An intelligent inspection system for oil and gas pipelines using drones

Abstract

The present invention relates to the technical field of oil and gas pipeline management, and specifically to an intelligent inspection system for oil and gas pipeline drones, the system comprising: a drone group, a drone hangar group and a monitoring center, according to the spacing between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line, each drone hangar of the drone hangar group is deployed at a preset position on the pipeline line, the drone group and the drone hangar group are connected in communication, the drone hangar group is connected in communication with the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or remote control valve chamber, and the drone group is connected in communication with the monitoring center. This application uses the station and remote control valve chamber as relay sites, links multiple drones to perform pipeline inspection tasks with full coverage, realizes drone multi-machine collaborative inspection, and realizes the needs of convenient deployment, intelligent networking, unmanned control, intelligent inspection, etc. In addition, when patrolling, the drone group can also perform early warning analysis in real time, thereby warning of emergency situations.

Description

Background Art

[0002] With the development of drone technology, drones have been initially used in oil and gas pipeline inspections. Different companies at home and abroad have proposed different types of solutions for oil and gas pipeline inspections, including: manually controlled drones (fixed-wing drones) for shooting inspections, or relay inspections by people, vehicles, and drones. These drone inspection methods cannot achieve less-manned or unmanned inspections, and do not have the ability to conduct efficient and high-frequency pipeline inspections. Summary of the invention

[0003] In order to overcome the problem that the drone inspection method cannot achieve less-manpower or unmanned operation and does not have the ability to conduct pipeline inspections efficiently and frequently, the present invention provides an oil and gas pipeline drone intelligent inspection system.

[0004] In a first aspect, in order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an oil and gas pipeline UAV intelligent inspection system, comprising: a UAV group, a UAV hangar group and a monitoring center, wherein each UAV hangar of the UAV hangar group is deployed at a preset position on the pipeline according to the spacing between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline, the UAV group is communicatively connected to the UAV hangar group, the UAV hangar group is communicatively connected to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve chamber, and the UAV group is communicatively connected to the monitoring center;

[0005] The drone fleet is used to fly to a preset area on the pipeline line for inspection according to a first control instruction issued by the monitoring center, obtain video images of the preset area in real time, and perform early warning analysis on the video images;

[0006] The drone hangar group is used to upload the video image of the preset area to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve room after the drones of the drone group have been inspected and put into storage;

[0007] The monitoring center is used to perform image recognition on the video images and conduct early warning analysis.

[0008] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: according to the distance between the adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line, each drone hangar of the drone hangar group is deployed at a preset position on the pipeline line, so as to control the drone group to patrol from the drone hangar group to the preset area, and conduct early warning analysis on the video images in real time. In addition, when the inspection is completed, the monitoring center can also obtain the video images of the inspection and conduct in-depth early warning analysis. This application uses the station field and the remote control valve chamber as relay sites, and links multiple drones to perform pipeline inspection tasks with full intelligent coverage, realizes the coordinated inspection of multiple drones, and realizes the needs of convenient deployment, intelligent networking, unmanned control, intelligent inspection, etc. In addition, when the drone group is patrolling, it can also conduct early warning analysis in real time, so as to warn of emergencies. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the present invention is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0010] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a process flow of an oil and gas pipeline UAV intelligent inspection system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0011] Figure 2 The present invention is a schematic structural diagram of an intelligent inspection system for oil and gas pipelines using a drone according to another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following examples are provided to further explain and supplement the present invention and do not constitute any limitation to the present invention.

[0013] An intelligent inspection system for oil and gas pipelines using a drone according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0014] like Figure 1 As shown, an embodiment of the present invention provides an oil and gas pipeline UAV intelligent inspection system, including: a UAV group, a UAV hangar group and a monitoring center, wherein each UAV hangar of the UAV hangar group is deployed at a preset position on the pipeline according to the spacing between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline, the UAV group is communicatively connected to the UAV hangar group, the UAV hangar group is communicatively connected to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve chamber, and the UAV group is communicatively connected to the monitoring center;

[0015] The drone fleet is used to fly to a preset area on the pipeline line for inspection according to a first control instruction issued by the monitoring center, obtain video images of the preset area in real time, and perform early warning analysis on the video images;

[0016] The drone hangar group is used to upload the video image of the preset area to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve room after the drones of the drone group have been inspected and put into storage;

[0017] The monitoring center is used to perform image recognition on the video images and conduct in-depth early warning analysis.

[0018] In this embodiment, according to the distance between the adjacent stations and remote control valve rooms on the pipeline line, each drone hangar of the drone hangar group is deployed at a preset position on the pipeline line, so as to control the drone group to patrol from the drone hangar group to the preset area, and conduct early warning analysis on the video images in real time. In addition, when the inspection is completed, the monitoring center can also obtain the video images of the inspection and conduct in-depth early warning analysis. This application uses the station field and the remote control valve room as relay sites, and links multiple drones to perform pipeline inspection tasks with full intelligent coverage, realizes the coordinated inspection of multiple drones, and realizes the needs of convenient deployment, intelligent networking, unmanned control, intelligent inspection, etc. In addition, when the drone group is patrolling, it can also conduct early warning analysis in real time, so as to warn of emergencies.

[0019] In this embodiment, an oil and gas pipeline UAV intelligent inspection system is not only suitable for the oil and gas pipeline inspection field, but also can be used in long-distance inspection scenarios such as electricity, water conservancy, railways, operators, and national defense.

[0020] In this embodiment, the monitoring center includes an intelligent analysis server, which performs image recognition on video images. The intelligent analysis server may have a built-in AI algorithm model, which has undergone a large amount of data learning and training in the early stage. When the intelligent analysis server receives the inspection data, it performs in-depth analysis through the AI ​​model, uses image recognition technology to extract and analyze key features in the image, and fuses data from different sources to form a comprehensive data set for comprehensive evaluation and identification of suspicious objects around the pipeline.

[0021] In this embodiment, the drone fleet also has a built-in intelligent analysis module, which can perform brief intelligent analysis of the video images acquired in real time, and provide real-time and rapid alarm responses to construction vehicles, large machinery operations and other emergency situations that are easy to identify, thus nipping accidents in the bud.

[0022] In this embodiment, the drone can be automatically charged or the battery can be replaced after being docked in the drone hangar.

[0023] In this embodiment, the monitoring center includes a monitoring client, which is used to remotely issue the first control command to the drone fleet without the need for additional on-site personnel and vehicles to cooperate. In addition, multiple drones can be controlled simultaneously for joint inspections, that is, one drone is assigned to each area for inspection, thus realizing unmanned inspections and unified deployment and coordination of multiple drones. The monitoring center issues commands throughout the process, and there is no need for on-site professionals to perform manual control, so the operation is easy and the cost is lower.

[0024] In this embodiment, the drone can dock and take off in any drone hangar, so that the drone's cruising distance is longer.

[0025] In this embodiment, the drone can repeatedly perform line inspection tasks to achieve efficient, high-frequency, uninterrupted, and no-dead-angle inspection of the pipeline.

[0026] Optionally, the drone fleet is specifically used to preprocess the video images, perform target detection on the preprocessed video images, and generate a first warning message when a preset suspicious object is detected.

[0027] In this embodiment, the preset suspicious objects include abnormal vehicles, abnormal persons, abnormal buildings, fireworks and abnormal geological structures.

[0028] In this embodiment, by performing in-depth analysis of video images, people who engage in abnormal activities such as mechanical excavation and oil theft are dealt with immediately, thereby achieving timeliness in dealing with abnormal people.

[0029] In this embodiment, for monitoring blind spots such as stations, oil depots, high consequence areas, and lines, flight routes can be flexibly set, and regular inspections and photography of the monitoring blind spots can be carried out to supplement the existing security system and achieve real-time monitoring of the monitoring blind spots.

[0030] In this embodiment, the monitoring center includes an alarm system, which is connected to the intelligent analysis server. When the first warning information is generated, an alarm can be implemented through the alarm system to remind relevant personnel.

[0031] In this embodiment, the preprocessing of the video image may include image enhancement, filtering, grayscale processing, etc.

[0032] In this embodiment, target detection can adopt common target detection algorithms, such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) target detection algorithm based on regression.

[0033] Optionally, the drone swarm is also used for: when the drone swarm surveys a preset area, if the drone can communicate with any drone hangar in real time, the survey image is uploaded to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or remote control valve room; if the drone cannot communicate with any drone hangar in real time, the survey image is uploaded to the monitoring center through the 4G / 5G network of the drone swarm.

[0034] In this embodiment, when the drone and the drone hangar cannot communicate in real time, the survey image can be uploaded to the monitoring center through its own 4G / 5G network, thereby increasing the communication range of the drone.

[0035] Optionally, the drone hangar cluster is connected to the monitoring center via optical transmission equipment in the station and / or remote control valve room.

[0036] In this embodiment, the optical transmission equipment may be an optical fiber network, an optical terminal, etc., and may be configured according to actual conditions.

[0037] Optionally, if the distance between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line is greater than a preset value, a drone hangar is deployed at each of the stations and remote control valve chambers;

[0038] If the distance between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line is less than or equal to a preset value, a drone hangar is deployed across the stations or remote control valve chambers.

[0039] In this embodiment, in order to ensure the efficiency of the inspection, a set of drone hangars are deployed according to the adjacent stations and remote control valve rooms on the pipeline to achieve full coverage of the pipeline inspection.

[0040] In this embodiment, the deployment of the drone hangar can be adjusted according to the distance between the station field / remote control valve room. For example, if the distance between the station field / remote control valve room is large, the drone and drone hangar can be deployed in each station field / remote control valve room in turn; if the distance between the station field / remote control valve room is small, they can be deployed across the station field / remote control valve room.

[0041] In this embodiment, the preset value is 30KM.

[0042] For example, when the distance between adjacent stations and remote control valve rooms is greater than 30KM, an unmanned aerial vehicle hangar is set up at the station and the remote control valve room respectively; when the distance between adjacent stations and the remote control valve room is less than or equal to 30KM, only one unmanned aerial vehicle hangar is set up at the station, or only one unmanned aerial vehicle hangar is set up in the remote control valve room.

[0043] The preset value in this embodiment is not fixed and can be adjusted according to actual conditions. For example, for high-consequence areas with high security levels such as densely populated areas and areas where oil theft has occurred, the deployment density of drones and drone hangars can be appropriately increased to improve the frequency and efficiency of inspections.

[0044] Optionally, if the pipeline line passes through a mountainous area, a drone hangar is deployed at a height higher than the horizontal height of the pipeline line.

[0045] In this embodiment, for the situation where the pipeline passes through a mountainous area, a drone hangar can be deployed at a height higher than the horizontal height of the pipeline to reduce the extra power consumption caused by the drone climbing and increase the drone inspection coverage area.

[0046] Optionally, the monitoring center is specifically used to: pre-process the video image, perform target detection on the pre-processed video image, and generate first warning information when a preset suspicious object is detected.

[0047] In this embodiment, target detection can adopt common target detection algorithms, such as YOLO (You Only Look Once) target detection algorithm based on regression.

[0048] In this embodiment, visual AI image recognition technology is used to automatically identify and analyze video images taken by drones, realize automatic identification of fireworks, occupation, large-scale machinery construction, oil theft and other behaviors on long-distance pipelines, and have functions such as automatic alarm and automatic output of first warning information.

[0049] Optionally, the monitoring center is further used to: when a suspicious object is detected, send a second control instruction to the drone group to control the drone group to depart from the drone hangar group to a preset area where the suspicious object is located for investigation.

[0050] In this embodiment, the monitoring center issues a second control command to the drone fleet, thereby controlling the drones to patrol and survey the preset area. When abnormal vehicles, abnormal people (oil theft), buildings, fireworks and abnormal geological structures are found, the drones can use their real-time communication with the drone hangar to upload the survey images to the monitoring center. The monitoring center responds quickly with an alarm to nip the accident in the bud.

[0051] In this embodiment, multiple drones automatically start and stop inspections according to preset instructions, continuously cover the inspection pipelines according to requirements, issue warnings in advance, shout out to drive away during the inspection, summarize and analyze data afterwards, and provide an alarm analysis report.

[0052] In this embodiment, when an abnormal intrusion occurs, such as identifying abnormal persons and abnormal vehicles, a drone can be set to take off urgently to track and shoot the abnormal persons and vehicles in real time, prevent sudden dangers, and retain video evidence.

[0053] In this embodiment, the drone can be equipped with an infrared thermal imaging camera to complete temporary emergency tasks such as personnel search and rescue and night search.

[0054] In this embodiment, the drone can take pictures of the terrain and transmit them back to assist in pipeline survey and design work.

[0055] In this embodiment, the drone can collect data and regularly update data in the jurisdiction area, so that the management party can better dynamically grasp the pipeline status in the jurisdiction area.

[0056] Optionally, the monitoring center is further used for:

[0057] The video image within the preset time period is compared with the video image within the historical preset time period. If there is a difference between the video image within the preset time period and the video image within the historical preset time period, the video image within the preset time period is determined to be an abnormal video image, and a second warning information and a warning analysis report are generated.

[0058] For example, construction machinery needs to carry out on-site construction between 10 am and 11 am, but it is identified between 1 pm and 2 pm, while no construction machinery was found between 1 pm and 2 pm in the historical time period. In this case, it is judged that there is a significant difference between the video image in the preset time period and the video image in the historical preset time period, indicating that there may be abnormal conditions such as drilling and oil theft, construction occupation, etc., and an alarm needs to be issued.

[0059] In this embodiment, it can also be linked with other security systems to form integrated air-ground-space protection. For example, the intelligent analysis server is connected to the fiber optic vibration early warning platform system. The intelligent analysis server receives the alarm information sent by the fiber optic vibration early warning platform, and automatically plans and generates a temporary route, controls the drone to fly over the vibration early warning alarm point, and transmits the on-site video in real time, so that managers can quickly grasp the first-hand information, eliminate hidden safety hazards, and reduce false alarm rates and labor costs.

[0060] Optionally, the monitoring center is further used to: display the first warning information and the second warning information through a display module, and display the location of a preset area where a suspicious object is located and the location of a preset area corresponding to an abnormal video image; command drones near the preset area to go to the preset area for close reconnaissance, and transmit on-site images to the monitoring center in real time through the drones; determine the danger level based on the on-site images, and determine whether it is necessary to send personnel to the site for investigation based on the danger level.

[0061] In this embodiment, the display module can be a large monitoring screen, and the intelligent analysis server is connected to the large monitoring screen. After the first warning information and the second warning information are generated, the first warning information and the second warning information are directly sent to the large monitoring screen. The user can see the warning information at the first time and quickly lock the position of the preset area where the suspicious object is located and the position of the preset area corresponding to the abnormal video image.

[0062] In addition, drones near the preset area can be assigned to conduct on-site surveys to obtain on-site images and judge the danger level based on the on-site images. The danger level can be divided into low danger level, medium danger level and high danger level. If it is a high danger level, personnel can be assigned to conduct on-site surveys to eliminate hidden dangers.

[0063] Optionally, another embodiment is used to illustrate an oil and gas pipeline UAV intelligent inspection system, such as Figure 2 As shown, it includes a drone swarm, a drone hangar group (#1 hangar, #2 hangar, #3 hangar and #4 hangar), an intelligent analysis server, an alarm system, a monitoring client and a monitoring screen, wherein the drone hangar group is set in the station field (station field A and station field B) or the remote control valve room (valve room A and valve room B) on the pipeline line, and all stations and valve rooms are connected to the intelligent analysis server through optical cable communication (optical transmission equipment). The drone swarm can be docked in the drone hangar group, and the drone swarm is connected to the drone hangar group through communication, and is connected to the intelligent analysis server through the 4G / 5G network.

[0064] The monitoring client can set automatic scheduled tasks, inspection cycle frequency and other instructions. When the preset time arrives, the drone fleet will take off and start the inspection task, and multiple drones will fully cover all pipelines.

[0065] The drone swarm can establish communication with the drone hangar group. When the drone swarm returns to the drone hangar group, the video images collected during the inspection are transmitted to the monitoring center through the optical cable communication of the station or remote control valve room. In addition, when the drone swarm is inspecting, the image transmission signal can also be transmitted to the intelligent analysis server through the 4G / 5G network.

[0066] When the drone fleet analyzes the video images during inspection and finds abnormal situations, such as drilling for oil theft, construction occupation, etc., it can generate alarm information for rapid alarm, and display the GIS map display location on the monitoring screen. The drone is hovering, and the monitoring client can warn and drive away through the shouting device, and the captured high-definition video data is stored in the memory card.

[0067] After the drone fleet lands in the drone hangar group, the memory card data is immediately transmitted to the monitoring center's intelligent analysis server through the drone hangar group. The intelligent analysis server conducts in-depth analysis of the high-definition data and forms an alarm analysis report. At the same time, the drones are charged / replaced in the hangar.

[0068] If the intelligent analysis server conducts in-depth analysis of the video data and finds that a certain area has undergone major changes in adjacent time periods, there may be hidden dangers such as drilling for oil theft and construction occupation. The server will call on nearby drones to fly to the site of the abnormality and conduct close reconnaissance. Through the 4G / 5G communication function, it will conduct real-time image transmission and in-depth investigation and analysis to determine whether it is necessary to send people to the site urgently for safety protection work.

[0069] According to the requirements, alarms are presented in combination with GIS maps, and patrol reports are output regularly and reasonable suggestions are given.

[0070] The monitoring client can also be linked with the fiber optic early warning and high-consequence area video monitoring systems. When the fiber optic early warning and high-consequence area video monitoring systems receive alarm information, they will send nearby drones to conduct on-site hidden danger inspections and confirmations, forming a multi-system synergy, effectively reducing false alarms, reducing labor costs, improving system efficiency, and greatly improving external pipeline safety.

[0071] Those skilled in the art know that the present invention can be implemented as a system, method or computer program product. Therefore, the present disclosure can be specifically implemented in the following forms, namely: it can be complete hardware, it can be complete software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or it can be a combination of hardware and software, generally referred to as "circuit", "module" or "system" herein. In addition, in some embodiments, the present invention can also be implemented in the form of a computer program product in one or more computer-readable media, and the computer-readable medium contains computer-readable program code. Computer-readable storage media can be, for example, but not limited to - electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices or devices, or any combination of the above.

[0072] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, those skilled in the art may combine and combine the different embodiments or examples described in this specification and the features of the different embodiments or examples, without contradiction.

[0073] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is to be understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and are not to be construed as limitations of the present invention. A person skilled in the art may change, modify, replace and vary the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An intelligent inspection system for oil and gas pipelines using drones, characterized in that: include: The drone group, the drone hangar group and the monitoring center deploy each drone hangar of the drone hangar group at a preset position on the pipeline line according to the spacing between the adjacent stations and remote control valve rooms on the pipeline line, the drone group and the drone hangar group are connected in communication, the drone hangar group is connected in communication with the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve room, and the drone group is connected in communication with the monitoring center; The drone fleet is used to fly to a preset area on the pipeline line for inspection according to a first control instruction issued by the monitoring center, obtain video images of the preset area in real time, and perform early warning analysis on the video images; The drone hangar group is used to upload the video image of the preset area to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve room after the drones of the drone group have been inspected and put into storage; The monitoring center is used to perform image recognition on the video images and conduct in-depth early warning analysis.

2. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The drone fleet is specifically used to preprocess the video image, perform target detection on the preprocessed video image, and generate first warning information when a preset suspicious object is detected.

3. The system according to claim 2, characterized in that The drone fleet is also used for: When the drone fleet inspects the preset area, if the drone can achieve real-time communication with any drone hangar, the inspection image is uploaded to the monitoring center through the communication equipment of the station or the remote control valve room; If the drone cannot achieve real-time communication with any drone hangar, the inspection image is uploaded to the monitoring center through the 4G / 5G network of the drone fleet.

4. The system according to claim 1, characterized in that The drone hangar group is connected to the monitoring center via the optical transmission equipment of the station and / or the remote control valve room.

5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that If the distance between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line is greater than a preset value, a drone hangar is deployed at each of the stations and remote control valve chambers; If the distance between adjacent stations and remote control valve chambers on the pipeline line is less than or equal to a preset value, a drone hangar is deployed across the stations or remote control valve chambers.

6. The system according to claim 5, characterized in that If the pipeline line passes through a mountainous area, a drone hangar is deployed at a height higher than the horizontal height of the pipeline line.

7. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The monitoring center is specifically used for: The video image is preprocessed, and target detection is performed on the preprocessed video image. When a preset suspicious object is detected, a first warning information is generated.

8. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that The monitoring center is also specifically used for: When a suspicious object is detected, a second control instruction is sent to the drone group to control the drone group to depart from the drone hangar group to the preset area where the suspicious object is located for investigation.

9. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that The monitoring center is also specifically used for: The video image within the preset time period is compared with the video image within the historical preset time period. If there is a difference between the video image within the preset time period and the video image within the historical preset time period, the video image within the preset time period is determined to be an abnormal video image, and a second warning information and a warning analysis report are generated.

10. The system according to claim 9, characterized in that The monitoring center is also specifically used for: Displaying the first warning information and the second warning information through a display module, and displaying the location of the preset area where the suspicious object is located and the location of the preset area corresponding to the abnormal video image; Command drones near a preset area to conduct close reconnaissance in the preset area, and transmit on-site images to the monitoring center in real time via drones; The danger level is determined based on the on-site image, and whether it is necessary to send personnel to the on-site for investigation is determined based on the danger level.

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