Pavement inspection apparatus
First Claim
1. Pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining the surface condition of a length of pavement, comprising:
- a surface vehicle for moving over the length of the pavement being inspected;
a pair of electromagnetic beam generators mounted on the vehicle for directing two spaced high intensity electromagnetic reference beams onto the pavement surface forming two horizontally spaced reference marks on the pavement surface that move over the surface as the vehicle is moved over the length of the pavement;
a first video camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a first field of view of a segment of the pavement surface containing the two reference marks for optically inspecting the pavement for surface defects;
a second video camera mounted on the surface vehicle spaced from the first video camera and projecting onto the pavement surface at an acute angle with respect to the first video camera having a second field of view that has at least a portion in common with the first field of view containing the two reference marks for optically inspecting the pavement for surface defects; and
video signal processing means operatively connected to the first and second video camera for determining the surface condition of the length of pavement travelled by the surface vehicle.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pavement inspection apparatus 10 is described for inspecting the condition of a full lane of pavement using a vehicle capable of traveling along the lane at normal traffic speeds, such as 55 miles per hour. The apparatus is capable of determing the elevational profile of the pavement and the size and shapes of surface distress features such as longitudinal cracks, transverse cracks, aligator cracks, design cracks, potholes and rutting. The apparatus 10 has two video array cameras 36 and 40 that project downward onto the pavement with overlapping fields of view for generating X-Y pixel data representing the intensities of reflected light from a full lane width of pavement as the vehicle moves over the pavement. The cameras 36 and 40 are mounted at acute angles with respect to each other to enable an elevational profile to be developed for the pavement from correlated pixel data from the two cameras. The apparatus 10 includes distress feature analysis electronics for determining the size, shape and location of surface distress features and evaluates such features against preset values to determine the severity of the determined features. Additionally, the apparatus 10 has video array cameras 192 and 196 for determining the deflection of the pavement in response to the movement of a known wheel weight over the pavement.
94 Citations
47 Claims
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1. Pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining the surface condition of a length of pavement, comprising:
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a surface vehicle for moving over the length of the pavement being inspected; a pair of electromagnetic beam generators mounted on the vehicle for directing two spaced high intensity electromagnetic reference beams onto the pavement surface forming two horizontally spaced reference marks on the pavement surface that move over the surface as the vehicle is moved over the length of the pavement; a first video camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a first field of view of a segment of the pavement surface containing the two reference marks for optically inspecting the pavement for surface defects; a second video camera mounted on the surface vehicle spaced from the first video camera and projecting onto the pavement surface at an acute angle with respect to the first video camera having a second field of view that has at least a portion in common with the first field of view containing the two reference marks for optically inspecting the pavement for surface defects; and video signal processing means operatively connected to the first and second video camera for determining the surface condition of the length of pavement travelled by the surface vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. In a pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining the surface condition of a length of pavement, comprising:
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a surface vehicle for moving over the length of pavement being inspected; a pair of electromagnetic beam generators mounted on the surface vehicle for directing two spaced electromagnetic reference beams toward the pavement surface forming two spaced horizontal reference marks on the pavement surface as the surface vehicle moves over the length of pavement; a first video camera means mounted on the surface vehicle and directed toward the pavement surface having a first field of view of the pavement containing the two reference marks for progressively generating electrical pixel video output data containing information of the condition of the pavement as the surface vehicle moves over the length of pavement; surface to pixel calibration means operatively connected to the output of the first video camera for electrically monitoring the apparent horizontal distance between the two reference marks as observed by the camera as the vehicle moves over the length of pavement to calibrate the pixel data with surface distances and for determining any vertical movement of the camera with respect to the horizontal data reference plane and to modify the electrical pixel video output data in response to such vertical movement of the camera to substantially eliminate data errors caused by vertical movement of the camera with respect to the pavement surface, such as vehicle bounce; and video signal processing operatively connected to the first video camera for electronically processing the electrical pixel video output data containing information of the condition of the length of pavement travelled by the surface vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. Pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining the surface condition of a length of pavement, comprising:
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a surface vehicle for moving over the length of the pavement in a longitudinal direction; a first video camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a first field of view of surface locations for generating a first set of frames of electrical pixel video output data representing reflected light intensities from longitudinally spaced surface locations as the vehicle moves over the length of the pavement; a second video camera mounted on the surface vehicle and projecting toward the pavement surface at an acute angle with respect to the first video camera and having a second field of view of the same surface locations for generating a second set of frames of electrical pixel video output data representing reflected light intensities from the same longitudinally spaced array of surface locations, but from a different angle, as the surface vehicle moves over the length of the pavement; electronic frame comparing means for comparing the electrical pixel output data of the first and second sets of frames to determine the vertical elevation of at least a portion of the surface locations; and electronic profile generating means operatively connected to the electronic frame comparing means for generating an electronic elevational profile of the length of the pavement. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. Pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining distress features in a length of pavement comprising:
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a surface vehicle for moving over the length of pavement in a longitudinal direction; a first array video camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a first field of view of a longitudinal and transverse X-Y array of surface locations for sequentially generating a first set of frames of electrical pixel video output data representing reflected light intensities from longitudinally spaced X-Y arrays of surface locations as the surface vehicle moves over the length of the pavement; a second array video camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface at an acute angle with respect to the first video camera and having a second field of view of the same longitudinal and transverse X-Y surface locations for sequentially generating a second set of frames of electrical pixel video output data representing reflected light intensities from the same longitudinally spaced X-Y arrays of surface locations, but from a different angle, as the surface vehicle moves over the length of the pavement; electronic frame comparing means for comparing the electrical output data of the first and second set of frames of electrical output data to determine the vertical elevation of the surface locations; electronic profile generating means operatively connected to the electronic frame comparing means for generating an electronic elevational profile of the length of the pavement; and surface distress means responsive to the electrical pixel video output data for determining the location and severity of surface distress features along the length of pavement. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. Pavement inspection apparatus for determining the condition of a length of pavement, comprising:
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a wheeled vehicle for moving over a length of the pavement in a longitudinal direction; means on the wheeled vehicle for applying a preset vertical force through a wheel against the pavement to form a depression in the pavement beneath and extending rearward the wheel in a path travelled by the wheel as the vehicle is moved over the length of the pavement; reference means on the vehicle for determining the undeflected elevation of the pavement along the wheel path; a first wheel path video camera mounted on the vehicle having an X-Y field of view of the depression and extending rearward of the wheel for generating electrical video output data containing information of the deflected elevation of the depression at multiple sampling points in the X-Y field of view; and deflection determining means operatively connected to the reference means and the first wheel path video camera and responsive to the electrical video output data for determining the deflection of the pavement in the X-Y field of view along wheel path as the vehicle moves over the pavement. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. In a pavement inspection apparatus for inspecting and determining the presence and severity of surface distress features of a lane of pavement of a prescribed lane width, comprising:
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a surface vehicle for moving over the lane of pavement in a longitudinal direction, in which the vehicle has a width less than the width of the lane; distance means for measuring the lane distance travelled by the vehicle for generating location data; a first video array camera means mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a X-Y field of view of a full lane width of a longitudinal lane segment of the pavement for sequentially generating a first set of video frames of electrical pixel data representing a magnitude of reflected light from the lane surface as the surface vehicle moves in the lane over the length of pavement, in which the electrical pixel data contains information concerning the presence and severity of surface distress features; and surface distress detection means responsive to the electrical pixel data and the distance means for determining the presence, location and severity of the surface distress features in the lane along the length of the pavement. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. In a pavement inspection apparatus for determining the condition of a length of pavement and its subgrade, comprising:
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a wheeled vehicle for moving over the length of pavement and thereby generating a depression in the pavement beneath a wheel the depth of which is indicative of the condition of the pavement subgrade; a video array camera mounted on the surface vehicle projecting toward the pavement surface having a X-Y field of view of a segment of the pavement for sequentially generating a set of video frames of electrical pixel data representing a magnitude of reflected light from the pavement surface as the surface vehicle moves over the length of pavement, in which the electrical pixel data contains information of the presence and severity of surface distress features; velocity means for determining the velocity of the vehicle as the vehicle moves over the length of pavement; depth sensing means for sensing the depth of the wheel depression as the vehicle moves over the length of the pavement; surface distress detection means responsive to the velocity means and the electrical pixel data for determining the presence, location and severity of the surface distress features along the length of the pavement; and profile detection means responsive to the velocity means and the electrical pixel data for determining the elevation profile of the pavement along its length. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47)
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Specification