A conveying device for cable protection pipe production

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of cable protection pipe production, and discloses a conveying device for cable protection pipe production, which comprises a rack base, a variable-spacing driving mechanism is installed on the rack base, a conveying supporting roller group and a clamping centering mechanism are installed on the variable-spacing driving mechanism; a visual perception module is arranged above the rack base and faces the conveying supporting roller group; a vibration sensor and an infrared temperature sensor are installed on the clamping centering mechanism. The industrial camera is used for real-time detection of the center line deviation of the pipe material and driving of left and right electric push rods to output asymmetric clamping force, so that the curved pipe material can be actively pushed back to the center of the V-shaped supporting surface in the conveying process, the center line deviation of the pipe material is controlled within 2 mm, and the production problems of the traditional device, such as easy jamming, easy deviation and even sliding of the curved pipe material, are effectively solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of cable protection pipe manufacturing technology, specifically to a conveying device for cable protection pipe manufacturing. Background Technology

[0002] Cable protection conduits mainly include MPP power pipes, CPVC power pipes, PVC pipes, and PE pipes. Their production process generally employs extrusion molding. A typical production line consists of an extruder, a vacuum sizing and cooling device, a traction machine, a conveyor, a cutting machine, and a stacking device connected in series. The conveyor plays a crucial role in smoothly transferring the cooled and sized pipes from the traction process to the cutting and stacking processes. Currently, the conveyor systems in this field mainly employ three technical approaches: first, roller conveyor systems, where several free or powered rollers are arranged at intervals on the conveyor frame, and the pipes advance by rolling or sliding on the roller surfaces due to gravity; second, belt or crawler-type traction conveyor systems, where two sets of belts clamp the pipes and drive them forward through friction, with the clamping force adjusted by air pressure or springs; and third, chain-driven stepping conveyor systems, where forks or brackets installed at intervals on the chain transfer the pipes one by one to the next station. These three methods have relatively simple structures and low manufacturing costs, and are the most widely used in the industry.

[0003] However, the existing conveying devices generally suffer from the following three problems and shortcomings in actual production. First, the pipe conveying stability is poor. Cable protection pipes are long rods with circular cross-sections, relying solely on gravity during conveying and lacking active centering capability. When the pipe has initial bending or the conveying speed is high, the pipe axis is easily deviated from the conveying center, causing swaying or even slippage. This not only affects the subsequent cutting accuracy and stacking neatness but may also cause scratches on the pipe surface or lead to safety accidents. Because the existing conveying devices use an open-loop, purely mechanical support method, they lack the ability to sense the pipe's posture in real time and cannot actively correct deviations based on posture errors. Moreover, the existing equipment is not adaptable to pipe diameters. The roller spacing and clamping mechanism of the conveying device are usually designed for a specific pipe diameter. When the production batch is switched to cable protection pipes of different diameters, the machine needs to be stopped and operators need to manually adjust the roller spacing or clamp position using tools. This is time-consuming, and the adjustment accuracy depends on the operator's experience, severely restricting the flexibility and overall efficiency of the production line. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of the shortcomings of existing cable protection pipe conveying devices mentioned in the background art, the present invention provides a conveying device for cable protection pipe production, which has the advantages of real-time perception and active correction of pipe posture and automatic adaptation of multiple pipe diameters without stopping the machine, thus solving the technical problems mentioned in the background art.

[0005] The present invention provides the following technical solution: a conveying device for producing cable protection pipes, comprising a frame base, on which a variable spacing drive mechanism is mounted, and on which a conveying roller group and a clamping and centering mechanism are mounted; a vision sensing module is disposed above the frame base and facing the conveying roller group; a vibration sensor and an infrared temperature sensor are mounted on the clamping and centering mechanism; and an edge controller is further comprising an edge controller electrically connected to the variable spacing drive mechanism, the clamping and centering mechanism, the vision sensing module, the vibration sensor, and the infrared temperature sensor.

[0006] Preferably, the variable pitch drive mechanism includes a bidirectional ball screw, a servo motor, and a linear guide; the bidirectional ball screw is rotatably mounted on the frame base, the servo motor is fixedly mounted on the frame base and its output shaft is connected to the bidirectional ball screw for transmission, and the linear guide is fixedly mounted on the frame base and arranged parallel to the bidirectional ball screw.

[0007] Preferably, the conveying roller group includes a left roller row and a right roller row, the left roller row and the right roller row are slidably mounted on the linear guide rail by sliders, and are threadedly connected to the left-hand and right-hand sections of the bidirectional ball screw, respectively; a plurality of left-shaped rollers are rotatably mounted on the left roller row, and a plurality of right-shaped rollers are rotatably mounted on the right roller row, the left-shaped rollers and the right-shaped rollers are symmetrically arranged to form a forming support surface.

[0008] Preferably, the clamping and centering mechanism includes a left clamping arm assembly and a right clamping arm assembly, the left clamping arm assembly being fixedly mounted on the left idler roller row, and the right clamping arm assembly being fixedly mounted on the right idler roller row.

[0009] Preferably, the left clamping arm assembly includes a left arc-shaped clamping arm, a left elastic pad, and a left electric push rod; the upper end of the left arc-shaped clamping arm is hinged to the top support of the left idler roller row, the left elastic pad is fixedly attached to the inner arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm, one end of the left electric push rod is hinged to the left idler roller row, and the other end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm.

[0010] Preferably, the right clamping arm assembly includes a right arc-shaped clamping arm, a right elastic pad, and a right electric push rod; the upper end of the right arc-shaped clamping arm is hinged to the top support of the right roller row, the right elastic pad is fixedly attached to the inner arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm, one end of the right electric push rod is hinged to the right roller row, and the other end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm.

[0011] Preferably, the vibration sensor includes a left vibration sensor and a right vibration sensor, the left vibration sensor being fixedly mounted on the left arc-shaped clamping arm, and the right vibration sensor being fixedly mounted on the right arc-shaped clamping arm; the infrared temperature sensor includes a left infrared temperature sensor and a right infrared temperature sensor, the left infrared temperature sensor being fixedly mounted on the left arc-shaped clamping arm with its detection end facing the inner surface of the left elastic pad, and the right infrared temperature sensor being fixedly mounted on the right arc-shaped clamping arm with its detection end facing the inner surface of the right elastic pad. Preferably, Preferably, the visual perception module includes an industrial camera and a ring light source. The industrial camera is fixed directly above the frame base by a mounting bracket, with its lens pointing vertically downward toward the center of the support surface formed by the left and right rollers. The ring light source is coaxially mounted around the lens of the industrial camera.

[0012] Preferably, it also includes an inlet detection area, which is located in front of the feed end of the frame base. A line laser profilometer is installed in the inlet detection area, and the line laser profilometer is electrically connected to the edge controller.

[0013] Preferably, the edge controller receives pipe diameter data detected by the line laser profilometer, controls the servo motor to drive the bidirectional ball screw to rotate, thereby adjusting the distance between the left and right idler roller rows; receives pipe centerline deviation data detected by the industrial camera, controls the left and right electric push rods to output asymmetrical clamping forces for active correction and centering; receives monitoring data from the left vibration sensor, the right vibration sensor, the left infrared temperature sensor, and the right infrared temperature sensor, performs multimodal fusion judgment with the visual data from the industrial camera, and outputs warning or control signals when an anomaly is detected.

[0014] The present invention has the following beneficial effects: 1. This invention enables the automatic adjustment of the distance between the left and right idler roller rows according to the diameter of the incoming material pipe through the linkage control of the variable spacing drive mechanism and the 3D line laser profiler. The pipe diameter can be switched in the full range from φ50mm to φ250mm without stopping the machine or manual intervention. The adjustment time is no more than 8 seconds, which significantly improves the changeover efficiency of the production line when multiple specifications are mixed.

[0015] 2. This invention uses an industrial camera to detect the deviation of the pipe centerline in real time and drives the left and right electric push rods to output asymmetrical clamping force, which can actively push the bent pipe back to the center of the V-shaped support surface during the conveying process. The deviation of the pipe centerline is controlled within ±2mm throughout the process, which effectively solves the problems of bent pipes being easy to jam, deviate, or even slip in traditional devices.

[0016] 3. This invention uses multimodal fusion judgment of the left vibration sensor, right vibration sensor, left infrared temperature sensor and right infrared temperature sensor with industrial camera to enable cross-verification of three types of signals: visual jitter, vibration abnormality and local temperature rise in spatial and temporal dimensions. This improves the accuracy of equipment fault diagnosis from the regional level to the component level, and significantly reduces the false alarm rate and false negative rate compared with the single-modal solution.

[0017] 4. This invention uses left and right infrared temperature sensors to monitor the surface temperature of the left and right elastic pads in real time and adjust the clamping force accordingly. This ensures that the temperature of the contact surface between the pads and the pipe is always controlled within a safe range, avoiding thermal damage to the pipe surface caused by excessive clamping force or continuous friction, and guaranteeing the appearance quality of the cable protection pipe.

[0018] 5. This invention enables multiple conveying units to share the pipe bending curvature and orientation deviation data of the preceding unit via EtherCAT bus, allowing the subsequent conveying unit to pre-set the differential clamping force offset before the arrival of the bent pipe section, thereby achieving predictive and stable conveying of the entire bent pipe section and eliminating the conveying instability caused by segment-by-segment collision correction.

[0019] 6. This invention continuously uploads operational data to the cloud for incremental training and periodically distributes updated models through an edge controller. This enables the device's pipe diameter adaptation accuracy, correction response speed, and fault diagnosis accuracy to continuously improve over time, forming a learning loop and gradually reducing reliance on manual experience for parameter tuning. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the longitudinal cross-sectional structure of the present invention.

[0021] In the diagram: 1. Frame base; 11. 3D line laser profilometer; 2. Variable pitch drive mechanism; 21. Bidirectional ball screw; 22. Servo motor; 23. Linear guide rail; 3. Left idler roller row; 31. Left V-shaped idler roller; 4. Right idler roller row; 41. Right V-shaped idler roller; 5. Left clamping arm assembly; 51. Left arc-shaped clamping arm; 52. Left elastic pad; 53. Left electric push rod; 6. Right clamping arm assembly; 61. Right arc-shaped clamping arm; 62. Right elastic pad; 63. Right electric push rod; 7. Vision sensing module; 71. Industrial camera; 72. Ring light source; 8. Vibration sensor; 81. Left vibration sensor; 82. Right vibration sensor; 9. Infrared temperature sensor; 91. Left infrared temperature sensor; 92. Right infrared temperature sensor; 10. Edge controller. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0023] Please see Figure 1 A conveying device for cable protection pipe production is disclosed. This device, as a complete conveying unit, can be used individually on a production line or multiple units connected in series to form a multi-segment conveyor line. It includes a frame base 1, a variable-pitch drive mechanism 2, a left idler roller row 3, a right idler roller row 4, a left clamping arm assembly 5, a right clamping arm assembly 6, a vision sensing module 7, a vibration sensor 8, an infrared temperature sensor 9, an edge controller 10, and a 3D line laser profilometer 11 in the inlet detection area. The device is arranged along the pipe conveying direction, denoted as the X-axis. An inlet detection area is set in front of the feed end, and the 3D line laser profilometer 11 is installed in the inlet detection area. The variable-pitch drive mechanism 2 and the conveying idler roller group are installed on the frame base 1. The vision sensing module 7 is arranged above the conveying idler roller group. The vibration sensor 8 and the infrared temperature sensor 9 are installed on the clamping arm assembly. All electrical components are electrically connected to the edge controller 10. The frame base 1 is welded from structural steel and has an overall rectangular frame structure. Adjustable anchor bolts are provided at the four corners of the bottom surface for leveling and fixing. The upper surface of the frame base 1 is milled to serve as the mounting reference surface for the variable pitch drive mechanism 2, with a flatness controlled within 0.05 mm / m. T-slots are pre-drilled on the longitudinal beams on both sides of the frame base 1 for mounting brackets of the vision perception module 7.

[0024] Please see Figure 2 The variable pitch drive mechanism 2 is mounted on the upper surface of the frame base 1 and mainly includes a bidirectional ball screw 21, a servo motor 22, and linear guides 23. The bidirectional ball screw 21 adopts a left-right symmetrical structure. The middle section of the screw shaft is a smooth shaft, and the two sides are respectively machined with left-hand threaded sections and right-hand threaded sections, both with a lead of 10mm. The two ends of the screw shaft are rotatably mounted on the front and rear ends of the frame base 1 through bearing seats, and the shaft ends are connected to the output shaft of the servo motor 22 through a flexible coupling. The servo motor 22 is a 400W AC servo motor with an encoder resolution of 17 bits and 131072 pulses / revolution, and is fixed to the end of the frame base 1 through a motor mounting bracket. There are two linear guides 23, which are arranged parallel to each other on both sides of the bidirectional ball screw 21 and are fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the frame base 1. Two sliders are slidably mounted on each linear guide 23, for a total of four sliders. The upper surfaces of the four sliders are coplanar, serving as the mounting surface for the left idler roller row 3 and the right idler roller row 4.

[0025] The conveying idler assembly includes a left idler row 3 and a right idler row 4, arranged symmetrically to form a V-shaped support surface for supporting the pipe. The left idler row 3 includes a left base plate and five left V-shaped idlers 31 rotatably mounted on the left base plate. The lower surface of the left base plate is fixedly connected to two sliders on the left side and is also threadedly connected to the left-hand section of the bidirectional ball screw 21 via a left-hand nut seat. The five left V-shaped idlers 31 are arranged at equal intervals along the X-axis, with the axis of each left V-shaped idler 31 forming a 35° angle with the horizontal plane, so that the pipe is subjected to an upward supporting force and an inward guiding force during conveying. The right idler row 4 includes a right base plate and multiple right V-shaped idlers 41 rotatably mounted on the right base plate. The lower surface of the right base plate is fixedly connected to two sliders on the right side and is also threadedly connected to the right-hand section of the bidirectional ball screw 21 via a right-hand nut seat. Multiple right V-shaped idlers 41 and multiple left V-shaped idlers 31 are symmetrically positioned, with their axes forming a 35° angle with the horizontal plane. Both the left V-shaped idlers 31 and the right V-shaped idlers 41 adopt a structure with a steel core covered by a polyurethane layer. The polyurethane layer is 5mm thick and has a Shore hardness of A85, which balances wear resistance and protection of the pipe surface.

[0026] When the servo motor 22 drives the bidirectional ball screw 21 to rotate, the left-hand nut seat and the right-hand nut seat move synchronously towards or away from each other under the drive of the screw, thereby causing the left idler roller row 3 and the right idler roller row 4 to move synchronously closer or further away along the linear guide rail 23. The spacing adjustment range is 80mm to 300mm, which can be used with cable protection pipes with a diameter range of φ50mm to φ250mm. The entire adjustment from the minimum spacing to the maximum spacing takes no more than 8 seconds, and no machine stop is required during the adjustment process.

[0027] Please see Figure 2 , Figure 3The clamping and centering mechanism includes a left clamping arm assembly 5 and a right clamping arm assembly 6, which are fixedly installed on the left idler roller row 3 and the right idler roller row 4, respectively, and move synchronously with the idler roller rows. The left clamping arm assembly 5 includes a left arc-shaped clamping arm 51, a left elastic pad 52, and a left electric push rod 53. The left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 is CNC machined from 7075 aluminum alloy, and its main body is in the shape of an arc plate with an arc radius R=130mm, an arc length corresponding to a central angle of approximately 60°, and a plate thickness of 12mm. The upper end of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 is hinged to the top support of the left idler roller row 3 by a pin, and can swing in the vertical plane around the hinge point. The left elastic pad 52 is made of a composite material of silicone rubber and polyurethane, with a thickness of 10mm and a Shore hardness of A65. The left elastic pad 52 is bonded to the inner arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 with a high-temperature resistant adhesive, and conforms to the arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51. The inner surface of the left elastic pad 52, which is the surface in contact with the pipe, has multiple anti-slip grooves extending along the arc direction, with a groove depth of 2mm, a groove width of 3mm, and a spacing of 15mm, to increase the friction coefficient with the pipe and avoid stress concentration that could damage the pipe surface. The left electric push rod 53 is a servo electric cylinder with a stroke of ±40mm, a maximum thrust of 500N, a thrust resolution of 1N, and a built-in pressure sensor that can provide real-time feedback on the output force. The cylinder end of the left electric push rod 53 is hinged to the side support of the left idler roller row 3, and the telescopic rod end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51. When the left electric push rod 53 extends or retracts, it drives the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 to rotate around its upper hinge point, thereby changing the clamping angle and clamping force of the left elastic pad 52 on the pipe.

[0028] The right clamping arm assembly 6 is structurally symmetrical to the left clamping arm assembly 5. Specifically, the right clamping arm assembly 6 includes a right arc-shaped clamping arm 61, a right elastic pad 62, and a right electric push rod 63. The upper end of the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 is hinged to the top support of the right idler roller row 4 via a pin. The right elastic pad 62 is fixedly fitted to the inner arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61. The cylinder end of the right electric push rod 63 is hinged to the side support of the right idler roller row 4, and the telescopic rod end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61. The materials, dimensions, and installation methods of all components of the right clamping arm assembly 6 are consistent with those of the left clamping arm assembly 5.

[0029] The visual perception module 7 includes an industrial camera 71 and a ring light source 72. The industrial camera 71 is a 5-megapixel global shutter CMOS industrial camera with a resolution of 2448×2048, a frame rate of 30fps in normal mode or 120fps in high-speed mode, a lens focal length of 12mm, and a field of view of approximately 53°×45°. The industrial camera 71 is fixed to the top of the frame base 1 via a gantry-type mounting bracket, the height of which is adjustable. The lens of the industrial camera 71 faces vertically downwards towards the center of the V-shaped support surface, and the mounting height ensures that the field of view completely covers the support area between the left V-shaped roller 31 and the right V-shaped roller 41. The ring light source 72 is a white LED ring light source with an inner diameter of 120mm and an outer diameter of 180mm, and its brightness is adjustable. The ring light source 72 is coaxially mounted around the lens of the industrial camera 71, with its emitting surface facing the support area, providing uniform, shadowless illumination for the industrial camera 71. When multiple units of this device are used in series, each conveying unit is independently configured with a set of visual perception modules 7, and the visual perception modules 7 of adjacent units achieve data sharing and time synchronization through the EtherCAT bus.

[0030] Please see Figure 1 The vibration sensor 8 includes a left vibration sensor 81 and a right vibration sensor 82. The left vibration sensor 81 is a MEMS triaxial accelerometer with a range of ±16g and a sampling frequency of 1kHz. It is bolted to the upper part of the outer arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 near the hinge point. This mounting position effectively senses the vibration signal transmitted during the swinging of the clamping arm. The right vibration sensor 82 is a MEMS triaxial accelerometer of the same model as the left vibration sensor 81. It is bolted to the upper part of the outer arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61, and its mounting position is symmetrical to that of the left vibration sensor 81. The infrared temperature sensor 9 includes a left infrared temperature sensor 91 and a right infrared temperature sensor 92. The left infrared temperature sensor 91 is a non-contact infrared temperature sensor with a temperature measurement range of -20°C to 200°C, an accuracy of ±0.5°C, and a response time of 50ms. The left infrared temperature sensor 91 is fixedly mounted on the inner side of the lower end of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 via a bracket. Its detection end faces and is approximately 15mm away from the inner surface of the left elastic gasket 52. It is used to monitor the surface temperature of the contact area between the pipe and the gasket in real time. The right infrared temperature sensor 92 is the same model sensor and is fixedly mounted on the inner side of the lower end of the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 via a bracket. Its detection end faces and is approximately 15mm away from the inner surface of the right elastic gasket 62.

[0031] The inlet detection area is located in front of the feed end of the frame base 1 and is equipped with a 3D line laser profilometer 11. The 3D line laser profilometer 11 uses a blue laser line scanning sensor with a laser line width of 60mm, an X-direction resolution of 0.05mm, a Z-direction height resolution of 0.01mm, and a scanning frequency of 200Hz. The laser line of the 3D line laser profilometer 11 is perpendicular to the cross-sectional direction of the pipe, used to scan its outer contour before the pipe enters the conveying unit, and to acquire real-time data on the pipe diameter, ellipticity, and initial curvature. The 3D line laser profilometer 11 communicates with the edge controller 10 via Gigabit Ethernet. The inlet detection area also includes a set of guiding rollers (not shown in the diagram), which are flexibly aligned to ensure that the pipe enters the first set of V-shaped idlers in a proper posture.

[0032] The edge controller 10 is an industrial edge computing controller, equipped with an ARM Cortex-A78AE octa-core processor with a main frequency of 2.2GHz, 8GB RAM and 64GB eMMC storage, and a built-in NPU neural network processing unit with a computing power of 8 TOPSINT8. The edge controller 10 is installed in the control cabinet on the side of the rack base 1. It communicates with the servo motor 22, the left electric actuator 53, and the right electric actuator 63 via EtherCAT industrial bus, and with the industrial camera 71 and the 3D line laser profilometer 11 via Gigabit Ethernet. It acquires data from the left vibration sensor 81, the right vibration sensor 82, the left infrared temperature sensor 91, and the right infrared temperature sensor 92 via RS-485 bus. The edge controller 10 internally deploys a lightweight multimodal fusion inference model. The model architecture uses a CNN convolutional neural network to extract visual features, a fully connected network to encode vibration frequency domain features and temperature features, and the three feature vectors are fused through a multi-head attention mechanism to output multi-task prediction results.

[0033] The working principle of the method of using this invention is as follows: In use, this device is placed after the traction process and before the cutting process in the cable protection pipe extrusion production line, or between the cooling water tank and the traction machine as needed by the process. When multiple devices are used in series, they are arranged sequentially along the pipe conveying direction, and the edge controllers 10 of each device are interconnected via the EtherCAT industrial bus.

[0034] The pipe enters the inlet inspection area from the upstream process. The 3D line laser profilometer 11 emits a blue laser line to vertically scan the cross-section of the pipe, acquiring the outer contour data of the pipe in real time at a scanning frequency of 200Hz, and transmitting it to the edge controller 10 via gigabit Ethernet. The point cloud processing algorithm built into the edge controller 10 calculates three parameters of the pipe within 50ms: the measured pipe diameter, ellipticity, and initial curvature. The guide rollers perform preliminary mechanical guidance on the pipe in the inlet inspection area, ensuring that the pipe enters the first set of V-shaped rollers with a proper posture.

[0035] The edge controller 10 calculates the target idler roller spacing based on the measured pipe diameter D_actual using the formula W_target = D_actual × 1.15. This coefficient ensures that the contact points between the left V-shaped idler roller 31 and the right V-shaped idler roller 41 and the pipe are located at approximately the central angle of the pipe cross-section, balancing support stability and clamping flexibility. After calculation, the edge controller 10 sends position commands to the servo motor 22 via the EtherCAT bus. The servo motor 22 drives the bidirectional ball screw 21 to rotate. The left-hand and right-hand sections of the bidirectional ball screw 21 respectively drive the left idler roller row 3 and the right idler roller row 4 to move synchronously towards or away from each other along the linear guide rail 23. The four sliders on the linear guide rail 23 constrain the left idler roller row 3 and the right idler roller row 4 to translate only along the Y-axis direction, ensuring the parallelism of the left and right idler roller rows during movement. After the spacing is adjusted to the correct position, the servo motor 22 enters the servo lock state.

[0036] Simultaneously, the left electric push rod 53 and the right electric push rod 63 drive the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 and the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 to swing around their respective upper hinge points to an initial clamping angle suitable for the current pipe diameter. The telescopic rod of the left electric push rod 53 pushes the middle of the outer arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51, causing the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 to rotate around its hinge pin with the top support of the left roller row 3. The left elastic pad 52 moves synchronously with the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 to a position that fits against the outer wall of the pipe. The right electric push rod 63 drives the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 symmetrically, causing the right elastic pad 62 to fit against the outer wall of the other side of the pipe. The initial clamping force is obtained from the process parameter table built into the edge controller 10 according to the pipe specifications. The entire pre-adjustment process, from the arrival of the pipe at the inlet detection area to the positioning of each mechanism, takes no more than 8 seconds and requires no machine downtime.

[0037] After the pipe enters the V-shaped support surface, the left V-shaped roller 31 and the right V-shaped roller 41 jointly bear the weight of the pipe. The 35° angle between their axes and the horizontal plane generates an upward supporting force and an inward guiding force, allowing the pipe to initially center under gravity. The industrial camera 71 captures the V-shaped support area vertically at a frame rate of 30fps, and the ring light source 72 provides uniform shadowless illumination to eliminate reflection interference on the pipe surface. The image segmentation algorithm built into the edge controller 10 extracts the edge contour of the pipe in each frame and calculates the deviation Δy of the pipe's centerline relative to the geometric center of the V-shaped support surface. Under normal conditions, Δy is maintained within a tolerance range of ±2mm. The edge controller 10 keeps the pushing force of the left electric push rod 53 and the right electric push rod 63 symmetrical and constant, allowing the pipe to pass smoothly.

[0038] When the bent pipe section enters the conveying unit, the industrial camera 71 detects that Δy exceeds the ±2mm tolerance threshold. The edge controller 10 calculates the differential clamping force correction value based on the deviation using ΔF=k×Δy, where k is the correction stiffness coefficient calibrated through testing according to the pipe specifications and material. The edge controller 10 sends an increase thrust command to the electric push rod in the opposite direction of the deviation and a decrease thrust command to the electric push rod in the same direction of the deviation. Taking the pipe deviating to the right as an example, the left electric push rod 53 on the left increases the thrust, causing the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 to swing inward around the hinge point, and the left elastic pad 52 pushes the pipe towards the center; the right electric push rod 63 on the right decreases the thrust, and the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 moves accordingly. The resultant force of the differential force points towards the center of the V-shaped support surface, gradually pushing the pipe back to the target position.

[0039] During the correction process, the left vibration sensor 81 and the right vibration sensor 82 collect the vibration signal of the clamping arm in real time at a sampling frequency of 1kHz. The edge controller 10 performs sliding window FFT processing on the vibration signal to extract the RMS value and the main frequency of the spectrum. If the vibration RMS value is detected to suddenly increase by more than twice the normal baseline value during the correction process, the edge controller 10 automatically reduces the force change slope of the electric push rod, reducing the force change rate from the default 100N / s to 50N / s or lower, to avoid triggering pipe bounce or structural resonance due to excessive correction. After the correction is completed, the industrial camera 71 detects Δy again. After confirming that the deviation has returned to the tolerance range, the edge controller 10 restores the thrust on both sides to symmetrical values.

[0040] Left infrared temperature sensor 91 and right infrared temperature sensor 92 monitor the surface temperature of the contact areas between the left elastic gasket 52 and the right elastic gasket 62 and the pipe material, respectively, at a sampling frequency of 10Hz. Edge controller 10 calculates the temperature value and temperature rise rate dT / dt in real time. When the temperature of a gasket on one side exceeds 50°C or the temperature rise rate exceeds 2°C / s, edge controller 10 determines that the contact friction on that side is abnormal and automatically reduces the output force of the electric push rod on that side until the temperature drops back to a safe range. This mechanism prevents thermal damage caused by excessive clamping force or abnormal pipe surface conditions.

[0041] During continuous operation, the edge controller 10 performs spatiotemporal alignment and fusion inference on visual, vibration, and temperature three-modal data. All three modal data are timestamped using the IEEE 1588 precision clock protocol and indexed with the transmission unit number as the spatial granularity. The lightweight multimodal fusion model within the edge controller 10 extracts visual features from the industrial camera 71 using a CNN backbone network, and encodes the frequency domain feature vector of the vibration sensor 8 and the temperature feature vector of the infrared temperature sensor 9 using a fully connected network. After weighted fusion of the three features via a multi-head attention mechanism, four sets of results are output in parallel: pose deviation prediction, clamping state classification, equipment health index, and surface defect confidence level.

[0042] Taking idler roller bearing fault diagnosis as an example, when industrial camera 71 detects periodic up-and-down fluctuations in the pipe with a frequency of approximately 3.2Hz and an amplitude of approximately ±1.5mm, and simultaneously right vibration sensor 82 detects an abnormal peak at the 3.2Hz frequency point with an RMS value of 0.8mm / s... 2 Increased to 2.4 mm / s 2 When the right infrared temperature sensor 92 detects that the temperature in the bearing housing area of ​​a certain right V-shaped idler roller 41 is significantly higher than that of the adjacent idler rollers, the abnormal signals of the three modes spatially point to the same idler roller location. The multimodal fusion model integrates the confidence weights of the three modes, outputs specific fault location and severity assessment results, and sends graded early warning signals to the central control room through the industrial Ethernet interface of the edge controller 10: a yellow warning prompts the arrangement of planned maintenance, and a red warning triggers an automatic speed reduction or shutdown command.

[0043] When multiple units of this device are connected in series to form a multi-segment conveyor line, the pipe posture deviation data and bending curvature data detected by the industrial camera 71 of the preceding conveyor unit are transmitted in real time to the edge controller 10 of the following conveyor unit via the EtherCAT bus. Before the pipe arrives, the edge controller 10 of the following unit pre-designs the differential clamping force offset based on the received bending data, so that the left arc-shaped clamping arm 51 and the right arc-shaped clamping arm 61 enter the asymmetric clamping state in advance. When the pipe bend arrives, there is no need to go through the complete delay cycle of "detection-judgment-correction", so that the entire section of the bend pipe passes smoothly.

[0044] During operation, the edge controllers 10 of each conveying unit continuously upload labeled multimodal data, including pipe diameter, deviation, correction force curve, vibration spectrum, temperature curve, and final conveying quality evaluation, to the cloud server via 5G or industrial Wi-Fi. The cloud server uses the accumulated operational data to periodically perform incremental training and parameter optimization on the multimodal fusion model. After training, the model volume is compressed using knowledge distillation technology, and then distributed to each edge controller 10 via OTA channel to update the local inference model, forming a lifelong learning closed loop. This ensures that the device's pipe diameter adaptation accuracy, correction response speed, and fault diagnosis accuracy continuously improve over time.

[0045] Although embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and alterations can be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes, comprising a frame base (1), characterized in that: The variable pitch drive mechanism (2) is installed on the frame base (1), and the conveying roller group and the clamping centering mechanism are installed on the variable pitch drive mechanism (2); a vision sensing module (7) is provided above the frame base (1) and facing the conveying roller group; a vibration sensor (8) and an infrared temperature sensor (9) are installed on the clamping centering mechanism; an edge controller (10) is also included, which is electrically connected to the variable pitch drive mechanism (2), the clamping centering mechanism, the vision sensing module (7), the vibration sensor (8) and the infrared temperature sensor (9).

2. The conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The variable pitch drive mechanism (2) includes a bidirectional ball screw (21), a servo motor (22), and a linear guide (23); the bidirectional ball screw (21) is rotatably mounted on the frame base (1), the servo motor (22) is fixedly mounted on the frame base (1) and its output shaft is connected to the bidirectional ball screw (21) for transmission, and the linear guide (23) is fixedly mounted on the frame base (1) and is arranged parallel to the bidirectional ball screw (21).

3. The conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 2, characterized in that: The conveying roller group includes a left roller row (3) and a right roller row (4). The left roller row (3) and the right roller row (4) are slidably mounted on the linear guide rail (23) by sliders, and are threadedly connected to the left-hand and right-hand sections of the bidirectional ball screw (21), respectively. Multiple left V-shaped rollers (31) are rotatably mounted on the left roller row (3), and multiple right V-shaped rollers (41) are rotatably mounted on the right roller row (4). The left V-shaped rollers (31) and the right V-shaped rollers (41) are symmetrically arranged to form a V-shaped support surface.

4. The conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 3, characterized in that: The clamping and centering mechanism includes a left clamping arm assembly (5) and a right clamping arm assembly (6). The left clamping arm assembly (5) is fixedly installed on the left idler roller row (3), and the right clamping arm assembly (6) is fixedly installed on the right idler roller row (4).

5. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 4, characterized in that: The left clamping arm assembly (5) includes a left arc-shaped clamping arm (51), a left elastic pad (52), and a left electric push rod (53). The upper end of the left arc-shaped clamping arm (51) is hinged to the top support of the left roller row (3). The left elastic pad (52) is fixedly attached to the inner arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm (51). One end of the left electric push rod (53) is hinged to the left roller row (3), and the other end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the left arc-shaped clamping arm (51).

6. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 5, characterized in that: The right clamping arm assembly (6) includes a right arc-shaped clamping arm (61), a right elastic pad (62), and a right electric push rod (63). The upper end of the right arc-shaped clamping arm (61) is hinged to the top support of the right roller row (4). The right elastic pad (62) is fixedly attached to the inner arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm (61). One end of the right electric push rod (63) is hinged to the right roller row (4), and the other end is hinged to the middle of the outer arc surface of the right arc-shaped clamping arm (61).

7. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vibration sensor (8) includes a left vibration sensor (81) and a right vibration sensor (82). The left vibration sensor (81) is fixedly installed on the left arc-shaped clamping arm (51), and the right vibration sensor (82) is fixedly installed on the right arc-shaped clamping arm (61). The infrared temperature sensor (9) includes a left infrared temperature sensor (91) and a right infrared temperature sensor (92). The left infrared temperature sensor (91) is fixedly installed on the left arc-shaped clamping arm (51) with its detection end facing the inner surface of the left elastic pad (52), and the right infrared temperature sensor (92) is fixedly installed on the right arc-shaped clamping arm (61) with its detection end facing the inner surface of the right elastic pad (62).

8. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The visual perception module (7) includes an industrial camera (71) and a ring light source (72). The industrial camera (71) is fixed above the frame base (1) by a mounting bracket, and its lens is vertically downward toward the center of the V-shaped support surface formed by the left V-shaped roller (31) and the right V-shaped roller (41). The ring light source (72) is coaxially mounted around the lens of the industrial camera (71).

9. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes an inlet detection area, which is located in front of the feed end of the frame base (1). A 3D line laser profiler (11) is installed in the inlet detection area, and the 3D line laser profiler (11) is electrically connected to the edge controller (10).

10. A conveying device for producing cable protection pipes according to claim 1, characterized in that: The edge controller (10) receives the pipe diameter data detected by the 3D line laser profilometer (11), controls the servo motor (22) to drive the bidirectional ball screw (21) to rotate, so as to adjust the distance between the left roller row (3) and the right roller row (4); receives the pipe centerline deviation data detected by the industrial camera (71), controls the left electric push rod (53) and the right electric push rod (63) to output asymmetrical clamping force to actively correct the alignment; receives the monitoring data of the left vibration sensor (81), the right vibration sensor (82), the left infrared temperature sensor (91) and the right infrared temperature sensor (92), performs multimodal fusion judgment with the visual data of the industrial camera (71), and outputs warning or control signals when an abnormality is detected.

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