Cleaning apparatus and cleaning method for silo inner wall

Abstract

A cleaning apparatus and cleaning method for a silo inner wall (11). The apparatus is composed of a traction robot (10), a universal-joint connector (1), a cleaner (5) and a ground wheel (8), wherein the traction robot (10) primarily carries out cleaning control over a cleaning operation and control over a cleaning path; when the structure of the silo inner wall (11) changes, for example, the silo inner wall (11) is transformed from a vertical surface to a conical surface, the universal-joint connector (1) can make, by means of the universal structure thereof and on the basis of its own universal adaption function, the cleaner (5) change the angle, so as to better fit with the silo inner wall (11), such that the effective cleaning of grain accumulated at any location and corner of the silo inner wall (11) is ensured; and the ground wheel (8) calculates its own synchronous speed on the basis of a traction speed of the traction robot (10), and provides a driving force for the lower portion of the cleaner (5) on the basis of the synchronous speed, such that the synchronous advancement of the cleaner (5) can be maintained.

Description

A silo inner wall cleaning device and a cleaning method thereof TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application belongs to the technical field of grain storage management automation, and particularly relates to a silo inner wall cleaning device and a cleaning method thereof. BACKGROUND

[0002] In the field of port grain storage, the inner wall of the silo will accumulate grain, and cleaning the accumulated grain is a necessary work. The common cleaning method is that a certain number of workers enter the silo through the window or the top window of the silo by rope to clean the accumulated grain. However, this operation method has great risks. TECHNICAL PROBLEM

[0003] With the development of automation control, the cleaning of the silo tends to be technical, mechanized, automated and intelligent. Efficient mechanical cleaning equipment can clean the accumulated grain on the inner wall of the silo, save labor, protect the safety of labor, and improve the efficiency of cleaning the accumulated grain on the inner wall of the silo. However, although the current silo cleaning technology has achieved a certain degree of mechanization, automation and intelligence, there are still problems such as incomplete cleaning of the inner wall of the silo, difficulty in cleaning the accumulated grain on the inner wall of the silo, and difficulty in cleaning the corners of the inner wall of the silo. TECHNICAL SOLUTION

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to provide a silo inner wall cleaning device and a cleaning method thereof. Based on the universal joint connector, the cleaner can change the cleaning angle according to the structure of the inner wall of the silo. The ground wheel ensures that the upper and lower ends of the cleaner are synchronized, so that the accumulated grain on the vertical surface, inclined surface or corner of the inner wall of the silo can be completely cleaned, realizing the mechanization, automation and intelligence of the cleaning of the inner wall of the silo, improving the cleaning quality, efficiency and accuracy of the cleaning of the accumulated grain on the inner wall of the silo, saving time and labor costs, protecting the safety of labor, and making the cleaning of the accumulated grain on the inner wall of the silo more time-saving, labor-saving, convenient, fast, clean and efficient.

[0005] The present application is implemented by using the following technical solutions:

[0006] A silo inner wall cleaning device is proposed, which includes a cleaner for cleaning the inner wall of the silo, a traction robot, a universal joint connector and a ground wheel.

[0007] The traction robot is used to control the cleaning operation, plan the cleaning path and pull the cleaner to move along the cleaning path along the inner wall of the silo.

[0008] The universal joint connector is connected between the cleaner and the traction robot, is controlled by the traction robot, and drags the cleaner to move along the inner wall of the silo; when the structure of the inner wall of the silo changes, the universal joint connector is used to change the working angle of the cleaner so that the cleaner is attached to the inner wall of the silo.

[0009] The ground wheel, wherein the shaft is connected to the lower end of the cleaner, rotates through the driving of the ground wheel motor, and is used to provide the lower driving force for the cleaner to keep the cleaner advancing synchronously at the upper and lower ends.

[0010] In some embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises:

[0011] The connecting plate is connected between the universal joint connector and the cleaner;

[0012] The cleaning motor is fixed on the connecting plate and is used to drive the cleaner to rotate under the control of the traction robot.

[0013] In some embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises:

[0014] The reinforcing rod is fixed at one end on the connecting plate and is connected at the other end to the middle shaft of the ground wheel through the support.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present application, the cleaner further comprises:

[0016] The support wheel is fixed on the reinforcing rod through the support support and is arranged inside the cleaner.

[0017] In some embodiments of the present application, the ground wheel adopts a Mecanum wheel structure.

[0018] The present application also provides a silo inner wall cleaning method, which is applied to the silo inner wall cleaning device as described above and comprises the following steps:

[0019] After receiving the cleaning task starting instruction, the traction speed of the traction robot is obtained;

[0020] The synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated based on the traction speed;

[0021] The ground wheel motor is controlled to drive the ground wheel at the synchronous speed, so that the cleaner advances synchronously at the upper and lower ends during the cleaning operation.

[0022] In some embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises:

[0023] The cleaning task starting instruction is issued to the traction robot through a cloud platform or a cloud server; the cleaning task starting instruction contains the traction speed, silo inner wall structure data and cleaning path planning data.

[0024] In some embodiments of the present application, when calculating the synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the traction speed, the method comprises:

[0025] Obtaining the silo inner wall parameters; the silo inner wall parameters comprise silo structure data and the taper surface inclination angle;

[0026] Judging whether the sweeper is working on the taper surface of the silo inner wall based on the silo inner wall parameters;

[0027] When the sweeper is working on the taper surface, calculating the synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the sweeper length, the taper surface inclination angle and the traction speed.

[0028] In some embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises:

[0029] Collecting the silo inner wall image;

[0030] Identifying the grain cleaning amount based on the silo inner wall image;

[0031] Determining the traction speed according to the grain cleaning amount.

[0032] In some embodiments of the present application, after collecting the silo inner wall image, the method comprises:

[0033] Implementing partitioning on the silo inner wall image according to the set partitioning rules;

[0034] Identifying the regional cleaning amount for the image of each partition respectively;

[0035] For each partition, determining the regional traction speed based on the regional cleaning amount;

[0036] Calculating the regional synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the partition traction speed;

[0037] Controlling the ground wheel motor to drive the ground wheel at the regional synchronous speed, so that the upper and lower ends of the sweeper are synchronized to advance during the cleaning operation of the corresponding partition. Beneficial effects

[0038] Compared with the prior art, the advantages and positive effects of the present application are: in the technical solution of the present application, the silo inner wall cleaning device is composed of a traction robot, a universal joint connector, a sweeper and a ground wheel, the traction robot controls the cleaning operation and plans the cleaning path, and the sweeper is pulled along the planned path to move along the inner wall of the silo; the universal joint connector can change the angle of the sweeper based on its universal structure when the structure of the inner wall of the silo changes, for example, from a vertical surface to a conical surface, so that the sweeper can better fit the inner wall of the silo and effectively clean the accumulated grain in any position and corner of the inner wall of the silo; the ground wheel calculates its synchronous speed based on the traction speed of the traction robot, provides driving force to the lower part of the sweeper according to the synchronous speed, and can keep the sweeper advancing synchronously; based on the silo inner wall cleaning device provided by the present application, the quality and efficiency of cleaning the accumulated grain in the inner wall of the silo can be improved, the labor cost can be reduced, and the automation and intelligent level of silo inner wall cleaning can be improved.

[0039] Further, the structure frame composed of the connecting plate, the reinforcing rod and the sweeper can keep the sweeper stable during the cleaning operation, and is not easy to deform, so as to ensure that the cleaning strength of the cleaning operation is not affected by the structural deformation. The control data of the traction robot is transmitted to the ground wheel motor through a data line, which can pass through the inside of the reinforcing rod to the lower end of the sweeper, or be fixed outside the reinforcing rod to ensure that it does not fall off and affect the cleaning operation.

[0040] Further, the support wheel arranged in the middle of the sweeper supports the sweeper and prevents the sweeper from bending and deforming, especially for the longer structure of the sweeper, the support wheel is a passive wheel and rotates synchronously with the speed of the traction robot and the ground wheel.

[0041] Further, the Mecanum wheel has two driving force components of upward and forward when running, which can increase the driving force of the sweeper, prevent the lower part of the sweeper from being pulled off, and reduce the friction between the sweeper and the inner wall of the silo when the sweeper is descending.

[0042] In the silo inner wall cleaning method provided by the present application, the synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated based on the traction speed of the traction robot, so that the ground wheel is synchronized with the traction robot and the sweeper advances synchronously, the accumulated grain in the inner wall of the silo is cleaned during the synchronous advancing process, and the inner wall of the silo is cleaned without dead angle.

[0043] Further, the control platform of the port can be used as a cloud platform or a cloud server, and when it is necessary to implement cleaning on a specified silo, a cleaning task starting instruction is issued to the traction robot, which contains silo inner wall structure data, cleaning path planning data, and traction speed set in combination with the silo inner wall structure, etc. The silo inner wall structure data includes but is not limited to silo vertical surface data, silo conical surface data, and silo irregular corner data, etc. The cleaning path planning data includes but is not limited to reciprocating cleaning path along the silo vertical surface, cleaning path of the silo conical surface, and cleaning path of the silo irregular corner, etc. The traction speed can be specified or calculated according to the actual silo inner wall structure.

[0044] Of course, in actual application, the silo inner wall structure data, cleaning path planning data, and traction speed set in combination with the silo inner wall structure, etc. can also be input through the configuration interface or intelligent control terminal of the traction robot, and then the cleaning task is started.

[0045] Further, the silo inner wall cleaning device of the present application can be adapted to any grain storage silo in the port based on the cleaning method. When the silo inner wall is vertical, the synchronous speed and the traction speed are usually the same. When the silo inner wall is conical, the synchronous speed of the ground wheel can be calculated in combination with the length of the cleaner, the conical inclination angle, and the traction speed. The synchronous speed is less than the traction speed, so that the cleaner is synchronously advanced even when the operation is on the conical inclined surface. For the irregular corners of the silo inner wall, the irregular corners can be divided into several inclined surfaces, and the synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated for each inclined surface.

[0046] Further, an image acquisition module can be installed above the silo. Before the cleaning operation is implemented, the image acquisition module is used to obtain the image of the silo inner wall. Based on the image recognition method, the degree of grain accumulation on the silo inner wall, i.e. the grain cleaning amount, can be determined. When the grain cleaning amount is small, the cleaner can be controlled to advance quickly. When the grain cleaning amount is large, the advancing speed can be appropriately slowed down to ensure that the grain can be completely cleaned.

[0047] In actual situation, the procedure of grain accumulation on the silo inner wall is not uniform. After the image of the silo inner wall is obtained, the silo inner wall can be divided into zones based on the image of the silo inner wall. Different cleaning operations are implemented for each zone. The image of each zone is recognized to obtain the zone cleaning amount. The zone traction speed is determined according to the zone cleaning amount, and the zone synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated according to the zone traction speed. When the traction robot drives the cleaner to operate in the corresponding zone to implement the cleaning operation, the cleaner is synchronously advanced using the zone traction speed and the zone synchronous speed calculated for the current zone. In the area with less grain accumulation, the cleaner is quickly cleaned to improve the cleaning efficiency. In the area with more grain accumulation, the cleaner is relatively slowly cleaned to ensure the cleaning quality. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0048] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the application and serve to explain the principles of the application. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that other embodiments of the application can be practiced without departing from the scope of the application. The drawings are merely for explanatory purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the application.

[0049] Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the silo inner wall cleaning device according to the present application;

[0050] Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the silo inner wall cleaning device according to the present application on a vertical inner wall;

[0051] Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the silo inner wall cleaning device according to the present application on a conical inner wall;

[0052] Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the steps of the silo inner wall cleaning method according to the present application;

[0053] Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the image partitioning of the silo inner wall in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the silo inner wall partitioning corresponding to the image partitioning of the silo inner wall shown in Fig. 5;

[0055] Reference signs: 1 - universal joint connector, 2 - connecting plate, 3 - cleaning motor, 4 - reinforcing rod, 5 - cleaner, 6 - support wheel, 7 - ground wheel motor, 8 - ground wheel, 9 - controller, 10 - traction robot, 11 - silo inner wall, 12 - silo conical connection, 13 - silo bottom surface.

[0056] It should be noted that the drawings and the written description are not intended to limit the scope of the concept of the present application in any way and are merely intended to illustrate the concept of the present application to those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments. Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0057] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. The following embodiments are used to illustrate the present application but are not used to limit the scope of the present application.

[0058] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "inner", "outer" and the like indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings and are merely intended to facilitate the description of the present application and simplify the description, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the devices or elements referred to in a particular orientation, constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present application.

[0059] In the description of the present application, it should be noted that unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connection", "linking" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be fixed connection, or detachable connection, or integral connection; it can be mechanical connection, or electrical connection; it can be direct connection, or connection through intermediate medium. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0060] As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the silo inner wall cleaning device in the embodiment of the present application is composed of a universal joint connector 1, a connecting plate 2, a cleaning motor 3, a reinforcing rod 4, a cleaner 5, a supporting wheel 6, a ground wheel motor 7, a ground wheel 8, and a controller 9.

[0061] The traction robot 10 is hung on the connecting plate 2, and is used for control of cleaning operation, control of cleaning operation path, and traction of the cleaner 5, etc.

[0062] The connecting plate 2, the reinforcing rod 4, the ground wheel 7, and the corresponding support frame constitute a structural frame. One end of the cleaner 5 is fixed on the connecting plate 2 through a bearing, and is connected with the cleaning motor 3 through a speed reducer, and the other end is connected with the support frame on the reinforcing rod 4 through a bearing, and the cleaner 5 can rotate forward and backward under the action of the cleaning motor 3, so as to complete the cleaning of the residual grain.

[0063] The supporting wheel 6 is connected to the reinforcing rod 4 through a supporting support frame, and is connected with the cleaner 5 through a bearing, which not only plays a supporting role, but also does not affect the rotation of the cleaner. The supporting wheel 6 has no power, and can rotate with the cleaner 5.

[0064] The ground wheel 8 is driven to rotate by the ground wheel motor 7, and adds a propelling force to the lower part of the cleaner 5, so that the cleaner 5 can move in translation under the unified force. The ground wheel 8 adopts a Mecanum wheel structure, and has two driving force components of upward and forward directions when running, which can reduce the friction force when the cleaner 5 slides along the wall of the silo, and provide a lower driving force for the cleaner 5 during work, so as to keep the traction robot at the lower end and the upper end of the cleaner 5 synchronized.

[0065] The controller 9 is installed on the frame structure of the cleaner 5, and can collect the running speed of the traction robot 10 through a data interface, and control the synchronous operation of the ground wheel 8. The controller 9 adopts a standardized interface, bus control, two power lines, and two data lines, and the interface is simple and unified.

[0066] The lower end of the universal joint connector 1 is fixed on the connecting plate 2, and the upper end can be fixed on the traction robot 10, which is driven by the traction robot 10 to run along the inner wall 11 of the silo for cleaning.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 4, the cleaning operation steps implemented by the silo inner wall cleaning device according to the embodiment include:

[0068] S1: Start the cleaning task.

[0069] The control center (which can be a cloud platform or a cloud server of the port or the silo) issues a cleaning task start instruction to the traction robot 10.

[0070] Before starting the cleaning task, the control center can first obtain the image of the silo inner wall from the image acquisition module, identify the grain cleaning amount based on the image of the silo inner wall, that is, the degree of grain accumulation, and then calculate the traction speed suitable for the cleaning amount, that is, the driving speed of the traction robot 10. The traction speed is included in the cleaning task start instruction when the control center issues the cleaning task start instruction to the traction robot.

[0071] Further, the silo inner wall image can be partitioned according to the partitioning rules shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and each partitioned image Ai corresponds to a work area Ii of the silo inner wall. Then, the area cleaning amount is identified for each partitioned image, and the corresponding area traction speed is calculated for each partition based on the corresponding area cleaning amount. The traction robot 10 switches different area traction speeds when running in different areas.

[0072] S2: Obtain the traction speed of the traction robot, and calculate the synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the traction speed.

[0073] The controller 9 obtains the traction speed (or area traction speed) of the traction robot 10 and the silo inner wall structure data (including silo vertical surface data and silo conical surface data, etc.), and calculates the synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the silo inner wall structure and the traction speed (or area traction speed). When the silo inner wall is a vertical surface, the synchronous speed is the same as the traction speed. When the silo inner wall is a conical surface, the synchronous speed of the ground wheel 8 is calculated based on the length of the sweeper, the inclination angle of the conical surface, and the traction speed (area traction speed). Specifically, the actual walking path of the ground wheel 8 can be calculated based on the length of the sweeper and the inclination angle of the conical surface according to the triangular formula. The synchronous speed of the ground wheel 8 is calculated based on the difference between the actual walking path of the ground wheel 8 and the driving path of the traction robot 10.

[0074] S3: Control the ground wheel motor to drive the ground wheel at the synchronous speed, so that the sweeper is synchronously propelled at its upper and lower ends during the cleaning operation.

[0075] The controller 10 controls the ground wheel motor 7 to drive the ground wheel 8 to synchronously propel with the traction robot 10. During the synchronous propulsion process, the grain accumulated on the silo inner wall is cleaned.

[0076] The part of planning the cleaning path in the application can implement manual planning or algorithm planning in combination with the structure and size of the silo inner wall, which is not limited by the application, and can be implemented by a person skilled in the art according to the means in the field. The silo inner wall 11 is not provided with a cleaning track, and the traction robot 10 is arranged on the cleaning track by using a clamping groove structure and performs work along the planned cleaning path.

[0077] It should be noted that, in the specific implementation process, the control part mentioned above can be implemented by a processor in the form of hardware to execute computer execution instructions in the form of software stored in the memory, which will not be described here, and the programs corresponding to the actions performed by the control circuit can be stored in the computer readable storage medium of the system in the form of software, so that the processor calls and executes the operations corresponding to each module.

[0078] The computer readable storage medium in the above can include a volatile memory, such as a random access memory; can also include a non-volatile memory, such as a read-only memory, a flash memory, a hard disk or a solid state disk; and can also include a combination of the above kinds of memories.

[0079] The processor mentioned above can also be a general term for a plurality of processing elements. For example, the processor can be a central processing unit, and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc., and can also be a special-purpose processor.

[0080] It should be pointed out that the above description is not a limitation of the application, and the application is also not limited to the above examples. Changes, modifications, additions or substitutions made by a person skilled in the art within the essential scope of the application should also be within the protection scope of the application.

Claims

1. A silo inner wall cleaning device comprising a cleaner for cleaning a silo inner wall, characterized by, The traction robot, the universal joint connector and the ground wheel are also included. The traction robot is used to control the cleaning operation, plan the cleaning path and pull the cleaner to move along the silo inner wall in the cleaning path. The universal joint connector is connected between the cleaner and the traction robot and is controlled by the traction robot to pull the cleaner to move along the silo inner wall. When the structure of the silo inner wall changes, the universal joint connector is used to change the operation angle of the cleaner to make the cleaner fit the silo inner wall. The ground wheel is connected to the lower end of the cleaner and is rotated by the driving of the ground wheel motor to provide the lower driving force for the cleaner to keep the cleaner advancing synchronously at both ends.

2. The silo interior wall cleaning device according to claim 1, characterized in that The device further includes: A connecting plate connected between the universal joint connector and the cleaner; A cleaning motor fixed on the connecting plate to drive the cleaner to rotate under the control of the traction robot.

3. A silo interior wall cleaning device according to claim 2, characterized in that The device further includes: A reinforcing rod with one end fixed on the connecting plate and the other end connected to the middle shaft of the ground wheel through a support.

4. The silo interior wall cleaning device according to claim 3, characterized in that The cleaner further includes: A support wheel fixed to the reinforcing rod through a support support and arranged inside the cleaner.

5. The silo interior wall cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by, The ground wheel adopts a Mecanum wheel structure.

6. A method for cleaning the inside wall of a silo, which is applied to the silo inside wall cleaning device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The method includes: After receiving the cleaning task start instruction, the traction speed of the traction robot is obtained; The synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated based on the traction speed; The ground wheel motor is controlled to drive the ground wheel at the synchronous speed so that the cleaner advances synchronously at both ends during the cleaning operation.

7. The silo interior wall cleaning method according to claim 6, characterized by, The method further includes: The cleaning task start instruction is issued to the traction robot through a cloud platform or a cloud server; the cleaning task start instruction includes the traction speed, silo inner wall structure data and cleaning path planning data.

8. The silo cleaning method of claim 7, wherein, When the synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated based on the traction speed, the method includes: Obtaining silo inner wall parameters; the silo inner wall parameters include silo structure data and conical surface inclination angle; Judging whether the cleaner is operating on the conical surface of the silo inner wall based on the silo inner wall parameters; When the cleaner is operating on the conical surface, the synchronous speed of the ground wheel is calculated based on the length of the cleaner, the conical surface inclination angle and the traction speed.

9. The silo interior wall cleaning method according to claim 7, characterized by, The method further includes: Collecting silo inner wall images; Identifying the grain cleaning amount based on the silo inner wall images; Determining the traction speed according to the grain cleaning amount.

10. The silo interior wall cleaning method according to claim 9, characterized by, After collecting the silo inner wall images, the method includes: Dividing the silo inner wall images according to the set zoning rules; Identifying the regional cleaning amount for each divided image; For each division, determining the regional traction speed based on the regional cleaning amount; Calculating the regional synchronous speed of the ground wheel based on the regional traction speed; Controlling the ground wheel motor to drive the ground wheel at the regional synchronous speed so that the cleaner advances synchronously at both ends during the cleaning operation in the corresponding division.

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