KR20230065791A - Unmanned underwater inspection robot device and the control system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an unmanned underwater robot device and a control system thereof. The present invention maintains neutral buoyancy in water, has a waterproof function, and a cylindrical body formed of a light and corrosion-resistant material, fixed and formed at regular intervals with the body, and transmitting power to the body to move forward, backward, left and right At least one thruster for moving and formed on the upper part of the main body, so that the current position can be tracked in real time, and the front camera unit and the front camera) for photographing the main body are formed at regular intervals, An omni camera unit for photographing the surrounding environment adjacent to the main body and a main frame connected to the lower part of the main body and made of a member having corrosion resistance made of aluminum, maintaining neutral buoyancy in water, and having a waterproof function And a check camera part formed in the downward direction of the main body to take a 360-degree video of the water and a connector connection part disposed on the upper part of the main body to receive power supply and control from the outside and formed in the lower part of the main body, night A light emitting unit for displaying the location and ease of shooting and a communication unit for performing wireless communication with the outside in order to track the location of the body and to apply the Ethernet communication method to the main body and the above A depth sensor formed on one side of the main body to sense the depth of the water, and a control unit to control the front camera unit, the omni camera unit, and the inspection camera unit, and to store the data of the captured image Characterized in that it includes do.

Description

Unmanned underwater inspection robot device and the control system

The present invention relates to an unmanned underwater robot device and a control system thereof, and more particularly, to an unmanned underwater robot device capable of rotating 360° underwater and accurately capturing images, and a control system thereof.

Recently, research on aircraft capable of vertical elevation has been actively conducted, and activities such as performing aerial photography from above the land or transmitting the captured images to land users through wireless communication have been conducted.

However, the range of activity of the aircraft is limited to the sky, and there is a problem in that information to be directly acquired in the sea or fresh water cannot be obtained.

On the other hand, a large amount of abrasive sandy soil is introduced around the water intake due to geographical characteristics. Since the inflow mud requires dredging when it reaches a certain height, the height of the mud must be measured.

In general, a diver is put in to measure the height of mud, but in the case of underwater containing mud, the visibility is less than 1 meter, so the number of dives and diving time increases to measure the height of mud, resulting in a risk of life and death There is a concern of

In addition, there was a problem that the work efficiency fluctuated from time to time because divers were periodically put into work without information on the location of excessive accumulation of mud and prior information on the height of accumulation.

Republic of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-0932190 Korean Patent Publication No. 2014-0077726 Korean Patent Publication No. 2020-0011623

In order to solve this problem, the present invention is to provide an unmanned underwater robot device and its control system for precisely inspecting complex underwater complex structures.

In addition, to provide an unmanned underwater robot device and its control system capable of maintaining an accurate posture underwater, performing precise inspection work and image processing at the same time, and securing higher inspection reliability than inspection by a visual inspection diver.

In addition, the control system is to provide an unmanned underwater robot device and its control system that can quickly process video signals and data signals using Ethernet communication.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention is an unmanned underwater robot device, which maintains neutral buoyancy in water, has a waterproof function, and is formed by fixing and forming a cylindrical body formed of a lightweight, corrosion-resistant material and the body at regular intervals. , At least one or more thrusters that transmit power to the main body to move it forward, backward, up, down, left and right, and a front camera formed on the upper part of the main body to track the current position in real time and photograph the main body. unit and the front camera) and is formed at a predetermined interval, and is connected to an omni camera unit for photographing the surrounding environment adjacent to the main body and the lower part of the main body, and is made of a member having corrosion resistance made of aluminum. In the main frame, which maintains neutral buoyancy and has a waterproof function, is formed in the downward direction of the main body, and the inspection camera section for taking 360-degree images of the water is placed on the upper part of the main body to receive power supply and control from the outside. A connector connection part formed on the lower part of the main body and a light emitting part for displaying the location and ease of shooting at night are disposed on the main body to apply the Ethernet communication method and to track the location of the main body. In order to do this, the communication unit for wireless communication with the outside, the depth sensor formed on one side of the main body to detect the depth of the water, and the front camera unit, the omni camera unit, and the inspection camera unit are controlled, and the data of the captured image It is characterized in that it includes a control unit for controlling to store.

In addition, the control system of the unmanned underwater robot device includes a power supply unit connected to the connector connection unit and a cable to supply power to the control unit of the unmanned underwater robot device, and a fathom that is connected to the depth sensor to measure the water depth and the control system. A hub connecting to the network, a main server equipped with a program for driving and monitoring functions through Ethernet communication with the unmanned underwater robot device, and underwater images taken by the front camera unit, the omni camera unit, and the inspection camera unit It is characterized in that it includes an NVR for storage, and a controller for receiving Ethernet communication from the communication unit and processing and controlling video signals and data signals.

Therefore, the present invention has the effect of providing a high-quality unmanned underwater robot device and control system in order to prevent safety accidents and perform accurate inspections with reliability secured.

In addition, it can operate safely in all directions and maintain a hovering state, and it is possible to inspect complex structures by precisely photographing from a distance.

In addition, the control system has an effect that a main server in which an application program is embedded is formed, and monitoring of the unmanned underwater robot device is possible due to the application program.

1 is a perspective view of an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a front view of an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a plan view of an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 4a is a photograph of the lid.
Figure 4b is a photograph of the main body.
5 is a photograph of a main frame;
6 is a thrust operation diagram;
Fig. 7 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of thrusts;
8 is a photograph of an upper and lower thrust support and a directional thrust support.
9 is a configuration diagram of a control system;
10 is a screen picture of the operating program of the main server.
11 is a picture of a screen showing the posture, state information, and control information of an unmanned underwater robot device as icons.
12 is a flowchart of a method of searching for an image stored in an NVR using a mobile phone app.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First of all, in adding reference numerals to components of each drawing, it should be noted that the same components have the same numerals as much as possible even if they are displayed on different drawings.

In addition, in the following description of the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted.

In addition, since the terms used in this application are only used to describe specific embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and it is clear in advance that a singular expression also means a plurality of expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. want to leave

1 is a perspective view of an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an unmanned underwater robot device according to an embodiment of the present invention. A plan view of the robot device, Figure 4 is a picture of the main body, Figure 5 is a picture of the main frame, Figure 6 is a thrust operation diagram, Figure 7 is a picture of the vertical thrust support and the directional thrust support, Figure 8 is a thrust Figure 9 is a configuration diagram of the control system, Figure 10 is a screen picture of the operating program of the main server, Figure 11 is an icon for the attitude, status information, and control information of the unmanned underwater robot device 12 is a flowchart of a method of searching for images stored in the NVR using a mobile phone app.

First, the unmanned underwater robot device 100 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3 .

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the main body 110 is made of a cylindrical shape, maintains neutral buoyancy in water, and is formed of a lightweight, corrosion-resistant material made of aluminum, having a waterproof function.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the upper part of the body 110 is sealed with a cover C to ensure waterproofing, and FIG. 4B has a space inside and a through hole for fixing the rotary motor 121b of the thrust 120. 111 is a main body 110 having a connection portion 112 provided.

At least two or more thrusters 120 are formed and fixed to the main body 110 at regular intervals to transmit power to the main body 110 and move it forward, backward, up and down, and left and right.

The thrust 120 is a kind of propulsion device of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 of the present invention, and provides a driving force to the main body 110 so that the main body 110 can be moved in the front, rear, left, right and up-down directions. Therefore, the thruster 120 can move the main body 110 in various directions by independently controlling each component.

Referring to FIG. 6 for a moment, the propulsion device 120 includes a tilting shaft 123, a duct 125 and a propeller 127, and the duct 125 is disposed on the outer circumferential surface of the propeller 127 to propeller ( 127) to protect. The duct 125 is tilted and rotated while being connected to the tilting shaft 123, thereby providing propulsive force to the main body 110 in all directions by rotation of the propeller 125 disposed in the duct 125.

The front camera unit 130 is formed in the form of a long guide as shown, and is formed on the upper part of the main body 110 to track the current position of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 in real time, and the main body ( 110) also plays a role in filming.

An omni camera unit 140 is spaced apart from the front camera 130 at a predetermined interval. The omni-camera unit 140 serves to photograph the surrounding environment in all directions adjacent to the main body 110 . Furthermore, it is designed to be able to rotate 360°, so both the front and rear can be photographed.

5, the main frame 150 is connected to the lower part of the main body 110 in a predetermined shape, is made of a relatively light member made of aluminum and has corrosion resistance, and serves to maintain neutral buoyancy in water.

The inspection camera unit 160 is formed in the downward direction of the main body 110 and takes a 360° image of underwater or seabed.

The inspection camera unit 160 includes a housing forming an overall shape (reference numerals are omitted), a PTZ unit built in the inspection camera unit 160 to record a 360° image (not shown), and the inspection camera unit ( 160) is made of a cover 161 for waterproofing.

The PTZ unit is an abbreviation of Pan/Tilt/Zoom. It is a camera that can remotely control the enlargement or reduction of an object, and can be remotely rotated and zoomed. It has the advantage of being able to monitor a wide area by doing so. The PTZ unit can also capture the surrounding area by a controller (not shown), grasp the topography of the seabed, and grasp the location of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 of the present invention.

Therefore, it is possible to inspect underwater or the seabed without allowing blind spots using the inspection camera unit 160, and the inspection camera unit 160 has a zoom-in or zoom-out function, It is also possible to capture an image by enlarging an object up to about 30 times.

The connector connection part 170 is disposed in the central part of the cover C on the upper part of the main body 110, and can receive power supply and control from the outside.

In addition, a cable (not shown) is connected to the connector connection part 170 to receive power from the outside and to receive control from the control system 200 also outside. Here, the cable may include, for example, a tether cable. A description of the control system 200 will be described later.

A lamp 180 is formed at the bottom of the upper and lower thrust supports 128 supporting the thrust 120 and serves as a flash to display the location and ease of shooting at night.

The communication unit 190 is disposed on the upper part of the cover C of the main body 110, applies an Ethernet communication method, and performs wireless communication with the outside in order to track the location of the main body 110. For reference, Ethernet is one of the technologies for creating a computer network, and the biggest feature of Ethernet is that it can communicate using a protocol called CSMA/CD.

Furthermore, the communication unit 190 may include a pressure transmitter, a displacement transmitter, or any device capable of transmitting any signal. In addition, it is possible to wirelessly communicate with wirelessly accessible devices (not shown) such as an ultra wideband receiver installed in an underwater geographic area, a smartphone, a tablet, or other computing devices.

Hereinafter, operating characteristics of the thrust 120 will be described with reference to FIG. 6 .

As shown, the thrust 120 includes a driving motor 121 disposed on the main body 110, a tilting shaft 123 connected to the driving motor 121 and rotating, and a tilting shaft 123 on the side. It is configured to include a duct 125 that is connected and capable of tilting motion, and a propeller 127 inserted into the duct 125 to provide a driving force by rotation. The number of thrusts 120 is 8 connected at regular intervals around the main body 110 in this embodiment, but 6 to 10 will be preferable.

Referring to FIG. 6, the thrust 120 provides a propulsive force to the main body 110 underwater or on the seabed, and uses a vertical thruster 120a and a free thruster 120b to independently move forward, backward, left and right, and up and down. include The thrust 120 can move in various directions by controlling each of the thrusters 120a and 120b through the control of a control unit (not shown), thereby enabling precise posture control.

For example, one or more of the vertical thrusters 120a are disposed on the main body 110 to elevate the main body 110 . Each of the vibration thrusters 120a is disposed symmetrically with respect to the main body 110 . The vertical thruster (120a) raises the main body 110 as it rotates forward, and lowers the main body 110 as it rotates reversely.

As shown, the free thruster 120b moves the body 110 forward, backward, left, right, up and down without a turning radius. The free thruster 120b may include a driving motor 121, a tilting shaft 123, a duct 125, and a propeller 127. The free thrusters 120b include quadcopters disposed in four directions of the underwater navigation device 100.

The drive motor 121 includes a rotation motor 121b for rotating the propeller 127 and a tilting motor 121a for tilting the duct 125.

The rotation motors 121b are connected to propellers 127 disposed in four directions to provide power. At this time, the propulsion direction can be freely adjusted by individually increasing or decreasing the output of each drive motor 121 .

The tilting motor 121a is disposed on the body 110 and is connected to the tilting shaft 123 to provide power to the free thruster 120b. The side of the duct 125 is fixed by the tilting shaft 123 and has a cylindrical shape to allow water to pass through. The propeller 127 is inserted into the duct 125 and generates thrust as it rotates.

The duct 125 is rotatable from 0° to 360°, allowing the unmanned underwater robot device of the present invention to freely change its direction from left to right without a turning radius when it is activated.

For example, when the four-way duct 125 is not tilted to 0 °, the free propeller 120b has the same direction as the vertical propeller, so as the propeller 127 rotates, the vertical propeller 120a searches underwater The device 100 can be moved up and down.

As another example, when the four-way duct 125 is tilted at 90 °, the free thruster 120b is directed in a direction parallel to the ground, and as the propeller 127 rotates, the unmanned underwater robot device 100 is rotated. , can be moved in the backward direction.

As described above, it is possible to move up, down, forward, backward, left and right according to the degree of tilting of the duct 125, so that the moving direction of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 can be immediately changed, so that even within a narrow water intake, the turning radius is can move efficiently. Therefore, the unmanned underwater robot device 100 of the present invention has an effect capable of taking precise images.

7 is an arrangement form of the thruster 120 of the unmanned underwater robot device 100, as shown, when compared to when the free thruster 121b moves in the vertical direction, the front and rear directions are tilted at an angle of 90 ° and the direction is changed.

Therefore, in order to control the unmanned underwater robot device 100 of the present invention to move in up and down, front and back, left and right directions, for example, if a total of 8 thrusts 120 are connected at regular intervals, 4 half of the thrusts 120 are It is tilted at an angle of 90° and arranged alternately with each other.

In addition, as a member for fixing the thruster 120 to the main body 110, at least two or more members connected to the main body 110 in the longitudinal direction are fixed at regular intervals around the main body 110. , At least two fixed and formed directional thrust supports 129 are fixed and formed around the formed upper and lower thrust supports 128 and the lower part of the main body 110 at regular intervals. Although the number of the upper and lower thrust supports 128 and the directional thrust supports 129 is 4 each in this embodiment, it is preferable that the number is 2 to 8 each.

Referring to FIG. 8, it is a photograph of the upper and lower thrust supports 128 and the directional thrust supports 129, which are all formed in an 'L' shape as a whole.

Hereinafter, the control system 200 for controlling the above-described unmanned underwater robot device 100 will be described with accompanying drawings.

First, the control system 200 of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 is connected to the connector connection part 170 with a cable, and the cable is preferably a tether cable. In addition, the cable supplies power to the unmanned underwater robot device 100 and also has an air cable function capable of injecting air into the main body 110.

In addition, a power supply unit 210 connected to the control unit, thrust 120, front camera unit 130, omni camera unit 140, and inspection camera unit 160 of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 to supply power is formed, and power is input through the cable. In addition, the unmanned underwater robot device 100 can also be driven by its own battery device (not shown).

Fathom (220: Fathom) measures the water depth through a depth sensor formed in the unmanned underwater robot device 100.

The hub 230 (HUB) connects the control system 200 to the network, and a 16-port hub is preferred.

A main server 240 is formed with a program for driving and monitoring the unmanned underwater robot device 100 through Ethernet communication.

The main server 240 is loaded with an application program to operate the control system of the present invention. It is to provide functions such as initial setting according to the operation of the control system 200.

Referring to FIG. 10, a picture of the screen of the operating program of the main server 240 is captured, and the picture on the left is divided into three areas.

The picture on the left is a screen for outputting an image of the omni-camera unit 140, and the omni-camera 140 is an image for checking the surrounding environment adjacent to the unmanned underwater robot device 100 and preventing collision.

The picture on the right is a screen for outputting an image of the front camera unit 130, and is an image for checking the front position of the unmanned underwater robot device 100, checking the movement path, and preventing collision.

11 is a screen capture picture of a window showing posture and status information, user control information, etc. of the underwater robot device 100 of the present invention in operation as text and icons. The operation of the control system 200 may be performed with a keyboard (not shown) using a remote PC in addition to the controller 260 in the form of a joystick.

The NVR 250 stores all underwater images taken by the three cameras formed in the unmanned underwater robot device 100, the front camera unit 130, the omni camera unit 140, and the inspection camera unit 160 is to play a role.

The NVR (250) is an abbreviation of Network Video Recorder, and is a monitoring device that digitizes all four elements of camera, video, network recorder, and monitoring constituting a typical surveillance system, and its main purpose is network processing and high-definition image processing. It is a video storage device. That is, it is a device that receives and stores images in a digital manner.

Hereinafter, a description will be given of a method of searching for images stored in the NVR 250 using an app downloaded to the mobile phone of the manager of the control system 200 with accompanying drawings.

The controller 260, which has received the App ID generated by the mobile phone (not shown) app and the unique IDs of the front camera unit 130, the omni camera unit 140, and the inspection camera unit 160, determines the App ID reception time. It is recognized as video time information (S100).

The mobile phone is loaded with an App that generates a predetermined App ID. The app has a built-in application program for generating an App ID. The app ID generation application program is a program that generates a predetermined mobile phone app ID and periodically wirelessly transmits a signal corresponding to the generated app ID to the controller 260 through a short-range communication method.

The controller 260 generates matching data through the app ID, camera ID, and video time information, and the main server 240 receives the matching data and registers it as matching data (S200).

When the App ID is input in the main server 240, it is determined whether the App ID exists in the storage list (S300).

In the determination step (S300), if an App ID exists, matching data of the corresponding App ID is transmitted to the NVR 250 to request video data (S400).

After the NVR 250 searches for the requested video data, it transmits the corresponding video data to the main server 240 (S500).

The main server 240 receives the video data from the NVR 250 and outputs the video on the screen of the operation program of the main server 240 (S600).

In the controller 260, Ethernet communication is received from the communication unit 190 formed in the unmanned underwater robot device 100, and the image signals of the cameras 130, 140, and 160 of the unmanned underwater robot device and the unmanned underwater It is controlled by processing a data signal through a cable of the robot device 100. In addition, it is also connected to the main server 240 to control the application program.

Those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains as described above will understand that it can be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative and not limiting.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than the above detailed description, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention. do.

100: unmanned underwater robot device 110: main body
120: thrust 121: drive motor
121a: tilting motor 121b: rotation motor
123: tilting axis 125: duct
127: propeller 128: upper and lower thrust support
129: directional thrust support 130: front camera unit
140: omni camera unit 150: main frame
160: inspection camera unit 170: connector connection unit
180: light emitting unit 190: communication unit
200: control system 210: power supply
220: Fathom 230: Hub
240: main server 250: NVR
260; controller

Claims (5)

In the unmanned underwater robot device 100,
Maintaining neutral buoyancy in water, having a waterproof function, a cylindrical body 110 formed of a lightweight, corrosion-resistant aluminum material;
At least one thruster (120) fixed to and formed from the main body 110 at regular intervals to transfer power to the main body 110 and move it forward, backward, up, down, left and right;
a front camera unit 130 formed on the upper part of the main body 110 and taking pictures of the main body 110 by tracking the current position in real time;
An omni camera unit 140 that is formed at a predetermined interval from the front camera 130 and photographs a surrounding environment adjacent to the main body 110;
A main frame 150 connected to the lower portion of the main body 110, made of a member having corrosion resistance made of aluminum, and maintaining neutral buoyancy in water;
A inspection camera unit 160 formed in the downward direction of the main body 110 and taking a 360° image of the water;
A connector connection part 170 disposed on the upper part of the main body 110 to receive power supply and control from the outside;
Lamps 180 formed at the bottom of the upper and lower thrust supports 128 supporting the thrust 120 to display the location and ease of shooting at night;
A communication unit 190 disposed on the main body 110 to apply an Ethernet communication method and to perform wireless communication with the outside in order to track the location of the main body 110;
a depth sensor formed on one side of the main body 110 to sense the depth of the water;
The front camera unit 130, the omni camera unit 140, and the inspection camera unit 160 are controlled, and the control unit 200 controls to store the data of the captured image. Underwater robot device and its control system.
According to claim 1,
The thrust 120 includes a driving motor 121 disposed on the main body 110, a tilting shaft 123 connected to the driving motor 121 and rotating, and a tilting shaft 123 connected to a side surface to provide a tilting movement. An unmanned underwater robot device and a control system thereof, characterized in that it comprises a duct 125 capable of this, and a propeller 127 inserted into the duct 125 to provide propulsion by rotation.
According to claim 1 or 2,
In order to fix the thruster 120 to the main body 110,
Upper and lower thrust supports 128 connected to the main body 110 in the longitudinal direction and formed by fixing at least two or more at regular intervals around the upper part of the main body 110; and
An unmanned underwater robot device and a control system thereof, characterized in that at least two directional thrust supports 129 are fixed and formed at regular intervals around the lower part of the main body 110.
The method of claim 1, wherein the inspection camera unit 160
housing;
a PTZ unit built into the inspection camera unit 160 to capture 360° images;
An unmanned underwater robot device and its control system, characterized in that consisting of a cover 161 for receiving the inspection camera unit 160 and waterproofing.
According to claim 1,
The control system 200 of the unmanned underwater robot device 100 is
Connected to the connector connection part 170 by a cable,
a power supply unit 210 supplying power to the control unit of the unmanned underwater robot device 100;
Fathom (220: Fathom) connected to the depth sensor to measure the water depth;
a hub 230 connecting the control system 200 to a network;
A main server 240 in which a program for performing driving and monitoring functions with the unmanned underwater robot device 100 and Ethernet communication is loaded; and
An NVR 250 for storing underwater images taken by the front camera unit 130, the omni camera unit 140, and the inspection camera unit 160,
An unmanned underwater robot device and a control system thereof, characterized in that it comprises a controller 260 for receiving Ethernet communication from the communication unit 190 and processing and controlling video signals and data signals.

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