Method and apparatus for indoor material raking

Abstract

The application is suitable for the technical field of pusher harrow machines, and provides an indoor material pushing and harrowing method and device. In the embodiment, the control center first determines the point cloud data of each material pile in the target area through a laser radar, then determines the distance between the pusher harrow machine and the material pile through the laser radar, controls the pusher harrow machine to travel to the position of each material pile, and then harrows and shovels coal. When the number of times of pushing and harrowing in a certain direction reaches a threshold value, the direction of the pusher harrow machine is adjusted, and the pushing and harrowing is performed again. The application can complete the pushing and harrowing work in the target area without determining the pose of the pusher harrow machine, which solves the problem that the existing pushing and harrowing work cannot be completed due to the fact that the positioning is not easy to be accurate due to the overhigh accumulation of the coal pile.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of material pushing and rake technology, and more particularly to an indoor material pushing and rake method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] In many domestic thermal power plants, the coal acquisition process typically involves coal ships transporting coal to the dock. Grab unloaders then gradually extract the coal from the ship's hold, transferring it to a belt conveyor for transport to a storage facility for later use in power generation. However, due to the limited grabbing range of the unloader, it can generally only grab coal from the central area of ​​the hold, failing to remove coal adhering to the bulkheads. Therefore, a rake is usually used inside the hold to push the remaining coal from the bulkheads to the center, where the unloader performs a second grabbing action to ensure all remaining coal is removed.

[0003] The pusher used for pushing coal in the ship's hold generally requires manual operation. The pusher operator often has to work continuously for several hours in a tight time to push the coal in a hold clean. Moreover, due to the complex and harsh environment inside the hold, a large amount of coal dust is filled in the air. Long-term operation can easily cause serious damage to the health of the pusher operator.

[0004] To address the various problems associated with manual operation of the pusher in the ship's hold, a fully automated system for pushing coal can be designed. By automating the pusher, it can operate unmanned in the enclosed environment of the ship's hold, gradually pushing coal from the perimeter to the center of the hold according to a pre-set process for easy grabbing by the unloading machine. However, this method requires real-time determination of the pusher's position. Due to the angle of repose of the coal, it is easy for extremely high coal piles to accumulate around the hold walls. These piles prevent the laser from hitting the hold walls, making it impossible for the laser to calculate real-time positioning by scanning the hold walls and matching it with a map, leading to inaccurate laser positioning. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of this, this application provides an indoor material pushing and rake method and apparatus, which can ensure that the pushing and rake machine can still complete the fully automatic coal pushing and rake operation in the closed cabin when the global positioning pose cannot be obtained, so as to solve the problem that the positioning is not easy to obtain accurately due to the excessively high coal pile in the cabin.

[0006] The first aspect of this application provides an indoor material pushing method applied in a control center. The control center is connected to a pushing machine, which is equipped with a lidar. The lidar is used to acquire point cloud data of each material pile and the wall, and the point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the pushing machine and the wall and each material pile. The method includes:

[0007] When the pusher is detected to be at the target position, the target material pile is determined by the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher;

[0008] Control the rake to move forward and monitor the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in real time, and stop the rake when it reaches the target material pile;

[0009] Control the pusher to scoop coal downwards. After reaching the preset conditions, control the pusher to retreat. When the pusher retreats to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction. The number of pushes is recorded and it is determined whether the number of pushes has reached the threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again in the current direction to push.

[0010] When the number of pushes reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle and moves forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake until the number of rotations of the pusher reaches a preset value, at which point the pushing ends.

[0011] Optionally, the real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes:

[0012] The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data;

[0013] Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher.

[0014] The positions of the walls in the front, back, left, and right regions are compared with the control center point of the rake to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front region, the back region, the left region, and the right region.

[0015] Optionally, determining the position of the rake pusher when it travels to the target material pile includes:

[0016] Determine the location of the control center point of the rake pusher, and determine the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point;

[0017] The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area. The distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined.

[0018] The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front.

[0019] The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

[0020] Optionally, determining the retraction of the rake to the target position based on the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes:

[0021] When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher;

[0022] The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls.

[0023] When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

[0024] Optionally, the feature is that the rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and the step of rotating the rake pusher clockwise to a fixed angle includes:

[0025] Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

[0026] A second aspect of this application provides an indoor material pushing device applied in a control center. The control center is connected to a pushing machine, which is equipped with a lidar. The lidar is used to acquire point cloud data of each material pile and the wall, and the point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the pushing machine and the wall and each material pile. The device includes:

[0027] The material pile determination unit is used to determine the target material pile by using the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher when the pusher is detected to be at the target position.

[0028] The traveling unit is used to control the rake to move forward and monitor the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in real time, and to stop the rake when it reaches the position of the target material pile.

[0029] The retraction unit is used to control the pusher to scoop coal downwards. After reaching the preset conditions, the pusher is controlled to retract. When the pusher retracts to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction and whether the number of pushes has reached the threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again according to the current direction.

[0030] The rotating unit is used to rotate the rake machine clockwise by a fixed angle when the number of rake pushes reaches a threshold, and then move forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of rake pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the rake machine is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake, until the number of rotations of the rake machine reaches a preset value and the rake pushing ends.

[0031] Optionally, the real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake pusher and the surrounding walls in the traveling unit includes:

[0032] The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data;

[0033] Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher.

[0034] The positions of the walls in the front, back, left, and right regions are compared with the control center point of the rake to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front region, the back region, the left region, and the right region.

[0035] Optionally, determining the position of the rake pusher to the target material pile in the traveling unit includes:

[0036] Determine the location of the control center point of the rake pusher, and determine the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point;

[0037] The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area. The distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined.

[0038] The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front.

[0039] The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

[0040] Optionally, determining the retraction of the rake to the target position by measuring the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in the retraction unit includes:

[0041] When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher;

[0042] The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls.

[0043] When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

[0044] Optionally, the rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and the rotating unit's clockwise rotation of the rake pusher by a fixed angle includes:

[0045] Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

[0046] In the embodiments provided in this application, the control center first determines the point cloud data of each material pile within the target area using lidar, then determines the distance between the pusher and the material pile using lidar, and controls the pusher to move to the position of each material pile before shoveling coal. Furthermore, when the number of pushes in a certain direction reaches a threshold, the direction of the pusher is adjusted to shovel coal again. This application completes the pushing work within the target area without determining the pusher's pose, which solves the problem in existing applications where accurate positioning is difficult to obtain due to excessively high coal piles, thus preventing the completion of the pushing work. Attached Figure Description

[0047] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating the method provided in this application embodiment;

[0048] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a single identification result of a rake pusher provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0049] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a multi-directional rake pusher provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0050] Figure 4 This is a structural diagram of the device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0051] Exemplary embodiments will now be described in detail, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description relates to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings denote the same or similar elements. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatuses and methods consistent with some aspects of this application as detailed in the appended claims.

[0052] The terminology used in this application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. The singular forms “a,” “the,” and “the” used in this application and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used herein refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0053] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc., may be used in this application to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, without departing from the scope of this application, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when," "when," or "in response to determination."

[0054] This application provides an indoor material pushing method and apparatus to provide a method for completing automatic material pushing operations without determining the position of the pushing machine.

[0055] The technical solutions of this application will be described in detail below with specific embodiments. These specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described again in some embodiments.

[0056] like Figure 1 The diagram shows a flowchart of an indoor material pushing method provided in this application, which is applied in a control center. The control center is connected to the pushing machine and is used to send various commands to the pushing machine, such as commands to move in various directions, rotation commands, and commands to shovel coal. The pushing machine is equipped with a lidar, which is used to acquire point cloud data of each material pile and the wall. This point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the pushing machine and the wall and each material pile.

[0057] This process may include the following steps:

[0058] Step S101: When the pusher is detected to be at the target position, the target material pile is determined by the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher.

[0059] In this embodiment, a sensing device, such as a gravity sensor, can be installed below the target location. When the rake is at the target location, the gravity sensor below can send the rake positioning information to the control center to notify the control center that the rake is at the target location and the next operation can be carried out.

[0060] Alternatively, camera devices can be installed around the target location to monitor the target location in real time. When the camera detects that the rake is in the target location, it sends the rake positioning information to the control center.

[0061] In this embodiment, the target location can be the central location within the target area where the rake-pushing work needs to be carried out, so that the working distance of the rake-pushing machine in all directions is relatively close, thereby improving work efficiency; the target location can also be any area in the working area, and this application does not limit it.

[0062] Once the pusher is in the target position, its control radar scans the area in front to determine the point cloud data of several material piles. Then, it filters out the material pile from this point cloud data that is above a preset height threshold h_coal and is closest to the front of the pusher. The distance of this material pile from the vehicle's control center point is s_coal.

[0063] Step S102: Control the pusher to move forward and monitor the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls in real time. Stop the pusher when it reaches the target material pile.

[0064] In this embodiment, the distance between the rake pusher and the surrounding walls can be determined in real time by a camera device or a distance sensing device. When the distance between the rake pusher and a certain wall is less than a set threshold, the rake pusher is controlled to automatically stop moving and return to the target position.

[0065] Once the control center determines the location of the target material pile using lidar, it can send the location to a camera device for real-time monitoring. When the rake pusher reaches the location, it sends a message to the control center to stop the rake pusher.

[0066] In another embodiment, the real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes:

[0067] The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data;

[0068] Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher.

[0069] The positions of the walls in the areas directly in front, behind, to the left, and to the right are compared with the control center point of the rake pusher to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front, back, left, and right areas and the rake pusher. Figure 2 As shown.

[0070] In this embodiment, a world coordinate system can be constructed first, and then the positions of the surrounding walls and the control center point of the pusher can be determined using lidar. Point cloud data with a height higher than a preset threshold h_wall can be identified as walls, and the distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls can be calculated in real time during the pusher's operation. Furthermore, an obstacle avoidance trigger threshold s_wall_min can be set, along with real-time distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the pusher control center and the surrounding walls. If any one of these values ​​is less than or equal to the obstacle avoidance trigger threshold s_wall_min, it indicates a risk of collision between the pusher and the bulkhead on one side. In this case, the pusher will immediately stop moving and return to the center of the cabin.

[0071] In another embodiment, determining the position of the rake as it travels to the target material pile includes:

[0072] When the rake is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake and the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point;

[0073] The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area, and the distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined.

[0074] The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front of it is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front. Figure 2 As shown;

[0075] The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

[0076] Step S103: Control the pusher to scoop coal down. After reaching the preset condition, control the pusher to retreat. When the pusher retreats to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction. The number of pushes is recorded and it is determined whether the number of pushes has reached the threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again in the current direction to push.

[0077] In this embodiment, the control center records the number of times the rake pusher pushes in a certain direction. If the number of times the rake pusher pushes in that direction is less than the single-direction repeated rake push count threshold rake_times, the rake pusher will not change its vehicle orientation. While maintaining the vehicle orientation, it will then initiate the next identification command and continue rake pushing in that direction. If the single-direction repeated rake push count threshold is exceeded, step S104 is executed.

[0078] In another embodiment, determining the retraction of the rake to the target position based on the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes:

[0079] When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher;

[0080] The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls.

[0081] When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

[0082] For example, when the rake pusher is at the target position, the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls is {front: 1.8; back: 2; left: 2; right: 1.5}. When the rake pusher moves backward, the distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls is determined in real time. If the distance is {front: 1.8; back: 2; left: 3; right: 0.4}, then by comparison, it is determined that the rake pusher needs to move to the right to return to the target position.

[0083] Step S104: When the number of pushes reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle and then moves forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake until the number of rotations of the pusher reaches a preset value, at which point the pushing ends.

[0084] In this embodiment, taking a fixed angle of 60 degrees as an example, after returning to the central position, the rake will rotate 60 degrees clockwise in place and then identify the target material pile again in that direction. Figure 3 As shown. If the target material pile is not found, rotate 60 degrees and then re-identify the target material pile.

[0085] When determining the rotation angle, a fixed rotation speed can be set for the rake, and the rotation time can be calculated to determine whether it has rotated to the fixed angle.

[0086] In another embodiment, the rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and rotating the rake pusher clockwise by a fixed angle includes:

[0087] Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

[0088] In this embodiment, in order to enable the rake pusher to rotate accurately by 60 degrees even without positioning, the chassis module will record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor at the start of rotation, and continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor after rotation starts. Once theta_current satisfies theta_current-theta_start≥60 degrees, it means that the rake pusher has rotated at least 60 degrees, and the chassis will immediately stop rotating.

[0089] Using this method, the pushing directions of the rake will be spaced 60 degrees clockwise. At the same time, the control center can detect how many directions the rake has pushed in total. If a total of 6 directions have been pushed, it means that the rake has completed one round of pushing in 360 degrees around the target area.

[0090] In this embodiment, the tilt sensor can be the Beiwei tilt sensor BW-VG225E, which can measure 3-axis acceleration and 3-axis angles relative to the horizontal plane. By using the roll and pitch angles provided by this tilt sensor, the point cloud data determined by the lidar in the above steps can be converted to a horizontal plane, thereby ensuring the accuracy of subsequent laser identification of coal piles and bulkheads.

[0091] This concludes the process. Figure 1 The process is shown below.

[0092] In this embodiment, the control center first uses lidar to determine the point cloud data of each material pile within the target area. Then, it uses lidar to determine the distance between the pusher and the material pile and controls the pusher to move to the position of each material pile before shoveling coal. Furthermore, when the number of pushes in a certain direction reaches a threshold, the direction of the pusher is adjusted to shovel coal again. This application completes the pushing work within the target area without determining the pusher's pose, which solves the problem that existing methods fail to complete the pushing work due to inaccurate positioning caused by excessively high coal piles.

[0093] like Figure 4As shown, this application also provides an indoor material pushing device, applied in a control center. The control center is connected to a pushing machine, which is equipped with a lidar. The lidar is used to acquire point cloud data of each material pile and the wall. The point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the pushing machine and the wall and each material pile. The device includes:

[0094] The material pile determination unit 401 is used to determine the target material pile by using the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher when the pusher is detected to be in the target position.

[0095] The traveling unit 402 is used to control the rake to move forward and monitor the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in real time, and stop the rake when it reaches the position of the target material pile.

[0096] The retraction unit 403 is used to control the pusher to scoop coal down and then control the pusher to retract after reaching a preset condition. When the pusher retracts to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction and whether the number of pushes has reached a threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again in the current direction to push.

[0097] The rotating unit 404 is used to rotate the rake machine clockwise by a fixed angle when the number of rake pushes reaches a threshold, and then move forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of rake pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the rake machine is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake, until the number of rotations of the rake machine reaches a preset value and the rake pushing ends.

[0098] In another embodiment, real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in the traveling unit includes:

[0099] The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data;

[0100] Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher.

[0101] The positions of the walls in the front, back, left, and right regions are compared with the control center point of the rake to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front region, the back region, the left region, and the right region.

[0102] In another embodiment, determining the position of the rake pusher to the target material pile in the traveling unit includes:

[0103] Determine the location of the control center point of the rake pusher, and determine the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point;

[0104] The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area. The distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined.

[0105] The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front.

[0106] The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

[0107] In another embodiment, determining the retraction of the rake to the target position by measuring the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in the retraction unit includes:

[0108] When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher;

[0109] The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls.

[0110] When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

[0111] In another embodiment, the rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and the rotating unit rotates the rake pusher clockwise by a fixed angle, including:

[0112] Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

[0113] The present invention provides an indoor material pushing and rake method in the above embodiments, and provides an indoor material pushing and rake device based on the method. Through the above method and device, the material pushing and rake operation can be completed automatically without the need to determine the position of the pushing and rake machine in real time.

[0114] This embodiment also discloses a computer device, which includes a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores at least one instruction, which is loaded and executed by the processor to implement any of the above-described indoor material pushing and rake methods.

[0115] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment of the indoor material pushing device, the logical division of each program module is merely illustrative. In actual applications, the functions described above can be assigned to different program modules as needed, for example, for the sake of hardware configuration requirements or software implementation convenience. That is, the internal structure of the indoor material pushing device can be divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0116] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this application and is not intended to limit this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A method for pushing materials indoors, characterized in that, The method is applied in a control center connected to a rake pusher, which is equipped with a lidar system. The lidar system acquires point cloud data of each material pile and the wall, and the point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the rake pusher and the wall and each material pile. The method includes: When the pusher is detected to be at the target position, the target material pile is determined by the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher; Control the rake to move forward and monitor the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in real time, and stop the rake when it reaches the target material pile; Control the pusher to scoop coal downwards. After reaching the preset conditions, control the pusher to retreat. When the pusher retreats to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction. The number of pushes is recorded and it is determined whether the number of pushes has reached the threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again in the current direction to push. When the number of pushes reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle and moves forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the pusher is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake until the number of rotations of the pusher reaches a preset value, at which point the pushing ends.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake pusher and the surrounding walls includes: The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data; Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher. The positions of the walls in the front, back, left, and right regions are compared with the control center point of the rake to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front region, the back region, the left region, and the right region.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Determining the position of the rake pusher when it reaches the target material pile includes: Determine the location of the control center point of the rake pusher, and determine the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point; The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area. The distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined. The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front. The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Determining the retraction of the rake to the target position based on the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes: When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher; The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls. When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and rotating the rake pusher clockwise to a fixed angle includes: Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

6. An indoor material pushing device, characterized in that, An application is made in a control center connected to a rake pusher. The rake pusher is equipped with a lidar system, which acquires point cloud data of each material pile and the wall. This point cloud data is used to determine the distance between the rake pusher and the wall and each material pile. The device includes: The material pile determination unit is used to determine the target material pile by using the point cloud data of each material pile in front of the pusher when the pusher is detected to be at the target position. The traveling unit is used to control the rake to move forward and monitor the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls in real time, and to stop the rake when it reaches the position of the target material pile. The retraction unit is used to control the pusher to scoop coal downwards. After reaching the preset conditions, the pusher is controlled to retract. When the pusher retracts to the target position, the distance between the pusher and the surrounding walls is used to determine the number of pushes in the current direction and whether the number of pushes has reached the threshold. If it has not reached the threshold, the pusher moves forward again according to the current direction. The rotating unit is used to rotate the rake machine clockwise by a fixed angle when the number of rake pushes reaches a threshold, and then move forward to push the rake in the direction after rotation. When the number of rake pushes in the direction after rotation reaches a threshold, the rake machine is rotated clockwise by a fixed angle again to push the rake, until the number of rotations of the rake machine reaches a preset value and the rake pushing ends.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, The real-time monitoring of the distance between the rake pusher and the surrounding walls in the traveling unit includes: The location of the control center point of the pusher is determined, and the area around the pusher is scanned by the lidar to obtain initial point cloud data; Point cloud data with heights higher than the threshold height h_wall in the initial point cloud data are identified as walls, thereby determining the positions of the walls in the areas directly in front of, behind, to the left of, and to the right of the rake pusher. The positions of the walls in the front, back, left, and right regions are compared with the control center point of the rake to determine the distances s_wall_front, s_wall_back, s_wall_left, and s_wall_right between the walls in the front region, the back region, the left region, and the right region.

8. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, Determining the position of the rake pusher to the target material pile in the traveling unit includes: Determine the location of the control center point of the rake pusher, and determine the distance s_coal between the target material pile and the control center point; The laser radar scans the front of the rake to obtain front point cloud data. Point cloud data with a height higher than the threshold height h_wall in the front point cloud data are identified as walls in the front area. The distance s_wall_front between the walls in the front area and the control center point is determined. The distance s_coal_wall from the target material pile to the wall in the area directly in front is determined by s_coal and s_wall_front. The system controls the rake to move forward and calculates and updates the distance s_wall_front between the rake and the wall in the area directly in front of it in real time. When s_wall_front = s_coal_wall, the system determines that the rake has moved to the position of the target material pile.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, The retraction unit's determination of the retraction of the rake to the target position based on the distance between the rake and the surrounding walls includes: When the rake pusher is at the target position, determine the position of the control center point of the rake pusher; The area surrounding the rake is scanned by lidar to determine and record the initial distance between the control center point and the surrounding walls. When the rake pusher is controlled to move backward, the real-time distance between the control center point and the surrounding wall is determined, the initial distance is compared with the real-time distance, and the rake pusher is determined to have moved to the target position based on the comparison result.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, The rake pusher is equipped with a tilt sensor, and the rotating unit's clockwise rotation of the rake pusher by a fixed angle includes: Record the heading angle theta_start on the tilt sensor, and after the rotation begins, continuously detect the current heading angle theta_current of the tilt sensor. When the difference between theta_start and theta_current is equal to the fixed angle, the rotation is determined to be complete.

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