An intelligent inspection robot for mine belt conveyors

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of detection equipment, and discloses an intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor, which includes an enclosed housing. A rotary pan-tilt is provided at the bottom of the housing, and the top is connected to a guide rail through a walking unit. A control unit is arranged inside. The guide rail is arranged along the frame of the mine belt conveyor. A set of test units are arranged on both sides of the rotary pan-tilt, respectively for performing image, rotation speed and sound detection on two paired idlers in the mine belt conveyor. The rotary pan-tilt is used to adjust the relative pose between the test unit and the corresponding idler by rotation, so as to realize daily detection and further detection of the fault location. The walking unit is used to control the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail. The intelligent inspection robot of the present invention, by integrating computer vision and various sensors on a control box and using a wireless bridge for transmission, meets the needs of enterprises.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of detection equipment, and particularly relates to an intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor. Background Art

[0002] The traditional inspection of the idlers in the belt conveyor mainly relies on manual labor. Since the belt is too long, the inspection workload is large. When manually holding a thermometer and a vibration meter for inspection, problems cannot be discovered in time, and there are major equipment safety hazards.

[0003] In current industrial production, common faults of mine belt conveyors include: belt breakage, deviation, slipping, idler jamming, and spontaneous combustion of transported materials. When the belt conveyor fails, it not only affects the production efficiency of enterprises, but also poses a threat to the lives and safety of workers. Therefore, the real-time monitoring of the transportation state of the belt conveyor has become a common concern of enterprises. At present, most coal mining enterprises still mainly rely on manual inspection for the inspection of belt conveyors. This method mainly relies on the senses of the inspection workers to judge the state of the belt conveyor. The inspection efficiency is low, the cost is high, and it depends on the subjective judgment of the workers, with poor reliability. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention provides an intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor, which solves the problems of low efficiency and poor reliability of the existing manual inspection method.

[0005] The present invention can be realized through the following technical solutions:

[0006] An intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor includes a closed housing. A rotary pan is provided at the bottom of the housing, and the top is connected to a guide rail through a walking unit. A control unit is provided inside. The guide rail is arranged along the frame of the mine belt conveyor. A set of test units are provided on each side of the rotary pan to respectively perform image, rotational speed, and sound detection on two paired idlers in the mine belt conveyor. The rotary pan is used to adjust the relative pose between the test unit and the corresponding idler by rotation to achieve daily detection and further detection of the fault location. The walking unit is used to control the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail.

[0007] Further, the rotary pan includes an inverted T-shaped bracket. The horizontal bar in the inverted T-shaped bracket is arranged parallel to the guide rail, and an installation seat is provided at each end. The installation seat is connected to the output shaft of a first motor, and a test unit is provided on its surface. The first motor is used to drive the installation seat together with the test unit thereon to rotate around the positive or negative direction of the X-axis, so that the test unit rotates towards its corresponding idler to achieve daily detection;

[0008] The free end of the vertical rod in the inverted T-shaped bracket is connected to the output shaft of the second motor, and the second motor is used to drive the entire inverted T-shaped bracket to rotate around the Z-axis direction, thereby adjusting the distance between the test unit and the corresponding roller in the Y-axis direction to achieve further detection of the fault location.

[0009] Furthermore, the testing unit includes a visible light camera, an infrared camera, a laser speed meter and a microphone.

[0010] Furthermore, an obstacle avoidance module and a communication module are also provided inside the shell. The obstacle avoidance module is configured as a panoramic camera, and the communication module is configured as a 5G CPE device. The camera head of the panoramic camera faces the forward direction of the intelligent inspection robot. A glass window is provided at a corresponding position on the shell for photographing obstacles in the forward direction. The 5G CPE device is used to realize communication between the intelligent inspection robot and the monitoring system. An alarm is also provided on the top of the shell.

[0011] Furthermore, the guide rail adopts an I-beam structure, including a vertical plate in the middle and an upper horizontal plate and a lower horizontal plate vertically connected thereto, and the walking unit includes two driving wheels, which are respectively arranged in grooves on both sides of the I-beam, and the transmission shafts at the centers thereof are connected to the output shafts of the corresponding servo motors, and the vertical distance between the output shaft of the servo motor and the vertical plate is smaller than the radius of the driving wheel, so as to ensure that the surface of the driving wheel is pressed against the vertical plate and moves along the surface of the vertical plate under the drive of the servo motor;

[0012] A driven wheel is arranged on both sides of each driving wheel, and each driven wheel moves along the lower transverse plate and is connected to the shell through a connecting plate.

[0013] Furthermore, the contact surface between the vertical plate and the driving wheel is set as a friction surface, and a power supply busbar device is arranged along the upper horizontal plate.

[0014] Furthermore, it also includes a position confirmation module, which is used to re-measure the walking position of the intelligent inspection robot, including RFID tags pasted at even intervals along the guide rail, and an RFID tag reader arranged on the shell, and the RFID tags are all provided with position information corresponding to their locations.

[0015] An inspection method based on the above-mentioned intelligent inspection robot for a mining belt conveyor is characterized by comprising the following steps:

[0016] Step 1: Use multiple driven wheels to hang the intelligent inspection robot on the guide rail, and fine-tune the relative positions of the driven wheels, driving wheels and the guide rail to ensure smooth subsequent walking;

[0017] Step 2: Drive the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail by the servo motor, and adjust the angle of the corresponding test unit through the first motor so that they respectively face two idlers that appear in pairs in the mine belt conveyor and rotate;

[0018] Step 3: Turn on the test unit to conduct daily inspections on the rotation speed, sound, and image of the idler, turn on the panoramic camera to detect obstacles in front of the intelligent inspection robot, and upload them to the monitoring system through the 5G CPE device;

[0019] Step 4: If the monitoring system discovers abnormal conditions in the rotation speed, sound, or image information through analysis, send an instruction to the intelligent inspection robot, drive the corresponding test unit to rotate towards the direction close to the idler through the second motor, so that it conducts further detection on the fault location, and then upload it to the monitoring system for final processing.

[0020] The beneficial technical effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0021] Use the equipment equipped with infrared thermal imagers, pickups, high-definition cameras, laser speed detectors, etc. to replace manual uniform inspection along the line, upload detection data in real time, predict equipment failures through logical operations and issue early warnings, remind relevant personnel to check and repair faulty equipment in time, improve the operation reliability of the equipment, greatly improve the inspection reliability, save costs. At the same time, this intelligent inspection robot that integrates computer vision and various sensors on the control box and uses wireless bridges for transmission meets the needs of enterprises. Description of the Drawings

[0022] Figure 1 It is a front view schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 2 It is a side view schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 3 It is a bottom view schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;

[0025] Among them, 1 - housing, 2 - rotating cloud platform, 3 - guide rail, 4 - test unit, 5 - panoramic camera, 6 - 5G CPE device, 7 - driving wheel, 8 - servo motor, 9 - driven wheel, 10 - RFID tag reader, 11 - sliding contact wire. Specific Embodiments

[0026] The following details the specific embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the drawings and preferred embodiments.

[0027] As Figures 1-3As shown in the figure, the present invention provides an intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor, which includes a closed housing 1. A rotating cloud platform 2 is arranged at the bottom of the housing 1, and the top is connected to a guide rail 3 through a walking unit. A control unit, a communication module, an obstacle avoidance module, etc. are arranged inside. The guide rail 3 is arranged along the frame of the mine belt conveyor. A set of test units 4 are arranged on each side of the rotating cloud platform 2 to respectively perform image and sound detection on two pairs of rollers that appear in pairs in the mine belt conveyor. The rotating cloud platform 3 is used to adjust the relative pose between the test unit 4 and the corresponding roller by rotation to achieve daily detection and further detection of the fault location. The walking unit is used to control the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail. The communication module is used to realize the communication between the control unit and the monitoring system. The obstacle avoidance module is used to realize obstacle avoidance during the walking process of the intelligent inspection robot. In this way, with the cooperation of the walking unit, the guide rail, and the obstacle avoidance module, the intelligent inspection robot is driven to move along the frame of the mine belt conveyor. The two sets of test units 4 on the rotating cloud platform 2 are used to perform image, rotation speed, and sound detection on two pairs of rollers that appear in pairs. Then, the control unit transmits the detection data to the monitoring system through the communication module and receives the analysis result of the monitoring system to control the next action of the intelligent inspection robot. For example, if a fault is found, the control rotating cloud platform drives the test unit to rotate towards the fault location for further detection of the fault location; another example is that if an obstacle is found ahead, the intelligent inspection robot is controlled to stop moving through the walking unit for obstacle avoidance operations, etc., so as to realize the intelligent inspection of the miner belt conveyor, achieve the purpose of remotely monitoring the running status of the belt and rollers, be able to assist workers in monitoring the running status of the conveyor, improve work efficiency, reduce labor intensity. At the same time, through image analysis, it can also warn of other faults such as sticky materials on the drum and rollers, resulting in belt deviation, unstable belt operation, high temperature, etc., which may cause fires, effectively reduce the equipment fault shutdown rate, increase the belt transportation volume per unit time, and reduce the risk of a series of machine faults and safety accidents.

[0028] The rotating pan-tilt 2 includes an inverted T-shaped bracket. The crossbar in the inverted T-shaped bracket is arranged parallel to the guide rail 3, and an installation seat is provided at each of its two ends. The installation seat is connected to the output shaft of the first motor, and a test unit 4 is arranged on its surface. The test unit 4 includes a visible light camera, an infrared camera, a laser speed detector and a pickup, which are respectively used to collect the planar image, infrared image, rotational speed and sound information of the idler area, and the first motor is used to drive the installation seat together with the test unit thereon to rotate in the positive or negative direction of the X-axis, so that the test unit faces the corresponding idler to realize daily detection. Since the X-axis direction is the direction parallel to the guide rail, and the two idlers that appear in pairs are respectively above and below the guide rail, therefore, one of the two test units needs to rotate downward and the other needs to rotate upward to obtain a better collection angle and more accurate data. At the same time, the entire intelligent inspection robot moves along the guide rail, and the front test unit 4 will complete the detection first, and there will be some intervals in the detection time of the two test units.

[0029] The free end of the vertical rod in the inverted T-shaped bracket is connected to the output shaft of the second motor. The second motor is used to drive the entire inverted T-shaped bracket to rotate in the Z-axis direction, so as to adjust the distance between the test unit and the corresponding idler in the Y-axis direction and realize further detection of the fault location. When the monitoring system analyzes the detection data of daily detection and finds that the data exceeds the standard and there may be a fault, it can drive the entire inverted T-shaped bracket to rotate in the Z-axis direction through the second motor, so that the corresponding test unit is closer to the idler position. At this time, detecting again can obtain data of a smaller area position, and the collected data is more accurate, so as to complete the further detection of the fault location.

[0030] The obstacle avoidance module can be set as a panoramic camera 5. The camera of the panoramic camera 5 faces the forward direction of the intelligent inspection robot, and a glass window is arranged at the corresponding position on the shell for taking pictures of the obstacles in the forward direction. The communication module can be set as a 5G CPE device 6. Since mine belt conveyors are mostly used in open-pit coal mines, the outdoor temperature difference is large, and the content of floating impurities such as coal dust in the air is high. Therefore, the communication environment is not very good. The 5G CPE device 6 is a 5G wireless terminal access device independently developed by Huawei. It uses the industry's first multi-mode chip Balong 5000 based on the 3GPP R15 standard, with strong performance and low power consumption. It supports the Sub-6G full frequency band, and the measured rate in the existing network reaches 3.2Gbps, which can allow users to quickly access the high-speed network of 5G ultra-fiber and improve the network experience of users in the full scene, so as to ensure the communication between the intelligent inspection personnel and the monitoring system. At the same time, the intelligent inspection robot is powered by a low-voltage sliding contact wire 11 wire groove method, such as 24V, and uses a lithium battery as a backup power source, and it is not less than 20Ah.

[0031] The guide rail 3 adopts an H-shaped structure, such as an I-beam structure, including a vertical plate in the middle and an upper horizontal plate and a lower horizontal plate vertically connected thereto. The walking unit includes two driving wheels 7, which are respectively arranged in the grooves on both sides of the I-beam, and the transmission shafts at the center are connected to the output shafts of the corresponding servo motors 8. The vertical distance between the output shaft of the servo motor 8 and the vertical plate is smaller than the radius of the driving wheel 7, so as to ensure that the surface of the driving wheel 7 is pressed against the vertical plate and moves along the surface of the vertical plate under the drive of the servo motor 8. In order to increase the friction between the driving wheel 7 and the vertical plate, gravel can be sprayed on the contact surface corresponding to the vertical plate to increase the roughness. In addition, the entire guide rail 3 is laid along the frame of the mining belt conveyor at a certain height, and the intelligent inspection robot runs at a uniform speed on it, avoiding the instability of the roller speed monitoring.

[0032] A driven wheel 9 is arranged on both sides of each driving wheel 7. Each driven wheel 9 moves along the lower horizontal plate and is connected to the shell through a connecting plate. In this way, the driven wheel 9 can bear the weight of the intelligent inspection robot, reduce the load-bearing capacity of the driving wheel 6 in the vertical direction, and make the rotation of the driving wheel 7 more convenient.

[0033] An alarm is also provided on the top of the housing 1, and an alarm can be used to give an alarm prompt in case of any situation.

[0034] In addition, the servo motor 7 itself has an encoder, which is used to measure the number of rotations of the shaft. The circumference of the driving wheel is certain, so the encoder can accurately measure the travel distance of the intelligent inspection robot, and the robot limit trigger device can be used to determine the starting point of the guide rail. The position of the intelligent inspection robot can be determined by the travel distance. However, if a slipping condition occurs, the test will be inaccurate. Therefore, the intelligent inspection robot of the present invention also adds a position confirmation module, which is used to re-measure the walking position of the intelligent inspection robot, including RFID tags evenly spaced along the guide rail 3, and an RFID tag reader 10 provided on the shell 1. Specifically, RFID tags are pasted on the guide rail every 6 meters, and the position information of the point is written in the tag. The RFID tag reader 10 is equipped. If the encoder travels a distance greater than 6 meters and the RFID tag reader does not read the next tag, it means that the driving wheel is slipping or there are other emergencies, triggering a fault warning.

[0035] The present invention also provides an inspection method based on the above-mentioned intelligent inspection robot for a mining belt conveyor, comprising the following steps:

[0036] Step 1: With the help of multiple driven wheels, the intelligent inspection robot is suspended on the guide rail, and the relative positions of the driven wheels and the driving wheels and the guide rail are fine-tuned. For example, the driving wheel can press the vertical plate of the guide rail tightly, and the position of each driven wheel on the horizontal plate of the guide rail is basically the same to ensure smooth subsequent walking;

[0037] Step 2: Drive the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail by the servo motor, adjust the angles of the corresponding test units by the first motor, so that they respectively face the two rollers that appear in pairs in the mine belt conveyor and rotate. Record the angles when the test units are facing the rollers, and keep this angle unchanged in subsequent tests. To ensure that the detection angles for each roller are consistent, the guide rail should be set as parallel as possible to the center line of the two rollers that appear in pairs in the mine belt conveyor, that is, parallel to the frame.

[0038] Step 3: Turn on the test units to conduct daily inspections on the rotational speed, sound, and images of the rollers, turn on the panoramic camera to detect obstacles in front of the intelligent inspection robot, and upload them to the monitoring system through the 5G CPE device;

[0039] Step 4: If the monitoring system discovers any abnormal conditions in the rotational speed, sound, or image information through analysis, send an instruction to the intelligent inspection robot, drive the corresponding test unit to rotate towards the roller by the second motor, so that it can conduct further inspections on the fault location, and then upload it to the monitoring system for final processing.

[0040] The specific process is as follows:

[0041] When using the intelligent inspection robot of the present invention for inspection, the monitoring system issues an inspection task. The robot travels uniformly along the guide rail, adjusts the angles of the two test units through the rotating cloud platform, so that they respectively face the corresponding upper and lower rollers and rotate upwards and downwards. Use the visible light camera and infrared camera to collect real-time images, use the microphone to capture the running sound of the belt conveyor in real time, and use the laser tester to detect the rotational speed. The detection data is transmitted to the upper computer of the monitoring system through the 5G CPE device. If the microphone captures an abnormal audio signal, in order to further confirm the source of the abnormality, immediately control the rotating cloud platform to turn left and right by the servo motor. Of course, the first motor or the second motor can also drive the corresponding test unit for fine adjustment to make the test unit closer to the abnormal position. Then, the visible light camera, infrared camera, and laser speedometer immediately aim at the roller for monitoring. The infrared camera detects abnormal temperature, and the laser speedometer detects abnormal speed. The upper computer receives the abnormal signal and issues a danger warning message. Relevant personnel immediately repair the roller at this position. After the problem is solved and the abnormal signal disappears, the inspection robot continues to complete the issued inspection task. During the driving process, it can also monitor the biological activity trajectories along the way. When a person or an animal approaches the belt conveyor, collect images through the panoramic camera. After image processing, immediately issue a danger warning to prompt or drive the biological away from the belt conveyor to ensure the safe operation of the belt conveyor.

[0042] Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, those skilled in the art should understand that these are only examples. Without departing from the principle and essence of the present invention, various changes or modifications can be made to these embodiments. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A patrol inspection method for an intelligent patrol inspection robot used in a mine belt conveyor, characterized in that: The intelligent inspection robot includes an enclosed housing. A rotating turntable is provided at the bottom of the housing. The top is connected to a guide rail through a walking unit. A control unit is arranged inside. The guide rail is arranged along the frame of the mining belt conveyor. A set of test units are arranged on both sides of the rotating turntable to respectively perform image, rotation speed and sound detection on two idlers that appear in pairs in the mining belt conveyor. The rotating turntable is used to adjust the relative pose between the test unit and the corresponding idler through rotation to achieve daily inspection and further inspection of the fault location. The walking unit is used to control the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail; The rotating turntable includes an inverted T-shaped bracket. The cross bar in the inverted T-shaped bracket is arranged parallel to the guide rail. An installation seat is arranged at each end of the cross bar. The installation seat is connected to the output shaft of the first motor. The surface of the installation seat is provided with a test unit. The first motor is used to drive the installation seat together with the test unit thereon to rotate around the positive or negative direction of the X-axis, so that the test unit rotates towards its corresponding idler to achieve daily inspection; The free end of the vertical bar in the inverted T-shaped bracket is connected to the output shaft of the second motor. The second motor is used to drive the entire inverted T-shaped bracket to rotate around the Z-axis direction, so as to adjust the distance between the test unit and the corresponding idler in the Y-axis direction to achieve further inspection of the fault location; The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for the mining belt conveyor includes the following steps: Step 1: Hang the intelligent inspection robot on the guide rail with the help of multiple driven wheels, and finely adjust the relative positions of the driven wheels and the driving wheel with the guide rail to ensure smooth subsequent movement; Step 2: Drive the intelligent inspection robot to move along the guide rail through the servo motor, and adjust the angles of the corresponding test units through the first motor to make them rotate towards the two idlers that appear in pairs in the mining belt conveyor respectively; Step 3: Turn on the test unit to perform daily inspection on the rotation speed, sound and image of the idler, turn on the panoramic camera to detect obstacles in front of the intelligent inspection robot, and upload them to the monitoring system through the 5G CPE device; Step 4: If the monitoring system finds abnormal conditions in the rotation speed, sound or image information through analysis, send an instruction to the intelligent inspection robot, drive the corresponding test unit to rotate towards the direction close to the idler through the second motor, make it perform further inspection on the fault location, and then upload it to the monitoring system for final processing.

2. The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for the mine belt conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The test unit includes a visible light camera, an infrared camera, a laser speed detector and a pickup.

3. The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for the mine belt conveyor according to claim 1, wherein: An obstacle avoidance module and a communication module are also arranged inside the housing. The obstacle avoidance module is set as a panoramic camera. The communication module is set as a 5G CPE device. The camera of the panoramic camera faces the forward direction of the intelligent inspection robot. A glass window is arranged at the corresponding position on the housing for taking pictures of obstacles in the forward direction. The 5G CPE device is used to realize the communication between the intelligent inspection robot and the monitoring system. An alarm is also arranged on the top of the housing.

4. The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for the mine belt conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide rail adopts an I-beam structure, including a vertical plate in the middle and an upper horizontal plate and a lower horizontal plate vertically connected thereto. The walking unit includes two driving wheels, which are respectively arranged in grooves on both sides of the I-beam. The transmission shafts at the centers are connected to the output shafts of the corresponding servo motors. The vertical distance between the output shaft of the servo motor and the vertical plate is smaller than the radius of the driving wheel, so as to ensure that the surface of the driving wheel is pressed against the vertical plate and moves along the surface of the vertical plate driven by the servo motor. A driven wheel is arranged on both sides of each driving wheel, and each driven wheel moves along the lower transverse plate and is connected to the shell through a connecting plate.

5. The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor according to claim 4, characterized in that: The contact surface between the vertical plate and the driving wheel is set as a friction surface, and a power supply busbar device is arranged along the upper horizontal plate.

6. The inspection method of the intelligent inspection robot for a mine belt conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a position confirmation module, which is used to re-measure the walking position of the intelligent inspection robot, including RFID tags evenly spaced along the guide rail and an RFID tag reader arranged on the shell, and each of the RFID tags is provided with position information corresponding to its location.

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