An automatic operation control system for portal crane

Abstract

The present invention provides an automated operation control system for a gantry crane, including a control unit, a laser radar, and a camera. The camera and the laser radar are installed on the crane's trunk. The laser radar and the camera are both connected to the control unit in communication. The crane grab operation information is fed back to the control unit through the collaborative work of the laser radar and the camera, and the control unit controls the automatic operation of the grab. The camera captures the image information of the working area under the crane's trunk and transmits it to the control unit. The laser radar is used to locate the three-dimensional position information of the crane grab during the lowering operation and transmit it to the control unit. The control unit records the travel path and working position of the crane grab to realize the automated repetitive operation of the crane. Beneficial effects of the present invention: Through high-precision three-dimensional positioning and real-time obstacle detection, accurate, efficient automation and repetitive operation of the crane grab are realized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of crane automation operation, and in particular relates to an automated operation control system for a portal crane. Background Art

[0002] Portal cranes are indispensable heavy machinery in ports and freight terminals, mainly used for loading and unloading containers, bulk cargo and other goods. Its structural features include tall gantry, sturdy support legs and flexible lateral and longitudinal movement capabilities, which enable efficient operation in narrow working spaces. With its wide adaptability and strong load-bearing capacity, portal cranes have become an important tool for improving operating efficiency and reducing labor costs in modern port logistics systems. At present, most portal cranes use traditional manual or semi-automatic control systems. These systems usually rely on manual operation or simple automation control modules to move and operate the grab bucket through joysticks and buttons. Although these control schemes can meet daily operating needs in terms of basic functions, they have significant deficiencies in accuracy, operating efficiency and safety. First, the traditional control system relies on the operator's experience in positioning and path planning of the grab bucket, which is prone to positioning errors and operating deviations, resulting in low loading and unloading efficiency and increased risk of cargo damage. Second, the existing system lacks efficient real-time obstacle detection and path optimization capabilities, making it difficult to cope with complex and changing operating environments, increasing the possibility of accidents. In addition, traditional systems perform poorly in repetitive tasks and automated operations, and are unable to achieve high-frequency, high-precision automated operations, limiting the improvement of overall operational efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of this, the present invention aims to propose an automated operation control system for a gantry crane, so as to achieve accurate, efficient automation and repeatable operation of the crane grab through high-precision three-dimensional positioning and real-time obstacle detection.

[0004] To achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention is achieved as follows:

[0005] The invention discloses an automatic operation control system for a portal crane.

[0006] Furthermore, it includes a control unit, a laser radar, and a camera. The camera and the laser radar are installed on the crane's trunk. The laser radar and the camera are both connected to the control unit in communication. The laser radar and the camera work together to feed back the crane grab operation information to the control unit, and the control unit controls the grab to operate automatically.

[0007] The camera captures the image information of the working area under the crane's trunk and transmits it to the control unit;

[0008] The laser radar is used to locate the three-dimensional position information of the crane grab during the lowering operation and transmit it to the control unit;

[0009] The control unit records the travel path and working position of the crane grab, enabling the crane to automatically perform repetitive operations.

[0010] Furthermore, the laser radar includes a left laser radar, a right laser radar, and a central laser radar. The left laser radar and the right laser radar are respectively installed on both sides of the crane trunk. A three-dimensional pan-tilt platform is installed in the middle of the crane trunk. The central laser radar and the camera are installed on the three-dimensional pan-tilt platform.

[0011] The left laser radar and the right laser radar both scan the area below the trunk in the radial direction to obtain the XY plane position of the grab bucket;

[0012] Through the spatial adjustment of the three-dimensional gimbal, the central laser radar scans the grab bucket's travel path below it along the tangential direction of the trunk to obtain the Z-axis position.

[0013] Furthermore, the three-dimensional gimbal uses GPS to obtain the inclination angle data of the elephant's trunk, performs attitude correction on the data of the central laser radar, and obtains the inclination angles around the X-axis and Y-axis respectively. , , and the elevation angle of the laser emitted by the central laser radar ;

[0014] The grab space coordinates are calculated using the following formula:

[0015]

[0016]

[0017]

[0018] In the formula, , , They are the distances between the left laser radar, the right laser radar, the center laser radar and the grab bucket. is the distance between the left laser radar and the right laser radar.

[0019] Furthermore, the control unit acquires the height data of the three-dimensional pan-tilt platform in real time, and stores the operating height data of various types of truck unloading hoppers and transport ship silos;

[0020] The camera is used to obtain the type of the current operation object, the truck or the transport ship, and the reasonable operation height of the current crane grab is obtained according to the corresponding operation height data and the height of the crane trunk;

[0021] Using the spatial coordinates measured by the laser radar, when the crane grab reaches the set operating height and the camera recognizes that the grab is located in the internal area of ​​the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, the control unit controls the grab to perform operating operations.

[0022] Furthermore, the central laser radar scans obstacles in the direction of the grab's travel path. When the distance between the grab and surrounding objects is less than a preset threshold and the camera recognizes that there are obstacles around the grab, the control unit is triggered to control the crane grab to move away from the obstacles.

[0023] Furthermore, a distance measuring sensor is provided under the crane grab to identify obstacles directly below the grab and cooperate with the central laser radar to identify obstacles in the direction of the grab's travel path.

[0024] Furthermore, it also includes an industrial computer. The control unit transmits the laser radar and the camera data to the industrial computer for processing. The industrial computer uses the YOLOv7 model to process the image taken by the camera to detect the grab bucket frame, the silo frame, and the discharge hopper frame in real time to assist in identifying whether the grab bucket is aligned with the silo or the discharge hopper, and obstacles on the grab bucket's path.

[0025] Furthermore, the control unit records the coordinates of the working nodes of the crane grab, including the bucket coordinates when the truck unloading bucket is operating and the bucket coordinates when the transport ship silo is operating. When the grab moves back and forth between the current truck unloading bucket and the current transport ship silo, only the camera is used to determine whether the grab has reached the operating height and whether there is a collision risk, thereby achieving low-latency and high-speed operation of the grab.

[0026] Furthermore, when the grab bucket reciprocates between the current truck unloading hopper and the current transport ship silo, the movement path of the grab bucket is determined according to the recorded operation nodes, the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of the operation position, and the operation type;

[0027] The rising distance of the grab in the motion path gradually decreases each time it successfully leaves the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, until the camera determines that the grab has a collision risk, and locks the rising distance of the grab at the previous node as the optimal rising distance of the motion path:

[0028]

[0029] In the formula, is the lifting path of the grab bucket, It is the rising stage of grab bucket. Grab bucket descending stage. For one rising cycle of the grab bucket, For a descending cycle of the grab bucket, For truck unloading hopper or transport ship silo operating height, For the best rising distance, For time.

[0030] Furthermore, when the optimal lifting distance of the grab bucket is locked, if there is still a risk of collision during the descent of the grab bucket, the control unit activates the laser radar to adjust the grab bucket posture in real time and sets the optimal lifting distance to Corrected to the previous node data;

[0031] The step size of each reduction is set according to the number of obstacle collision risks triggered when the hopper is first lowered:

[0032]

[0033] is the step size of each reduction, , , As parameters, The number of times the obstacle collision risk is triggered.

[0034] Compared with the prior art, the portal crane automatic operation control system described in the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0035] (1) The control system described in the present invention collects the three-dimensional position information of the working area and the grab bucket in real time through the camera and multiple laser radars (left, right, and center) installed on the crane trunk. The camera captures the image of the working area below and identifies the working object (such as a truck or a transport ship) and the obstacles on the detection path. All data are transmitted to the control unit. The PLC realizes the automation and repetitive operation of the grab bucket according to the preset working nodes and path records.

[0036] (2) The control system described in the present invention realizes accurate positioning of the grab bucket in three dimensions of X, Y, and Z by cooperating with the left and right laser radars and the central laser radar and performing posture correction in combination with GPS;

[0037] (3) In the control system described in the present invention, the control unit records the operation path and node coordinates of the grab bucket to realize automated and repetitive operations. When the grab bucket reciprocates on a fixed path, only a simple judgment by the camera is required, which reduces the processing load of the PLC and improves the system response speed and operation efficiency. By smoothly controlling the grab bucket's lifting and lowering path, the acceleration and deceleration time during the operation is reduced, achieving low-latency, high-speed operation and significantly improving the overall operation efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] The accompanying drawings constituting a part of the present invention are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:

[0039] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of hardware connections of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0040] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the hardware layout of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a crane operating environment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the crane grab path correction principle according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the control principle of the crane repeated operation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] Description of reference numerals:

[0045] 1- trunk bridge; 2- right laser radar; 3- left laser radar; 4- center laser radar; 5- camera; 6- gimbal; 7- grab bucket; 8- transport ship silo; 9- truck silo. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the embodiments of the present invention and the features in the embodiments may be combined with each other.

[0047] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with embodiments.

[0048] An automated operation control system for a gantry crane, which enables the grab bucket to complete the unloading operation directly above the unloading bucket that meets the specifications through tracking and positioning of the grab bucket, the unloading bucket, and the silo, and auxiliary judgment by laser three-dimensional scanning. Figure 1As shown in the figure, the hardware part of the control system includes a control unit, a laser radar, a camera, and an industrial computer. The laser radar and the camera communicate with the industrial computer through a switch, and the switch is connected to the control unit. The camera and the laser radar are installed on the crane's trunk. The crane grab operation information is fed back to the control unit through the collaborative work of the laser radar and the camera, and the control unit controls the automatic operation of the grab. The camera captures the image information of the working area under the crane's trunk and transmits it to the control unit. The laser radar is used to locate the three-dimensional position information of the crane grab during the lowering operation and transmit it to the control unit. The control unit records the crane grab's travel path and working position to realize the automatic repetitive operation of the crane. All sensor data is transmitted to the control unit (preferably a PLC logic programmable controller), and the PLC records the preset operation nodes and paths to realize the automation and repetitive operation of the grab. When obstacles or collision risks are detected during the movement of the grab, the PLC immediately adjusts the movement path of the grab to ensure safe operation. At the same time, the control system automatically calculates a reasonable operating height according to the category of different operating objects to optimize the operating efficiency.

[0049] Specific as Figure 2 As shown, the laser radar includes a left laser radar, a right laser radar, and a central laser radar. The left laser radar and the right laser radar are respectively installed on both sides of the crane's trunk beam (the two sides of the maintenance platform face downward to be the direction of laser emission), and a three-dimensional pan-tilt is installed in the middle of the crane's trunk beam. The central laser radar and the camera are installed on the three-dimensional pan-tilt; the left laser radar and the right laser radar both scan the area below the trunk beam along the radial direction to obtain the XY plane position of the grab; through the spatial adjustment of the three-dimensional pan-tilt, the central laser radar scans the grab bucket's travel path below it along the tangential direction of the trunk beam to obtain the Z-axis position.

[0050] like Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the left laser radar, the right laser radar, and the center laser radar cross-cover the working area directly below the top of the trunk. The 3D gimbal uses GPS or other attitude recognition technology and hardware to obtain the inclination data of the trunk, and performs attitude correction on the data of the center laser radar to ensure that the gimbal always remains vertically downward, parallel to the natural falling direction of the grab, and obtains the inclination angles around the X-axis and Y-axis respectively. , , and the elevation angle of the laser emitted by the central laser radar ;

[0051] The grab space coordinates are calculated using the following formula:

[0052]

[0053]

[0054]

[0055] In the formula, , , They are the distances between the left laser radar, the right laser radar, the center laser radar and the grab bucket. is the distance between the left laser radar and the right laser radar.

[0056] Specifically, the control unit obtains the 3D pan-tilt height data in real time, and stores the operating height data of various truck unloading hoppers and transport ship silos; uses the camera to obtain the type of the current operating object truck and transport ship, and obtains the reasonable operating height of the current crane grab according to the corresponding operating height data and the height of the crane trunk; uses the spatial coordinates measured by the laser radar, such as Figure 3 As shown, when the crane grab reaches the set working height and the camera recognizes that the grab is located in the internal area of ​​the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, the control unit controls the grab to perform the working operation.

[0057] like Figure 4 As shown in the figure, the principle of crane grab bucket path correction includes: the central laser radar scans obstacles in the direction of the grab bucket path (left laser radar and right laser radar assist in monitoring). When the distance between the grab bucket and the surrounding objects is less than the preset threshold, and the camera recognizes that there are obstacles around the grab bucket, the left laser radar and the right laser radar determine the movable area in the horizontal (XY) plane, triggering the control unit to control the crane grab bucket to move away from the obstacles. Optionally, a range finder sensor is provided under the crane grab bucket to identify obstacles directly under the grab bucket, and cooperate with the central laser radar to identify obstacles in the direction of the grab bucket path. The control unit transmits the laser radar and camera data to the industrial computer for processing. The industrial computer uses the YOLOv7 model to process the camera image to detect the grab bucket frame, silo frame, and discharge bucket frame in real time to assist in identifying whether the grab bucket is aligned with the silo or discharge bucket, and obstacles on the grab bucket path.

[0058] The control principle of crane automated repetitive operations includes: the control unit records the coordinates of the crane grab's working nodes, including the bucket coordinates when the truck unloading bucket is operating and the bucket coordinates when the transport ship silo is operating. When the grab moves back and forth between the current truck unloading bucket and the current transport ship silo, only the camera is used to determine whether the grab has reached the operating height and whether there is a risk of collision, so as to reduce the processing volume of the control unit, prevent excessive posture correction of the grab from wasting operating time, and achieve low-latency and high-speed operation of the grab.

[0059] Specific as Figure 5As shown in the figure, when the grab bucket reciprocates between the current truck unloading hopper and the current transport ship silo, the movement path of the grab bucket is determined according to the recorded operation nodes, the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of the operation position, and the operation type; the rising distance of the grab bucket in the movement path is gradually reduced after each successful departure from the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, and the step length of each reduction is set according to the number of obstacle collision risks triggered when the bucket first descends, until the camera determines that the grab bucket has a collision risk, and the rising distance of the grab bucket at the previous node is locked as the optimal rising distance of the movement path:

[0060]

[0061]

[0062] 1. In the formula, is the step size of each reduction, is the coefficient parameter, For compensation, is the attenuation coefficient, To trigger the number of obstacle collision risks, its advantage is fast response: in the early stage As the step size increases, it decreases rapidly, quickly adapting to the environment with high-frequency collision risks and making a smooth transition: As the step size increases, the step size adjustment tends to be stable, avoiding frequent fine-tuning due to too small a step size, and having strong stability: By setting the minimum step size , ensure that the system is in high The value still maintains a certain adjustment ability to prevent the step size from being too small to affect the control accuracy. is the lifting path of the grab bucket, It is the rising stage of grab bucket. Grab bucket descending stage. For one rising cycle of the grab bucket, For a descending cycle of the grab bucket, For truck unloading hopper or transport ship silo operating height, For the best rising distance, In order to smooth the above movement of the grab bucket, When the optimal lifting distance of the grab bucket is locked, if there is still a risk of collision during the descent of the grab bucket, the control unit activates the laser radar to adjust the grab bucket posture in real time and sets the optimal lifting distance to Corrected to the previous node data.

[0063] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and method steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the composition and steps of each example have been generally described in terms of function in the above description. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

[0064] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed methods and systems can be implemented in other ways. For example, the division of the units described above is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. The above-mentioned units may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0065] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents. These modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, and they should all be included in the scope of the claims and specification of the present invention.

[0066] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A portal crane automatic operation control system, characterized in that: It includes a control unit, a laser radar, and a camera. The camera and the laser radar are installed on the crane's trunk. The laser radar and the camera are both connected to the control unit in communication. The laser radar and the camera work together to feedback the crane grab operation information to the control unit, and the control unit controls the grab to operate automatically. The camera captures the image information of the working area under the crane's trunk and transmits it to the control unit; The laser radar is used to locate the three-dimensional position information of the crane grab during the lowering operation and transmit it to the control unit; The control unit records the crane grab's travel path and working position, enabling the crane to automatically repeat operations; The control unit records the working node coordinates of the crane grab bucket, including the bucket coordinates when the truck unloading bucket is operating and the bucket coordinates when the transport ship silo is operating. When the grab bucket reciprocates between the current truck unloading bucket and the current transport ship silo, only the camera is used to determine whether the grab bucket has reached the operating height and whether there is a collision risk, thereby realizing low-latency and high-speed operation of the grab bucket; When the grab bucket moves back and forth between the current truck unloading hopper and the current transport ship silo, the movement path of the grab bucket is determined according to the recorded operation nodes, the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of the operation position, and the operation type; The rising distance of the grab in the motion path gradually decreases each time it successfully leaves the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, until the camera determines that the grab has a collision risk, and locks the rising distance of the grab at the previous node as the optimal rising distance of the motion path: In the formula, is the lifting path of the grab bucket, It is the rising stage of grab bucket. It is the grab bucket descending stage. For one rising cycle of the grab bucket, For a descending cycle of the grab bucket, For truck unloading hopper or transport ship silo operating height, For the best rising distance, For time; When the optimal lifting distance of the grab bucket is locked, if there is still a risk of collision during the grab bucket's descent, the control unit activates the laser radar to adjust the grab bucket's posture in real time and sets the optimal lifting distance to Corrected to the previous node data; The step size of each reduction is set according to the number of obstacle collision risks triggered when the hopper is first lowered: is the step size of each reduction, is the system parameter, is the compensation term, i.e. the minimum step length, is the attenuation coefficient, is a natural constant, The number of times the obstacle collision risk is triggered.

2. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The laser radar includes a left laser radar, a right laser radar, and a central laser radar. The left laser radar and the right laser radar are respectively installed on both sides of the crane trunk. A three-dimensional pan-tilt platform is installed in the middle of the crane trunk. The central laser radar and the camera are installed on the three-dimensional pan-tilt platform. The left laser radar and the right laser radar both scan the area below the trunk in the radial direction to obtain the XY plane position of the grab bucket; Through the spatial adjustment of the three-dimensional gimbal, the central laser radar scans the grab bucket's travel path below it along the tangential direction of the trunk to obtain the Z-axis position.

3. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The three-dimensional gimbal uses GPS to obtain the inclination angle data of the elephant's trunk, performs attitude correction on the data of the central laser radar, and obtains the inclination angles around the X-axis and Y-axis respectively. , , and the elevation angle of the laser emitted by the central laser radar ; The grab space coordinates are calculated using the following formula: In the formula, , , They are the distances between the left laser radar, the right laser radar, the center laser radar and the grab bucket. is the distance between the left laser radar and the right laser radar.

4. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The control unit acquires the height data of the three-dimensional pan-tilt platform in real time, and stores the operating height data of various types of truck unloading hoppers and transport ship silos; The camera is used to obtain the type of the current operation object, the truck or the transport ship, and the reasonable operation height of the current crane grab is obtained according to the corresponding operation height data and the height of the crane trunk; Using the spatial coordinates measured by the laser radar, when the crane grab reaches the set operating height and the camera recognizes that the grab is located in the internal area of ​​the truck unloading hopper or the transport ship silo, the control unit controls the grab to perform operating operations.

5. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The central laser radar scans obstacles in the direction of the grab bucket's travel path. When the distance between the grab bucket and surrounding objects is less than a preset threshold and the camera recognizes that there are obstacles around the grab bucket, the control unit is triggered to control the crane grab bucket to move away from the obstacles.

6. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 5, characterized in that: A distance measuring sensor is provided under the crane grab to identify obstacles directly under the grab and cooperate with the central laser radar to identify obstacles in the direction of the grab's travel path.

7. The portal crane automatic operation control system according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes an industrial computer. The control unit transmits the laser radar and the camera data to the industrial computer for processing. The industrial computer uses the YOLOv7 model to process the image taken by the camera to detect the grab bucket frame, the silo frame, and the discharge hopper frame in real time to assist in identifying whether the grab bucket is aligned with the silo or the discharge hopper, and obstacles on the grab bucket's path.

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