Pipe belt conveyor material flow detection device and material flow detection method

Abstract

The invention discloses a material flow detection device and method for a pipe belt conveyor. The material flow detection device comprises a linear laser, a linkage shooting system and a signal processing device. The linear laser comprises an upper laser and a lower laser, the upper laser is located above a rubber belt of the pipe belt conveyor and irradiates the rubber belt downwards from top at a vertical angle, and the lower laser is located below the rubber belt and irradiates the rubber belt upwards from bottom at a vertical angle; the linkage shooting system comprises a support, an upper camera and a lower camera, the upper camera is used for shooting an image of a first laser ray emitted by the upper laser, and the lower camera is used for shooting an image of a second laser ray emitted by the lower laser; and the signal processing device is used for collecting the first laser line image shot by the upper camera and the second laser line image shot by the lower camera, performing comparison operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image to obtain the sectional area of the material on the adhesive tape, and determining the volume conveying amount of the material based on the sectional area of the material.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of pipe belt conveyors, and in particular to a material flow detection device and a material flow detection method for a pipe belt conveyor. Background Art

[0002] A pipe belt conveyor, also known as a belt conveyor, uses a conveyor belt as the traction and load-bearing element, powered by a motor. It is composed of multiple rollers that deform to force the conveyor belt into a circular tubular shape. The conveyor belt is driven by friction, thereby achieving continuous material transportation. Pipe belt conveyors are widely used in industries such as power, metallurgy, and ports.

[0003] At the tail end of a pipe belt conveyor, material falls from upstream equipment onto the belt. Since most projects lack precise control over material dropout, the actual material flow rate can deviate from the rated conveyor capacity. Excessive flow rates can overload and damage the conveyor, while insufficient flow rates can waste operating energy. Therefore, operators need to understand the material flow rate on the belt in real time.

[0004] When determining the material flow rate, the existing technology usually uses one or more laser lines to shine downward from the top of the belt, and installs one or more cameras to shoot from above the belt. The contour line of the laser line when transporting the material is compared with the laser contour line when it is unloaded, so as to obtain the cross-sectional area contained in the two contour lines, and then convert it into the volume transport capacity according to the belt speed.

[0005] However, the above solution ignores the changes in the tape's shape when it's empty and loaded. Comparing the empty tape's contour, acquired long ago, with the current loaded contour inevitably results in insufficiently accurate flow rate determination. Even the use of LiDAR or binocular cameras cannot resolve this issue. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a material flow detection device and a material flow detection method for a pipe belt conveyor, which can more accurately detect the material flow rate transported on the pipe belt conveyor. The technical solution is as follows.

[0007] In a first aspect, a material flow detection device for a pipe belt conveyor is provided, wherein the device is provided on the pipe belt conveyor and comprises a linear laser, a linkage shooting system, and a signal processing device;

[0008] The linear laser includes an upper laser and a lower laser, wherein the upper laser is located above the tape of the pipe conveyor and irradiates the tape downward from above at a vertical angle, and the lower laser is located below the tape and irradiates the tape upward from below at a vertical angle;

[0009] The linked shooting system includes a bracket, an upper camera and a lower camera, wherein the upper camera and the lower camera are both mounted on the bracket, the upper camera is located above the adhesive tape, and the lower camera is located below the adhesive tape, the distance between the upper camera and the surface of the adhesive tape is the same as the distance between the lower camera and the surface of the adhesive tape, the upper camera is used to capture an image of a first laser line emitted by the upper laser, and the lower camera is used to capture an image of a second laser line emitted by the lower laser;

[0010] The signal processing device is used to collect the first laser line image taken by the upper camera and the second laser line image taken by the lower camera, perform a comparative operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image, obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape, and determine the volumetric conveying amount of the material based on the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0011] In some embodiments, the bracket adopts a linkage structure so that the upper camera and the lower camera shoot the laser line at the same tilt angle.

[0012] In some embodiments, the bracket includes a door-type frame, a sliding bracket, a camera mounting seat, and a connecting rod;

[0013] The door-shaped frame is erected on the ground of the pipe belt conveyor;

[0014] The sliding bracket includes an upper sliding bracket located above the center of the adhesive tape and a lower sliding bracket located below the center of the adhesive tape, wherein the distance between the upper sliding bracket and the center of the adhesive tape is equal to the distance between the lower sliding bracket and the center of the adhesive tape;

[0015] The camera mounting base includes an upper mounting base and a lower mounting base, the upper mounting base is provided with a hole for mounting the upper camera, the lower mounting base is provided with a hole for mounting the lower camera, one end of the upper mounting base is hinged to the upper sliding bracket and the other end is hinged to the lower mounting base via the connecting rod, one end of the lower mounting base is hinged to the lower sliding bracket and the other end is hinged to the upper mounting base via the connecting rod;

[0016] The middle portion of the connecting rod is hinged to the door-type frame.

[0017] In some embodiments, the tape includes a rolled portion and an unfolded portion, the lower camera captures an image of the second laser line from the rolled portion of the tape to the unfolded portion, and the upper camera captures an image of the first laser line from the unfolded portion of the tape to the rolled portion of the tape.

[0018] In some embodiments, the lower laser includes a first lower laser arranged on the left side of the tape and a second lower laser arranged on the right side of the tape, the endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the left side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the first lower laser on the left side of the tape, and the endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the right side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the second lower laser on the right side of the tape.

[0019] In some embodiments, performing a comparative operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape specifically includes:

[0020] performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line;

[0021] Performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line, respectively, to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line;

[0022] Discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous line in the first image to obtain a first matrix, wherein the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the first laser line;

[0023] discretizing the coordinate points of the binary continuous line in the second image to obtain a second matrix, wherein the second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the second laser line;

[0024] Determine a material cross-section height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix;

[0025] Based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is obtained;

[0026] The cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is subtracted from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0027] In some embodiments, determining a material cross-sectional height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix includes:

[0028] Scaling the second matrix based on a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the first laser line in the first matrix and a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the second laser line in the second matrix to obtain a third matrix, wherein the horizontal length of the second laser line represented in the third matrix is the same as the horizontal length of the first laser line represented by the first matrix;

[0029] translating the third matrix based on a difference between the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the first laser line in the first matrix and the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the second laser line in the third matrix to obtain a fourth matrix, wherein the second laser lines represented in the fourth matrix are vertically aligned with the first laser lines represented by the first matrix;

[0030] The vertical coordinates of the coordinate points in the first matrix are subtracted from the vertical coordinates of the fourth matrix to obtain a material cross-section height curve including the thickness dimension of the tape.

[0031] In some embodiments, the signal processing device is further used to set the value of the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point in the fourth matrix to the value of the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point if the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point in the fourth matrix is greater than the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point corresponding to the first coordinate point in the first matrix.

[0032] In some embodiments, the signal processing device is further configured to use the minimum value of the horizontal coordinate column of the first matrix as the reference coordinate origin, and translate the horizontal coordinate columns of the first matrix and the horizontal coordinate columns of the fourth matrix to the reference coordinate origin.

[0033] In a second aspect, a method for detecting material flow in a pipe belt conveyor is provided, which is applied to the signal processing device as described in the first aspect, comprising:

[0034] Acquire a first laser line image captured by the upper camera and a second laser line image captured by the lower camera;

[0035] performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line;

[0036] Performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line, respectively, to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line;

[0037] Discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous line in the first image to obtain a first matrix, wherein the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the first laser line;

[0038] discretizing the coordinate points of the binary continuous line in the second image to obtain a second matrix, wherein the second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the second laser line;

[0039] Determine a material cross-section height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix;

[0040] Based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is obtained;

[0041] The cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is subtracted from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0042] In some embodiments, performing a comparative operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape specifically includes:

[0043] performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line;

[0044] Performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line, respectively, to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line;

[0045] Discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous line in the first image to obtain a first matrix, wherein the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the first laser line;

[0046] discretizing the coordinate points of the binary continuous line in the second image to obtain a second matrix, wherein the second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the second laser line;

[0047] Determine a material cross-section height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix;

[0048] Based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is obtained;

[0049] The cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is subtracted from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0050] In some embodiments, determining a material cross-sectional height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix includes:

[0051] Scaling the second matrix based on a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the first laser line in the first matrix and a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the second laser line in the second matrix to obtain a third matrix, wherein the horizontal length of the second laser line represented in the third matrix is the same as the horizontal length of the first laser line represented by the first matrix;

[0052] translating the third matrix based on a difference between the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the first laser line in the first matrix and the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the second laser line in the third matrix to obtain a fourth matrix, wherein the second laser lines represented in the fourth matrix are vertically aligned with the first laser lines represented by the first matrix;

[0053] The vertical coordinates of the coordinate points in the first matrix are subtracted from the vertical coordinates of the fourth matrix to obtain a material cross-section height curve including the thickness dimension of the tape.

[0054] In some embodiments, the method further includes: if the vertical coordinate of a first coordinate point in the fourth matrix is greater than the vertical coordinate of a second coordinate point corresponding to the first coordinate point in the first matrix, setting the value of the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point to the value of the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point.

[0055] In some embodiments, the method further includes: using the minimum value of the horizontal coordinate column of the first matrix as a reference coordinate origin, and translating the horizontal coordinate columns of the first matrix and the horizontal coordinate columns of the fourth matrix to the reference coordinate origin.

[0056] In a third aspect, a signal processing device is provided, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled to a memory, the memory storing at least one computer program instruction, the at least one computer program instruction being loaded and executed by the processor so that the signal processing device implements the method described in the second aspect above.

[0057] In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores at least one instruction. When the instruction is executed on a computer, the computer executes the method provided by the second aspect or any optional method of the second aspect.

[0058] In a fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes one or more computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and run by a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the second aspect or any optional method of the second aspect.

[0059] It can be seen that the embodiments of the present application have the following beneficial effects:

[0060] Different from the prior art in which only a laser and a camera are arranged above the tape to collect images above the tape, an upper laser is arranged above the tape to irradiate the tape from above at a vertical angle, an upper camera is arranged above the tape to capture an image of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser, and a lower laser is arranged below the tape to irradiate the tape from below at a vertical angle, and a lower camera is arranged below the tape to capture an image of the second laser line emitted by the lower laser. In the image of the first laser line, the outline of the laser line includes the thickness of the tape itself in the state of carrying material and the height of the cross-section of the conveyed material. In the image of the second laser line, the outline of the laser line includes the thickness of the tape itself in the state of carrying material. Therefore, by comparing the image of the first laser line with the image of the second laser line, the deformation error of the tape caused by carrying material can be compensated, thereby obtaining a more accurate cross-sectional area of the material, thereby enabling a more accurate detection of the material flow rate conveyed on the pipe belt conveyor. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0061] Figure 1 This is a schematic structural diagram of a material flow detection device for a pipe belt conveyor provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 2 is a structural diagram of a linkage shooting system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of a camera mounting base provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 4 This is a flow chart of a material flow detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of a binary continuous line including a laser line provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of this application clearer, the implementation methods of this application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0067] The following examples illustrate the application scenarios involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0068] The embodiments of the present application are mainly used in scenarios where materials transported on a pipe conveyor are detected. In response to this scenario, the "Belt Conveyor Frequency Conversion Speed Regulation System Based on Visual Coal Flow Detection" with the authorization announcement number CN217229150U discloses a coal flow detection device, which is installed on the belt conveyor with a binocular stereo camera, a line laser and a processor. The processor is connected to the binocular stereo camera and the frequency converter respectively. The binocular stereo camera and the line laser are installed directly above the belt conveyor. The line laser is used to irradiate a controllable light beam to the scene being measured. However, the disadvantage of this solution is that it adopts a single-direction visual acquisition solution and does not take into account the collapse and deformation of the belt when it is overloaded. At this time, due to the lack of an accurate bottom line of the belt, the volume of the conveyed material cannot be accurately calculated.

[0069] The "Belt Coal Quantity Detection Method, Device, Equipment and Storage Medium" with the authorization announcement number CN115713496 discloses a belt coal quantity detection method, device, equipment and storage medium. Multiple groups of images of the coal pile on the belt at multiple moments in a specified time period are obtained, and each group of images contains a binocular disparity map and a lidar disparity map of the coal pile; the binocular disparity map and the lidar disparity map contained in each group of images are fused to obtain a three-dimensional coal quantity volume image. However, the disadvantage of this solution is that it requires the use of both a lidar and a binocular camera to work, and the system cost is relatively high. The use of a single-direction visual acquisition solution also fails to take into account the deformation of the belt when carrying the material, resulting in inaccurate acquisition of the shape of the bottom surface of the material flow, and thus the inability to obtain the accurate material flow volume.

[0070] Authorization announcement number CN115900854A discloses an intelligent detection system and method for weighing and estimating particle size of belt ore conveyor materials. The system and method belong to the field of intelligent detection technology and can be applied to different indoor and outdoor scenes. The device is installed based on the existing belt conveyor and does not need to be disassembled and reassembled. The device is equipped with a water spray dust suppression device. The explosion-proof camera is placed on a lifting platform and can move in the vertical direction to adjust the shooting position. The visual weighing function is based on line laser and binocular vision. The three-dimensional coordinate information of the line laser projection is obtained by correcting and matching the left and right images of the binocular camera, and then the volume and mass of the transported materials during transportation are estimated. However, this solution adopts a single-direction visual acquisition solution, which also fails to take into account the deformation of the tape when carrying materials, resulting in inaccurate acquisition of the shape of the bottom surface of the material flow, and thus the accurate material flow volume cannot be obtained.

[0071] In summary, the above solutions all have some shortcomings when used, especially the lack of consideration of the working characteristics of the belt conveyor itself, resulting in insufficient accuracy in the material flow rate detected by the existing solutions. In view of this, it is urgent to provide a simple and easy-to-use detection device solution suitable for practical use.

[0072] In summary, in the existing technical solutions, one or more laser lines are used to irradiate downward from above the tape, and one or more cameras are installed to shoot from above the tape. The contour line of the laser line when transporting materials is compared with the contour line of the laser when it is unloaded, so as to obtain the cross-sectional area contained in the two contour lines, and then the volume transport capacity is converted according to the belt speed.

[0073] The drawback of existing solutions is that they ignore the changes in the tape's shape when it's empty and loaded. Comparing the empty contour, collected long ago, with the current loaded contour inevitably leads to inaccurate calculations. Even the use of lidar or binocular cameras cannot solve this problem.

[0074] In addition, when multiple cameras are currently arranged, the tilt angle of the camera relative to the tape cannot be guaranteed, which will introduce significant errors when using multiple camera images for superposition processing.

[0075] To address the above issues, the embodiment of the present application uses dual cameras to dynamically capture the material flow contour line, and innovatively provides a structural solution to ensure the tilt angle of the camera, and develops a device and detection method for more accurately identifying material flow.

[0076] Please refer to the attached Figure 1 , attached Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a pipe conveyor material flow detection device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device is arranged on the pipe conveyor and includes a linear laser 100, a linkage shooting system 200 and a signal processing device 300.

[0077] The number of the linear lasers 100 is at least 2. In order to distinguish between the lasers arranged above the tape and the lasers arranged below the tape, the linear lasers arranged above the tape are referred to as upper lasers, and the linear lasers arranged below the tape are referred to as lower lasers.

[0078] The upper laser 110 is a linear laser disposed above the adhesive tape and irradiates the adhesive tape downward from above at a vertical angle.

[0079] The lower laser 120 is a linear laser disposed below the adhesive tape and irradiates the adhesive tape upward from below at a vertical angle.

[0080] In this embodiment, the linear laser 100 includes three, including an upper laser 110 and two lower lasers 120. For example, Figure 2As shown, the lower laser 120 includes a first lower laser 120a arranged on the left side of the tape and a second lower laser 120b arranged on the right side of the tape. Since the lower lasers 120 are arranged on the left and right sides below the tape, the laser lines emitted from these two lasers from below can cover the entire lower surface of the tape.

[0081] like Figure 2 As shown, the endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the left side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the first lower laser 120a on the left side of the tape. The endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the right side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the second lower laser 120b on the right side of the tape. Because the endpoints of the upper and lower laser lines on either side of the tape coincide after the laser irradiates the tape, the image of the upper laser line (the image of the first laser line) captured by the upper camera and the image of the lower laser line (the image of the second laser line) captured by the lower camera represent the same cross-section, further improving the accuracy of subsequent material flow monitoring.

[0082] The linked shooting system includes a bracket 210 and at least two cameras. Bracket 210 is used to mount the at least two cameras. In this embodiment, to distinguish between the cameras arranged above the tape and those arranged below the tape, the cameras arranged above the tape are referred to as upper cameras, and the cameras arranged below the tape are referred to as lower cameras.

[0083] like Figure 2 As shown, an upper camera 220 and a lower camera 230 are both mounted on a bracket 210. The upper camera 220 is located above the adhesive tape, while the lower camera 230 is located below the adhesive tape. The upper camera 220 is used to capture an image of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser, while the lower camera 230 is used to capture an image of the second laser line emitted by the lower laser. The distance between the upper camera 220 and the surface of the adhesive tape is the same as the distance between the lower camera 230 and the surface of the adhesive tape.

[0084] The signal processing device is used to collect the first laser line image taken by the upper camera 220 and the second laser line image taken by the lower camera 230, perform comparative operations on the first laser line image and the second laser line image, obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape, and determine the volumetric conveying amount of the material based on the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0085] In some embodiments, the bracket 210 adopts a linkage structure, the characteristic of which is that it can link the shooting angles of the upper camera 220 and the lower camera 230 to ensure that the angle between the upper camera 220 and the tape is the same as the angle between the lower camera 230 and the tape, that is, the upper camera 220 and the lower camera 230 shoot the laser line at the same inclination angle.

[0086] Considering that the contour shape of an object can change significantly when photographed at different angles, if the angle at which the upper camera captures the laser line is inconsistent with the angle at which the lower camera captures the laser line, the resulting laser line image may be distorted. By using a linkage structure to mount the upper and lower cameras and ensuring that the upper and lower camera's shooting angles are the same, the cross-sectional area of the material obtained from the captured images is more accurate.

[0087] In some embodiments, the belt of the pipe conveyor includes a coiled portion and an unrolled portion. The coiled portion is rolled up, while the unrolled portion is flat. In other words, the belt has a characteristic appearance of being coiled at one end and flattened at the other. Considering the characteristic appearance of the unrolled portion of the belt on the pipe conveyor, the camera arrangement is characterized by: the lower camera captures an image of the second laser line from the coiled portion of the belt toward the unrolled portion, while the upper camera captures an image of the first laser line from the unrolled portion toward the coiled portion. In this manner, the cameras capture images from the wide end of the belt toward the narrow end, while the lower camera captures images from the narrow end toward the wide end. This facilitates capturing the full image of the laser line, thereby obtaining a more accurate image of the laser line.

[0088] In some embodiments, the bracket 210 includes a door-shaped frame 211 , a sliding bracket 212 , a camera mounting seat 213 , and a connecting rod 214 .

[0089] The door-shaped frame 211 is the installation base of the entire set of brackets, and the door-shaped frame 211 is erected on the ground of the pipe belt conveyor.

[0090] Sliding bracket 212 includes an upper sliding bracket 212a positioned above the center of the tape and a lower sliding bracket 212b positioned below the center of the tape. The positions of upper sliding bracket 212a and lower sliding bracket 212b can be adjusted based on the actual center height of the tape, ensuring that the distance from upper sliding bracket 212a to the center of the tape is equal to the distance from lower sliding bracket 212b to the center of the tape, thereby further ensuring that the shooting angles of the upper and lower cameras are the same.

[0091] The camera mounting seat 213 includes an upper mounting seat 213a and a lower mounting seat 213b. The upper mounting seat 213a is provided with a hole for mounting the upper camera 220, and the lower mounting seat 213b is provided with a hole for mounting the lower camera 230. Figure 3 As shown, the entire camera mounting seat 213 adopts an articulated structure, one end of the upper mounting seat 213a is hinged to the upper sliding bracket 212a and the other end is hinged to the lower mounting seat 213b through the connecting rod 214, one end of the lower mounting seat 213b is hinged to the lower sliding bracket 212b and the other end is hinged to the upper mounting seat 213a through the connecting rod 214; the middle part of the connecting rod 214 is hinged to the door-shaped frame 211.

[0092] The signal processing device 300 is a computer and network equipment, cables, etc. for collecting images. The function of the signal processing device 300 is to collect images from the camera and process the collected images according to the corresponding computing module functions to obtain the final information feedback.

[0093] Since the embodiment of the present application adopts a linked shooting system 200, even during the operation of the equipment, even if the camera pitch angle changes due to human error or equipment vibration, it will not affect the consistency of the images captured by the upper and lower cameras, and the entire system can still work normally.

[0094] The above describes the hardware structure of the material flow detection device for a pipe belt conveyor. The following describes an example of a material flow detection method implemented based on the above-mentioned material flow detection device for a pipe belt conveyor.

[0095] Attachment Figure 4 This is a flow chart of a material flow detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 4 The method shown includes the following steps S410 to S480.

[0096] Step S410 , collecting a first laser line image taken by the upper camera and a second laser line image taken by the lower camera.

[0097] Step S420 , performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line.

[0098] By binarizing the laser line image, the amount of data required for subsequent line extraction from the image is reduced.

[0099] Step S430 , performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line respectively to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line.

[0100] like Figure 5 As shown, after the binarization process and the morphological process, a binary continuous line 501 of the first laser line and a binary continuous line 502 of the second laser line are obtained.

[0101] Step S440 : discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous lines in the first image to obtain a first matrix, where the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous lines of the first laser line.

[0102] For example, the first matrix is recorded as matrix A, matrix A= .

[0103] By performing the discretization step, the number of coordinate points to be processed subsequently is reduced, thereby reducing the amount of calculation.

[0104] Similarly, the coordinate points of the binary continuous lines in the second image are discretized to obtain a second matrix. The second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous lines of the second laser line.

[0105] For example, the second matrix is recorded as matrix B, matrix B = .

[0106] Step S450 : determining a material cross-section height curve including the tape thickness based on the first matrix and the second matrix.

[0107] Step (1) scales the second matrix based on the difference between the horizontal coordinates of the two endpoints of the first laser line in the first matrix and the difference between the horizontal coordinates of the two endpoints of the second laser line in the second matrix to obtain a third matrix, wherein the horizontal length of the second laser line represented in the third matrix is the same as the horizontal length of the first laser line represented by the first matrix.

[0108] For example, according to the difference L1 between the horizontal coordinates of the two end points of the first laser line in the first matrix = (|x 11 -x 1u |), the horizontal length L1 of the laser bright line in the first laser line image is obtained. According to the difference L2 between the horizontal coordinates of the two end points of the second laser line in the second matrix = (|x 21 -x2u|), obtain the horizontal length L2 of the laser bright line in the second laser line image, and scale the second matrix (or the horizontal size of the second laser line image) according to the horizontal length L1 of the laser bright line in the first laser line image and the horizontal length L2 of the laser bright line in the second laser line image, so that the horizontal length L1 of the laser bright line in the scaled third matrix (second laser line image) is consistent with the horizontal length L1 of the laser bright line in the first matrix (second laser line image), that is, L1=L2.

[0109] By scaling the second matrix, the lower laser line image is aligned with the upper laser line image in the horizontal direction, thereby providing a data basis for subsequent determination of the enclosed area between the two laser lines.

[0110] For example, the third matrix mentioned above is recorded as matrix C, and the discrete coordinate points C of the adjusted image c are re-read = .

[0111] Step (2) translates the third matrix based on the difference between the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the first laser line in the first matrix and the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the second laser line in the third matrix to obtain a fourth matrix, wherein the second laser line represented in the fourth matrix is aligned in the vertical direction with the first laser line represented by the first matrix.

[0112] Specifically, the vertical coordinates of the leftmost endpoints of the two laser lines are subtracted from the vertical coordinates in the third matrix to obtain the fourth matrix. For example, based on the vertical coordinate y of the leftmost endpoint of the first laser line in the first matrix (the coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the first image in the vertical direction of the image) 11 And the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the second laser line in the third matrix (the coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the third image corresponding to the third matrix in the vertical direction of the image) y 31 , get the image difference d=y 11 -y 31 , calculate all vertical coordinates of the third matrix, that is, y minus d to get the matrix C2= .

[0113] By performing the above-mentioned step of evaluating the matrix, the lower laser line image is aligned with the upper laser line image in the vertical direction.

[0114] Step (3) If the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point in the fourth matrix is greater than the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point corresponding to the first coordinate point in the first matrix, the value of the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point is set to the value of the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point.

[0115] For example, if the matrix C2 (the fourth matrix) has a y 4i The value is greater than the corresponding y in matrix A (the first matrix) 1i value, then the y 4i Set the value to y 1i By executing step (3), accidental inaccurate curve fluctuations are filtered out.

[0116] Step (4) subtracts the vertical coordinate of the coordinate point in the first matrix from the vertical coordinate of the fourth matrix to obtain a material cross-section height curve including the tape thickness dimension.

[0117] In one possible implementation, a rectangular coordinate system is established, with the minimum value of the horizontal coordinate column (minimum value of the x-value column) of the first matrix (matrix A) as the reference coordinate origin. The horizontal coordinate column (x-column data) of the first matrix (matrix A) and the horizontal coordinate column (x-column data) of the fourth matrix (matrix C2) are translated to the reference coordinate origin. The vertical coordinates (y-value column) of the coordinate points in the first matrix (matrix A) are subtracted from the vertical coordinates (y-value column) of the fourth matrix (matrix C2) to obtain a material cross-sectional height curve that includes the tape thickness dimension.

[0118] Step S460 , obtaining the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction.

[0119] For example, the cross-sectional area S of the current material can be obtained based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve y and the x-axis coordinate.

[0120] Step S470 , subtracting the cross-sectional area of the material including the tape thickness dimension from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness dimension to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0121] For example, a predefined cross-sectional area for the tape thickness dimension can be calculated based on the tape thickness and width. For example, the tape thickness dimension cross-sectional area S1 is calculated, where S1 is equal to the tape thickness multiplied by the tape width. After obtaining the cross-sectional area S of the material including the tape thickness dimension, the cross-sectional area S1 for the tape thickness dimension is subtracted from the material cross-sectional area S to obtain the cross-sectional area S2 of the material in the current image.

[0122] Step S480: determining the volumetric delivery rate of the material based on the cross-sectional area of the material.

[0123] In some embodiments, based on the cross-sectional area S2 of the material and the conveyor speed v, the Get the material volume flow on the conveyor.

[0124] The method provided in this embodiment uses image comparison of upper and lower dual laser lines to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material, thereby capturing the deformation of the tape after the material is passed through it and improving the accuracy of the detected material flow rate.

[0125] Specifically, unlike the prior art in which a laser and a camera are only arranged above the tape to capture images above the tape, an upper laser is arranged above the tape to irradiate the tape from above at a vertical angle, an upper camera is arranged above the tape to capture an image of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser, and a lower laser is arranged below the tape to irradiate the tape from below at a vertical angle, and a lower camera is arranged below the tape to capture an image of the second laser line emitted by the lower laser. In the image of the first laser line, the outline of the laser line includes the thickness of the tape itself in the state of carrying material and the height of the cross-section of the conveyed material. In the image of the second laser line, the outline of the laser line includes the thickness of the tape itself in the state of carrying material. Therefore, by comparing the image of the first laser line with the image of the second laser line, the deformation error of the tape caused by carrying material can be compensated, thereby obtaining a more accurate cross-sectional area of the material, thereby enabling more accurate detection of the material flow rate conveyed on the pipe belt conveyor.

[0126] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. The same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referenced to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments.

[0127] A refers to B, which means that A is the same as B or A is a simple variant of B.

[0128] The terms "first" and "second" in the description and claims of the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order of objects, and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance. For example, the terms "first laser line" and "second laser line" are used to distinguish different laser lines, not to describe a specific order of laser lines, and should not be construed as implying that the first laser line is more important than the second laser line.

[0129] The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, they can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, hard disk, tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state drive (SSD)).

[0130] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A material flow detection device for a pipe belt conveyor, characterized in that: The device is installed on a pipe belt conveyor, and includes a linear laser, a linkage shooting system and a signal processing device; The linear laser includes an upper laser and a lower laser, wherein the upper laser is located above the tape of the pipe conveyor and irradiates the tape downward from above at a vertical angle, and the lower laser is located below the tape and irradiates the tape upward from below at a vertical angle; The linked shooting system includes a bracket, an upper camera and a lower camera, wherein the upper camera and the lower camera are both mounted on the bracket, the upper camera is located above the adhesive tape, and the lower camera is located below the adhesive tape, the distance between the upper camera and the surface of the adhesive tape is the same as the distance between the lower camera and the surface of the adhesive tape, the upper camera is used to capture an image of a first laser line emitted by the upper laser, and the lower camera is used to capture an image of a second laser line emitted by the lower laser; The signal processing device is used to collect the first laser line image taken by the upper camera and the second laser line image taken by the lower camera, perform a comparative operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image, obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape, and determine the volumetric conveying amount of the material based on the cross-sectional area of the material.

2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The bracket adopts a linkage structure so that the upper camera and the lower camera can shoot the laser line at the same tilt angle.

3. The device according to claim 2, characterized in that The bracket includes a door-shaped frame, a sliding bracket, a camera mounting seat and a connecting rod; The door-shaped frame is erected on the ground of the pipe belt conveyor; The sliding bracket includes an upper sliding bracket located above the center of the adhesive tape and a lower sliding bracket located below the center of the adhesive tape, wherein the distance between the upper sliding bracket and the center of the adhesive tape is equal to the distance between the lower sliding bracket and the center of the adhesive tape; The camera mounting base includes an upper mounting base and a lower mounting base, the upper mounting base is provided with a hole for mounting the upper camera, the lower mounting base is provided with a hole for mounting the lower camera, one end of the upper mounting base is hinged to the upper sliding bracket and the other end is hinged to the lower mounting base via the connecting rod, one end of the lower mounting base is hinged to the lower sliding bracket and the other end is hinged to the upper mounting base via the connecting rod; The middle portion of the connecting rod is hinged to the door-type frame.

4. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The tape includes a rolled portion and an unfolded portion. The lower camera captures an image of the second laser line from the rolled portion to the unfolded portion, and the upper camera captures an image of the first laser line from the unfolded portion to the rolled portion.

5. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The lower laser includes a first lower laser arranged on the left side of the tape and a second lower laser arranged on the right side of the tape. The endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the left side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the first lower laser on the left side of the tape. The endpoint of the first laser line emitted by the upper laser on the right side of the tape coincides with the endpoint of the second laser line emitted by the second lower laser on the right side of the tape.

6. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that The performing a comparative operation on the first laser line image and the second laser line image to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material on the tape specifically includes: performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line; Performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line, respectively, to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line; Discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous line in the first image to obtain a first matrix, wherein the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the first laser line; discretizing the coordinate points of the binary continuous line in the second image to obtain a second matrix, wherein the second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the second laser line; Determine a material cross-section height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix; Based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is obtained; The cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is subtracted from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The determining of the material cross-section height curve including the tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix includes: Scaling the second matrix based on a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the first laser line in the first matrix and a difference between horizontal coordinates of two endpoints of the second laser line in the second matrix to obtain a third matrix, wherein the horizontal length of the second laser line represented in the third matrix is the same as the horizontal length of the first laser line represented by the first matrix; translating the third matrix based on a difference between the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the first laser line in the first matrix and the vertical coordinate of the leftmost endpoint of the second laser line in the third matrix to obtain a fourth matrix, wherein the second laser lines represented in the fourth matrix are vertically aligned with the first laser lines represented by the first matrix; The vertical coordinates of the coordinate points in the first matrix are subtracted from the vertical coordinates of the fourth matrix to obtain a material cross-section height curve including the thickness dimension of the tape.

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that The signal processing device is further configured to set the value of the vertical coordinate of a first coordinate point in the fourth matrix to the value of the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point corresponding to the first coordinate point in the first matrix if the vertical coordinate of the first coordinate point is greater than the vertical coordinate of the second coordinate point corresponding to the first coordinate point in the first matrix.

9. A method for detecting material flow of a pipe belt conveyor, characterized in that: The signal processing device according to claim 1, comprising: Acquire a first laser line image captured by the upper camera and a second laser line image captured by the lower camera; performing binarization processing on the first laser line image and the second laser line image respectively to obtain a binarized image of the first laser line and a binarized image of the second laser line; Performing morphological processing on the binary image of the first laser line and the binary image of the second laser line, respectively, to obtain a first image and a second image, wherein the first image includes the binary continuous lines of the first laser line and the second image includes the binary continuous lines of the second laser line; Discretizing the coordinate points in the binary continuous line in the first image to obtain a first matrix, wherein the first matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the first laser line; discretizing the coordinate points of the binary continuous line in the second image to obtain a second matrix, wherein the second matrix includes the horizontal coordinate and the vertical coordinate of each coordinate point in the binary continuous line of the second laser line; Determine a material cross-section height curve including a tape thickness dimension based on the first matrix and the second matrix; Based on the area enclosed by the material cross-sectional height curve and the horizontal direction, the cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is obtained; The cross-sectional area of the material including the thickness of the tape is subtracted from the cross-sectional area of the tape thickness to obtain the cross-sectional area of the material.

10. A signal processing device, characterized in that: The signal processing device includes: a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory stores at least one computer program instruction, and the at least one computer program instruction is loaded and executed by the processor, so that the signal processing device implements the method according to claim 9.

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