JP6521014B2 - Slab matching method and slab matching system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a slab matching method and a slab matching system performed when a steel slab is inserted into a heating furnace in a hot rolling mill for producing a hot rolled steel sheet, and more specifically, by improving the accuracy of automatic matching. The present invention relates to a slab matching method and a slab matching system that reduces the human load on slab matching and streamlines matching operations.

  Conventionally, in slab matching before heating furnace charging in a hot rolling mill, the charging operator refers to the image of the camera installed on the table on the heating furnace charging side, and rolling instruction data at each timing when the slab is transported Verification has been carried out by comparing with the slab number (hereinafter sometimes referred to as slab number). In this checking operation, depending on the continuous casting machine from which the transported slabs are manufactured and the maintenance line passed, the location of printing (also referred to as marking) of the slab number is different for each slab. Since it is necessary to perform collation while performing operations such as movement and enlargement of the imaging screen, the workload of the charging operator has been increased.

  Therefore, development of technology has been carried out to ensure that slab matching can be carried out reliably in the hot rolling facility prior to slab charging in order to prevent dissimilar materials, and that the furnace loading operation can be automated. The For example, in Patent Document 1, slab no. The slab No. 1 is inserted into the furnace when the slab marked with. The actual slab No. 1 taken by a camera, processed by an image, and read. There is disclosed a method of collating slabs at the time of heating furnace charging which collates two or more items of the slab dimensions obtained by photographing the image of the slab with a camera and image processing and determining the slab dimensions in the transport control device. . Further, Patent Document 2 is used for heating furnace equipment provided with a conveyance control device that performs processing for charging an actual slab whose surface is marked with a slab number associated with slab information whose weight can be calculated. The method includes: a primary determination step by processing of the transport control device; and a step of generating temporary verification slab information for secondary determination by visual judgment of the operator, wherein the primary determination step is calculated based on the slab information Determine whether the difference between the calculated weight and the measured weight of the actual slab is within a predetermined tolerance, and allow the actual slab to be charged into the furnace only within the predetermined tolerance. The step of generating the temporary verification slab information includes: a slab number acquired by imaging an actual slab automatically loaded through the primary determination step; and slab information associated at the time of loading the actual slab; The Collation method of slab heating RoSo Nyutoki is disclosed for generating a provisional matching slabs information stored at to the image display.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-124630 JP 2012-167356 A

  However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, a CCD camera for photographing a cross section of a slab and a CCD camera for photographing a long side surface of a slab are disposed, and the slab No. 1 is disposed on the slab cut surface side. And the slab width and the slab thickness are photographed, and the slab width and the slab length are photographed on the side of the long side of the slab. There is a problem that it is not possible to cope with the case where the side of the slab is marked.

  Further, according to the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, when the slab number is marked on the cut surface of the slab, the cut surface of the slab and the camera for imaging the cut surface are determined by the length of the slab being conveyed. Since the distance is different, when a short slab is transported, the character of the captured slab number is small, and the slab number may not be identified depending on the resolution of the camera. As described above, if a problem arises that the slab number can not be identified from the imaging information by the camera, it is necessary for the charging operator to stop the line and confirm the slab number on the machine side. It had become.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and in the furnace charging side equipment to which a marking location of a slab length and a slab number and a slab whose marking typeface is not constant are transported It is an object of the present invention to provide a slab verification method and a slab verification system in which the slab number marked on can be efficiently and reliably imaged, and the accuracy of automatic collation based on imaging information is improved.

The present inventors, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a camera for imaging a slab number (hereinafter referred to as a real slab number) marked on a slab (hereinafter referred to as a real slab) transported to a charging table. As a result of intensive studies of the arrangement of the image, the timing of imaging, the method of improving the reading accuracy of the captured image, and the character recognition method of the captured actual slab number, etc., the invention consisting of the following points was completed.
(1) The slab numbered at any one or more of six of the front end surface, both side surfaces at the front end side, the tail end surface, and both side surfaces at the tail end side is charged into the heating furnace according to the rolling instruction data And a slab matching method for collating the actual slab number of the actual slab transported to the loading table with the corresponding slab number of the rolling instruction data in the heating furnace loading side facility provided with the transport control device for performing the processing A camera for imaging the marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab and a detection device for detecting that the marking location has reached the focus position of the camera are arranged, and the detection device detects the arrival of the marking location The marking image is captured by the camera whose arrival has been detected at the determined timing, and a captured image covering the six marking locations of the actual slab Step I for obtaining data, and step II for performing character recognition using a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces by extracting the captured image of the actual slab number from the captured image data and reading the actual slab number And a step III of collating the actual slab number determined by the character recognition with the corresponding slab number to determine whether the slab numbers match or not.
(2) The slab matching method according to (1), wherein the cameras for imaging are at least four cameras.
(3) The slab matching method according to (1) or (2), wherein the camera is a camera equipped with an infrared filter.
(4) The slab collating method according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the camera is a camera equipped with a heat insulating hood.
(5) The present invention is characterized in that the step II and the step III are repeated again after adjusting the luminance of the captured image of the actual slab number for the actual slab determined to be negative in the step III. The slab matching method according to any one of (4) to (4).
(6) A slab matching method characterized by performing visual judgment by an operator on an actual slab determined as negative in (5).
(7) The slab numbered at any one or more of six of the front end surface, both side surfaces at the front end side, the tail end surface, and both side surfaces at the tail end side is charged into the heating furnace according to the rolling instruction data And a slab matching system for collating the actual slab number of the actual slab transported to the loading table with the corresponding slab number of the rolling instruction data in the heating furnace loading side facility including the transport control device for performing the processing A camera for imaging the marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab, and a detection device for detecting that the marking location has reached the focus position of the camera, wherein the detection device detects the arrival of the marking location An image captured of the marking area by the camera whose arrival has been detected at the timing, and covering the six marking areas of the actual slab A character of the captured image using an imaging unit for obtaining data, a unit for extracting the captured image of the actual slab number from the captured image data and reading the actual slab number, and a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces An image processing apparatus comprising: means for performing recognition; and means for comparing the actual slab number information found by the character recognition with the corresponding slab number and performing pass / fail determination on whether they match or not. Slab matching system to be.
(8) The slab verification system according to (7), wherein the cameras for imaging are at least four cameras.
(9) The slab verification system according to (7) or (8), wherein the camera is a camera equipped with an infrared filter.
(10) The slab verification system according to any one of (7) to (9), wherein the camera is a camera equipped with a heat insulating hood.

  According to the present invention, in verification of slabs for preventing different material charges performed before heating furnace charging of a hot rolling facility, automatic collation can be carried out accurately by imaging data of slabs before heating furnace charging, The workload on the operator can be significantly reduced.

It is a figure which shows typically arrangement | positioning of four cameras, the imaging region of each camera, and arrangement | positioning of a front end detection sensor and a tail end detection sensor as an example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows arrangement | positioning of the marking location of a slab number, and the heating furnace charge side installation of a hot rolling mill.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
The hot-rolled steel plate is manufactured by heating the slab with a heating furnace according to a rolling instruction set in advance for each slab number of the slab for hot rolling, and then performing hot rolling. Therefore, a continuously cast slab manufactured by a continuous casting machine of a steelmaking plant is cut into a slab for hot rolling of a predetermined length by the slab cutting machine on the outlet side of each continuous caster, and the outlet side of the slab cutting machine After being marked with the slab number related to the slab information by the slab marking device provided in the slab marking device or the slab marking device provided in the slab maintenance line, it is transported to the slab yard of the hot rolling mill. The locations where the slab numbers are marked and the typeface of the markings are marked by the slab marking device of any of a number of continuous casting machines and slab marking devices provided in a plurality of slab maintenance lines. Although it varies depending on the manufacturing history depending on the manufacturing history, generally, as shown in FIG. 2, the marking points of the slab number are left and right toward the tip within 2000 mm from the tip end surface of the slab (hereinafter referred to as TF surface). Six side surfaces (hereinafter referred to as TLF surface or TRF surface, respectively), tail end surface (hereinafter referred to as BF surface), right and left side surfaces (hereinafter referred to as BLF surface or BRF surface) toward the tip within 2000 mm from the tail end It is one of the two. Therefore, in the present invention, the marking location of the slab number is set to one or more of the above six locations. The character size of the slab number to be marked is 80 to 140 mm square.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, when the rolling instruction of the slab 1 accumulated in the slab yard 2 is issued, the slab 1 is conveyed from the slab yard 2 to the loading table 3 and stacked on the loading table 3. It is placed in the state. Thereafter, the slabs 1 described above are transferred to the unpiler table 4 in a stacked state and transferred to the one-by-one loading table 6 by the unpiler pusher 5. The slab (actual slab) transferred to the charging table 6 travels on the pinch rolls of the charging table 6 to the entrance side of the heating furnace 7 and is charged into the heating furnace 7.

In the present invention, the camera is disposed above the charging table 6, and the slab number (real slab number) of the actual slab traveling on the charging table 6 is read from the captured image data by the camera, and the character is recognized And the corresponding slab number preset as the rolling instruction data. At this time, it is desirable to arrange at least four cameras in order to obtain captured image data covering the marking locations of the six slab numbers. The upper limit of the number of cameras to be installed is not particularly limited as long as it is determined in consideration of the site environment, camera specifications, installation cost, and the like. FIG. 1 shows, as an example of the embodiment of the present invention, a camera A for imaging the TF plane of the actual slab from the front end side of the actual slab in the running direction, and the BF plane of the actual slab from the tail end side of the running direction. Camera B for imaging, camera C for imaging TLF and BLF surfaces of the actual slab from the left side in the traveling direction, and TRF and BRF of the actual slab from the right side in the traveling direction It is a schematic diagram which shows arrangement | positioning of the camera D which images, and the imaging area (AP, BP, CP, DP, respectively) in the focus position of camera A, B, C, D. FIG. The cameras A and B have an imaging area exceeding the maximum width 1925 mm of the hot rolling slab at each focus position, and the cameras C and D have an imaging area exceeding 3000 mm in the slab longitudinal direction at each focus position .

Furthermore, in the present invention, a detection device is disposed that detects that the marking location of the actual slab number has reached the focus position of the camera that captures the marking location. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the tip detection sensor 8 for detecting that the tip of the actual slab has reached the focus position of the camera A, and that the tail end of the actual slab has reached the focus position of the camera B The tail end detection sensor 9 for detecting
The cameras A, B, C, and D are preferably black and white cameras in order to perform character recognition of the captured slab number. Furthermore, when a thermal strip with a temperature of 450 ° C. or higher is a subject, halation may occur due to infrared rays emitted from the surface of the thermal strip. It is desirable that an infrared filter for blocking infrared rays generated in a temperature range of 600 ° C. be attached. Moreover, in order to protect the camera from high heat when the hot-piece slab having a higher temperature has been transported, it is more preferable that a heat-resistant hood made of a steel plate or the like be attached.

Hereinafter, the slab matching method of the present invention will be described.
The slab 1 (actual slab) transported to the charging table 6 by the rolling instruction travels on the pinch roll of the charging table 6 toward the entrance side of the heating furnace 7. In the present invention, preferably at least four cameras are disposed above the loading table 6, and it is detected that the marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab has reached the focus position of the camera imaging the marking location. At the timing, the marking location is imaged by the camera whose arrival has been detected, and captured image data covering the six marking locations of the actual slab is obtained (step I). For example, in FIG. 1, the camera A captures an image of the TF surface of the actual slab at the timing when it is detected that the tip of the actual slab traveling on the loading table 6 has reached the focus position of the camera A in FIG. Camera C and Camera D respectively image the TLF and TRF planes of the real slab. Thereafter, at the timing when the actual slab advances toward the entrance side of the heating furnace 7 and the tail end detection sensor 9 detects that the tail end of the actual slab has reached the focus position of the camera B, the camera B The BF plane of the actual slab is imaged, and the cameras C and D image the BLF plane and the BRF plane of the actual slab, respectively. According to the above imaging method, imaging can be performed without leaking the marking portion of the slab number described above. That is, the captured image of the actual slab number marked on any of the six captured images obtained by the above-described imaging method is included. Then, the six captured image data are transmitted from the respective cameras to the image processing apparatus constituting the conveyance control apparatus, and the actual slab number is extracted and read as described below, and character recognition is performed.

  First, the image processing apparatus extracts a captured image of a real slab number from the six pieces of captured image data, and performs character recognition of the read real slab number using a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking fonts ( Step II). As described above, since the typeface of marking of the slab number is marked by any one of a plurality of slab marking devices, it is different for each slab, and the image processing device is a captured image of the actual slab number It is necessary to refer to multiple marking typefaces in order to read and recognize the character of. Therefore, the image processing apparatus uses a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces, and performs character recognition of the actual slab number with reference to the plurality of marking typefaces. Furthermore, in the case of a high temperature slab, the scale on the surface is likely to be exfoliated, and a part of the marked characters often disappears. It is preferable that the document includes a marking typeface that complements the partially lost printing. For example, when a part of "8" disappears, identification with similar "3" is made distinguishable by dictionary registration of a marking typeface which clearly distinguishes the curvature of each character.

Next, the image processing apparatus compares the actual slab number found by character recognition with the corresponding slab number of the rolling instruction data, compares them with each other as a pass, and makes a pass / fail judgment as a pass / fail. Step III).
If it is determined as a pass in the above comparison, the transfer control device performs processing for charging the actual slab into the heating furnace 7.

In addition, since there is a concern about problems in reading the actual slab number from the captured image for the actual slab determined to be negative in step III above, after adjusting the luminance of the captured image, the steps II and It is desirable to repeat step III above.
Furthermore, it is preferable to perform visual judgment by the operator as a final confirmation on the actual slab determined to be negative in the collation after adjusting the luminance of the captured image.

Further, the slab verification system of the present invention comprises preferably at least four cameras for imaging the marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab, and a detection device for detecting that the marking location has reached the focus position of the camera. As described above in the case of a configuration in which four cameras and a tip detection sensor and a tail detection sensor are arranged as a detection device as an example, the camera whose arrival is detected at the timing when the detection device detects the arrival of a marking location The imaging unit is provided with an imaging unit for imaging the marking location and obtaining captured image data covering the six marking locations of the actual slab. Furthermore, the slab collation system of the present invention extracts the captured image of the actual slab number from the captured image data and reads the actual slab number, and using a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces The image processing apparatus comprises means for character recognition, and means for collating the actual slab number information found by the character recognition and the corresponding slab number of the rolling instruction data, and performing pass / fail judgment on whether they match or not. When it is determined that the pass / fail judgment is a pass, charging of the actual slab to the heating furnace is permitted.
Moreover, it is preferable that the camera with which the slab collation system of this invention is equipped is a camera equipped with the above-mentioned infrared filter and / or the above-mentioned heat-protection hood.

  Dimensions are length: 4000-9200 mm, width: 650-1925 mm, thickness: 125-260 mm, Slab number of letter size: 80-140 mm square is marked in any one place of tip side, side, or tail end face 4 sets of high-performance infrared filters with a cut-off wavelength of 850 nm and a heat-resistant hood made of steel plates at the heating furnace inlet side facility of a hot rolling mill to heat the slab after heating at 0 to 680 ° C. The high-speed CMOS monochrome camera (8 bits, number of pixels: 1024 x 1280, pixel size: 8 x 8 μm), a laser distance sensor for detecting the tip of the transported slab, and a laser distance sensor for detecting the tail end As a result of arranging as shown in 1 and applying the slab matching method of the present invention, the work of the charging operator at the furnace inlet side Load (slab ID collation process time) was reduced by about 80% compared with the conventional method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 slab 2 slab yard 3 loading table 4 ampiller table 5 amplier pusher 6 charging table 7 heating furnace 8 tip detection sensor 9 tail end detection sensor AP imaging area at focus position of camera A imaging area at focus position of camera B Imaging area at focus position of CP camera C Imaging area at focus position of camera D

Claims (10)

The slab number marked at any one or more of the tip surface, both side surfaces on the tip side, tail surface, and both sides on the tail surface side is loaded into the furnace according to the rolling instruction data In the heating furnace loading side facility equipped with a transport control device, the actual slab number obtained by reading the slab number marked on the actual slab transported to the loading table and the corresponding slab number preset as the rolling instruction data Slab matching method for matching
A camera for imaging the marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab and a detection device for detecting that the marking location has reached the focus position of the camera are arranged, and the detection device detects the arrival of the marking location Step I of imaging the marking location by a camera whose arrival has been detected at a timing and obtaining captured image data covering the six marking locations of the actual slab;
A step II of extracting a captured image of the actual slab number from the captured image data, reading the actual slab number, and performing character recognition using a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces;
Step III, in which the actual slab number found by the character recognition is compared with the corresponding slab number to make a pass / fail determination as to whether they match.
The slab matching method characterized by having.   The slab matching method according to claim 1, wherein the cameras to be imaged are at least four cameras.   The slab matching method according to claim 1, wherein the camera is a camera equipped with an infrared filter.   The slab matching method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the camera is a camera equipped with a heat insulating hood.   After adjusting the luminance of the captured image of the actual slab number for the actual slab determined to be negative in the step III, the step II and the step III are repeated again. The slab matching method described in any of the above.   A method of matching slabs, wherein visual judgment is performed by an operator on an actual slab determined as negative in claim 5. The slab number marked at any one or more of the tip surface, both side surfaces on the tip side, tail surface, and both sides on the tail surface side is loaded into the furnace according to the rolling instruction data In the heating furnace loading side facility equipped with a transport control device, the actual slab number obtained by reading the slab number marked on the actual slab transported to the loading table and the corresponding slab number preset as the rolling instruction data A slab matching system that matches
A camera for capturing an image of a marking location of the actual slab number of the actual slab, and a detection device for detecting that the marking location has reached the focus position of the camera; timing when the detection device detects the arrival of the marking location An imaging unit for imaging the marking area by the camera whose arrival has been detected in order to obtain imaged image data covering the six marking areas of the actual slab;
A unit for extracting the captured image of the actual slab number from the captured image data and reading the actual slab number; a unit for performing character recognition of the captured image using a dictionary incorporating a plurality of marking typefaces; An image processing apparatus comprising means for collating actual slab number information found by character recognition with the corresponding slab number, and performing pass / fail determination as to whether they match or not;
The slab matching system characterized by having.   The slab collating system according to claim 7, wherein the cameras for imaging are at least four cameras.   The slab matching system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the camera is a camera equipped with an infrared filter.   The slab matching system according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the camera is a camera equipped with a heat insulating hood.

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