GROUND ENGAGING TOOL MONITORING SYSTEM
A monitoring system and method for a tool of working equipment, preferably a ground engaging tool comprising wear members such as an excavator bucket, the system/method including one or more sensors mounted on the working equipment and directed towards the tool and a processor configured to: receive data relating to the tool from the one or more sensors, generate a three dimensional representation of at least a portion of the tool using the received data, compare the generated three dimensional representation with a previously generated three dimensional representation, and identify one or more of wear and loss of at least a portion of the tool, preferably a wear member portion, using the comparison of the generated three dimensional representation with the previously generated three dimensional representation.
1 . A monitoring system for a tool of working equipment, the system including:
one or more sensors mounted on the working equipment and directed towards the tool; and
a processor configured to:
receive data relating to the tool from the one or more sensors;
generate a three dimensional representation of at least a portion of the tool using the received data;
compare the generated three dimensional representation with a previously generated three dimensional representation; and
identify one or more of wear and loss of at least a portion of the tool using the comparison of the generated three dimensional representation with the previously generated three dimensional representation.
2 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the tool is a ground engaging tool with replaceable wear parts.
3 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one sensor able to obtain data representative of a three dimensional surface shape of the tool.
4 . The monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise a multi-layered, time of flight, scanning laser range finder sensor.
5 . The monitoring system of claim 3 , wherein the one or more sensors comprise a two dimensional sensor providing sufficient two dimensional data to infer the three dimensional surface shape of the tool.
6 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the generation of a three dimensional representation of at least a portion of the tool using data received from the one or more sensors comprises the processor being configured to assemble a plurality of two dimensional scans taken over a time period to generate the three dimensional representation.
7 . The monitoring system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to assemble the plurality of two dimensional scans taken over a time period to generate the three dimensional representation using motion estimate data.
8 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to combine data from sensors with different sensing modalities, fidelity, and/or noise characteristics to generate the three dimensional representation.
9 . The monitoring system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to combine the data using a combinatorial algorithm.
10 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the sensors are located on the working equipment such that they have line of sight of the tool.
11 . The monitoring system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more of the sensors located on the working equipment are mounted on a movable arm of the working equipment.
12 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the process is configured to generate a three dimensional representation of at least a portion of the tool by combining the received data from the one or more sensors with a motion estimate.
13 . The monitoring system of claim 12 , wherein the motion estimate is derived from sensors data as the tool moves through a field of view of one or more of the sensors.
14 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the process is further configured to pre-process the received data prior to generating a three dimensional representation.
15 . The monitoring system of claim 14 , wherein the pre-processing comprises range-gating.
16 . The monitoring system of claim 14 , wherein the pre-processing comprises interlacing multiple sensor scans.
17 . The monitoring system of claim 14 , wherein the pre-processing comprises estimating when the tool is within a field of view of the one or more sensors.
18 . The monitoring system of claim 17 , wherein the estimating comprises identifying whether the sensor data indicates that, at selected points, the tool, or portions thereof, is identified as being present or absent.
19 . The monitoring system of claim 17 , wherein the estimating is based on a state machine.
20 . The monitoring system of claim 19 , wherein the state machine uses heuristics to identify conditions for spatial distribution of three dimensional points corresponding to each state of the state machine.
21 . The monitoring system of claim 20 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the three dimensional representation by aligning multiple three dimensional models by co-locating the three dimensional models in a common frame of reference.
22 . The monitoring system of claim 21 , wherein the aligning comprises using an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) or Normal Distributions Transform (NDT) process.
23 . The monitoring system of claim 21 , wherein the aligning comprises determining a homographical transformation matrix.
24 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to convert the generated three dimensional representation to two dimensional range data.
25 . The monitoring system of claim 24 , wherein the processor is further configured to compare the generated three dimensional representation with a previously generated three dimensional representation by comparing the two dimensional range data.
26 . The monitoring system of claim 24 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify one or more of wear and loss of at least a portion of the tool by analysing a comparison of two dimensional images that include the two dimensional range data.
27 . The monitoring system of claim 26 , wherein the analysing comprises creating a difference image divided into separate regions that correspond to areas of interest of the tool.
28 . The monitoring system of claim 27 , wherein the difference image is divided into separate regions based upon a predetermined geometric model of the tool and/or edge-detection analysis.
29 . The monitoring system of claim 26 , wherein the analysing comprises measuring changes measuring changes in the difference image in each region by quantifying pixels and/or applying an image convolution process.
30 . The monitoring system of claim 26 , wherein the analysing comprises noise rejection using an image mask that prevents analysis of portion of the image deemed to be irrelevant.
31 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to output an indication of wear or loss of the portion of the tool.
32 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , further comprising a vehicle identification system including one or more sensors to establish vehicle identification of an associated vehicle when loss of at least a portion of the tool is identified.
33 . The monitoring system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to record and/or transmit global navigation satellite system (GNSS) co-ordinates when loss of at least a portion of the tool is identified.
34 - 72 . (canceled)