An automatic positioning method and system for a stay door rod of a stay door machine of a hydropower station

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of gate pull rods, and discloses an automatic positioning method and system for a gate pull rod of a water power station cable-stayed door machine, which comprises the following steps: image acquisition of a lower end pull rod is carried out through a visual camera to obtain first visual information; the position of a shaft moving trolley is adjusted according to the first visual information; after the position adjustment of the shaft moving trolley is completed, the position of a hydraulic lifting platform and a multi-degree-of-freedom platform is adjusted, and the position of a pin shaft is determined; the pull rod is lowered, and meanwhile, image acquisition of the gate pull rod of the water power station cable-stayed door machine is carried out through the visual camera to obtain second visual information; the positions of upper and lower end pull rods in the hole process are aligned according to the second visual information; and the shaft hole positioning is completed by pushing the shaft moving on the shaft moving platform through an electro-hydraulic push rod. The automatic positioning method and system can realize safe and rapid alignment, save labor cost, and have the advantages of high fault tolerance, good economy and the like.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of gate tie rod technology, specifically to an automatic positioning method and system for the gate tie rod of a hydroelectric power station cable-stayed gate. Background Technology

[0002] Some hydropower stations have gate slots designed with angled slots. To meet the requirements for lowering the gates, gantry cranes are connected to the gates via tie rods for operation. In particular, for deep-hole emergency gates using angled slots, multiple tie rods are required to complete the lowering operation.

[0003] To address this working condition, gantry cranes are typically equipped with a tie rod shifting device at the factory to lock the connections between tie rods and between the tie rod and the lifting shaft. However, during the use of this device, operators need to repeatedly adjust the pin position to align the holes. The more tie rod sections there are, the more times this operation needs to be repeated. This traditional operating method not only increases the operator's workload and is inefficient, but also poses safety risks due to the resistance encountered by the shifting device during pin insertion, potentially causing the trolley frame to slip. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is proposed.

[0005] Therefore, the technical problem solved by this invention is that the existing gate lever pin insertion method has optimization problems such as high labor costs, high risk factor and low efficiency.

[0006] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, the present invention provides the following technical solution: an automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station cable-stayed gate, comprising:

[0007] The lower lever is imaged using a vision camera to obtain the first visual information.

[0008] Based on the first visual information, the position of the tilt-shifting trolley is adjusted;

[0009] After the position adjustment of the shifting trolley is completed, the positions of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform are adjusted, and the position of the pin shaft is determined.

[0010] The lever is lowered, and at the same time, the image of the gate lever of the hydropower station's cable-stayed gantry crane is acquired through a vision camera to obtain second visual information;

[0011] Based on the second visual information, the positions of the upper and lower tie rods are aligned during the hole-making process;

[0012] The shaft hole positioning is completed by pushing the shifting shaft placed on the shifting shaft platform with an electro-hydraulic actuator.

[0013] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station inclined sliding gate machine according to the present invention, the gate rod of the hydropower station inclined sliding gate machine is composed of multiple rods connected by a through-pin at the gate slot opening;

[0014] The trolley is used to perform a sliding motion at each door slot opening to complete the connection and disassembly.

[0015] During the connection or dismantling process, the upper tie rod is lifted by a gantry crane, while the lower tie rod is fixed in position. The coordinate system is established with the lower tie rod as the origin. The direction parallel to the ground and along the pin-to-hole direction is defined as the X direction, the direction parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the pin-to-hole direction is defined as the Y direction, and the direction perpendicular to the ground is defined as the Z direction.

[0016] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gate machine according to the present invention, the first visual information includes the position coordinates provided by the visual camera arranged on the axis-shifting trolley for automatic positioning control.

[0017] A horizontally positioned vision camera, with its levers arranged along the Y direction, calculates its position in the X direction of the reference coordinate system. The PLC slave station on the axis-shifting trolley starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the axis-shifting trolley to move along the X direction until the camera's X-direction coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin.

[0018] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gate described in this invention, the position adjustment of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform includes: the visual camera with the hole arranged along the X direction calculates its own position in the Z and Y directions in the coordinate system; the PLC master station on the gantry crane guides the hydraulic lifting platform to move along the Y direction and along the Z direction until the camera's coordinate position in the Z direction is within a preset range near the origin.

[0019] The PLC master station guides the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to move along the Y direction until the camera's Y-axis coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin.

[0020] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gate machine described in this invention, the position adjustment of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform further includes, after completing the shaft hole positioning task, the original upper pull rod is moved down and used as a new lower pull rod for the next hole alignment;

[0021] After completing the previous shaft hole positioning task, a real-time updated three-dimensional model is established using a horizontal positioning vision camera with a tie rod arranged along the Y direction and a hole alignment vision camera with a tie rod arranged along the X direction. The hole alignment position is predicted, thereby predicting the position of the axis-shifting carriage and moving the axis-shifting carriage to the predicted position.

[0022] By recognizing the three-dimensional features of the upper tie rod in the previous shaft hole positioning task, the feature mark of the original upper tie rod is obtained. Based on the feature mark, the positional offset and angular offset of the vertical center line of the original upper tie rod relative to the hole opening are obtained.

[0023] Based on the position offset and the angle offset, predict the origin position and X direction of this shaft hole positioning task. Based on the predicted origin position and X direction, adjust the position of the axis shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform, and record the current position as the predicted position.

[0024] After the new pull-down rod position is fixed, the position of the axis-shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform are finely adjusted based on the actual origin and X direction using the first visual information; at the same time, the feature markers are calculated and updated based on the actual origin and X direction.

[0025] The feature marking includes analyzing the physical features of each tie rod's 3D model and matching the physical features with the marking content; wherein, the marking content is the positional and angular offset of the tie rod's vertical centerline from the orifice.

[0026] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in this invention, the second visual information includes: a horizontal positioning visual camera for the rod arranged along the Y direction, which simultaneously acquires images of the upper and lower rods; the industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the virtual vertical center line of the upper rod in the X direction and transmits it to the PLC; the PLC starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane trolley traveling mechanism to run until it is automatically positioned within a preset range near the Z-axis of the virtual vertical center line of the upper rod.

[0027] A vision camera with holes is arranged along the X direction to simultaneously capture images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the Y direction and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane trolley traveling mechanism to run until it is automatically positioned within the preset range of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod near the Z axis.

[0028] The virtual vertical centerline includes determining the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice in the standard tie rod; and constructing a virtual line for the actual orifice position and angle based on the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice, using the orifice position and angle obtained by the vision camera.

[0029] As a preferred embodiment of the automatic positioning method for the gate rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in this invention, the positioning of the upper and lower rods during the hole alignment process includes constructing a two-dimensional hole alignment model of the upper and lower rods using a hole alignment vision camera arranged along the X direction.

[0030] The two-dimensional hole model includes constructing two-dimensional structural models of the upper and lower tie rod holes in the planes containing the Y and Z directions, respectively, based on the images captured by the vision camera, and extracting the circular edge information of the holes;

[0031] In the plane containing the Y and Z directions, the upper tie rod is displaced, and the two-dimensional hole model is updated in real time. When the contour area of ​​the hole result increases, it indicates a positive movement; otherwise, it indicates a negative movement.

[0032] If the hole alignment result is a complete circle without any obstruction, then the hole alignment result is confirmed; if the hole alignment result is not a complete circle and there is obstruction, then continue to move the upper tie rod until the outline area of ​​the hole alignment result no longer increases or the hole alignment result is a complete circle.

[0033] The hole alignment result includes the hollow portion after the upper and lower tie rod holes overlap.

[0034] An automatic positioning system for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station's cable-stayed gate using any of the methods described in this invention, characterized in that:

[0035] The first control unit acquires images of the lower pull rod using a vision camera to obtain first visual information; and adjusts the position of the tilt-shifting trolley based on the first visual information.

[0036] After the second control unit completes the position adjustment of the axis-shifting trolley, it adjusts the position of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to determine the position of the pin shaft; it lowers the tie rod and simultaneously acquires images of the gate tie rod of the hydropower station's inclined gantry crane through a vision camera to obtain second visual information; based on the second visual information, it aligns the positions of the upper and lower tie rods during the hole-aligning process.

[0037] The power unit pushes the shifting shaft placed on the shifting shaft platform through an electro-hydraulic actuator to complete the shaft hole positioning.

[0038] A computer device includes: a memory and a processor; the memory stores a computer program, wherein: when the processor executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the method described in any one of the present invention.

[0039] A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method described in any one of the present invention.

[0040] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station's cable-stayed gate provides a safe and rapid alignment process, with a single installation operation taking no more than 15 minutes. It saves labor costs, requiring only 1-2 people to complete the operation, with the operators primarily playing a supervisory role, thus reducing their workload. It has high fault tolerance; the device has a simple and lightweight structure, allowing for quick installation and disassembly. Even without using this device, alignment operations can still be performed using traditional methods. The increased technical costs are low, resulting in good economic efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0041] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the following description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0042] Figure 1 The overall flowchart of an automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate is provided in the second embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 2 The network diagram is provided in the second embodiment of the present invention for an automatic positioning method of the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate;

[0044] Figure 3 The reference coordinate diagram is provided for an automatic positioning method of the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate, which is provided in the second embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0045] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more apparent and understandable, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0046] Example 1, an embodiment of the present invention, provides an automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station's inclined sliding gate, wherein the structure of the hydropower station's inclined sliding gate includes:

[0047] The pull rods are fixed by a locking device, and the pull rods are connected by pins. After multiple pull rods are connected, the water filling valve device on the gate is connected.

[0048] The gate rod of the cable-stayed gantry crane in the hydropower station is composed of multiple rods connected by pins in the gate slot opening; the connecting and disconnecting are completed by the pin insertion and retraction action of the aforementioned shaft-shifting trolley in each gate slot opening.

[0049] Example 2, refer to Figure 1-3 As an embodiment of the present invention, an automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station cable-stayed gate is provided, comprising:

[0050] The vision sensors installed on the tilt-shift trolley collect relevant position information and transmit it to the PLC master station on the gantry crane via wireless interconnection technology. The PLC master station uses this position information to perform automatic positioning control logic calculations and then drives the gantry crane to operate, or transmits instructions to the tilt-shift trolley's PLC slave station to drive the tilt-shift trolley to complete the positioning and alignment operations. Once the alignment position is reached, the tie rod pin mounted on the tilt-shift trolley is pushed into the tie rod hole by the electro-hydraulic actuator, thus completing the automated and unmanned control of the entire process.

[0051] The tilt-shift carriage section includes: a pull-rod positioning vision camera, a pull-rod hole alignment vision camera, and an industrial control computer for visual recognition; a PLC slave station for logic control; fiber optic switches and firewall intelligent systems, and a WIFI6 router for network communication; and frequency converters and motors for drive control.

[0052] The main body of the gantry crane includes: a PLC master station for logic control; a WIFI6 router for wireless network communication; frequency converters and motors for drive control; and a human-machine interface (HMI).

[0053] The shifting trolley and the gantry crane body are two independent mechanical structures, and data exchange between them cannot be done via wired connection; it can only be achieved through wireless transmission. The shifting trolley's PLC slave station connects to the gantry crane's PLC master station via a wireless network to transmit data and receive commands. The gantry crane and the shifting trolley are interconnected at multiple points using wireless WIFI communication technology.

[0054] S1: The lower pull rod is imaged using a vision camera to obtain first visual information; the position of the tilt-shifting trolley is adjusted based on the first visual information.

[0055] Furthermore, when the gantry crane reaches the orifice and is ready to perform the tie rod alignment operation, the shifting trolley is already placed on the dedicated track corresponding to the orifice. At this time, the pin mounted on the shifting device platform is parallel to the X direction, and the pin can be aligned with the tie rod hole by adjusting the multi-degree-of-freedom shifting device platform.

[0056] After the system starts up, it will detect the communication status and working status of each node in the wired and wireless communication networks. At the same time, the vision analysis software in the industrial control computer will perform self-checks on the vision camera and light source. If the self-check is abnormal, the system will stop running and issue a warning; if the self-check is normal, the vision camera will establish a coordinate system.

[0057] Throughout the entire hole-setting operation, automatic positioning control is employed. A vision camera mounted on the axis-shifting trolley provides the position coordinates for this automatic positioning control. Since the upper tie rod is lifted by a gantry crane and is movable, while the lower tie rod is fixed, a coordinate system needs to be established using the lower tie rod as the origin. The direction parallel to the ground and along the pin alignment direction is defined as the X direction; the direction parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the pin alignment direction is defined as the Y direction; and the direction perpendicular to the ground is defined as the Z direction (e.g., ...). Figure 3 (As shown). A vision camera for detecting the alignment of the tie rod with the hole is arranged along the X-direction on the axis-shifting device platform, and a vision camera for detecting the horizontal positioning of the tie rod is arranged along the Y-direction on the axis-shifting carriage. The vision camera for aligning the tie rod with the hole along the X-direction acquires images of the lower tie rod hole, extracts its edge information, and establishes a reference coordinate system with the midpoint of its central axis as the origin. After the industrial control computer sends the coordinates to the PLC master station, the PLC will automatically plan the running path based on the positional relationship of the upper tie rod in the coordinate system, achieving automatic positioning.

[0058] The horizontal positioning vision camera, arranged along the Y direction, calculates its position in the X direction of the reference coordinate system. The PLC master station on the gantry crane starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the axis-shifting trolley to move along the X direction until the camera's X-direction coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin.

[0059] S2: After completing the position adjustment of the shifting trolley, adjust the position of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform, and determine the position of the pin shaft.

[0060] Furthermore, the position adjustment of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform includes: the pull rod arranged along the X direction and the aperture vision camera calculating its own position in the Z and Y directions of the coordinate system; the PLC master station on the gantry crane guiding the hydraulic lifting platform to move along the Z direction until the camera's Z-direction coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin. Then, the PLC master station guiding the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to move along the Y direction until the camera's Y-direction coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin. At this point, the position adjustment of each mechanism of the tilt-shifting trolley is completed, ensuring that the two vision cameras and the tilt-shifting device overlap with the X-axis or Y-axis.

[0061] The vision camera, arranged along the X-direction, simultaneously captures images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer uses vision software to analyze whether the two images overlap. The PLC determines whether the Y-direction coordinate of the midpoint of the center axis of the upper tie rod hole is positive. If any condition is not met, the PLC master station will guide the hoisting and trolley movement until the upper tie rod reaches the preset safety range, thereby avoiding collision between the upper tie rod and the lower tie rod when the upper tie rod moves along the X-direction and ensuring that the upper tie rod is aligned with the lower tie rod in the lower position.

[0062] It should be noted that after completing the pin insertion task, the axis-shifting carriage moves to a designated position along the X direction away from the pull rod, and the original upper pull rod moves down to become the new lower pull rod for the next hole alignment. After completing the previous axis-hole positioning task, a real-time updated 3D model is established using a horizontal positioning vision camera for the pull rod arranged along the Y direction and a hole alignment vision camera for the pull rod arranged along the X direction to predict the hole alignment position, thereby predicting the position of the axis-shifting carriage and moving it to the predicted position.

[0063] By identifying the three-dimensional features of the upper tie rod in the previous shaft hole positioning task, the feature markers of the original upper tie rod are obtained. Based on the feature markers, the positional and angular offsets of the vertical centerline of the original upper tie rod relative to the hole opening are obtained.

[0064] Based on the position offset and the angle offset, the origin position and X direction of this shaft hole positioning task are predicted. Based on the predicted origin position and X direction, the position of the axis shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform are adjusted, and the current position is recorded as the predicted position.

[0065] After the new pull-down rod position is fixed, the position of the axis-shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform are finely adjusted based on the actual origin and X direction using the first visual information; at the same time, the feature markers are calculated and updated based on the actual origin and X direction.

[0066] The feature marking includes analyzing the physical features of each tie rod's 3D model and matching the physical features with the marking content; wherein, the marking content is the positional and angular offset of the tie rod's vertical centerline from the orifice.

[0067] It's important to understand that after each hole-setting task is completed, by establishing a new 3D model and feature markers, the system can predict the precise position and direction of the tie rod for the next hole-setting, thereby reducing unnecessary adjustments. The predictive model provides the system with a new origin and X-axis coordinates, serving as the basis for adjusting the trolley and platform positions. In this way, the trolley, hydraulic lifting platform, and multi-degree-of-freedom platform can be adjusted in advance. This significantly saves time, requiring only minor adjustments after the tie rod position is determined. It also avoids the time wasted waiting in queues for different operations.

[0068] Because the pull rod shifts to a new position after each operation, this design eliminates accumulated errors through 3D feature recognition and real-time fine-tuning, ensuring that every positioning task starts from an accurate reference point. Through the position prediction and fine-tuning system, the trolley and platform can quickly move to the predicted position and make fine adjustments, significantly reducing the adjustment time for each hole-setting task. This design minimizes the difference between the predicted and actual positions, greatly improving hole-setting efficiency.

[0069] It's also worth mentioning that the tie rod may undergo slight deformation during prolonged use, and this design dynamically adapts to these changes through feature marking and real-time updates. By acquiring and updating the tie rod's centerline offset and angular offset information in real time, it ensures that deformation does not affect positioning accuracy. Utilizing feature marking, the system updates and calibrates the position after each operation, ensuring a stable reference point and reducing cumulative errors and offsets. Furthermore, real-time adjustment and automatic learning mechanisms make the system more intelligent, enabling it to adapt to different tie rod conditions. Traditional hole-setting operations often require repeated manual adjustments, while this design can automatically achieve precise fine-tuning based on 3D features and position offset data, reducing reliance on manual operation and achieving fully automated positioning. In this scenario, the feature recognition algorithm needs to possess high accuracy and robustness to handle the tie rod's features under different deformation conditions. A suitable choice is a convolutional neural network (CNN) combined with 3D point cloud processing algorithms, such as PointNet, to extract 3D features from visual information, identify the tie rod's specific physical characteristics, and generate feature markers.

[0070] S3: Lower the tie rod and simultaneously acquire images of the gate tie rod of the hydropower station's inclined gate hoist through a vision camera to obtain second visual information; based on the second visual information, align the positions of the upper and lower tie rods during the hole-aligning process.

[0071] Furthermore, a horizontal positioning vision camera arranged along the Y-direction simultaneously captures images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the X-direction and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC then initiates an automatic positioning control program and a micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane's trolley traveling mechanism until it automatically positions itself within a preset range near the Z-axis along the vertical center line of the upper tie rod. Similarly, a hole-aligning vision camera arranged along the X-direction simultaneously captures images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the Y-direction and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC then initiates an automatic positioning control program and a micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane's trolley traveling mechanism until it automatically positions itself within a preset range near the Z-axis along the vertical center line of the upper tie rod.

[0072] A vision camera positioned along the X-axis simultaneously captures images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinates of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the Y-axis and transmits the data to the PLC. The PLC then initiates an automatic positioning control program and a micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane's trolley traveling mechanism until it automatically positions itself within a preset range near the Z-axis where the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod is located.

[0073] The virtual vertical centerline includes determining the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice in the standard tie rod; and constructing a virtual line for the actual orifice position and angle based on the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice, using the orifice position and angle obtained by the vision camera.

[0074] In practical applications, the tie rod may deform or shift due to prolonged use or uneven stress. The virtual vertical center line serves as an "idealized" alignment line; even if the tie rod exhibits slight bending or tilting, the system can still perform standardized positioning and hole alignment using the virtual line.

[0075] The virtual centerline establishes a positional and angular relationship for a "standard tie rod" in the design, providing a consistent reference for each hole alignment operation. This not only improves alignment stability but also avoids cumulative errors caused by tie rod deformation or environmental influences. With the virtual vertical centerline, the system can quickly locate itself by referencing an idealized hole alignment position without repeatedly fine-tuning and correcting the actual position of the tie rod, significantly improving hole alignment efficiency.

[0076] Furthermore, the positioning of the upper and lower tie rods during the hole-aligning process includes constructing a two-dimensional hole-aligning model of the upper and lower tie rods using a tie rod alignment vision camera arranged along the X direction.

[0077] The two-dimensional hole model includes constructing two-dimensional structural models of the upper and lower tie rod holes in the planes containing the Y and Z directions, respectively, based on the images captured by the vision camera, and extracting the circular edge information of the holes.

[0078] In the plane containing the Y and Z directions, the upper tie rod is displaced, and the two-dimensional hole model is updated in real time. When the contour area of ​​the hole result increases, it indicates a positive movement; otherwise, it indicates a negative movement.

[0079] If the hole alignment result is a complete circle without any obstructions, the hole alignment result is confirmed. If the hole alignment result is not a complete circle and there are obstructions, the upper tie rod is continuously displaced until the outline area of ​​the hole alignment result no longer increases or the hole alignment result is a complete circle. This ensures that the final circular feature and other features (radius, angle, area) meet the alignment requirements. The hole alignment result includes the hollow portion after the upper and lower tie rod hole openings overlap.

[0080] It's worth noting that during the hole alignment process, even minute offsets can cause the hole openings to not be perfectly aligned. By analyzing changes in the overlapping contour area, the system can promptly detect and correct these minute offsets, ensuring optimal accuracy for every hole alignment operation. By continuously monitoring the increasing or decreasing trend of the contour area, the system can quickly determine whether the current direction of movement is correct. When the direction of movement aligns with the target alignment direction, the contour area increases; conversely, it decreases. This real-time feedback mechanism allows the system to continuously adjust the position of the upper tie rod within a minute range until the ideal alignment is achieved.

[0081] By precisely controlling the position of the upper tie rod, optimal alignment is ensured during movement in the X direction. Compared to relying solely on mechanical alignment, the fine-tuning process based on visual feedback is more accurate and stable, effectively eliminating minor deviations. Because the system can determine the correctness of the movement direction in real time, it avoids the traditional trial-and-error adjustment process, shortening the hole-aligning time and significantly improving overall work efficiency. In different environments (such as when some tie rods have slight deformation or tilt), the system can automatically adjust according to contour changes, exhibiting strong adaptability and ensuring accurate hole alignment even in complex environments.

[0082] S4: The pin placed on the shifting platform is pushed by the electro-hydraulic actuator to complete the shaft hole positioning.

[0083] On the other hand, this embodiment also provides an automatic positioning system for the gate rod of a hydropower station's cable-stayed gate, which includes:

[0084] The first control unit acquires images of the lower pull rod using a vision camera to obtain first visual information; and adjusts the position of the tilt-shifting trolley based on the first visual information.

[0085] After the second control unit completes the position adjustment of the axis-shifting trolley, it adjusts the position of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to determine the position of the pin shaft; it lowers the tie rod and simultaneously acquires images of the gate tie rod of the hydropower station's cable-stayed gantry crane through a vision camera to obtain second visual information; based on the second visual information, it aligns the positions of the upper and lower tie rods during the hole-aligning process.

[0086] The power unit pushes the shifting shaft placed on the shifting shaft platform through an electro-hydraulic actuator to complete the shaft hole positioning.

[0087] If the above functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0088] The logic and / or steps represented in the flowchart or otherwise described herein, for example, can be considered as a sequenced list of executable instructions for implementing logical functions, and can be embodied in any computer-readable medium for use by, or in conjunction with, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device (such as a computer-based system, a processor-included system, or other system that can fetch and execute instructions from, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device). For the purposes of this specification, "computer-readable medium" can be any means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transmit programs for use by, or in conjunction with, an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0089] More specific examples of computer-readable media (a non-exhaustive list) include: electrical connections (electronic devices) having one or more wires, portable computer disk drives (magnetic devices), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable and editable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), fiber optic devices, and portable optical disc read-only memory (CDROM). Furthermore, computer-readable media can even be paper or other suitable media on which the program can be printed, because the program can be obtained electronically, for example, by optically scanning the paper or other medium, followed by editing, interpreting, or otherwise processing as necessary, and then stored in computer memory.

[0090] It should be understood that various parts of the present invention can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. In the above embodiments, multiple steps or methods can be implemented in software or firmware stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system. For example, if implemented in hardware, as in another embodiment, it can be implemented using any one or a combination of the following techniques known in the art: discrete logic circuits having logic gates for implementing logical functions on data signals, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) having suitable combinational logic gates, programmable gate arrays (PGAs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.

[0091] Example 2 is an embodiment of the present invention, which provides an automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station cable-stayed gate. In order to verify the beneficial effects of the present invention, scientific demonstration is carried out through economic benefit calculation and simulation experiment.

[0092] The experimental system includes a shift-axis trolley, a hydraulic lifting platform, a multi-degree-of-freedom platform, a gantry crane, and various sensing devices and control units. The experiment focuses on measuring and analyzing multiple data points related to the positioning accuracy of the shift-axis trolley, the height adjustment precision of the hydraulic platform, and the final hole alignment effect.

[0093] Prior to the test, the system was initialized and configured to ensure the interoperability of each subsystem. The tilting trolley was equipped with a pull rod positioning vision camera and a pull rod hole alignment vision camera, used for horizontal and vertical position detection, respectively. The PLC master station on the gantry crane body was responsible for collecting the data transmitted back from the vision cameras to control the movement of the tilting trolley and the platform.

[0094] Step 1: Initialize the system

[0095] After the system is powered on, it first detects wired and wireless communication nodes and performs a self-test on the camera and light source using visual analysis software. After completing the self-test and establishing a coordinate system, the system sets the direction parallel to the pin-to-hole alignment as the X-axis, the direction parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the pin-to-hole alignment as the Y-axis, and the direction perpendicular to the ground as the Z-axis. The establishment of the reference coordinate system ensures that subsequent position detection has a unified standard.

[0096] Step 2: Initial positioning of the tilt-shifting carriage

[0097] Guided by the PLC master station, the tilt-shift trolley acquires initial visual information via a pull rod positioning vision camera to determine its position in the reference coordinate system. The trolley precisely aligns with the pull rod opening along a dedicated track for the next operation. Based on visual feedback, once the trolley reaches the preset position in the X direction, the system automatically adjusts the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform to align the pull rod with the opening in the Z direction.

[0098] Step 3: Automatic Positioning and Fine-tuning

[0099] To ensure hole alignment accuracy, the system employs an automatic positioning control program and a micro-motion control program. During each micro-adjustment, a vision camera monitors the center position of the hole in real time as the tie rod is horizontally positioned. When the deviation exceeds the preset range, the trolley and platform automatically micro-motion in the specified direction. This method of multiple positioning and gradual optimization ensures that the hole openings of the upper and lower tie rods meet the hole alignment accuracy standards in the X, Y, and Z directions.

[0100] Step 4: Establishing the virtual center line and aligning the holes

[0101] To address the deformation of the tie rod during use, the system establishes a virtual vertical centerline using a vision camera to simulate an ideal alignment standard. Using this virtual line as a reference, the system continuously adjusts the position of the upper tie rod until a complete circular overlap area is formed, and then performs final hole alignment once it is confirmed to be unobstructed.

[0102] Step 5: Electro-hydraulic Actuator Insertion and Final Positioning. After the upper and lower pull rod orifices are fully overlapped, the system activates the electro-hydraulic actuator to push the shifting shaft on the shifting platform, achieving the final insertion of the pull rod. The actuator utilizes a closed-loop control system to detect and continuously adjust the thrust, ensuring the pull rod safely enters the hole.

[0103] The experiment was conducted five times under different working conditions. The accuracy data, hole alignment time, and final position error of the shifting carriage, hydraulic platform, and multi-degree-of-freedom platform during positioning and fine-tuning were recorded to comprehensively evaluate the system performance, as shown in Table 1.

[0104] Table 1 Experimental Data Record

[0105]

[0106] The experimental data show that the automatic positioning method exhibits excellent hole-aligning accuracy and efficiency under different experimental conditions, reflecting its significant innovation and advantages.

[0107] Test data shows that the average error of the tilt-shifting carriage after initial positioning is 5.0 mm, indicating that the system can effectively align the carriage to the initial position. Through the coordinated action of the vision camera and PLC control, automatic fine-tuning further improves the positioning accuracy. After fine-tuning, the positioning error is only 0.22 mm, meeting the preset accuracy standard. Compared with traditional manual adjustment, this system can quickly adjust the hole position in a short time, significantly shortening the positioning time.

[0108] Tests show that the application of a virtual centerline effectively solves the deformation problem of the tie rod during long-term use. Through the ideal alignment standard provided by the virtual centerline, the system can intelligently compensate for the tie rod's offset, with an average compensation rate of 98.6% in the tests, almost completely eliminating the influence of deformation. This technology ensures consistency and standardization in hole operations, greatly improving the system's adaptability compared to traditional methods.

[0109] Through a closed-loop control system of PLC master station and electro-hydraulic actuator, the fine-tuning process in the experiment took only about 13.7 seconds, and the average time to complete the entire hole alignment task was about 35.9 seconds, far less than the time required for manual adjustment. Traditional methods usually rely on multiple manual adjustments and measurements, while the automatic fine-tuning mechanism of this invention significantly improves hole alignment efficiency, reducing the overall operation time by about 40%. In practical applications, especially in continuous operation of hydropower stations, this rapid and precise fine-tuning is of great help for high-frequency hole alignment tasks.

[0110] According to the experimental results, the final hole-setting accuracy remained within the range of 0.05mm to 0.06mm, indicating that the system can complete the positioning task with extremely high stability. Traditional hole-setting techniques often struggle to achieve such fine accuracy, especially when the tie rod may deform. The system further reduces offset errors through feature marking and real-time updates. A comparison with traditional hole-setting equipment reveals that the automatic positioning method of this invention achieves full automation while ensuring high accuracy and reliability.

[0111] In summary, the experimental data validates the significant advantages of this automatic positioning method in practical applications, demonstrating its innovative and practical value in terms of hole accuracy, efficiency, and automated control. Through unique virtual centerline technology, precise visual feedback, and PLC control strategies, this invention provides an effective and reliable solution for positioning the gate rods of hydropower stations.

[0112] It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention and are not intended to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications or equivalent substitutions can be made to the technical solutions of the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present invention, and all such modifications or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a cable-stayed gate in a hydropower station, characterized in that, include: The lower lever is imaged using a vision camera to obtain the first visual information. Based on the first visual information, the position of the tilt-shifting carriage is adjusted; After the position adjustment of the shifting trolley is completed, the positions of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform are adjusted, and the position of the pin shaft is determined. The lever is lowered, and at the same time, the image of the gate lever of the hydropower station's cable-stayed gantry crane is acquired through a vision camera to obtain second visual information; Based on the second visual information, the positions of the upper and lower tie rods are aligned during the hole alignment process; The shaft hole positioning task is completed by pushing the shifting shaft placed on the shifting shaft platform with an electro-hydraulic actuator; The position adjustment of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform also includes, after completing the shaft hole positioning task, the original upper pull rod is moved down and used as a new lower pull rod for the next hole alignment; After completing the previous shaft hole positioning task, a real-time updated three-dimensional model is established using a horizontal positioning vision camera with a tie rod arranged along the Y direction and a hole alignment vision camera with a tie rod arranged along the X direction. The hole alignment position is predicted, thereby predicting the position of the axis-shifting carriage and moving the axis-shifting carriage to the predicted position. By recognizing the three-dimensional features of the upper tie rod in the previous shaft hole positioning task, the feature mark of the original upper tie rod is obtained. Based on the feature mark, the positional offset and angular offset of the vertical center line of the original upper tie rod relative to the hole opening are obtained. Based on the position offset and the angle offset, predict the origin position and X direction of this shaft hole positioning task. Based on the predicted origin position and X direction, adjust the position of the axis shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and multi-degree-of-freedom platform, and record the current position as the predicted position. After the new pull-down rod position is fixed, the position of the axis-shifting trolley and the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform are finely adjusted based on the first visual information and the actual origin and X direction. Simultaneously, the feature markers are calculated and updated based on the actual origin and X direction; The feature marking includes analyzing the physical features of each tie rod's 3D model and matching the physical features with the marking content; wherein, the marking content is the positional and angular offset of the tie rod's vertical centerline from the orifice.

2. The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The gate pull rod of the hydropower station cable-stayed gantry crane is composed of multiple pull rods connected by through-pins in the gate slot opening; The trolley is used to perform a sliding motion at each door slot opening to complete the connection and disassembly. During the connection or dismantling process, the upper tie rod is lifted by a gantry crane, while the lower tie rod is fixed in position. The coordinate system is established with the lower tie rod as the origin. The direction parallel to the ground and along the pin-to-hole direction is defined as the X direction, the direction parallel to the ground and perpendicular to the pin-to-hole direction is defined as the Y direction, and the direction perpendicular to the ground is defined as the Z direction.

3. The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in claim 2, characterized in that: The first visual information includes position coordinates provided by the visual camera arranged on the tilt-shifting carriage for automatic positioning control; A horizontally positioned vision camera, arranged along the Y-direction, calculates its position in the X-direction of the reference coordinate system. The PLC master station on the gantry crane starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the axis-shifting trolley to move along the X-direction until the camera's X-direction coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin.

4. The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in claim 3, characterized in that: The position adjustment of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform includes: the pull rod arranged along the X direction and the hole vision camera calculates its own position in the Z and Y directions in the coordinate system; the PLC master station on the gantry crane guides the hydraulic lifting platform to move along the Z direction until the camera's coordinate position in the Z direction is within a preset range near the origin. The PLC master station guides the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to move along the Y direction until the camera's Y-axis coordinate position is within a preset range near the origin.

5. The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in claim 4, characterized in that: The second visual information includes a horizontal positioning vision camera for the tie rod arranged along the Y direction, which simultaneously captures images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the X direction and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane trolley traveling mechanism to run until it is automatically positioned within a preset range near the Z axis of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod. A vision camera with holes is arranged along the X direction to simultaneously capture images of the upper and lower tie rods. The industrial control computer calculates the coordinate position of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod in the Y direction and transmits it to the PLC. The PLC starts the automatic positioning control program and the micro-motion control program to guide the gantry crane trolley traveling mechanism to run until it is automatically positioned within the preset range of the virtual vertical center line of the upper tie rod near the Z axis. The virtual vertical centerline includes determining the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice in the standard tie rod; and constructing a virtual line for the actual orifice position and angle based on the position and angle relationship between the vertical centerline and the orifice, using the orifice position and angle obtained by the vision camera.

6. The automatic positioning method for the gate rod of a hydropower station cable-stayed gate as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The hole alignment process includes aligning the positions of the upper and lower tie rods by using a tie rod alignment vision camera arranged along the X direction to construct a two-dimensional hole alignment model of the upper and lower tie rods. The two-dimensional hole model includes constructing two-dimensional structural models of the upper and lower tie rod holes in the planes containing the Y and Z directions, respectively, based on the images captured by the vision camera, and extracting the circular edge information of the holes; In the plane containing the Y and Z directions, the upper tie rod is displaced, and the two-dimensional hole model is updated in real time. When the contour area of ​​the hole result increases, it indicates a positive movement; otherwise, it indicates a negative movement. If the hole alignment result is a complete circle without any obstruction, then the hole alignment result is confirmed; if the hole alignment result is not a complete circle and there is obstruction, then continue to move the upper tie rod until the outline area of ​​the hole alignment result no longer increases or the hole alignment result is a complete circle. The hole alignment result includes the hollow portion after the upper and lower tie rod holes overlap.

7. An automatic positioning system for the gate rod of a hydroelectric power station's cable-stayed gate, employing the method described in any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that: The first control unit acquires images of the lower pull rod using a vision camera to obtain first visual information; and adjusts the position of the tilt-shifting trolley based on the first visual information. After the second control unit completes the position adjustment of the axis-shifting trolley, it adjusts the position of the hydraulic lifting platform and the multi-degree-of-freedom platform to determine the position of the pin shaft; it lowers the tie rod and simultaneously acquires images of the gate tie rod of the hydropower station's inclined gantry crane through a vision camera to obtain second visual information; based on the second visual information, it aligns the positions of the upper and lower tie rods during the hole-aligning process. The power unit drives the shifting shaft placed on the shifting shaft platform through an electro-hydraulic actuator to complete the shaft hole positioning task.

8. A computer device, comprising: Memory and processor; The memory stores a computer program, characterized in that: when the processor executes the computer program, it implements the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-6.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-6.

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