Abstract:
A system transports a device into a piece of industrial equipment for the purpose of collecting data inside of the industrial equipment. In an embodiment, the industrial equipment is a furnace and the device is an IR camera. The system opens a door covering an opening on the furnace, moves the IR camera inside of the furnace for a short time, the IR camera captures images, and the system removes the camera from the furnace and closes the door.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The invention relates to systems and methods for introducing and withdrawing equipment into an environment, and in particular, introducing and withdrawing a camera into a high temperature environment.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Industrial processes should be closely monitored so that all process parameters can be verified as being within specification. This monitoring can take on many forms, and usually falls into two broad categories. Physical inspection and monitoring by humans, or physical inspection and monitoring by computer systems. In both cases, inspections and monitoring are aided by many other pieces of equipment such as all types of sensors (temperature, air quality, viscosity, density, visual appearance, etc.).  
         [0003]     In some situations however, the environment that must be monitored is too harsh and extreme for either a human or a standard device or piece of equipment. Harsh and extreme environments include high temperature environments such as the inside of a furnace, caustic chemical environments, and high pressure environments. The extremes of these environments however do not lessen the need for the monitoring of the industrial process. Consequently, industries would benefit from a system that could monitor industrial processes under extreme conditions. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0004]      FIG. 1  illustrates an example embodiment of a transport system in a home position.  
         [0005]      FIG. 1   a  illustrates a detailed view of an embodiment of a mechanical actuator, in a compressed mode, that can be used in connection with an example embodiment of the invention.  
         [0006]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example embodiment of a transport system in a deployed position.  
         [0007]      FIG. 2   a  illustrates a detailed view of an embodiment of a mechanical actuator, in expanded mode, that can be used in connection with an example embodiment of the invention.  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of an industrial camera and housing that can be used in connection with an example embodiment of the invention.  
         [0009]      FIG. 4  illustrates a flowchart of a process control that can be used in connection with an example embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0010]     In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. It is to be understood that the various embodiments of the invention, although different, are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may be implemented within other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, it is to be understood that the location or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosed embodiment may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims, appropriately interpreted, along with the full range of equivalents to which the claims are entitled. In the drawings, like numerals refer to the same or similar functionality throughout the several views.  
         [0011]      FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate an embodiment of a transport system that moves a visible and/or an infrared (IR) camera enclosed in an industrial housing along a rail. While the embodiment of  FIGS. 1 and 2  show a transport system of the invention in connection with an IR camera, those of skill in the art will readily realize that the invention is not limited to an IR camera, but that embodiments of the transport system of  FIGS. 1 and 2  could also transport other pieces of equipment as well. Additionally, while the embodiment of  FIG. 1  is discussed in connection with an industrial furnace, those of skill in the art will readily realize that the transport system of  FIGS. 1 and 2  can be used in connection with other pieces of industrial equipment also. Moreover, while the transport system of  FIGS. 1 and 2  is described as operating with a pneumatic system, one of skill in the art will realize that other means of powering the transport system such as electric powered motors in combination with gears, belts, chains, and/or pulleys could also be used.  
         [0012]     The support and transport structure  100  of  FIG. 1  has a frame  105 . Attached to the frame  105  is a first motion transport system. In an embodiment, the first motion transport system is a pneumatic transport system that consists of a rail  110  and a trolley structure  115 . In another embodiment, the rail  110  is one that is manufactured by Tol-o-matic® of Hamel, Minn. (www.tolomatic.com). In an embodiment, the frame  105  is attached to the outside of the wall of an industrial housing  140 , and the pneumatic transport system is attached to the frame  105 . In one particular embodiment, the wall of the industrial housing  140  is an outside wall of a furnace. Positioned on top of the trolley structure  115  is an enclosure  120 . The enclosure  120  contains a stepper motor  126  and a shaft  127 . The stepper motor and shaft have wheels  128 ,  129  attached thereto respectively, and wheels  128 ,  129  are coupled via a belt, a chain, a gearing system or other means  130 . (See  FIG. 2 ).  
         [0013]     Connected to the enclosure  120  via a cable  136  is a control box  137  that houses a control processor and electrical and pneumatic controls. Also attached to the control box  137  is a reservoir  138  for the storage of pneumatic air. A second industrial housing  135  is connected to the end of shaft  127  opposite that of the wheel  129 . In an embodiment, the industrial housing  135  encloses a camera, such as an IR camera. Also attached to the frame  105  is a second motion transport system that, like the first motion transport system, may be a pneumatic transport system. In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , such a pneumatic transport system has a rail  150 , a second trolley structure  156 , and a door  154 . The second trolley structure is attached to the door  154  with attachments  157  and tension springs  153  that attach the door  154  to the pneumatic transport system via a door trolley structure  156 . The door trolley  156  in  FIGS. 1 and 2  is depicted in generic form to indicate that several connecting mechanisms known in the art could be used to connect the door  154  to the trolley structure  156 . In one particular embodiment, the details of which are illustrated in  FIGS. 1   a  and  2   a,  the attachment  157  includes a triangular bracket  157   a  and a roller  158   b  to connect the bracket  157   a  to the trolley structure  156 . The door covers an opening  160  in the industrial housing wall  140  ( FIG. 2 ).  
         [0014]     The transport system  100  supports and transports the industrial housing  135  into and out of an industrial environment. In an embodiment, the industrial environment is a furnace, and the industrial housing  135  encloses an IR camera. An exploded view of an embodiment of an industrial housing  135  and an IR camera is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . The housing  135  has a bottom plate  171 , and encloses a camera  170 . An opening  172  receives the camera lens (not shown in  FIG. 3 ) that is attached to the camera  170 . The camera lens is enclosed and protected by a window  173  and lens housing  174  that is attached to the industrial housing. A coupling unit  175  attaches onto the housing wall, and serves to connect the housing  135  to the shaft  127 . In an embodiment, the industrial housing  135  is manufactured out of hardened stainless steel, and the window  173  is made out of sapphire. In different embodiments, the lens attached to the camera may be a wide angle lens, a narrow angle lens, and/or a telescoping lens.  
         [0015]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the door  154  has been moved in the direction of arrow A. As will be explained in detail in connection with  FIG. 4 , the movement of the door along arrow A occurs by activating the second pneumatic transport system, which moves door trolley  156  and the door  154  along rail  150 , thereby exposing opening  160  in the industrial wall  140 . Referring now to  FIG. 2A , in an embodiment, attachments  157  A&amp;B and tension springs  153  A&amp;B secure the door  154  to the door trolley  156 . The attachment  157  between door trolley  156  and the door  154  has compression springs  157 C to ensure a tight seal between the door  154  and the wall  140  when the door trolley  156  is in the lowered position. Tension springs  153  A&amp;B between door  154  and door trolley  156  is to ensure the door is held against the door trolley and away from the wall  140  when the door trolley is in the upper position. When the door trolley  156  first begins to rise, the compression spring force of attachments  157  A&amp;B releases and tension springs  153  A&amp;B pull door  154  toward door trolley  156  and away from the wall  140 . This ensures that there is no interference between the door  154  and the wall  140  or other structure. As the door trolley  156  continues to raise, both the door trolley  156  and door  154  move in the direction of arrow A. When the door  154  and door trolley  156  are lowered by activating the second pneumatic transport system, the door first moves with the door trolley down in the direction of arrow B until roller  158 A, which is fixed to door  154 , contacts the horizontal portion of the frame  105   a.  The trolley  156  continues to move down while the door  154  can not, causing compression spring loaded attachment  157 B to move the door toward the industrial wall  140 . The detail of the attachment  157 B, roller  158 A and tension spring  153 B is illustrated in  FIGS. 1   a  and  2   a.  Referring to  FIG. 1   a,  as the door trolley  156  is moved down by the second pneumatic transport system with the roller  158 B preventing any further movement in the direction of arrow B, attachment  157 A pushes the door  154  away from the door trolley  156  toward wall  140 . When the door trolley  156  is raised by the second pneumatic system, the tension spring  153 A first pulls the door  154  back away from the industrial wall  140  and then door trolley  156  and door  154  move together in the direction of arrow A. In situations in which the industrial housing  140  is cylindrical-like in shape, or the surface of a flat housing wall is not perfectly planar, an adapter can be welded or otherwise coupled onto the wall of the industrial housing. The surface of the adapter that contacts the door  154  can then be machined to accurately mate with the door.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  further shows that enclosure  120 , shaft  127 , and housing  135  have been moved along rail  110  via the activation of the first pneumatic transport system. The housing  135  itself has been moved through opening  160  into the industrial housing  140 .  FIG. 2  further illustrates that the industrial housing  135  has been rotated from a home position as illustrated in  FIG. 1  (as determined by the direction that the window  173  and lens housing  174  is pointed), to a deployed position as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . In another embodiment, the industrial housing is attached to the shaft  127  by a mechanism that allows the industrial housing  135  to tilt when it is in the industrial housing  140 .  
         [0017]     In an embodiment, the transport structure  100  is connected to a processor housed in control box  137  that controls the functions of the transport system  100 . A flowchart outlining an embodiment of the control process is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . In  FIG. 4 , the control process  400  at block  405  (a process control computer) transmits a signal to the camera  170  to determine the temperature of the camera. If the temperature of the camera is too high, for example because of a recent incursion into a furnace, the process control will not move the camera into the furnace. In one embodiment, a timed loop is programmed into the processor logic to poll the temperature again, and see if the temperature is low enough to be inserted into the furnace. In other embodiments, the insertion of the camera is on a timed and scheduled basis, and the system then waits for the next scheduled time to insert the camera into the furnace. In yet another embodiment, an operator provides a command to the processor to move the camera into the furnace, and if insertion does not occur because the temperature of the camera is too high, the operator can wait before reissuing the command.  
         [0018]     In an embodiment, if the temperature of the camera is found to be within operating conditions in block  410 , image and rotation angle commands are transmitted from the camera to a programmable logic controller (PLC) housed in control box  137  (block  412 ). The image command readies the IR camera  170  for capturing images, and the rotation command is sent to the PLC which communicates with the stepper motor controller, housed in control box  137 , which rotates the camera so that the window  173  and lens housing  174  will be pointed in the desired direction at  427 . At  415 , the PLC checks to see if the industrial housing  135 , the enclosure  120 , and the control box  137  have been successfully purged. A purge system  139 , housed in control box  137 , establishes a positive pressure in the enclosure  120 , the control box  137 , and the housing  135 . This positive pressure keeps contaminants from leaking into these structures. If the Purge is OK, the PLC then checks in block  420  whether the camera  135  is out and the door  154  is closed. If the camera is out and the door  154  to the housing  140  is closed, the PLC checks in block  425  to see if the camera window  173  and lens housing  174  are located in the home position. If the camera is home, signals are then sent to the stepper motor at  427  so that the camera is rotated the desired number of degrees to the desired angle (i.e. the deployed position). If the purge was not OK in block  415 , or the camera was not out and/or the door was not closed in block  420 , or the stepper motor was not in a home position in block  425 , a variable representing the health or status of the PLC is set to zero and sent to the camera in block  430 , and the camera communicates a PLC health error indication to the process computer.  
         [0019]     In block  440 , the processor sends a signal to energize a pneumatic valve which opens the door  154  that seals the housing  140 . In block  445 , the processor checks to see if the door successfully opened. If the door did not open successfully, the PLC health status is set to zero at  430 , and the PLC sends the information to the camera. If the door successfully opened, the first pneumatic transport system is energized at  447 , and the housing  135  and camera  170  are moved through the housing wall  140 . The processor then determines if the camera was moved into the housing successfully at  450 . If it was not, the PLC status is once again set to zero. If the processor determines that the camera was moved into the furnace successfully, images are captured by the camera at  460 . The camera then communicates with the process computer in block  405  and transfers the images. These images may be transmitted via wired or unwired means. Then, after a short time in the furnace at  465  (three seconds in one embodiment), the PLC sends a signal to the first pneumatic transport system at  470  to energize the valve again so that the housing and camera are removed from the furnace. The PLC checks to see if the camera was successfully removed from the furnace at  475 . If it was not, the PLC status is set to zero. If the camera was successfully removed from the furnace, the close door valve of the second pneumatic transport system is reenergized at  480 , and the door  154  is closed. The PLC checks to see if the door was successfully closed ( 485 ), and if it was not, PLC status is set to zero.  
         [0020]     When the transport system senses any of the problems outlined above (e.g. the door  154  did not successfully close at  485 ), or any other problems such as loss of electrical power or loss of pneumatic pressure, the processor status is set to zero and the system goes into a failsafe state. If instrument air is lost in the failsafe state, the pneumatic air in the reservoir  138  is used by the system to remove the camera from the furnace (if the camera is in the furnace when the problem occurs), and to shut the door  154  (if once again the door is open when the problem occurs). This failsafe operation prevents the situation where the furnace door remains open because of a failure of some part of the system. In an embodiment that uses an electric motor to move said industrial housing  135  and said door  154 , an alternative power supply, such as a battery or gas-powered generator, could be used to put the system into the failsafe mode.  
         [0021]     In the foregoing detailed description of embodiments of the invention, various features are grouped together in one or more embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description of embodiments of the invention, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment. It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. It is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively. Moreover, the terms “first,” “second,” and “third,” etc., are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.