Wear amount measuring device, wear amount measuring method, wear amount measuring program and storage medium

• US 9,121,697 B2
• Filed: 01/19/2011
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Inventors: Itou, Daijirou, Tsubaki, Tomoyuki, Hisamatsu, Kenichi, Marumoto, Shigeto, Wakai, Hideyuki, Suzaki, Yukihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Peter
• Application Number:
  US13/509,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20120306916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,686 Days
• Field of Search: 345/632
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/24 for measuring contours or curvatures
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/20 for measuring contours or curvatures, e.g. determining profile

Abstract

A wear amount measuring device includes an image display unit, an image processing unit, and a wear amount computing unit. The image display unit displays a real object image based on real object image data containing a wear amount measurement target and a reference part, and displays a plan image based on design plan data containing the wear amount measurement target and the reference part. The image processing unit executes an image processing of overlapping the real object image and the plan image at an equal scale on a corresponding positional relation when the reference parts are matched. The wear amount computing unit computes a wear amount based on a magnitude of an interval between a measurement contour line drawn along a contour of the wear amount measurement target in the real object image and a plan contour line in the plan image.

Claims

1. A wear amount measuring device comprising:

a computer including a

storage device having a wear amount measuring program stored therein, and

a processor configured to execute the wear amount measuring program; and

an image display device operatively coupled to the computer and configured to display an image based on a display signal received from the computer,

the wear amount measuring program being configured to cause the image display device to

display a real object image of a replaceable component based on real object image data containing a real wear amount measurement target and a real reference part of the replaceable component, the real reference part functioning as a measurement-related positioning reference for the real wear amount measurement target, and

display a plan image based on design plan data corresponding to the replaceable component in an unused state, the design plan data containing a plan wear amount measurement target and a plan reference part, the plan wear amount measurement target and the plan reference part corresponding to the real wear amount measurement target and the real reference part, respectively,

the wear amount measuring program including

an image processing section configured to execute an image processing of overlapping the real object image and the plan image at an equal scale on a corresponding positional relation when the real reference part in the real object image and the plan reference part in the plan image are matched, and

a wear amount computing section configured to compute a wear amount based on a magnitude of an interval between a measurement contour line drawn along an outer peripheral contour of the real wear amount measurement target in the real object image and a plan outer peripheral contour line in the plan image.

2. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein

the replaceable component is a sprocket wheel having a plurality of tooth portions on an outer periphery thereof, the wear amount measurement target including at least one of the tooth portions, and

the reference part includes at least two bolts for securing the sprocket wheel to a sprocket hub as an attachment target of the sprocket wheel.

3. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein

the replaceable component is a sprocket wheel having a plurality of tooth portions on an outer periphery thereof, the wear amount measurement target including at least one of the tooth portions, and

the reference part includes two bolts for securing the sprocket wheel to a sprocket hub as an attachment target of the sprocket wheel and tooth tips of the sprocket wheel.

4. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 2, wherein

real object image is captured while the sprocket wheel is installed in a work vehicle in a service state.

5. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein

the real object image is an image of the replaceable component captured while the replaceable component is in a service state.

6. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein

the real object image is a digital photograph captured with a digital camera and read from the camera or an external memory device to the computer.

7. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein

the wear amount measuring program is configured to allow a user to align the real reference parts and the design reference parts with respect to each other manually while viewing the image display device.

8. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 7, wherein

the wear amount measuring program is configured to allow a user to align the real reference parts and the design reference parts with respect to each other using a computer mouse.

9. The wear amount measuring device recited in claim 1, wherein the wear amount measuring program is further configured to display the computed wear amount together with a predetermined wear limit on the image display device, the computed wear amount including specific numeric values indicating the computed wear amount corresponding to a plurality of positions along the outer peripheral contour of the wear amount measurement target, the predetermined wear limit indicating wear amount at which it is desirable to replace the replaceable component.

10. A wear amount measuring method comprising:

an image displaying step of;

displaying a real object image of a replaceable component based on real object image data containing a real wear amount measurement target and a real reference part of the replaceable component, the reference part functioning as a measurement-related positioning reference for the real wear amount measurement target, and

displaying a plan image based on design plan data corresponding to the replaceable component in an unused state, the design plan data containing a plan wear amount measurement target and a plan reference part of the replaceable component, the plan wear amount measurement target and the plan reference part corresponding to the real wear amount measurement target and the real reference part, respectively;

an image processing step of executing an image processing of overlapping the real object image and the plan image at an equal scale on a corresponding positional relation when the real reference part in the real object image and the plan reference part in the plan image are matched; and

a wear amount computing step of computing a wear amount based on a magnitude of an interval between a measurement contour line drawn along a outer peripheral contour of the wear amount measurement target in the real object image and a plan outer peripheral contour line in the plan image.

11. The wear amount measuring method recited in claim 10, wherein

the reference part includes a plurality of reference points separated away from each other, the reference points being visible in a usage state of the replaceable component.

12. The wear amount measuring method recited in claim 11, wherein

the image processing step includes the sub-steps of:

displaying an image obtained by matching a plurality of reference points in a design image with the plural reference points in the real object image on a one-to-one basis;

converting the real object image displayed in the image displaying step at an equal scale to and on a corresponding positional relation with the plan image displayed in the image displaying step based on displacement between the plural reference points of the design image displayed in the sub-step and the plural reference points of the design image displayed in the image displaying step; and

displaying the converted real object image to be overlapped with the plan image.

13. The wear amount measuring method recited in claim 10, wherein

the replaceable component is a sprocket wheel having a plurality of tooth portions on an outer periphery thereof, the wear amount measurement target including at least one of the tooth portions, and

the reference part includes at least two bolts for securing the sprocket wheel to a sprocket hub as an attachment target of the sprocket wheel.

14. The wear amount measuring method recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a photographing step in which a digital photograph of the replaceable component is taken with a digital camera while the replaceable component in a service state;

a reading step in which the digital photograph is read from the camera or an external memory device to a computer; and

a wear amount measuring program executing step in which image displaying step and the image processing step are executed by the computer executing a wear amount measuring program.

15. The wear amount measuring method recited in claim 10, further comprising:

a wear amount displaying step in which the computed wear amount is displayed together with a predetermined wear limit, the computed wear amount including specific numeric values indicating the computed wear amount corresponding to a plurality of positions along the outer peripheral contour of the wear amount measurement target, the predetermined wear limit indicating wear amount at which it is desirable to replace the replaceable component.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a wear amount measuring program configured to cause a computer to execute a wear amount measuring method, the wear amount measuring method comprising:

an image displaying step of;

displaying a real object image of a replaceable component based on real object image data containing a real wear amount measurement target and a real reference part of the replaceable component, the reference part functioning as a measurement-related positioning reference for the real wear amount measurement target, and

displaying a plan image based on design plan data corresponding to the replaceable component in an unused state, the design plan data containing a plan wear amount measurement target and a plan reference part of the replaceable component, the plan wear amount measurement target and the plan reference part corresponding to the real wear amount measurement target and the real reference part, respectively;

an image processing step of executing an image processing of overlapping the real object image and the plan image at an equal scale on a corresponding positional relation when the real reference part in the real object image and the plan reference part in the plan image are matched; and

a wear amount computing step of computing a wear amount based on a magnitude of an interval between a measurement contour line drawn along a outer peripheral contour of the wear amount measurement target in the real object image and a plan outer peripheral contour line in the plan image.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium wear amount measuring program recited in claim 16, wherein

the image processing step includes the sub-steps of:

displaying an image obtained by matching a plurality of reference points in a design image with the plural reference points in the real object image on a one-to-one basis;

converting the real object image displayed in the image displaying step at an equal scale to and on a corresponding positional relation with the plan image displayed in the image displaying step based on displacement between the plural reference points of the design image displayed in the sub-step of displaying the image obtained by matching and the plural reference points of the design image displayed in the image displaying step; and

displaying the converted real object image to be overlapped with the plan image.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16, wherein

the replaceable component is a sprocket wheel having a plurality of tooth portions on an outer periphery thereof, the wear amount measurement target including at least one of the tooth portions,

the reference part includes at least two bolts for securing the sprocket wheel to a sprocket hub as an attachment target of the sprocket wheel, and

real object image is an image captured while the sprocket wheel is installed in a work vehicle in a service state.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16, wherein

the wear amount measuring program is further configured to display the computed wear amount together with a predetermined wear limit on the image display device, the computed wear amount including specific numeric values indicating the computed wear amount corresponding to a plurality of positions along the outer peripheral contour of the wear amount measurement target, the predetermined wear limit indicating wear amount at which it is desirable to replace the replaceable component.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recited in claim 16, wherein

the wear amount measuring program is configured to allow a user to align the real reference parts and the design reference parts with respect to each other manually while viewing the real object image and the plan image on an image display device that is coupled to the computer.