Automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of ship unloader

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of ship unloaders, and specifically to an automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of ship unloaders, comprising a positioning device and a comprehensive overflow detection device, a computing server and a scheduling server arranged on each ship unloader; the comprehensive overflow detection device, such as a laser radar and a depth camera, is used to perform real-time detection and perception of a conveyor belt near the ship unloader to obtain material flow information of the conveyor belt; at the same time, combined with positioning devices such as high-precision Beidou RTK positioning, the running speed of the conveyor belt and the moving speed of the ship unloader, the material discharge speed of the ship unloader is comprehensively regulated; when overflow occurs, the next ship unloader in the material removal direction reduces or stops material, thereby improving the comprehensive ship unloading efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of ship unloaders, and in particular to an automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of a ship unloader. Background Art

[0002] A ship unloader is a mechanical device specially used for lifting bulk materials in ports. It usually has the ability to retrieve materials by itself, or is equipped with a retrieving and feeding device, so that the bulk materials can be continuously lifted out of the ship's hold, and then unloaded to the arm or frame, and finally transported to the conveyor belt on the shore, and the bulk materials are sent to the designated location through the conveyor belt.

[0003] At present, when unloading materials from ship unloaders, workers mostly rely on experience to control the amount of materials unloaded, and the materials are often unloaded too quickly or too slowly, resulting in insufficient load rate or overflow of the conveyor belt, affecting the overall unloading efficiency. This problem is particularly prominent when multiple ship unloaders share the conveyor belt. Summary of the invention

[0004] In view of the above problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides an automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of a ship unloader.

[0005] An automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of a ship unloader provided in an embodiment of the present invention comprises a positioning device and a comprehensive overflow detection device, a computing server and a scheduling server arranged on each ship unloader;

[0006] The positioning device is used to report the location of the ship unloader to the dispatch server in real time;

[0007] The integrated overflow detection device is used to scan the point cloud data of the conveyor belt in the detection area in real time in the direction of material removal of the conveyor belt and report it to the computing server;

[0008] The computing server is used to determine the overflow situation of the conveyor belt according to the point cloud data, and report the overflow risk report to the dispatch server. The overflow risk report includes the ID of the first ship unloader where the overflow comprehensive detection equipment is located, the information indicating the occurrence of overflow or the elimination of overflow, the time when the overflow occurs, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time of overflow.

[0009] The scheduling server is used to receive the overflow risk report and determine the overflow situation through the overflow risk report, and then obtain the position of the first ship unloader at the time of the overflow and the position of the second ship unloader adjacent to the first ship unloader in the material removal direction of the conveyor belt;

[0010] Determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs according to the acquired position of the first ship unloader, the position of the second ship unloader, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs;

[0011] Determine the time from the time when the overflow occurs to the current time, and determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the current time according to the determined time, the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and the running speed of the conveyor belt;

[0012] When the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader is less than the set distance, the second ship unloader is controlled to slow down and stop unloading until the overflow risk report reported by the overflow comprehensive detection equipment on the first ship unloader is received again and the overflow is determined to be resolved according to the overflow risk report, and then the second ship unloader is resumed to discharge the material.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: utilizing comprehensive overflow detection equipment, such as lidar and depth camera, to conduct real-time detection and perception of the conveyor belt near the ship unloader, and obtain the material flow information of the conveyor belt; at the same time, combining positioning equipment such as high-precision Beidou RTK positioning, the running speed of the conveyor belt and the moving speed of the ship unloader, the discharge speed of the ship unloader is comprehensively regulated; when overflow occurs, the next ship unloader in the material removal direction reduces or stops material, thereby improving the overall unloading efficiency.

[0014] Optionally, the process of the computing server determining the overflow condition of the conveyor belt according to the point cloud data includes:

[0015] Preprocess the point cloud data and filter out noise;

[0016] Initialize the space transformation matrix and translation vector, and use the space transformation matrix and translation vector to perform posture space transformation on the point cloud data;

[0017] Project the transformed point cloud data onto the XY plane to generate a 2D plane map;

[0018] Perform mean filtering, edge detection, and grayscale conversion on the 2D plane image to obtain a feature map, and then convert the feature map to 3D space;

[0019] Determine the position of the ups and downs of the interface curve according to rows and columns in 3D space, and obtain the belt and material flow boundaries in the conveyor belt;

[0020] The ratio of the material flow width to the belt width is calculated as the full groove degree. When the full groove degree is greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that overflow occurs. When the full groove degree is not greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that the overflow is relieved.

[0021] Optionally, the point cloud data is preprocessed to filter out noise, including:

[0022] Define a search radius;

[0023] For each point in the point cloud data, determine the set of all points in a sphere with the point as the center and the radius as the search radius;

[0024] When the number of points contained in the set is not less than the threshold, the point is retained, otherwise the point is removed.

[0025] Optionally, the process of determining the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader includes:

[0026] When the moving direction of the second ship unloader is opposite to the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a positive value; when the moving direction of the second ship unloader is the same as the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a negative value;

[0027] The distance DtoNbM between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the current moment is calculated using the following expression:

[0028] DtoNbM=Dx - Dexp - (Vb + V x-1 )*TDelt

[0029] Where Dx represents the distance between the first unloader and the second unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Dexp represents the distance between the overflow position and the first unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Vb represents the running speed of the conveyor belt, and V x-1 It indicates the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and TDelt indicates the time from the moment when the overflow occurs to the current moment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention, constitute a part of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation of the present invention. In the drawings:

[0031] Figure 1 An architecture diagram of an automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of a ship unloader provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of calculating the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0033] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of converting a feature map into a 3D space provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0034] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a belt and material flow boundary provided in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Here, the illustrative embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention, but are not intended to limit the present invention.

[0036] See also Figure 1 , the automatic control system for stable material discharge of a ship unloader provided by the embodiment of the present invention comprises a positioning device 1 and a comprehensive overflow detection device 2, a computing server and a scheduling server provided on each ship unloader;

[0037] The positioning device 1 is used to report the position of the ship unloader 3 to the dispatch server in real time;

[0038] The overflow comprehensive detection device 2 is used to scan the point cloud data of the conveyor belt 4 in the detection area in real time in the direction of the conveyor belt to report to the computing server;

[0039] The computing server is used to determine the overflow situation of the conveyor belt 4 according to the point cloud data, and report the overflow risk report to the dispatch server, wherein the overflow risk report includes the ID of the first ship unloader where the overflow comprehensive detection device 2 is located, information indicating the occurrence of overflow or the elimination of overflow, the time when the overflow occurs, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs;

[0040] The scheduling server is used to receive the overflow risk report and determine the overflow situation through the overflow risk report, and then obtain the position of the first ship unloader at the time of the overflow and the position of the second ship unloader adjacent to the first ship unloader in the material removal direction of the conveyor belt 4;

[0041] Determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs according to the acquired position of the first ship unloader, the position of the second ship unloader, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs;

[0042] Determine the time from the time when the overflow occurs to the current time, and determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and the running speed of the conveyor belt at the current time;

[0043] When the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader is less than the set distance, the second ship unloader is controlled to slow down and stop unloading until the overflow risk report reported by the overflow comprehensive detection equipment 2 on the first ship unloader is received again and the overflow is determined to be resolved according to the overflow risk report, and then the second ship unloader is resumed to discharge the material.

[0044] In implementation, the process of the computing server determining the overflow situation of the conveyor belt based on the point cloud data includes:

[0045] Preprocess the point cloud data and filter out noise;

[0046] Initialize the space transformation matrix and translation vector, and use the space transformation matrix and translation vector to transform the point cloud data in the posture space; the space transformation matrix and translation vector are fixed parameters corresponding to the installation posture of the overflow comprehensive detection device 2 after installation. In a specific implementation, the space transformation matrix uses a 3*3 matrix and the translation vector uses a 4*1 matrix to realize the scaling and translation operations of the point cloud data. The specific form of the combination of the two is as follows:

[0047]

[0048] Project the transformed point cloud data onto the XY plane to generate a 2D plane map;

[0049] The 2D plane image is processed by mean filtering, edge detection and grayscale conversion to obtain a feature map, and the feature map is converted to 3D space, such as Figure 3 As shown;

[0050] In 3D space, the positions of the ups and downs of the interface curve are determined according to the rows and columns, and the boundaries of the belt and material flow in the conveyor belt are obtained, such as Figure 4 As shown;

[0051] The ratio of the material flow width to the belt width is calculated as the full groove degree. When the full groove degree is greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that overflow occurs. When the full groove degree is not greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that the overflow is relieved.

[0052] Specifically, the process of preprocessing point cloud data and filtering noise includes:

[0053] Define a search radius;

[0054] For each point in the point cloud data, determine the set of all points in a sphere with the point as the center and the radius as the search radius;

[0055] When the number of points contained in the set is not less than the threshold, the point is retained, otherwise the point is removed.

[0056] In implementation, such as Figure 2 As shown, the process of determining the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader includes:

[0057] When the moving direction of the second ship unloader is opposite to the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a positive value; when the moving direction of the second ship unloader is the same as the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a negative value;

[0058] The distance DtoNbM between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the current moment is calculated using the following expression:

[0059] DtoNbM=Dx - Dexp - (Vb + V x-1 )*TDelt

[0060] Where Dx represents the distance between the first unloader and the second unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Dexp represents the distance between the overflow position and the first unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Vb represents the running speed of the conveyor belt, and V x-1 It indicates the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and TDelt indicates the time from the moment when the overflow occurs to the current moment.

[0061] The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention utilizes comprehensive overflow detection equipment 2, such as lidar and depth camera, to perform real-time detection and perception of the conveyor belt 4 near the ship unloader 3, and obtain the material flow information of the conveyor belt 4. At the same time, combined with the positioning equipment 1 such as high-precision Beidou RTK positioning, the running speed of the conveyor belt 4 and the moving speed of the ship unloader 3, the discharge speed of the ship unloader 3 is comprehensively regulated. When overflow occurs, the next ship unloader in the material removal direction reduces or stops material, thereby improving the comprehensive unloading efficiency.

[0062] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic control system suitable for stable material discharge of a ship unloader, characterized in that: Including positioning equipment and comprehensive overflow detection equipment, computing servers and dispatching servers installed on each ship unloader; The positioning device is used to report the location of the ship unloader to the dispatch server in real time; The integrated overflow detection device is used to scan the point cloud data of the conveyor belt in the detection area in real time in the direction of material removal of the conveyor belt and report it to the computing server; The computing server is used to determine the overflow situation of the conveyor belt according to the point cloud data, and report the overflow risk report to the dispatch server. The overflow risk report includes the ID of the first ship unloader where the overflow comprehensive detection equipment is located, the information indicating the occurrence of overflow or the elimination of overflow, the time when the overflow occurs, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time of overflow. The scheduling server is used to receive the overflow risk report and determine the overflow situation through the overflow risk report, and then obtain the position of the first ship unloader at the time of the overflow and the position of the second ship unloader adjacent to the first ship unloader in the material removal direction of the conveyor belt; Determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs according to the acquired position of the first ship unloader, the position of the second ship unloader, and the distance between the overflow position and the first ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs; Determine the time from the time when the overflow occurs to the current time, and determine the distance between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and the running speed of the conveyor belt at the current time; When the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader is less than the set distance, the second ship unloader is controlled to slow down and stop unloading until the overflow risk report reported by the overflow comprehensive detection equipment on the first ship unloader is received again and the overflow is determined to be resolved according to the overflow risk report, and then the second ship unloader is resumed to discharge the material.

2. The automatic control system for stable material discharge of a ship unloader according to claim 1, characterized in that: The process by which the computing server determines the overflow situation of the conveyor belt based on the point cloud data includes: Preprocess the point cloud data and filter out noise; Initialize the space transformation matrix and translation vector, and use the space transformation matrix and translation vector to perform posture space transformation on the point cloud data; Project the transformed point cloud data onto the XY plane to generate a 2D plane map; Perform mean filtering, edge detection, and grayscale conversion on the 2D plane image to obtain a feature map, and then convert the feature map to 3D space; Determine the position of the ups and downs of the interface curve according to rows and columns in 3D space, and obtain the belt and material flow boundaries in the conveyor belt; The ratio of the material flow width to the belt width is calculated as the full groove degree. When the full groove degree is greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that overflow occurs. When the full groove degree is not greater than the full groove degree threshold, it is determined that the overflow is relieved.

3. The automatic control system for stable material discharge of a ship unloader as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that: The process of preprocessing point cloud data and filtering noise includes: Define a search radius; For each point in the point cloud data, determine the set of all points in a sphere with the point as the center and the radius as the search radius; When the number of points contained in the set is not less than the threshold, the point is retained, otherwise the point is removed.

4. The automatic control system for stable material discharge of a ship unloader as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that: The process of determining the distance between the overflow position at the current moment and the second ship unloader includes: When the moving direction of the second ship unloader is opposite to the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a positive value; when the moving direction of the second ship unloader is the same as the material removal direction of the conveyor belt, the moving speed of the second ship unloader is defined as a negative value; The distance DtoNbM between the overflow position and the second ship unloader at the current moment is calculated using the following expression: DtoNbM=Dx - Dexp -(Vb+V x-1 )* TDelt Where Dx represents the distance between the first unloader and the second unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Dexp represents the distance between the overflow position and the first unloader at the time when the overflow occurs, Vb represents the running speed of the conveyor belt, and V x-1 It indicates the moving speed of the second ship unloader, and TDelt indicates the time from the moment when the overflow occurs to the current moment.

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