cable. Moreover, the fact that there is no vibration deformation does not guarantee that the cable is in a normal state, and damage to the plastic surface alone, not damage to the inner state of the cable, has little effect on vibration deformation, so that the defect cannot be identified.

Therefore, in addition to the existing vibration strain measuring method, there has been a demand for a measuring apparatus, a method and a process for identifying a specific defect location.

An object of the present invention is to provide a robot apparatus and an inspection method capable of inspecting the surface state of a cable such as a cable-stayed bridge.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a robot apparatus and an inspection method capable of inspecting the internal state of a cable such as a cable-stayed bridge.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a mobile robot apparatus and an inspection method capable of simultaneously inspecting the surface and the inside of the cable while moving along the cable.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a control process for a mobile robotic device capable of simultaneously inspecting the surface and inside of the cable while moving along the cable.

1 is a schematic view showing a state that the robot for cable inspection according to the present invention is used,

2 is a perspective view of a cable inspection robot according to the present invention;

3 is a side cross-sectional view of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention;

4 is a photographing, processing, compression, transmission block diagram for the surface image of the cable,

5 is a photographing, processing, compression, transmission block diagram of a perspective image of a cable,

6 is an internal block diagram of a remote monitoring computer;

7 is a screen viewed by the user on the remote monitoring computer;

8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of a cable inspection method according to the present invention.

(Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing)

50 cable, 100 cable inspection robot, 110 fixed body,

120 ... rotator, 122 ... CT module, 124 ... X-ray detector,

126 ... camera, 101 ... control unit (microprocessor)

The present invention has been made in order to achieve the above object, and provides a robot system for wirelessly photographing the outside and the inside of the cable while moving along the cable of the cable-stayed bridge.

That is, the cable inspection robot according to the present invention includes a fixed body 110 and a rotatable body rotatably coupled to one end of the fixed body, which moves around the surface of the cable by a wheel driven by a forward and backward motor. Robot body 100 having 120,

A detector 124 for detecting a CT image 122 of the rotating body and a X-ray from the CT module 122 and capturing a fluoroscopic image of the cable; A camera 126 disposed between the CT module and the detector at an outer circumferential portion of the rotating body to take a surface image of the cable; An image photographing unit comprising a rotating motor 128 for rotating the rotating body;

A surface image processing unit for converting analog surface image data obtained from a camera of the image photographing unit into digital surface image data, a first compression unit for compressing the digital surface image data;

A perspective image processing unit for converting analog data from the detector 124 into digital perspective image data, a second compression unit for compressing the digital perspective image data;

A control unit for controlling the forward and backward motors, an image photographing unit, a surface image processing unit, a perspective image processing unit, and a compression unit;

And a transmitter / receiver for transmitting and receiving the compressed surface image data, the perspective image data, and the control data of the controller.

In this case, the surface image processing unit, the perspective image processing unit, the first and second compression units, and the transmission and reception unit are disposed inside the fixed body 110.

In addition, the camera 126 is disposed at a 90 degree position between the CT module and the detector at the outer circumferential portion of the rotating body.

The cable inspection method according to the present invention is a cable inspection method for collecting the surface image and the perspective image of the cable while moving on the surface of the cable.

1) a motor driving step of moving forward or backward on the surface of the cable according to the forward or backward command or rotation command received from the remote monitoring computer;

2) a photographing step of photographing a surface image of the cable while rotating the camera on the cable and a perspective image of the inside of the cable while rotating the CT module and the detector on the cable;

3) an image processing and compression step of A / D converting and compressing the surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing;

4) transmitting the compressed digital surface image data and perspective image data to the remote monitoring computer.

In addition, a memory or recording medium of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention includes a computer program, and the cable inspection robot moves on the surface of the cable according to the computer program embedded in the memory or recording medium. Take a surface image and a perspective image.

According to the computer program recorded in the memory or the recording medium, the microprocessor of the cable inspection robot,

1) a motor drive function for receiving a forward / backward command or a rotation command from a remote monitoring computer, and moving or rotating the cable inspection robot forward and backward on the surface of the cable;

2) A photographing function that receives a photographing command from the remote monitoring computer, photographs the surface image of the cable while rotating the camera on the cable, and photographs the perspective image inside the cable while rotating the CT module and the detector on the cable. Wow;

3) an image processing and compression function for receiving an image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and performing A / D conversion and compression on the surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing;

4) A transmission function for receiving the image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and transmitting the compressed digital surface image data and the perspective image data to the remote monitoring computer.

Hereinafter, the cable inspection robot according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

1 is a schematic view showing a state of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention, Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention.

The cable inspection robot 100 moves while wrapping the cable 50, and the outer peripheral portion of the robot may be split in half and mounted on the cable. As shown in Figure 2, the external appearance of the cable inspection robot consists of a fixture 110 and a rotating body 120, the four wheels in contact with the surface of the cable inside the fixture 110, the fixture The 110 is moved, and the camera 126, the CT module 122, and the detector 124 are installed inside the rotating body 120 to rotate the 360 degrees to capture the surface image and the internal perspective image of the cable. The robot 100 moves along the cable of the structure, takes the surface of the cable with the camera 126 and transmits it to the remote monitoring computer 200 to allow the user to check the corrosion state of the surface, and to configure the cable. The core is tomography using CT (computed tomography) to be transmitted to the remote monitoring computer 200 to check the stability of the cable.

Inside the fixture 110, for example, there are four motors 112 and wheels 113 to allow the robot to move back and forth. For example, one motor is attached to the rotor 120 so that the rotor is concentric, such as a cable. Can rotate around the axis.

The camera 126, the CT module, and the detectors 122 and 124 are photographed toward the central axis of the cable inside the rotating body 120 and may be rotated 360 degrees about the same concentric axis as the cable. The CT module 122 faces the detector 124 opposite to each other, and the camera 126 is disposed perpendicular to the 90 degree portion between the CT module 122 and the detector 124.

4 and 5, there is an image processing unit, a compression unit, a transceiver, and the like capable of photographing, processing, compressing, and transmitting the surface image and the internal perspective image. There is a control unit (microprocessor) 101, and a battery 114 that acts as a power source for each module is attached to a position suitable for the center of gravity of the robot.

4 is a block diagram of photographing, processing, compression, and transmission of a surface image of a cable.

The surface image processing unit 130 converts the analog image data obtained by photographing the surface of the cable with an NTSC analog camera to digital image data and transmits the digital image data to the digital surface image compression unit 132. Analog surface image data is sampled with 15 to 24 bits to obtain high quality digital image data. The surface image data is displayed on the screen of the remote monitoring computer or the display of the control box, for example, in a 640 * 480 screen size, so that the user can grasp the surface image of the cable.

The digital surface image data converted by the surface image processor 130 is compressed by the surface image compressor 132 through a known image compression mechanism. Since digital video data has a compression ratio of about 1/40, tens of megabytes of digital video data can be compressed to 100 KB. The image data compressed by the surface image compressor 132 may be transmitted to the remote monitoring computer through the transceiver 134 or may be optionally stored in the image storage device 136.

5 is a photographing, processing, compression, and transmission block diagram of a perspective image of a cable obtained by a CT module.

The CT module 122 is composed of an X-ray tube for outputting X-rays and a flat plate, and the emitted X-rays are exposed toward the detector 124. The X-ray tube is a device that outputs X-rays and outputs X-rays by receiving high power from a power module. The power module boosts the voltage of the battery to, for example, several tens of KW and applies it to the CT module.

The plate serves to adjust the angle and output of the X-rays.

The CT module 122 and the detector 124 are disposed to face each other 180 degrees at the outer circumference of the rotating body 120, and the cable 50 passes between the CT module 122 and the detector 124 to detect the detector 124. The exposure density of X-rays exposed to) changes in exposure density. The detector detects the X-rays transmitted through the iron core in the cable 50, and detects the X-rays transmitted through the cable at 0.2 second intervals, for example, and converts the image data into image data. Converted to digital data.

The perspective image processor 140 that performs the A / D conversion processing function may be included in the detector 124. Digital perspective image data compressed by the perspective image compression unit 142 is transmitted to the remote monitoring computer 200 through the transmission and reception 144.

The transceiver 144 is a module for communicating the position control of the robot and data such as cable surface image data and cable internal perspective image data with a remote monitoring computer. For example, the transceiver 144 may communicate in a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) manner. Various data may be converted, for example, into digital signals in each module and then combined with a 2.4 GHz modulated signal and transmitted to a remote monitoring computer at a transmission rate of 3M bps.

The controller 101 is a microprocessor, a processor for controlling various modules, and includes a memory and a peripheral circuit. The processor of the controller may be divided into two CPUs. For example, the processor of the controller may be divided into a master CPU for motor control, position control, digital radio communication control, and a slave CPU for image processing, image compression, and CT imaging control. have.

In addition, the battery 114 is used to supply power used in various electronic modules and motors, particularly CT modules. The storage battery 114 needs to be disposed at an appropriate position to maintain the center of gravity of the robot, and may be equipped with a booster circuit for generating instantaneous high output power for use in the CT module 122. In order to check the remaining capacity of the battery, a voltage may be checked and a circuit may be added to notify the user of the maximum remaining time that the robot can operate.

6 is an internal block diagram of a remote monitoring computer, and FIG. 7 is a screen viewed by a user in the remote monitoring computer.

The surface image data and the perspective image data transmitted from the transmission / reception units 134 and 144 of the cable inspection robot 100 are decompressed after being received by the transmission / reception unit 210 of the remote monitoring computer 200. The surface image data and the perspective image data decompressed by the decompression unit 220 may be transmitted to the PC main body, and at the same time, the image data may also be transmitted to a control box for robot control having a display device.

In addition, the remote monitoring computer 200 receives a signal for controlling the position of the robot and the camera from the joystick of the control box for robot control and transmits the robot body.

The user can determine whether the surface of the cable is corroded through the screen displayed through the surface extraction algorithm from the surface image data transmitted from the robot body. In addition, through the three-dimensional modeling work from the perspective image data through the display device to output the screen through the inside of the cable, the user can visually determine whether the safety of the cable. Each image data is stored in a recording medium or a memory by date and time.

The control box 240 for robot control includes a display device that can be directly checked by the user and a joystick for inputting a control signal to the robot, and may be separately provided or included in the PC main body 230. The user may know the cable surface image displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 7 and the cable perspective image through X-ray imaging, and the relative distance for identifying the robot position on the cable.

8 is a flowchart of a cable inspection method according to the present invention.

The method is a cable inspection method in which a cable inspection robot takes a surface image and a perspective image of the cable while moving on the surface of the cable. The robot for cable inspection is always waiting for signal input for image capture and position control from a remote monitoring computer.

If the cable inspection robot receives the forward and backward commands from the remote monitoring computer, it moves forward and backward on the surface of the cable by driving the motor 112 and the wheel 113 attached to the fixed body 110. When the cable inspection robot receives a rotation command from the remote monitoring computer, the rotating body 120 is rotated by driving the rotation motor.

If the cable inspection robot receives the cable surface image capture command from the remote monitoring computer, the cable surface image capture command takes a picture of the cable surface image. If the cable inspection image input command receives the cable perspective image capture command, the perspective image inside the cable is taken while rotating the CT module and the detector.

The surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing are compressed after being A / D converted for storage in an image storage device in the robot or for transmission to a remote monitoring computer.

When the cable surface image photographing command is received from the remote monitoring computer, the compressed digital surface image data and the perspective image data are transmitted to the remote monitoring computer.

In addition, a memory or recording medium of the cable inspection robot according to the present invention includes a computer program, and the cable inspection robot moves on the surface of the cable according to the computer program embedded in the memory or recording medium. Take a surface image and a perspective image.

The computer program embedded in the memory or the recording medium,

A motor drive function for receiving a forward / backward command or a rotation command from a remote monitoring computer to move the cable inspection robot forward or backward on the surface of the cable; A photographing function that receives a photographing command from the remote monitoring computer, photographs a surface image of the cable while rotating a camera on the cable, and photographs a perspective image inside the cable while rotating a CT module and a detector on the cable; An image processing and compression function for receiving an image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and performing A / D conversion and compression on the surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing; A transmission function for receiving an image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and transmitting the compressed digital surface image data and the perspective image data to the remote monitoring computer,

According to this computer program, the microprocessor of the cable inspection robot drives the cable inspection robot.

According to the cable inspection robot device, the cable inspection method and the process included in the memory or recording medium of the inspection robot according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately and inspect the surface state and the internal state of the cable such as cable-stayed bridge, easy and low price It is effective to maintain.

Claims (6)

A robot body 100 having a fixed body 110 moving around the surface of a cable by a wheel driven by a forward and backward motor, and a rotating body 120 rotatably coupled to one end of the fixed body; A detector 124 for detecting a CT image 122 of the rotating body and a X-ray from the CT module 122 and capturing a fluoroscopic image of the cable; A camera 126 disposed between the CT module and the detector at an outer circumferential portion of the rotating body to take a surface image of the cable; An image photographing unit comprising a rotating motor 128 for rotating the rotating body; A surface image processing unit for converting analog surface image data obtained from a camera of the image photographing unit into digital surface image data, a first compression unit for compressing the digital surface image data; A perspective image processing unit for converting analog data from the detector 124 into digital perspective image data, a second compression unit for compressing the digital perspective image data; A controller for controlling the forward and backward motors, an image photographing unit, a surface image processing unit, a perspective image processing unit, and a compression unit; And a transmission / reception unit for transmitting and receiving the compressed surface image data, the perspective image data, and the control data of the control unit with a remote monitoring computer. The method of claim 1, The surface image processing unit, the perspective image processing unit, the first and second compression unit, the transmission and reception unit, the cable inspection robot, characterized in that arranged in the interior. The method of claim 1, The camera 126 is a cable inspection robot, characterized in that disposed in the 90-degree position between the CT module and the detector on the outer peripheral portion of the rotating body. The method of claim 1, The cable inspection robot further includes a storage battery for supplying power to the camera, the CT module and the detector, a surface image processing unit, a perspective image processing unit, first and second compression units, and a transceiver unit. The CT module is a cable inspection robot, characterized in that for receiving input by amplifying the power of the battery to several tens of KW. In the cable inspection method for taking a surface image and a perspective image of the cable while moving on the surface of the cable, A motor driving step of moving forward or backward on the surface of the cable according to a forward or backward command or a rotation command received from a remote monitoring computer; A photographing step of photographing a surface image of the cable while rotating the camera on the cable and a perspective image of the inside of the cable while rotating the CT module and the detector on the cable; An image processing and compression step of A / D converting and compressing the surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing; And transmitting the compressed digital surface image data and the perspective image data to the remote monitoring computer. In the memory or recording medium of the cable inspection robot for photographing the surface image and the perspective image of the cable while moving on the surface of the cable, According to the computer program recorded in the memory or the recording medium, the microprocessor of the cable inspection robot, A motor drive function for receiving a forward / backward command or a rotation command from a remote monitoring computer to move the cable inspection robot forward or backward on the surface of the cable; A photographing function that receives a photographing command from the remote monitoring computer, photographs a surface image of the cable while rotating a camera on the cable, and photographs a perspective image inside the cable while rotating a CT module and a detector on the cable; An image processing and compression function for receiving an image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and performing A / D conversion and compression on the surface image data and the perspective image data of the cable obtained by the photographing; And a transmission function for receiving the image processing command from the remote monitoring computer and transmitting the compressed digital surface image data and the perspective image data to the remote monitoring computer.