KR102453369B1 - Camera lens automatic cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

It relates to a camera lens automatic cleaning device for periodically and automatically cleaning a camera lens provided inside a lighting member as a photographing means mounted on a robot, etc., comprising: a blanket for holding the camera in a housing; provided on the outer periphery of the blanket a lighting member and a cleaning module mounted on the blanket and automatically cleaning the lens, wherein the cleaning module includes a pneumatic discharge unit provided in the blanket, a pneumatic supply member for supplying air pressure to the pneumatic discharge unit, and the pneumatic supply member and a control unit for controlling a, wherein the pneumatic outlet is provided with a step difference from the blanket to maintain the angle of view of the lens, and a plurality of pneumatic outlets are provided in the pneumatic outlet, and in the plurality of pneumatic outlets, a predetermined By providing a structure including a structure for discharging air pressure at time intervals, it is possible to prevent foreign substances from adhering to the lens and the lighting member.

Description

Camera lens automatic cleaning device

The present invention relates to a camera lens automatic cleaning apparatus for automatically cleaning a lens part of a camera mounted on a photographing or monitoring device of a robot, and in particular, as a photographing means mounted on a robot, etc. using an air blanket, the inside of a lighting member It relates to a camera lens automatic cleaning device for periodically and automatically cleaning the lens of the camera provided in the.

In general, in order to wash the lens mounted on the camera, it is necessary to always carry a cleaning cloth, and if you use anything other than the cleaning cloth, there is a fear that the lens may be scratched.

In addition, in order to obtain work information (start point information, end point information, etc.) for robots, a position recognition camera, for example, a vision camera from a cantry robot system for welding is provided. A cover is provided to improve the quality of the captured image by blocking the inflow of the back and preventing the vision camera angle from being contaminated.

In such a vision camera, the lens part cannot be cleaned, and the cover is only configured to move in translation by the air cylinder. There was a problem that it was difficult to manage. That is, there was a problem that the operator had to periodically clean the camera part.

On the other hand, in order to remove contaminants from a camera part, such as a CCTV mounted on the ceiling or upper part of a wall of a building, there is a problem that the operator has to use a holding rod provided with a handle.

An example of a technique for solving this problem is disclosed in Documents 1 to 3, etc.

For example, in Patent Document 1 below, a lens washing unit for washing the lens of the rear monitoring camera is installed in front of the vehicle camera lens, and a washer liquid injection unit for spraying the washer liquid to the lens of the vehicle rear monitoring camera is installed in the lower part of the camera, By installing a blower fan that dries the washer fluid, when the car ignition switch is turned on and the washing switch is turned on while the rear detection switch is on, the lens cleaning unit cleans the camera lens and the washer fluid is sprayed from the washer fluid injection unit to the camera lens Then, wind is blown from the blowing fan to the camera lens to dry the washer fluid and at the same time blow away dust to automatically clean the rear monitoring camera.

In addition, in Patent Document 2 below, a camera is mounted inside a camera housing with a front glass window, and the camera housing is formed as a double wall composed of an inner wall and an outer wall to form an air supply path between the inner and outer walls, and the air supply path An air supply port equipped with a filter inside and an air injection port introduced to the surface of the glass window are respectively formed at both ends of the front and rear, and a blower fan connected with a timer is installed in the air supply port for the dust removal device of the camera housing using airflow has been disclosed for

On the other hand, in Patent Document 3 below, as a tank having at least one wall, a tank forming an interior containing a liquid and one or more parts to be treated, one or more ultrasonic transducers providing ultrasonic energy to the inside of the tank, and parallel to each other an air blanket reflector having a first face panel and a second face panel, wherein the first face panel and the second face panel are parallel to the walls of the tank, the first face panel and the the second face panel defines a cavity containing air, the entire second face panel is positioned adjacent a wall of the tank, the thickness of the first face panel is less than a wall thickness of the tank, the air blanket A reflector is disclosed for a processing apparatus comprising an air blanket reflector extending upwardly above the surface of the liquid in the tank and having a venting at the top of the cavity.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 1997-0057846 (published on July 31, 1997) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-0189288 (Registered on January 15, 1999) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1833948 (registered on February 23, 2018)

In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 as described above, a washer liquid spraying unit for spraying a washer liquid is applied, but there is a problem that it cannot be applied to, for example, a camera provided as a photographing means of a robot.

In addition, in the technology disclosed in Patent Document 2, in the dust removal device for a CCTV camera, a blower fan and an air supply path must be installed inside the camera housing, respectively, so the manufacturing cost increases, and there is a problem that the camera lens part cannot be washed directly. there was.

On the other hand, the air blanket reflector disclosed in Patent Document 3 is useful in ultrasonic applications such as heat exchanger cleaning of refineries, cleaning of dairy equipment, and cleaning of pulp processing equipment, but the problem that the lens part of the camera cannot be directly cleaned there was

It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera lens automatic cleaning device capable of automatically and periodically cleaning a lens part of a camera provided inside a lighting member as a photographing means of a robot will be.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a camera lens automatic cleaning apparatus capable of preventing foreign substances from adhering to a lens portion and a lighting member of a camera.

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus for automatically cleaning a camera lens according to the present invention is an apparatus for automatically cleaning a lens part of a camera mounted on a photographing or monitoring device, a blanket for holding the camera in a housing, and an outer periphery of the blanket and a cleaning module mounted on the blanket and mounted on the blanket, wherein the cleaning module includes a pneumatic discharge unit provided in the blanket, a pneumatic supply member for supplying air pressure to the pneumatic discharge unit, the pneumatic a control unit for controlling the supply member, wherein the pneumatic discharge unit is provided with a step difference from the blanket to maintain the angle of view of the lens, the pneumatic discharge unit is provided with a plurality of pneumatic outlets, and in the plurality of pneumatic outlets It is characterized in that the pneumatic pressure is discharged at predetermined time intervals.

In addition, in the automatic camera lens cleaning device according to the present invention, the lighting member is characterized in that provided with a plurality of LEDs to surround the lens.

In addition, in the automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, the pneumatic supply member includes a pneumatic tank maintaining a pneumatic state, a pneumatic pipe connected to the pneumatic discharge unit, and a solenoid valve for supplying or blocking pneumatic pressure from the pneumatic tank to the pneumatic pipe. It is characterized in that it includes.

Also, in the automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, the plurality of pneumatic outlets are provided to discharge air pressure toward the lens.

In addition, in the camera lens automatic cleaning device according to the present invention, the plurality of pneumatic outlets are characterized in that provided to discharge the pneumatic pressure toward the periphery of the lens.

As described above, according to the automatic camera lens cleaning device according to the present invention, a plurality of outlets for discharging air pressure to the photographing means of the robot are provided in the pneumatic outlet, and the lens by controlling the pneumatic supply member for supplying air pressure The effect is obtained that the lens can be cleaned periodically and automatically without damage to the lens.

In addition, according to the automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus according to the present invention, by providing a plurality of outlets for discharging air pressure toward the periphery of the lens, it is possible to prevent foreign substances from adhering to the lens and the lighting member.

1 is a front view of a camera housing to which an automatic camera lens cleaning device of the present invention is applied;
2 is a block diagram of an automatic camera lens cleaning device of the present invention;
Figure 3 is a perspective view for explaining the internal state of the blanket shown in Figure 2;
4 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the pneumatic discharge unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention;
5 is a view showing an example of the arrangement state of the pneumatic discharge unit shown in FIG. 4;
6 is a view showing another example of the arrangement state of the pneumatic discharge unit shown in FIG.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the description of the present specification and accompanying drawings.

As used herein, the term “pneumatic” means compressed air discharged toward the lens, and “cleaning of the lens” means removing or preventing foreign matter from adhering to the lens, for example, during operation in a robot equipped with a camera. "angle of view" means the field of view of a scene that can be captured by the lens of the camera.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a front view of a camera housing to which an automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a structural block diagram of an automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for example, the camera lens automatic cleaning apparatus according to the present invention includes a lens 10 of a camera 20 on a blanket 30 provided in a housing 100 of a vision camera mounted on a robot. ) is mounted, and a cleaning module for automatically cleaning the lens 10 is provided.

That is, the automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for automatically cleaning the lens 10 part of a camera mounted on a photographing or monitoring apparatus, and is made of a metal material such as aluminum or stainless steel, as shown in FIG. 2 . and a blanket 30 for holding the camera 20 in the housing 100, a lighting member 200 provided on the outer periphery of the blanket 30, and the blanket 30, the camera 20 Includes a cleaning module for automatically cleaning the lens (10) provided in the.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the washing module includes a pneumatic discharge unit 40 provided in the blanket 30 , a pneumatic supply member for supplying air pressure to the pneumatic discharge unit 40 , and a control unit for controlling the pneumatic supply member (80), wherein the pneumatic supply member is a pneumatic tank (70) for maintaining a pneumatic state, a pneumatic pipe (50) connected to the pneumatic discharge unit (40), and the pneumatic pipe (50) in the pneumatic tank (70) ) includes a solenoid valve 60 for supplying or blocking the pneumatic pressure.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the pneumatic discharge unit 40 is provided with a step difference from the blanket 30 in order to maintain the angle of view A of the lens 10 . The size of the step can be changed according to the angle of view of the lens, and it is sufficient to maintain the angle of view of the lens, and is not limited to a specific size.

A plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 are provided in the pneumatic outlet 40 , and the pneumatic outlets 41 discharge pneumatic pressure at predetermined time intervals. That is, the pneumatic outlet 40 has a hollow inside to guide the pneumatic pressure to the plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 , and is provided in an approximately circular shape at a position out of the range of the angle of view of the lens 10 . ) is mounted on the blanket 30 so as not to interfere with the shooting or monitoring area.

The control unit 80 controls the solenoid valve 60 to discharge the pneumatic pressure toward the lens 10 under a predetermined condition, that is, at a predetermined time interval, and also controls the pressure state and the pneumatic state in the pneumatic tank 70 . To this end, the control unit 80 may include a microprocessor and a memory. A necessary power may be supplied to the solenoid valve 60 and the control unit 80 by a power supply unit (not shown).

As described above, in the automatic camera lens cleaning device according to the present invention, the opening and closing of the solenoid valve 60 is performed at a predetermined time interval, for example, at 1 minute intervals by the control unit 80 according to the operating state of the camera 20 . By automatically controlling, it is possible to maintain the lens 10 of the camera 20 in an optimal state in which foreign substances are not attached. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, it may be manually controlled by an administrator according to a photographing or monitoring state according to the working conditions of the robot.

The lighting member 200 includes a plurality of elements to surround the lens 10, as shown in FIG. It is provided with LEDs. Although FIG. 1 shows a structure in which 12 LEDs are mounted along the periphery of the substantially rectangular housing 100 , it is not limited thereto and may be variably mounted according to the illuminance of the LED, the size of the housing 100 , and the like.

Next, the structure of the pneumatic discharge unit 40 applied to the automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2 according to FIGS. 3 to 6 .

Figure 3 is a perspective view for explaining the internal state of the blanket shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the pneumatic discharge unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is the pneumatic discharge shown in Figure 4 It is a figure which shows an example of the arrangement|positioning state of a part.

A plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 for discharging air pressure toward the lens 10 from the inside of the blanket 30 are provided in the pneumatic outlet 40 according to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 . In FIGS. 3 and 4 , the eight outlets are formed in pairs to show a structure provided at intervals of 90 degrees, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and the pneumatic outlets 41 may be provided at intervals of 60 degrees or 120 degrees, etc. .

That is, as shown in FIG. 5 , the pneumatic outlet 40 is provided with a plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 for discharging air pressure toward the lens 10 . Accordingly, since the pneumatic pressure discharged from the plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 is discharged toward the lens 10 as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5 , foreign substances adhering to the lens 10 can be easily removed.

In addition, the pneumatic discharge unit according to the present invention may be provided in a structure as shown in FIG. 6 is a view showing another example of the arrangement state of the pneumatic discharge unit shown in FIG.

That is, the pneumatic outlet 40 according to the present invention may be provided with a plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 for discharging air pressure toward the periphery of the lens 10 as shown in FIG. 6 . That is, as shown in Fig. 6, the pneumatic outlet 41 is provided to discharge the air pressure toward the periphery of the lens 10, so for example, it is possible to block foreign objects from approaching the lens 10 during the operation of the robot. can In addition, since the pneumatic outlet 41 is provided toward the periphery of the lens 10 , it is possible to prevent foreign substances from adhering to the lighting member 200 provided in the housing 100 . Accordingly, the lens 10 may be maintained in an initial state in which the camera 20 is provided. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5 , the problem that damage to the lens 10 may occur due to pneumatic pressure in the structure discharged toward the lens 10 can also be solved.

Meanwhile, in FIGS. 5 and 6 , the structure in which a plurality of pneumatic outlets 41 are provided at intervals of 90 degrees in the pneumatic outlet 40 has been described, but the pneumatic outlet 40 is directed toward the lens 10 . A structure in which one pneumatic outlet for discharging the pneumatic pressure is provided, and an exhaust port for discharging the pneumatic pressure discharged from the pneumatic outlet at the upper portion of the housing 100 may be applied.

That is, the pneumatic outlet provided in the pneumatic outlet 40 may be provided, for example, in an arc shape along the inner periphery of the blanket 30 . Accordingly, since the pneumatic pressure is discharged in the arc direction of the upper portion of the lens 10 , the foreign matter is removed from the upper portion of the lens 10 to the lower portion, and the removed foreign material is discharged through an exhaust port provided on the upper portion of the housing 100 . Foreign substances in (100) may also be removed. In addition, the exhaust port may be provided on the side or bottom of the housing 100 .

The invention made by the present inventors has been described in detail according to the above embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

By using the camera lens automatic cleaning device according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent foreign substances from adhering to the lens and the lighting member.

10: lens
20 : camera
30: blanket
40: air outlet

Claims (5)

A device for automatically cleaning the lens and lighting part of a camera mounted on a photographing device during work on a robot with a camera attached thereto,
a blanket that holds the camera within the housing;
a lighting member provided on the outer periphery of the blanket; and
a cleaning module mounted on the blanket and automatically cleaning the lens and the lighting member;
The lighting member is provided with a plurality of LEDs to surround the lens,
The washing module includes a pneumatic discharge unit provided in the blanket, a pneumatic supply member for supplying air pressure to the pneumatic discharge unit, and a control unit for controlling the pneumatic supply member,
The pneumatic discharge unit is provided with a step difference from the blanket to maintain the angle of view of the lens, and discharges air pressure toward the lens and a plurality of LEDs,
In the pneumatic outlet, eight pneumatic outlets are formed as a pair, respectively, and are provided at intervals of 90 degrees,
The camera lens automatic cleaning apparatus, characterized in that the pneumatic discharge is discharged at predetermined time intervals according to the working conditions of the robot from the plurality of pneumatic outlets. delete In claim 1,
The pneumatic supply member includes a pneumatic tank maintaining a pneumatic state, a pneumatic pipe connected to the pneumatic discharge unit, and a solenoid valve for supplying or blocking air pressure from the pneumatic tank to the pneumatic pipe. . delete In claim 3,
The plurality of pneumatic outlets are automatic camera lens cleaning apparatus, characterized in that provided to discharge air pressure toward the periphery of the lens.

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