JPH0750823A - Underwater television camera system for checking inside of pipe - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To support an image pickup section nearly the center of a pipe to be checked at all times by jetting a water stream from a closer nozzle when a difference of outputs of distance sensor pairs provided around the camera exceeds a threshold level. CONSTITUTION:Let a time till an ultrasonic wave emitted from an ultrasonic wave transmitter 80 is received by an ultrasonic wave receiver 90 is T1, and a time till an ultrasonic wave emitted from an ultrasonic wave transmitter 82 is received by an ultrasonic wave receiver 92 is T2, then in the case of T1>T2 and (T1=T2)<DELTAT (a predetermined threshold level), a controller 12 drives a reversible pump 110 counter clockwise, sucks water from a jet port 100 and jets the water from a jet port 102. In the case of T1<T2, the processing is reversed and the processing is similar when ultrasonic wave transmitters 81, 83 emit an ultrasonic wave and ultrasonic wave receivers 91, 92 receive the ultrasonic wave. Thus, the image pickup section is always kept nearly to the center of a pipe to be checked and a check picture with a level evaluated through relative comparison is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an in-pipe inspection underwater television camera device for inspecting the surrounding conditions in water such as a water pipe and a well whose circumference is cylindrical.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an underwater camera is simply inserted for observation, or a horizontal pipe is positioned at the bottom by gravity.
In the vertical tube, the camera was gravitationally lowered near the center of the tube.

[0003]

In the conventional method, it is difficult to obtain an image with a constant vertical direction and a certain distance, and the defect determination based on the image is always troublesome. The rotation of the image can be corrected by the rotation of the horizontal sensor and the mechanical image pickup surface, but the distance must be corrected by disposing the camera at the center of the tube to be inspected. The comparative evaluation was easy.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, there are provided a plurality of pairs of distance sensors around the camera for measuring the distance to the pipe wall in the radial direction of the pipe, and a camera position control corresponding thereto. A nozzle is provided, and when the difference between the outputs of the distance sensors facing each other exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the water flow is jetted from the nozzle in the direction in which the distance is short and the camera is moved.

[0005]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an example of an in-pipe inspection underwater television camera device of the present invention. 1 is an image sensor / lens unit of the camera head, 2 is a pan / tilt unit that controls the direction of 1, a position control unit that measures and controls the position of the camera head, 4 is a camera head body, 5 is a signal and power source Cable, 6 is CCU
(Camera controller), 7 is a monitor for displaying an image. FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the position controller 3 of FIG. 1 in a direction perpendicular to the cable. 80, 81, 82, and 83 are located around the control unit.
Ultrasonic transmitters provided at 0 ° intervals, 90, 91, 9
Reference numerals 2, 93 denote ultrasonic transmitters and ultrasonic receivers provided at target positions with respect to the ejection ports 100, 101, 102, 103. Outputs of the ultrasonic transmitter and the ultrasonic receiver are connected to a controller 12 having an ultrasonic pulse transmitter and a receiver built therein. The injection ports 100 and 102, 101 and 103 are connected to reversible pumps 110 and 111 by pipes, respectively. The reversible pumps 110 and 111 are controlled by the controller 12 in the rotation direction, rotation, and stop. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an actual usage situation. Reference numeral 1 is an image pickup device / lens portion of the camera head, 2 is a pan / tilt portion, 3 is a position control portion for measuring and controlling the position of the camera head, 4 is a camera head body, and 5 is a signal and power cable. Reference numeral 13 is a pipe to be inspected, and the inside thereof is filled with water 14. Now controller 12
The modulated ultrasonic pulse trains are sent to the ultrasonic transmitters 80 and 82 to emit ultrasonic waves, and the ultrasonic receivers 90 and 92 receive the reflected waves from the inner wall of the tube to be inspected. Next, a modulated ultrasonic pulse train is sent from the controller 12 to the ultrasonic transmitters 81 and 83 to emit ultrasonic waves,
The ultrasonic waves received from the inner wall of the pipe to be inspected are received by the ultrasonic wave receivers 91 and 93. These received signals are sent to the controller 12, and the controller 12 performs the following processing. The time from the emission of the ultrasonic wave transmitter 80 to the reception of the ultrasonic wave receiver 90 is T _1, and the time from the emission of the ultrasonic wave transmitter 82 to the reception of the ultrasonic wave receiver 92 is T ₂ . . Now T ₁ ＞
When T ₂ is satisfied, when (T ₁ −T ₂ ) <ΔT (predetermined threshold value), the reversible pump 110 is rotated counterclockwise to suck water from the jet port 100 and jet it from the jet port 102. . Therefore, the position control unit receives the upward force in the figure and moves upward in the figure, and as a result, the next time T ₁ decreases and T ₁ decreases.
₂ increases. The value of ΔT may be the time corresponding to the distance that can be corrected by one injection. If T ₁ <T ₂ , the operation is performed in the opposite direction. The ultrasonic pulse train modulated by the ultrasonic transmitters 81 and 83 is emitted, and the ultrasonic receiver 9
When receiving this at 1 and 93, the operation is exactly the same except that the direction is different. If the modulation frequency of ultrasonic waves is changed for each transmitter and receiver pair, distance data in four directions can be obtained at the same time, then this can be corrected and repeated, and the processing time can be increased. Can be shortened. .

[0006]

As described above, a plurality of pairs of distance sensors for measuring the distance to the surrounding tube wall and a plurality of pairs of injection nozzles for controlling the position are provided in the vicinity of the image pickup unit, and each pair of distance sensors is provided. By controlling the output from each injection nozzle so that the output difference between the two is within a certain threshold, the imaging unit can be kept almost at the center of the tube to be inspected, and the inspection image from the camera is The thing of the level which can be evaluated by is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing a configuration of an example of an in-pipe inspection underwater television camera device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a vertical cross section of the cable of the position control unit of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a usage situation of the in-pipe inspection underwater television camera device of the present invention.

[Explanation of reference signs] 1 camera head image pickup device / lens section 2 pan / tilt section 3 position control section 4 camera head body 5 cable 6 CCU 7 monitor 80, 81, 82, 83 ultrasonic transmitter 90, 91, 92, 93 Ultrasonic receiver 100, 101, 102, 103 Injection port 110, 111 Reversible pump 12 Controller 13 Inspected pipe wall 14 Water

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of pairs of distance sensors for measuring the distance to the surrounding tube wall and a plurality of pairs of moving means for controlling the position of the corresponding imaging unit are provided near the image pickup unit, and the output of each distance sensor pair is provided. The in-pipe inspection underwater television camera device is characterized in that the image pickup section is always kept in the vicinity of the center of the pipe to be inspected by moving in a direction in which these differences fall within a certain threshold value.