Design of an Infrared Image Processing Pipeline for Robotic Inspection of Conveyor Systems in Opencast Mining Sites

Mohammad Siami, Tomasz Barszcz (), Jacek Wodecki and Radoslaw Zimroz
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Mohammad Siami: AMC Vibro Sp. z o.o., Pilotow 2e, 31-462 Kraków, Poland
Tomasz Barszcz: Department of Robotics and Mechatronics, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland
Jacek Wodecki: Department of Mining, Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
Radoslaw Zimroz: Department of Mining, Faculty of Geoengineering, Mining and Geology, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: Conveying systems play an essential role in the continuous horizontal transportation of raw materials in mining sites. Regular inspections of conveyor system structures and their components, especially idlers, are essential for proper maintenance. Traditional inspection methods are labor-intensive and hazardous; therefore, robot-based thermography can be considered a quality assessment tool for the precise detection and localization of overheated idlers in opencast mining sites. This paper proposes an infrared image processing pipeline for the automatic detection and analysis of overheated idlers. The proposed image processing pipeline can be used for the identification of significant temperature anomalies such as hotspots and hot areas in infrared images. For the identification of such defects in idlers, firstly, the histogram of captured infrared images was analyzed and improved through the pre-processing stages. Afterward, the location of thermal anomalies in infrared images was extracted. Finally, for the validation of segmentation results, the shapes and locations of segmented hot spots were compared with RGB images that were synchronized by captured infrared images. A quantitative evaluation of the proposed method for the condition monitoring of belt conveyor idlers in an open-cast mining site shows the applicability of our approach.

Keywords: overheated idlers detection; maintenance; inspection robots; IR images; hot spot detection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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