Device and method for automatically following and measuring height of lifting hook

Abstract

The invention discloses a device and method for measuring the height of a lifting hook in an automatic following mode, and belongs to the technical field of crane control, the device comprises a cradle head camera, a moment limiter and a video controller, the cradle head camera is installed on a rotary table or a suspension arm of a crane, and the installation position of the cradle head camera meets the requirement that the camera can cover a lifting area through pitching of a cradle head; the moment limiter is mounted on the crane and is used for detecting the amplitude of a suspension arm; the video controller is mounted on the crane, and the video controller is electrically connected with the holder camera and the moment limiter through a special video line and / or a communication bus; the video controller is used for acquiring an image acquired by a cradle head camera mounted on a rotary table or a suspension arm of the crane in a horizontal state, identifying a lifting hook in the image of the camera through an image identification algorithm, and calculating the height of the lifting hook; the device can automatically follow the lifting hook without manual adjustment of a user, and meanwhile, the height of the lifting hook can be measured without depending on a height sensor of the crane.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a device and a method for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, belonging to the technical field of crane control. Background Art

[0002] When a crane is lifting, it is necessary to always pay attention to the situation near the lifting object and the height of the lifting object. Manual observation is not a big problem when the distance is close, but at a long distance, video monitoring equipment is needed to see the lifting status clearly. At the same time, the lifting height is also a very important parameter. Real-time display of the lifting height can make the driver's operation more efficient.

[0003] The existing technology detects the position of the winch rope by installing an encoder on the hoisting winch, and calculates the hook height by the hook winding ratio. The environment near the hoisted object is detected by monitoring equipment. Height detection and video monitoring are two independent sets of equipment; the hook height encoder calculated by the winch encoder in the existing technology needs to be installed with the winch in precise coordination, and the zero point needs to be calibrated for each working condition, which is troublesome to install and calibrate; the selected encoder is relatively expensive, and a large number of cranes do not use it. At the same time, the visual monitoring equipment requires the user to manually adjust it according to the position of the hoisted object, and there may be a situation where the monitoring cannot be adjusted in real time during the hoisting process. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art and to provide a device and method for automatically following and measuring the hook height, which can automatically follow the hook without manual adjustment by the user and can measure the hook height without relying on the height sensor of the crane.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention is implemented by adopting the following technical solutions: In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, comprising: Obtain images collected by a pan / tilt camera installed on the crane turntable or boom in a horizontal state, and identify the hook in the camera image through an image recognition algorithm; If the hook is not detected, the image after the PTZ camera tilts up at a set angle is obtained for recognition until the hook is detected; After the hook is detected, the longitudinal position y of the lower edge of the hook in the image is calculated, and the size of y is compared with the longitudinal center coordinate h / 2 of the image; According to the comparison result of y and h / 2, adjust the angle of the gimbal camera to move the lower edge of the hook toward the center of the image until y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range; When y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range, the hook height H is calculated based on the pre-acquired current pan-tilt camera angle arf, the amplitude R of the boom, and the position coordinates of the pan-tilt camera installation.

[0006] Furthermore, the calculation formula of the hook height H is: H=h 1 +h 0 ; where h 0 The installation height of the PTZ camera, h 1 is the height of the hook from the horizontal plane where the PTZ camera is located, and the calculation formula is: h 1 =(RL)*tan(arf); Where L is the horizontal distance between the pan / tilt camera and the rotation center of the crane turntable.

[0007] Furthermore, the set upward tilt angle value of the pan-tilt camera is k*(yh / 2), wherein k is a set proportional coefficient.

[0008] Furthermore, the allowable error range of y being equal to h / 2 within the set error range is 1 pixel.

[0009] Furthermore, the method also includes: performing distortion correction on the image captured by the gimbal camera.

[0010] Furthermore, the method also includes: displaying the calculated hook height through a pre-installed display.

[0011] Furthermore, the image recognition algorithm is implemented using a template matching method or a deep learning target detection method.

[0012] In a second aspect, the present invention provides a device for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, comprising: The PTZ camera is installed on the crane turntable or boom, and its installation position is such that the camera can cover the hoisting area through the PTZ pitch; The torque limiter is installed on the crane to detect the amplitude of the boom; A video controller is installed on the crane, and the video controller is electrically connected to the pan / tilt camera and the torque limiter through a dedicated video line and / or a communication bus; the video controller is used to execute any of the aforementioned methods for automatically following and measuring the hook height.

[0013] Furthermore, the video controller is provided with a first display module for displaying images captured by a camera.

[0014] Furthermore, a second display module is provided on the torque limiter for displaying the calculated hook height.

[0015] In a third aspect, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of any of the aforementioned methods.

[0016] In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a computer device, comprising: Memory, for storing computer programs / instructions; A processor is used to execute the computer program / instructions to implement the steps of any of the aforementioned methods.

[0017] In a fifth aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program / instruction, which implements the steps of any one of the aforementioned methods when executed by a processor.

[0018] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: The present invention provides a device and method for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook. The device acquires an image captured by a pan / tilt camera installed on a crane turntable or a crane arm in a horizontal state, recognizes the hook in the camera image through an image recognition algorithm, and calculates the height of the hook. The device can automatically follow the hook without manual adjustment by the user, and at the same time, the height of the hook can be measured without relying on the height sensor of the crane. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Figure 1 This is a system composition diagram of a device for automatically following and measuring the hook height provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a device for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of hook height calculation provided by an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 The present invention provides a method control flow chart for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook.

[0020] In the picture: 1. Hook; 2. Jib; 3. PTZ camera; 4. Turntable. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

[0022] Embodiment 1: This embodiment introduces a method for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, comprising: Obtain an image captured by a pan / tilt camera 3 installed on a crane turntable 4 or a boom 2 in a horizontal state, and identify the hook 1 in the camera image through an image recognition algorithm; If the hook 1 is not detected, the image after the pan / tilt camera 3 is tilted up at a set angle is obtained for recognition until the hook 1 is detected; After hook 1 is detected, the longitudinal position y of the lower edge of hook 1 in the image is calculated, and the size of y is compared with the longitudinal center coordinate h / 2 of the image; According to the comparison result of y and h / 2, the angle of the pan / tilt camera 3 is adjusted to move the lower edge of the hook 1 toward the center of the image until y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range; When y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range, the height H of the hook 1 is calculated based on the pre-acquired current angle arf of the pan-tilt camera 3, the amplitude R of the boom 2 and the position coordinates of the installation of the pan-tilt camera 3.

[0023] like Figure 1-Figure 4 As shown, this embodiment provides a device and method for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, which are specifically as follows: like Figure 1 and Figure 4 As shown, a device for automatically following and measuring the hook height includes a video controller, a pan-tilt camera 3 and a torque limiter, wherein the video controller is responsible for processing the visual signal and pan-tilt angle signal of the pan-tilt camera and is electrically connected to the pan-tilt camera 3 through a dedicated video line and / or a communication bus, the video controller also includes a display module, which can display the image captured by the pan-tilt camera 3, the video controller is also responsible for collecting the amplitude information of the torque limiter and is electrically connected to the torque limiter through a communication bus, the device is arranged on the crane to monitor the crane lifting field of view and the hook 1 height, wherein the pan-tilt camera 3 is installed on the crane turntable 4 or on the boom 2, and the installation position satisfies that the camera can cover the lifting area through the pan-tilt pitch.

[0024] like Figure 2 and Figure 3As shown in the figure, a method for automatically following and measuring the hoisting height: When the system is initially running, the pan-tilt camera 3 is in a horizontal state. The hook 1 in the camera image is recognized through an image recognition algorithm. If the hook 1 is not detected, the pan-tilt tilts up by a certain angle and then detects again until the hook 1 is detected. After detecting the hook 1, the vertical position y of the lower edge of the hook 1 in the image is calculated through the video controller. Let the total number of vertical pixels in the image be h, and the vertical coordinate of the topmost part of the image be 0. Compare the size of y and the vertical center coordinate h / 2 of the image. If y = h / 2, it means that the lower edge of the hook 1 is exactly at the center of the image. If y > h / 2, it means that the lower edge of the hook 1 is below the center of the image. At this time, the pan-tilt tilts up by a certain angle to raise the camera so that the lower edge of the hook 1 is closer to the center of the image, and at the same time, the vertical position y of the lower edge of the hook 1 in the image is cyclically detected and calculated until y = h / 2. Correspondingly, if y < h / 2, it means that the lower edge of the hook 1 is above the center of the image. At this time, the pan-tilt tilts down by a certain angle to lower the camera so that the lower edge of the hook 1 is closer to the center of the image, and at the same time, the vertical position y of the lower edge of the hook 1 in the image is cyclically detected and calculated until y = h / 2. When y = h / 2, due to the fact that the center point of the camera imaging is located above the optical axis according to projective geometry, the current pan-tilt angle arf and the amplitude R of the force limiter are detected at this time, and then the height of the hook 1 can be calculated through a formula according to the position coordinates of the pan-tilt camera installation. The calculated height of the hook 1 can be sent to the display of the torque limiter for display.

[0025] The further description of this embodiment is as follows: 1. The recognition of the hook in the camera image by the image recognition algorithm can be realized by the template matching method or the deep learning object detection method of the existing public technology; 2. The certain angle of the pan-tilt tilting up and down can be a value related to y - h / 2, such as k*(y - h / 2), where k is a set proportionality coefficient; 3. Optionally, y = h / 2 is allowed to have a certain error range, such as 1 pixel. Within this error range, y = h / 2 is considered; 4. The distortion of the camera image has been corrected; 5. The formula for calculating the hook height is as follows: H = h1 + h0, where h0 is measured according to the installation position; h1 = (R - L)*tan(arf), where L is measured according to the installation position, R is given through the communication of the force limiter, arf is given according to the pan-tilt data, and tan is the tangent operation. (As Figure 3 shown).

[0026] In this patent, in order to detect the hook, actually the detection target can also be changed to the hoisted object, that is, the height of the hoisted object can also be detected.

[0027] The system composition diagram of this patent consists of three parts. Since the video controller and the torque limiter are both driven by a programmable controller, it is possible that they are split into multiple logic units or combined into one logic unit. The above deformations are also within the protection scope of this patent.

[0028] Embodiment 2: This embodiment provides a device for automatically following and measuring the height of a hook, comprising: The PTZ camera is installed on the crane turntable or boom, and its installation position is such that the camera can cover the hoisting area through the PTZ pitch; The torque limiter is installed on the crane to detect the amplitude of the boom; A video controller is installed on the crane, and the video controller is electrically connected to the pan-tilt camera and the torque limiter through a dedicated video line and / or a communication bus; the video controller is used to execute the method of automatically following and measuring the hook height as described in any one of Example 1.

[0029] The video controller is provided with a first display module for displaying the image collected by the camera; the torque limiter is provided with a second display module for displaying the calculated hook height.

[0030] The specific functions of the above-mentioned pan-tilt camera, torque limiter and video controller are implemented by referring to the relevant contents of the method in Example 1 and will not be elaborated here.

[0031] Embodiment 3, this embodiment provides a computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, and when the program is executed by a processor, the steps of any one of the methods described in Embodiment 1 are implemented.

[0032] Embodiment 4: This embodiment provides a computer device, including: Memory, for storing computer programs / instructions; A processor, configured to execute the computer program / instructions to implement the steps of any one of the methods described in Example 1.

[0033] Embodiment 5: This embodiment provides a computer program product, including a computer program / instruction, which implements the steps of any method described in Embodiment 1 when executed by a processor.

[0034] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the technical principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications should also be regarded as the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0035] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as methods, systems or computer program products. Therefore, the present disclosure may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0036] The present disclosure is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram and the combination of processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0037] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0038] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0039] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present disclosure rather than to limit its protection scope. Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, ordinary technicians in the relevant field should understand that after reading the present disclosure, those skilled in the art can still make various changes, modifications or equivalent substitutions to the specific implementation methods of the invention, but these changes, modifications or equivalent substitutions are all within the protection scope of the disclosed claims to be approved.

Claims

1. A method for automatically following and measuring the hook height, characterized in that: include: Obtain images collected by a pan / tilt camera installed on the crane turntable or boom in a horizontal state, and identify the hook in the camera image through an image recognition algorithm; If the hook is not detected, the image after the PTZ camera tilts up at a set angle is obtained for recognition until the hook is detected; After the hook is detected, the longitudinal position y of the lower edge of the hook in the image is calculated, and the size of y is compared with the longitudinal center coordinate h / 2 of the image; According to the comparison result of y and h / 2, adjust the angle of the gimbal camera to move the lower edge of the hook toward the center of the image until y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range; When y is equal to h / 2 within the set error range, the hook height H is calculated based on the pre-acquired current pan-tilt camera angle arf, the amplitude R of the boom, and the position coordinates of the pan-tilt camera installation.

2. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The calculation formula of the hook height H is: H=h1+h0; Where h0 is the installation height of the PTZ camera, h1 is the height of the hook from the horizontal plane where the PTZ camera is located, and the calculation formula is: h1=(RL)*tan(arf); Where L is the horizontal distance between the pan / tilt camera and the rotation center of the crane turntable.

3. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The set angle value of the upward tilt of the pan-tilt camera is k*(yh / 2), where k is a set proportional coefficient.

4. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The allowable error range for y to be equal to h / 2 within the set error range is 1 pixel.

5. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method also includes: performing distortion correction on the image captured by the pan-tilt camera.

6. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further comprises: displaying the calculated hook height via a pre-installed display.

7. The method for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The image recognition algorithm is implemented using a template matching method or a deep learning target detection method.

8. A device for automatically following and measuring the hook height, comprising: The PTZ camera is installed on the crane turntable or boom, and its installation position is such that the camera can cover the hoisting area through the PTZ pitch; The torque limiter is installed on the crane to detect the amplitude of the boom; A video controller is installed on the crane, and the video controller is electrically connected to the pan / tilt camera and the torque limiter through a dedicated video line and / or a communication bus; the video controller is used to execute the method for automatically following and measuring the hook height as described in any one of claims 1-7.

9. The device for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The video controller is provided with a first display module for displaying images captured by a camera.

10. The device for automatically following and measuring the hook height according to claim 1, characterized in that: The torque limiter is provided with a second display module for displaying the calculated hook height.

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