Underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment integrating video and sound technology

Abstract

The invention discloses underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment fused with a video-audio technology, and relates to the field of underwater structure nondestructive detection. Comprising a ship body, an underwater robot, a connecting line, a cable telescopic adjusting mechanism, a first positioning beacon, a quick connecting lock catch, a distributed propeller, a solar power supply buoy and a buoy umbilical cable waterproof connector, the ship body and the cable telescopic adjusting mechanism are connected through the connecting line, and the cable telescopic adjusting mechanism comprises a telescopic hanging cable and a cable guiding locking sleeve; the telescopic hoisting cable penetrates through the cable guide locking sleeve and is detachably connected with the first positioning beacon through the quick connecting lock catch; the underwater robot carries a distributed propeller, universal wheels, a sensor rotating holder, a high-definition optical camera unit and an ultrasonic transducer, and the solar power supply buoy is connected with the underwater robot through a buoy umbilical cable waterproof connector. According to the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment integrated with the video and sound technology, all-terrain accurate movement is realized; and visual and acoustic fusion synchronous scanning eliminates a detection blind area.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application relates to the field of non-destructive testing of underwater structures, and in particular to an underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies. BACKGROUND

[0002] The existing underwater structure detection technology has obvious limitations: destructive sampling can damage the original structure and has poor practicability; the multi-beam sonar has a wide detection range, but has low precision and is easily disturbed by turbid water and shelter, and can only identify obvious surface damage; underwater video detection has medium precision, but depends on light and exposed surface and cannot penetrate to detect internal defects; traditional ultrasonic detection can detect internal damage, but has fuzzy positioning and single communication link, and has insufficient endurance and poor adaptability to complex terrain in open sea conditions.

[0003] These single technologies cannot balance detection precision, coverage range and all-condition adaptability, and cannot meet the precise detection needs of offshore wind power pile foundations, submarine pipelines and other marine engineering structures, and an integrated detection equipment is urgently needed to break through the bottleneck. SUMMARY

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to provide an underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies, which realizes precise movement on all terrains; visual and acoustic integration and synchronous scanning eliminate detection blind areas, and the practicability and reliability of all conditions are significantly improved.

[0005] The application provides an underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies, which comprises a ship body, an underwater robot, a connecting line, a cable extension adjustment mechanism, a first positioning beacon, a quick connection lock, a distributed propeller, a solar power supply float and a float umbilical cable waterproof joint; the connecting line connects the ship body and the cable extension adjustment mechanism, the cable extension adjustment mechanism comprises a telescopic lifting cable and a cable guide locking sleeve, the telescopic lifting cable penetrates through the cable guide locking sleeve and is detachably connected with the first positioning beacon through the quick connection lock; the underwater robot is provided with a distributed propeller, a universal wheel, a sensor rotating holder, a high-definition optical camera unit and an ultrasonic transducer, and the solar power supply float is connected with the underwater robot through the float umbilical cable waterproof joint.

[0006] Preferably, the ship body is a water surface unmanned operation platform, and the ship body is provided with a power supply module, a remote control module and a data receiving module.

[0007] Preferably, the cable guide locking sleeve is made of wear-resistant and waterproof material, the inner wall of the cable guide locking sleeve is provided with anti-slip lines, and the telescopic lifting cable is made of high-strength waterproof cable.

[0008] Preferably, the first positioning beacon is a USBLX150 acoustic positioning beacon cabin.

[0009] Preferably, the distributed propeller is four groups and symmetrically arranged in the middle of the two sides of the underwater robot, the universal wheel is a plurality of distributed arrangements on the bottom of the robot, responsible for steering and inclination compensation, and cooperates with the distributed propeller to realize attitude fine adjustment; the universal wheel adopts wear-resistant rubber material.

[0010] Preferably, the sensor rotating holder supports 360° rotation scanning, the high-definition optical camera unit and the ultrasonic transducer are carried on the sensor rotating holder; the high-definition optical camera unit is a 1080P underwater high-definition camera.

[0011] Preferably, the solar power buoy is a double-layer floating body structure.

[0012] Preferably, the underwater robot is provided with a sonar on the top, the sonar is a M750D multi-beam image sonar, and the underwater robot adopts a blueROV2 underwater remote control robot main body structure.

[0013] Therefore, the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment fusing visual and acoustic technologies is adopted, full-terrain accurate movement is realized, the visual and acoustic fusion synchronous scanning eliminates the detection blind area, and the practicability and reliability in all working conditions are significantly improved.

[0014] The technical solutions of the present application will be further described in detail below with the help of the drawings and examples. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] Fig. 1 It is a whole structure schematic view of the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment fusing visual and acoustic technologies. Fig. 2 It is a structure schematic view of the cable extension adjusting mechanism of the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment fusing visual and acoustic technologies. Fig. 3 It is a structure schematic view of the underwater robot of the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment fusing visual and acoustic technologies.

[0016] REFERENCE NUMERALS 1, hull; 2, underwater robot; 3, connecting line; 4, cable extension adjusting mechanism; 41, extension lifting cable; 42, cable guiding and locking sleeve; 5, first positioning beacon; 6, quick connection lock; 7, distributed propeller; 8, universal wheel; 9, sensor rotating holder; 10, high-definition optical camera unit; 11, solar power buoy; 12, buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint; 13, sonar. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The technical solutions of the present application will be further described in detail below with the help of the drawings and examples.

[0018] Unless otherwise defined, the technical or scientific terms used in this invention shall have the ordinary meaning as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains.

[0019] The terms "first," "second," and similar words used in this invention do not indicate any order, quantity, or importance, but are merely used to distinguish different components. Terms such as "comprising" or "including" mean that the element or object preceding the word encompasses the elements or objects listed after the word and their equivalents, without excluding other elements or objects. Terms such as "connected" or "linked" are not limited to physical or mechanical connections, but can include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. Terms such as "upper," "lower," "left," and "right" are used only to indicate relative positional relationships; when the absolute position of the described object changes, the relative positional relationship may also change accordingly.

[0020] Example 1 like Figs. 1-3 As shown, the present invention provides an underwater structure ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies, comprising a hull 1, an underwater robot 2, a connecting line 3, a cable telescopic adjustment mechanism 4, a first positioning beacon 5, a quick-connect lock 6, a distributed thruster 7, a solar-powered buoy 11, and a waterproof connector 12 for the buoy's umbilical cable.

[0021] The hull 1 houses a built-in GPS positioning system and a towed ultra-short baseline receiver (UGPS100). Hull 1 serves as an unmanned surface operation platform, and includes a power supply module, a remote control module, and a data receiving module. These modules provide power to the entire system, send control commands, and receive underwater detection data. The remote control module has a built-in link switching control unit. When the signal strength of the connection line drops below -85dBm, it automatically switches to the buoy umbilical cable link, with underwater acoustic communication serving as an emergency backup link, having lower priority than the buoy umbilical cable link. The data receiving module supports the synchronous reception and categorized storage of positioning signals and detection data. The towed UGPS100 and the first positioning beacon 5 exchange underwater acoustic signals to calculate the relative position of the underwater robot 2 and the hull 1.

[0022] The underwater robot 2 is equipped with sonar 13 on its top. Sonar 13 is an M750D multibeam imaging sonar, used for long-range underwater acoustic communication and underwater structural morphology scanning, while simultaneously acquiring attitude data of the underwater robot 2 (tilt measurement range ±180°, heading measurement range 0-360°). When both the connecting cable 3 and the buoy umbilical cable fail, sonar 13 temporarily stores the detection data (storage capacity ≥16GB), and retransmits it in chronological order after communication is restored. The underwater robot 2 adopts the main structure of the blueROV2 underwater remotely operated vehicle, with a pressure resistance rating ≥10MPa, and is suitable for operation in water depths of 0-100m.

[0023] The connecting line 3 connects the ship body 1 and the cable extension adjusting mechanism 4, the cable extension adjusting mechanism 4 comprises an extension lifting cable 41 and a cable guide locking sleeve 42, the cable guide locking sleeve 42 is made of wear-resistant and waterproof material, the inner wall of the cable guide locking sleeve 42 is provided with anti-skid lines for fixing and guiding the extension lifting cable 41, preventing the cable from loosening or twisting, the extension range of the extension lifting cable 41 is 0-100m, which is suitable for different water depth detection requirements. The extension lifting cable 41 is made of high-strength waterproof cable. The tensile strength is not less than 500N, which meets the mechanical requirements of underwater unit lowering and recovery.

[0024] The extension lifting cable 41 penetrates through the cable guide locking sleeve 42 and is detachably connected with the first positioning beacon 5 through the quick connection lock 6. The first positioning beacon 5 is a USBLX150 acoustic positioning beacon cabin, which can emit high-frequency underwater acoustic signals (frequency 10-30kHz), and the first positioning beacon 5 cooperates with the towed ultra-short baseline receiver UGPS100 to realize the centimeter-level (±5cm) relative positioning of the underwater robot 2. The backup transmission path of the positioning signal is: the first positioning beacon 5, the signal forwarding module built-in the underwater robot 2, the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12, the solar power supply buoy 11 and the ship body 1 data receiving module, which guarantees the continuity of the positioning signal.

[0025] The underwater robot 2 is equipped with a distributed thruster 7, a universal wheel 8, a sensor rotating holder 9, a high-definition optical camera unit 10 and an ultrasonic transducer. The distributed thruster 7 is four groups and symmetrically arranged in the middle of the two sides of the underwater robot 2, each group of thruster has a power of 50-100W, supports forward and reverse speed regulation (speed regulation range 0-3000r / min), waterproof sealing level ≥IP68, pressure resistance ≥10MPa, and is used to drive the underwater robot 2 to move linearly along the preset path. The universal wheel 8 is distributed in multiple groups at the bottom of the robot, responsible for steering and inclination compensation, and cooperates with the distributed thruster 7 to realize attitude fine adjustment. The speed regulation signal of the distributed thruster 7 is linked with the positioning data of the UGPS100, when the positioning deviation exceeds 5cm, the thruster automatically fine-tunes the direction and power, ensuring the moving accuracy. The universal wheel 8 is made of wear-resistant rubber material and has a buffering function, which is suitable for underwater concave-convex terrain.

[0026] The sensor rotating holder 9 supports 360° rotating scanning (rotating speed 0.5-2 r / min), and the high-definition optical camera unit 10 and the ultrasonic transducer (working frequency 28 kHz, longitudinal wave probe type, detection depth 0.1-5 m) are mounted on the sensor rotating holder 9; time synchronization (synchronization accuracy ≤1 ms) is realized through the ship body 1 remote control module unified time service, the spatial synchronization of the ultrasonic defect position and the optical image pixel is realized through the preset coordinate mapping algorithm, and the visual and acoustic synchronous detection is performed through the optical / ultrasonic composite window of the pressure-resistant cabin body of the underwater robot 2. The high-definition optical camera unit 10 is a 1080P underwater high-definition camera, which has a low-light enhancement function and is suitable for dark underwater environments.

[0027] The solar-powered buoy 11 is connected with the underwater robot 2 through the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12, and a backup communication link and emergency power supply are established. The buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12 is designed with a shielded cable and an isolation module, realizing electromagnetic isolation of power transmission and signal transmission, and avoiding interference. The solar-powered buoy 11 has a double-layer floating body structure, the upper layer of the solar-powered buoy 11 is integrated with a solar cell panel (conversion efficiency ≥22%), and the lower layer of the solar-powered buoy 11 is internally provided with a satellite communication module, a GPS positioning unit and a backup lithium battery (capacity ≥100 Ah), which are used to provide emergency power supply and remote satellite communication support for the underwater robot 2. The emergency power supply switching condition is that the main power supply voltage of the ship body 1 is lower than 11V, and the automatic starting can continuously supply power for ≥8 hours, meeting the emergency demand of offshore operation; the floating body is made of high-density polyethylene material, and the buoyancy is ≥500N, which ensures the stability of the buoy in wind and waves.

[0028] The cable stretching adjusting mechanism 4 is composed of a stretching and hanging cable 41 and a cable guide locking sleeve 42, and is used to control the depth and attitude of the underwater unit. The underwater robot 2 is the core detection carrier, and the distributed propeller 7 is arranged on both sides and the universal wheel 8 is arranged at the bottom, the pressure-resistant cabin body is embedded with an optical / ultrasonic composite window, and the sensor rotating holder 9, the high-definition optical camera unit 10 and the ultrasonic transducer are mounted inside. The solar-powered buoy 11 is connected with the underwater robot 2 through the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12, and provides a backup communication and power supply link. The sonar 13 is installed on the top of the underwater robot, realizing underwater acoustic communication and attitude sensing. The ship body 1 is internally provided with a GPS positioning system and a towed ultra-short baseline receiver UGPS100, ensuring the positioning accuracy and link control.

[0029] The equipment deployment and debugging phase, the staff will transport the equipment to the target detection water area, through the quick connection lock 6 to complete the detachable connection of the first positioning beacon 5 and the lower end of the telescopic lifting cable 41, and ensure that the quick connection lock 6 is locked without loosening. Check the integrity of the telescopic lifting cable 41, confirm that there is no damage, aging phenomenon. The power supply module, remote control module, data receiving module built in the ship body 1 are parameter debugged, and at the same time, the GPS positioning system is started to complete the ship body position calibration (positioning accuracy ±1m), the UGPS100 is initialized, the reference coordinates and signal threshold (received signal strength ≥-70dBm) of acoustic positioning are set, and the signal matching with the first positioning beacon 5 is ensured. Configure the link switching parameters, set the connection line signal strength threshold to-85dBm, and the emergency power switching voltage threshold to 11V. Set the underwater detection depth threshold, patrol path trajectory (preset coordinate point through the remote control module), ultrasonic transducer emission frequency (28kHz), and imaging resolution (1920×1080) of high-definition optical camera unit 10; Test the performance of the cable telescopic adjusting mechanism 4: control the cable guide locking sleeve 42 to complete the "loose-locking" action 3 times, verify the telescopic smoothness of the telescopic lifting cable 41, and ensure that the cable is not loose and twisted during the lowering process. Start the solar power supply buoy 11, complete the initialization of the satellite communication module and GPS positioning unit, establish the standby communication link between the buoy and the underwater robot 2 through the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12, confirm that the shielded cable and the isolation module are working normally (no electromagnetic interference, signal transmission rate ≥1Mbps); At the same time, the sonar 13 and the distributed thruster 7 are self-checked: the sonar scanning range is ≥120°, the thruster forward and reverse speed regulation is normal, and the pressure tightness has no leakage.

[0030] The underwater unit lowering and positioning phase, the remote control ship body 1 moves to the detection area directly above, locks the accurate position of the ship body through the GPS positioning system, starts the lowering instruction, the connection line 3 transmits power and control signal to the cable telescopic adjusting mechanism 4, the cable guide locking sleeve 42 slowly loosens, and the telescopic lifting cable 41 drives the first positioning beacon 5 and the underwater robot 2 to be lowered synchronously at a speed of 0.5m / s.

[0031] During the lowering process, the cable guide locking sleeve 42 continuously guides and limits the telescopic lowering cable 41 to avoid entanglement caused by water flow impact; when the underwater robot 2 reaches the preset depth, the first positioning beacon 5 emits a 10-30 kHz high-frequency underwater acoustic signal, and the towed ultra-short baseline receiver UGPS 100 receives the signal and calculates the three-dimensional coordinates of the underwater robot (with an accuracy of ±5 cm); the positioning signal is transmitted through the backup path of "first positioning beacon 5, underwater robot signal forwarding module, buoy umbilical cable, solar power buoy 11, ship body 1", forming a positioning redundancy. At the same time, the sonar 13 feeds back the robot's inclination and heading data in real time, completing the attitude calibration of the underwater robot (inclination deviation ≤0.5°). If the detection area is in a deep-sea working condition, the signal transmission of the connecting line 3 is limited (intensity lower than -85dBm), and the remote control module automatically switches to the buoy umbilical cable link, which is powered by the solar power buoy 11 and provides continuous power and satellite communication support, ensuring the stability of data transmission.

[0032] During the visual and acoustic fusion inspection detection stage, after positioning is completed, the remote inspection command is sent, and the distributed thruster 7 is started. The four groups of symmetrically distributed distributed thrusters 7 adjust the speed according to the preset path, drive the underwater robot 2 to move at a speed of 0.3 m / s. When encountering an underwater structure corner or obstacle, the thruster adjusts the power distribution (the speed difference between the two side thrusters is ≥500 r / min), cooperates with the steering and inclination compensation function of the universal wheel 8, combines the attitude data fed back by the sonar 13 and the real-time positioning data of the UGPS 100, realizes accurate inspection without dead angle, and avoids collision damage; when the positioning deviation exceeds 5 cm, the thruster automatically adjusts the direction and power, and quickly corrects the position. At the same time, the sensor rotating holder 9 starts the 360° rotating scanning mode at a speed of 1 r / min, and the ultrasonic transducer and high-definition optical camera unit 10 carried by it execute the detection operation synchronously through the composite detection window.

[0033] Ultrasonic detection: The ultrasonic transducer emits a 28kHz high-frequency ultrasonic signal that penetrates the surface layer of the underwater structure (detection depth 0.1-5m), and when it encounters internal cracks, cavities, and other defects, it reflects. The reflected signal is amplified and converted into an electrical signal. Optical imaging: The high-definition optical camera unit 10 has a low-light enhancement function, which synchronously captures visible light images of the structure surface and visually presents surface corrosion, crack distribution, and other features. Synchronization mechanism: The ship body remote control module provides unified time service (synchronization accuracy ≤1ms), ensuring that the ultrasonic signal sampling and optical image acquisition times are synchronized. Through a pre-set coordinate mapping algorithm, the ultrasonic defect position and optical image pixel are accurately matched, achieving spatial synchronization. The detection data is transmitted in real time to the ship body data receiving module through the connection line 3 or the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12, with a transmission rate ≥1Mbps. If the underwater robot 2 enters a signal blind area, the sonar 13 temporarily stores the detection data in the built-in storage unit. After the robot is moved to the communication coverage area by the propeller drive, the data is transmitted in time sequence. The UGPS 100 continuously records the movement trajectory, ensuring the integrity of the data backtracking.

[0034] In the data fusion processing and result output stage, the data analysis module of the ship body 1 processes the returned ultrasonic signal waveform, optical image pixel features, sonar 13 attitude data, and UGPS 100 positioning data: matches and calibrates the amplitude and phase characteristics of the ultrasonic reflection signal with the gray scale and texture features of the optical image, and combines the positioning data to calibrate the defect position coordinates (accuracy up to ±10cm), distinguishes between "surface defects" and "internal defects", and eliminates the risk of misjudgment by a single detection method.

[0035] The time delay superposition algorithm is used to optimize the ultrasonic echo waveform imaging, improving the accuracy of internal defect recognition. The system automatically generates a detection report containing defect position coordinates, defect size (measurement accuracy ±1mm), and defect type (surface corrosion / internal crack / cavity, etc.), and simultaneously displays the fused visual detection image for staff to evaluate the defect level. The solar-powered buoy 11 synchronously backs up the detection data to prevent data loss on the water surface platform.

[0036] After the detection task is completed, the remote control cable telescopic adjusting mechanism 4 tightens the telescopic lifting cable 41 to recover the underwater robot 2 and the first positioning beacon 5 to the water surface at a speed of 0.8 m / s; during the recovery process, the cable guiding and locking sleeve 42 is gradually locked to ensure the stable rising of the underwater unit, the first positioning beacon 5 is disassembled through the quick connection lock buckle 6, the sensors and the composite detection window of the underwater robot 2 are cleaned and maintained (the attached silt and aquatic plants on the surface are removed), the waterproof sealing performance of the distributed propeller 7 and the wear condition of the universal wheel 8 are checked; the solar power supply buoy 11 is recovered, the shielding layer and the isolation module of the buoy umbilical cable waterproof joint 12 are checked to confirm that there is no damage and water inlet; the signal calibration of the towed ultra-short baseline receiver UGPS 100 is performed to complete the recovery and storage of the whole set of equipment.

[0037] Therefore, the underwater structure ultrasonic detection equipment adopting the fusion vision and sound technology has the following advantages: the multi-link communication redundancy and electromagnetic isolation design ensure the stable communication in the open sea; the high-precision positioning and the cooperation of the propeller and the universal wheel realize the precise movement on all terrains; the vision and sound fusion and the synchronous scanning eliminate the detection blind area, and the practicability and reliability in all working conditions are significantly improved.

[0038] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application but not to limit it, and although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solutions of the present application can still be modified or replaced equivalently, and these modifications or equivalent replacements cannot make the modified technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the present application.

Claims

1. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies, characterized in that, The system includes a hull, an underwater robot, connecting lines, a cable telescopic adjustment mechanism, a first positioning beacon, a quick-connect lock, a distributed thruster, a solar-powered buoy, and a waterproof connector for the buoy's umbilical cable. The connecting lines connect the hull to the cable telescopic adjustment mechanism, which includes a telescopic release cable and a cable guide locking sleeve. The telescopic release cable passes through the cable guide locking sleeve and is detachably connected to the first positioning beacon via the quick-connect lock. The underwater robot is equipped with a distributed thruster, casters, a sensor rotating gimbal, a high-definition optical camera unit, and an ultrasonic transducer. The solar-powered buoy is connected to the underwater robot via a waterproof connector for the buoy's umbilical cable.

2. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The hull is an unmanned surface operation platform, with built-in power supply module, remote control module and data receiving module.

3. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cable guide locking sleeve is made of wear-resistant and waterproof material, and the inner wall of the cable guide locking sleeve is provided with anti-slip texture. The telescopic lifting cable is made of high-strength waterproof cable.

4. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first positioning beacon is the USBLX150 acoustic positioning beacon cabin.

5. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The distributed thrusters are arranged in four groups symmetrically on both sides of the underwater robot, while the omnidirectional wheels are arranged in multiple groups on the bottom of the robot. They are responsible for steering and tilt compensation, and work with the distributed thrusters to achieve fine-tuning of attitude. The omnidirectional wheels are made of wear-resistant rubber.

6. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The sensor rotating gimbal supports 360° rotation scanning, and the high-definition optical camera unit and ultrasonic transducer are mounted on the sensor rotating gimbal; the high-definition optical camera unit is a 1080P underwater high-definition camera.

7. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The solar-powered buoy has a double-layer floating structure.

8. An underwater structural ultrasonic testing equipment integrating visual and acoustic technologies according to claim 1, characterized in that, The underwater robot is equipped with a sonar on its top, which is an M750D multibeam imaging sonar. The underwater robot adopts the main structure of the blueROV2 underwater remotely operated robot.

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