A SYSTEM FOR MONITORING OF RAW MATERIAL MOVEMENT FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems for monitoring and processing video signals by recording and reproduction of images during movement of raw materials in a plant and, more specifically, to a system for automatically capturing video images and integrating those images and transmitting it into a master control room and can be stored in computer (server) database.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART OF INVENTION

Various systems have been proposed over the years for producing products for detecting movement of raw materials in industries based on audio and / or video signalling. In such systems, materials are provided with RFID tags or other identification means, and video is taken of the materials when they visit the designated locations. The video segments are associated with particular materials by way of the RFID tags. The video segments for each material are recorded to a video tape for the customer to take home or to inspect manually typically location wise. Although the previously proposed systems have identified the desirable set of characteristics for the video end product, these systems have heretofore not been successfully commercially implemented. This is because it has proven difficult to capture and accurately manage large amounts of video data in a distributed environment, in a cost effective manner, and in light of “point of recording for future referrals” constraints relating to timely generating a final consumer product (e.g., DVD or video tape) in a short time frame.

Raw Material Handling Plant (RMHP) receives raw materials from various sources and prepare feed stocks for (a) Blast Furnace (b) Sintering Plant & (c) Refractory Material Plant on continual basis. The raw material are received by railway wagons, tippled through wagon tipplers (4 nos.) and feed stocks are prepared through host of critical facilities such as stackers (7 nos.) reclaimers (6 nos.) and bucket-wheel reclaimer (1 no.) etc. located over a wide spread areas (5 Km aerial distance). The prepared raw materials are then supplied to the designated plants through a complex

network of conveyor systems having 20 junction houses and 6 additional junctions. RMHP plays an important role in maintaining the continuity of operations in an integrated steel plant where profitability depends heavily on the efficient functioning of this vital installation.

The entire operation of RMHP demands strict co-ordination between various external and internal agencies for its smooth functioning. At present, co-ordination work is carried out through landline communication and limited wireless systems, which is inadequate and not sufficient for keeping track of entire plant operation.

To overcome these limitations, a camera vision system is introduced for the entire plant from receipt of raw materials to supply of prepared one to different plants. The system not only provides a reliable live video image of conveyor network in operation but also eliminates inherent process limitations such as inaccurate placement of wagons in tipplers, off-tracking of conveyor belt, over spilling of raw materials with special features like event recording, alarm generation and analysis of network video images etc.

The installed system has camera vision stations comprising both analog & IP; CCD cameras on a fibre optic /wireless network and live video image can be viewed round the clock in a central control room.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to introduce a suitable viewing system for raw material movement over a 4 Km network of conveyors.

Another object of the present invention is to provide the operator real time image of raw material movement for monitoring and controlling the raw material movement.

Another object of the present invention is to use the captured data to optimize the raw material movement process.

Yet another object of the present invention is to place the camera suitable for working at suitable location for viewing raw material movement on conveyors without

use of any external forced air.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Therefore such as herein described there is provided a system for monitoring of raw material movement, said system comprising: a plurality of cameras respectively positioned at different locales in an area, each of said cameras outputting video content; at least one digital video recorder interfaced with the plurality of cameras for substantially continuously recording the video outputs of the cameras; a video content collection system interfaced with the sensor system and the at least one digital video recorder, said system associating designated clip portions of the recorded video outputs with the customer identifiers; and a video product creation system interfaced with the video content collection system for producing video products, wherein for each of the video products, the video product comprises a plurality of designated clips associated with the identifier of one of said customers, interspersed with a plurality of stock video clips associated with the said area.

In an embodiment, the said cameras include analog and/or IP camera and are positioned at locations around the plant where it is desired to capture designated video clip and for each camera.

In another embodiment, the at least one digital video recorder comprises a plurality of digital video recorders, each of said digital video recorders being positioned proximate to and uniquely associated with one of the cameras for recording the video output of the camera.

In another embodiment each of the plurality of digital video recorders records the video output of the camera with which it is associated as a plurality of near contiguous raw video clips, said raw video clips including a first set of non-content video clips and a second set of designated video clips containing video content of raw materials; and the video content collection system identifies the designated video clips from among the plurality of raw video clips for associating with material identifiers.

In an exemplary embodiment, the interfacing of analog and IP camera signal to communicate via low loss fibre optic cable.

In another embodiment, there is provided one or more central preliminary video processing entities interfaced with the plurality of digital video recorders, said central preliminary video processing entities periodically receiving the designated video clips from the plurality of digital video recorders for processing thereof; a central storage unit that periodically polls the one or more preliminary video processing entities for determining if processed designated video clips are ready for transfer to the central storage unit; and a master database interfaced with the central storage unit, said central storage unit transferring data relating to the processed designated video clips to the master database, wherein the video product creation system accesses the master database for compiling the processed designated video clips into a video product.

In another embodiment, the cameras, digital video recorders, central preliminary video processing entities, central storage unit, and master database are interconnected by an IP local area network.

In another embodiment, the video creation system includes a video product template, said template including said stock video clips and a plurality of template video clips, said template clips having time lengths that correspond to respective projected time lengths of the video clips associated with the identifiers,
wherein the video product creation system creates a video product for a designated location by replacing the template clips in the template with the video clips associated with the material identifier.

In another embodiment, the video product is a DVD, the template clips are in one or more VOB files, an assemblage of video content, provided in a form suitable for end- user/consumer use.
In another exemplary embodiment, the image is recorded on motion detection mode where in the image was recorded only when there was movement in conveyor, so that unnecessary recording during conveyor stoppage time is avoided. This has two basic advantages, firstly only the relevant image is recorded making it easy to search and analyze and secondly it saves the critical hard disk space in computer.

Additionally, the recorded image can be played back in slow motion (1/4 x, 1/8 x,

1/10 x etc.) to evaluate reasons of any wrong operation during conveyor movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 illustrates the differences between the analog & IP camera design in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates the layout design of RMHP in BSL in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 3 illustrates the preferred analog and IP camera location in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 4 illustrates the Wagon Tippling and Conveyor movement tracking through

Camera in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 5 illustrates the schematic of typical junction houses (JH) in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 6 illustrates the different network enclosures location in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 7 illustrates the network configuration in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 8 illustrates the central control room in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 9 illustrates the flow chart of network design in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPED INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM

The present invention relates to viewing of raw material movement using camera

vision technology, where several cameras have been positioned at various strategic locations for capturing of raw material image moving on conveyor belt located at wagon tippler & junction houses. The acquired image is transmitted to the master control room through a low loss fibre optic network. The developed system provides viewing and capturing of images which can be stored in computer (server) database.

The system is essentially integrated with CCD cameras (Analogue & IP), multi channel DVRs, LCD monitors, Network switches, power supply units, RF cables, Fibre optic cable and accessories. Each DVR is suitably configured for simultaneous viewing and storing of images on real time basis. The IP cameras are recorded on a video management server.

With initial reference to figures in overview, a system herein described is for capturing and managing video images is implemented on or in conjunction with analog and / or IP (Internet Protocol)-based local area network, which facilitates the exchange of data in the system between a number of distributed sensor and data processing elements, as well as the control and management of such elements. In one embodiment, the system is implemented in the context of an material handling plant, for capturing video content of different raw materials as they visit designated conveyors, locations, and for creating a database or other video product containing (i) the video content and (ii) professionally produced, “stock” video content of the plant. “Video content” refers generally to any multimedia data content, including video and still images, with or without associated audio content or other content, e.g., text, computer graphics, and the like. “Video product” refers to an assemblage of video content, provided in a form suitable for end-user/consumer use, e.g., DVD's, pendrive

Activity - 1

Development of scheme for viewing of raw material movement system using camera vision technology over a fibre optic network in harsh environmental condition

The environment condition was dusty due to falling and subsequent movement of raw material on conveyors. The ambient temperature of the surroundings were studied and it was found that the ambient temperature as 40+ 50 C. The cameras

with built in IP 65 housing and heat sink could with stand a maximum of 500C ambient temperature and dusty atmosphere. Forced air was used to clean the camera housing using portable blower on weekly basis. This made the design industrially most viable and cost effective.
The different locations of camera is shown in table-1

Sl. no. Camera location Qty.
Analog
1 Wagon tippler – 1 4
2 Wagon tippler – 2 4
3 Wagon tippler – 3 4
4 Wagon tippler – 4 4
IP
5 Junction House 3 4
6 Junction House 20 4
7 Junction House 11 3
8 Junction House 12 6
9 Other Locations 3
Total 36 (16 Analog and 20 IP)
Table 1: Camera location at site

The major components of the system is shown in table-2

Sl. no. Components
1.0 Analog camera & DVR systems with accessories
2.0 IP camera system with accessories
3.0 Network switches & accessories

4.0 Fiber Optic (FO) cable, RG & power cables with

accessories
5.0 Networking system & software
6.0 Console & power supply
Table 2: Major components of system

Sl. no. Parameter Analog IP
1.0 Video quality resolution 0.4 mega pixel (max)

for 4 CIF 1 megapixel or higher image obtained
2.0 Cabling

infrastructure Legacy cabling,

compression Structured cabling

(network)
3.0 Video transmission Not subject to network issues no latency IP traffic subject to network congestion, bandwidth limitation, latency
4.0 Fault tolerance &

reliability Analog system more

robust IP device requires

management lens reliable
5.0 Security No encryption possible

but immune to software Prone to software attack

virus etc but can be encrypted
6.0 Maintenance No skilled man power

required as no IP

address to maintain Skilled man power

required. Expensive per IP address $100 - 500 per annum
7.0 Installation No network &

configuration skill required Complex networking

knowledge & skills required
8.0 Compatibility No compatibility issue Compatibility issue

9

between Analog

camera & DVR between diff. types of IP

camera & NVR
9.0 Scalability Scalability has issues

because of increased wiring Highly scalable
10.0 Cost Less expensive as no

license is required Expensive as camera

license & viewing license is required
Table 3: Analog & IP camera design differences

Analog & IP cameras have significant design differences leading to their advantages

& disadvantages as shown in Table 3 and Fig. 1. A system for viewing of material movement by Indigenous selection of cameras (Analog or IP) possessing uniqueness in their design for specific viewing requirement at site has been developed which was met by one of these cameras but not both at the same time. The layout of RMHP is shown in Fig. 2. The exact location of cameras (Analog & IP) at various wagon tipplers (WT) and Junction houses (JH) is shown in Fig. 3. The viewing system is located in wagon tippler control room and master control room (MCC5)

The camera system is used for capturing video clips in a controlled manner. For each capture area, the camera system includes at least one video camera, at least one PVR unit (there may be one or more cameras per PVR unit), and one or more camera sensors. The cameras are positioned at locations around the plant where it is desired to capture designated video clips. Camera output is recorded to the PVR units, in what is in effect a continuous digital loop. The PVR units may be standalone electronic units, or they may be PVR/DVR applications that reside on computer terminals or other general-purpose processor units.

As per an exemplary embodiment the said cameras are mounted in standard housings. These housings accommodate a wide range of camera/lens combinations, and include insulated camera platforms (where applicable) with longitudinal adjustment. Additional features include window heaters, thermostats, three cable glands, and full sunshields. The cameras are also typically provided with electrically

controllable pan/tilt heads, and with anti-weather wipers. These pan and tilt heads are weatherproof, have a pan movement of 5° to 350°, a tilt movement of +20° to
-90°, and can be operated upright or inverted.

Wagon Tippler: The wagon tipplers are configured to receive the material through tippling the railway wagons on the bunkers. Here, the wagons are de-coupled manually, endangering the life of the personnel, hence monitoring of de-coupling process is monitored in the WT cabin as shown as Area A in the Fig. 4. After tippling the wagon is shunted out of the tippler to place new loaded wagon, sometimes due to freeness of the wagon shunted out, it rolls back into the tippler and while tippling cause accident as shown as Area B in the Fig. 4. Through bunkers the material falls on the conveyor. The conveyor belt alignment and movement of raw material, ensure the function of the bunker as shown as Area C on the Fig. 4.

Junction Houses: The junction houses are, made to:- a) Change direction of the material movement.
b) Route for different material to desired location. The different routes are at different levels, so sometimes junction houses are multi level.

The tipplers receive different material required for steel making and are fed to junction houses. The junction houses provide route for different material to reach their desired destinations like:

1. Different grades of Iron ore to stacker, Reclaimer yard for bedding &

blending.

2. Lime stone, Dolomite to RMP.

3. Coal fines and ore fins to sintering plant.

4. Blended Iron ore to Blast Furnace etc.

Activity 2:

Interfacing of camera signal with mill wide Fibre Optic network for transmission of video image to control room

The following activities were carried out

• a hybrid network is designed for data transmission over fibre optic network;

both analog & digital IP signals

? Transmission of analog camera signal to a distance of 4 KM through a fibre optic network.
? Conversion of analog camera signal to IP signal for transmission to local area network using suitable network switches.
? Transmission of IP camera signal to a distance of 4 KM through a fibre optic network

The network enclosure location is shown in Fig. 6. The system includes a plurality of sub-systems working in concert to deliver the final product to master control room. These include DVR enclosures, Network enclosures wherein the said enclosure includes a plurality of cameras and monitors and switches operably connected with each other and further connected to the master Control room. The cameras as stated above are provided in strategic locations to capture video images at designated locations around the plant; a computer-based video content collection system to collect and store video clips of materials and a DVD creation and point of distribution (“POD”) system to create the end product for recordal and restore for future use. The plurality of sub-systems communicate over the LAN and a fibre network configuration is shown in Fig. 7

In another embodiment, the digital video recorder for each camera, which is located locally to the camera, provides for redundant and reliable local storage, thereby increasing system uptime. Additionally, continuous local recording provides an enhanced degree of flexibility for detecting associating target materials with clips, e.g., it is possible to look forward or back in time along the recorded video output to identify content of interest.

The recorded video clips are stored in one or more databases or other digital storage. Identifiers are associated with the clips which are linked to the location numbers, as are the material identifiers. Thus, for each location, there will be a plurality of material numbers. For each material, associated therewith are (i) a

plurality of location identifiers and (ii) a plurality of designated video clips e.g., one for each camera associated with the location.

As indicated above, there may be three types of video clips in the system. These are the “raw” clips, the “designated” clips, and the “personalized” clips. To explain this hierarchy further, the raw clips represent the near-contiguous, always-on output of the cameras, as digitally recorded in a loop-like manner. The designated clips are a subset of the raw clips, and represent those raw clips containing content of interest. The personalized video clips are a subset of the designated video clips, and represent video clips associated with a particular location / material. Thus, out of all the raw video clips digitally stored in the system, only a portion will contain content of interest, and only a portion of those will be relevant to a particular cause of interest.

The master control room location where viewing of cameras is done is shown in Fig.

8 and the overall network design for analogue & IP camera is shown in Fig. 9. The network comprises a data center and node locations physically connected via fiber optic cable or other communication lines. All components in the system that are part of the data capture, transfer, processing, and control infrastructure (e.g., cameras) are physically cabled to the node locations. A conceptual schematic drawing of the node structure is shown in Fig. 9. All of these system components are connected via the IP network, which is built on top of the fiber and physical infrastructure.

Development of method for capturing of raw material movement and generating data through application software
The following activities were carried out.

? A method is developed for capturing of raw material image using Video

Management Software.

? The captured data is stored in the computer server for raw material movement and analysis
Development of search criteria for viewing of raw material movement with date time stamp
The following activities were carried out

? A search criteria has been developed for viewing the records of raw material movement over one month period
? The searched records with date & time enables user for further analysis

Conclusions:

? Camera vision systems over a Fibre Optic Network are useful for close monitoring of any continuous process, which otherwise dependant on operator skills, who may remain blind folded to the object of interest due to vision hindrances
? Viewing of raw material movement has resulted in correct movement of raw material from wagon tippler to junction houses.
? This has led to reduced conveyor off-centre spillage of material &

scrap/foreign material due to early viewing of such events.

System cost is comparatively low with high quantified benefits, leading to its justification on the Return on Investment (ROI) scale. Design of the system is such that it can be deployed to any raw material handling plant for process monitoring application in steel plants.

Although the foregoing description of the present invention has been shown and described with reference to particular embodiments and applications thereof, it has been presented for purposes of illustration and description and is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the particular embodiments and applications disclosed. It will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes, modifications, variations, or alterations to the invention as described herein may be made, none of which depart from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The particular embodiments and applications were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. All such changes, modifications, variations, and alterations should therefore be seen as being within the scope of the present invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are fairly, legally, and equitably entitled.

WE CLAIM:

1. A system for monitoring of raw material movement, said system comprising:

a plurality of cameras respectively positioned at different locales in an area, each of said cameras outputting video content;
at least one digital video recorder interfaced with the plurality of cameras for substantially continuously recording the video outputs of the cameras;
a video content collection system interfaced with the sensor system and the at least one digital video recorder, said system associating designated clip portions of the recorded video outputs with the customer identifiers; and
a video product creation system interfaced with the video content collection system for producing video products, wherein for each of the video products, the video product comprises a plurality of designated clips associated with the identifier of one of said customers, interspersed with a plurality of stock video clips associated with the said area.

2. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cameras include analog and/or IP camera and are positioned at locations around the plant where it is desired to capture designated video clip and for each camera, there is provided designated range of hours of operation.

3. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein, the at least one digital video recorder comprises a plurality of digital video recorders, each of said digital video recorders being positioned proximate to and uniquely associated with one of the cameras for recording the video output of the camera.

4. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of digital video recorders records the video output of the camera with which it is associated as a plurality of near contiguous raw video clips, said raw video clips including a first set of non-content video clips and a second set of designated video clips containing video content of raw materials; and
the video content collection system identifies the designated video clips from among the plurality of raw video clips for associating with material identifiers.

5. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, further comprising interfacing of analog and IP camera signal to communicate via low loss fibre optic cable.

6. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, further comprising one or more central preliminary video processing entities interfaced with the plurality of digital video recorders, said central preliminary video processing entities periodically receiving the designated video clips from the plurality of digital video recorders for processing thereof;
a central storage unit that periodically polls the one or more preliminary video processing entities for determining if processed designated video clips are ready for transfer to the central storage unit; and
a master database interfaced with the central storage unit, said central storage unit transferring data relating to the processed designated video clips to the master database, wherein the video product creation system accesses the master database for compiling the processed designated video clips into a video product.

7. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cameras, digital video recorders, central preliminary video processing entities, central storage unit, and master database are interconnected by an IP local area network.

8. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein at each locale in the area is associated therewith an event that periodically occurs during the designated hours of operation.

9. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein video creation system includes a video product template, said template including said stock video clips and a plurality of template video clips, said template clips having time lengths that correspond to respective projected time lengths of the video clips associated with the identifiers,
wherein the video product creation system creates a video product for a designated location by replacing the template clips in the template with the video clips associated with the material identifier.

10. The system for monitoring of raw material movement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the video is recorded on motion detection mode where in the image was recorded only when there was movement in conveyor.