DE20104092U1 - Panorama camera carriage with only one camera - Google Patents

Description

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT

BoehmcrtA Bochmcn ■ Niemumswcg 133 ■ D-24105 Kid

To the

German Patent and Trademark Office Zweibrückenstr.

80297 Munich

DR-ING. KARL BOEHMERT. PA (IKX-ITO) DIPL -tNG ALBERT BOEHMERT. PA WILHELM J. K STAHLBERC, KA. DR.4NO WALTE». HOORMANN. PA·. DlPL-PHYS DR HEINZ CODDAR. PA·. DIL-JHC. ROLAND LIESEGANG. PA·. WOLF-DETER KUKTZE. 6 A. B DIPL-PHYS. ROBERT MÜNZHUBER, Pa (193J-1992) DR. LUDWIG KOUKER. R.A. Braus DR. (CHEM.) ANDREAS WDJIOEK. PA·. MICHAELA HUTH-0IERIG, RA. Mud» DIPL-PHYS DK. MARION TONHARDT. PA·. DR. ANDREAS EBERT-WE1DENFELLER. R.A. DIPL-INa EVA LIESEGANG. PA·. Mod» DR. AXEL NORDEMANK BA. Bali. DIPL-THYS. DK. DOROTWE WEBER-BRULS.PA DIPL-THYS. DR STHFAN SCHOHE. PA·, umda DR-INC. MATTHIAS PHIUPP. FA-. Bkfcfcu DR. MARTIN WIRTZ. R.A. nmddot DR. DETMAR SCH/ !TrR. R*. Bmi DR IAN BERND NGRDEMANN. LLM..RA. bob

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PROF. DR. WILHELM NOROEMANN. BA, BOB* DIPL PHYS. EDUARD BAUMANK PA·. H DR.-ING. CERALD KLUPSCH. pa·. C DIPL-ING. HANS W. GROENING. PA·. U DIPL-INO. SIEGFRIED SCHIRMER. PA·. B DIPL PHYS. LORENZ HANEWINKEL PA·. P DIPL-[NG. DR. JAN TONNIES. P.A. R.A. CD DIPL-PHYS. CHRISTIAN BIEHL, PA·. Cd DlPL-PHYS. DR.-ING. UWE MANASSE, PA·. &a» DR. CHRISTIAN CZYCHOWSKL RA. Beb DR. CARl -RICHARD HAARMANN. R.A. MBd» DlPL-PHYS. DR. THOMAS L BITTNER. PA·. Bob, DR. VOLKER SCHMITZ. R.A. Mitabo DIPL-PHYS. CHRISTIAN W. APPELT, PA·, k DR. ANKE NORDEMANN-SCKIFFEL, Ea=. P KERSTIN MAUCH. LLM, RA. &Lgr; DIPL-BIOL. DR. IAN B. KRAUSS, PA. k JÖRGEN ALBRECHT. RA.MiBcte. ANKE SIHBOLD, RA. Banal DR. KLAUS TIM BROCKER, RA. Ba& ANDREAS DUSTMANN, LLM.. KA. Ma

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Kiel
March 6, 2001

IBAK Helmut Hunger GmbH & Co. KG
Wehdenweg 122, 24148 Kiel

Panoramic camera car with only one camera

The invention relates to a camera car for inspecting sewer pipes.

Sewer pipes that cannot be walked on are regularly checked for their condition. For this purpose, camera vehicles are used that are equipped with a chassis, lighting equipment and a camera. The camera is designed as a television camera, and the recorded image data is fed outside via a cable dragged by the camera vehicle and evaluated there at an observation point.

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http://www.bochmert.de e-mail: postmsster@boehmert.de

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT
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DE 4 3 28 575 C2 discloses a camera carriage suitable for inspecting canals, which is equipped with two cameras. One camera is arranged at the front end of the camera carriage facing forwards, the other is arranged on the camera carriage so that it can be swivelled and extended towards it.

The invention is based on the object of making the arrangement less complex and spatially shorter.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the features of claim 1, the subclaims specify advantageous embodiments of the invention.

The invention is explained below with reference to a drawing showing an embodiment.

Fig. 1 a side view of a camera car,
Fig. 2 the corresponding top view and
Fig. 3 the corresponding front view.

The camera car consists of a chassis, a lighting device 1 and a camera 4. Two wide-angle lenses 5, 6 are assigned to the camera. The optical axis of the wide-angle lens 5 of the first camera points forwards in the direction of travel, the optical axis of the wide-angle lens 6 points backwards in the direction of travel. The optical axes of the two wide-angle lenses 5, 6 run parallel to each other in opposite directions, but they can

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT
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- contrary to what is shown in the drawing - also run at an angle to the direction of travel.

The wide-angle lenses allow the imaging of a hemispherical space; these can in particular be so-called fisheye lenses.

A lighting device is provided, which is preferably a flash unit 1.

When driving through the canal, the camera takes a hemispherical image of the area in defined sections, which is captured by the front lens 5 or the rear lens 6. The captured images are transmitted online via a fiber optic cable from the canal pipe to a computer equipped with a memory, in which the two hemispherical images can be combined to form a fully spherical image. It is also possible to save the image data in a memory carried by the camera vehicle and only subsequently enter it into a computer.

The acquisition of digital, full-spherical panoramic images, which such a camera car makes possible, makes it possible to drive virtually through the canal later, i.e. in the office, using the stored image data. A critical location can then be "calculated to" by entering the corresponding spherical coordinates and line positions of the location to be viewed. In practice, however, this is done in a much simpler way using a mouse or something similar. Another advantage is that a critical location can be viewed from different angles, including from behind.

BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT

The use of a camera car designed in this way allows the image acquisition to be automated to a large extent, and no special experience or attention is required from the operator. The actual evaluation of the data then takes place at a later point in time, since all the image data required for evaluation is available.

It goes without saying that the two wide-angle lens systems do not necessarily have to be aligned in such a way that their optical axis coincides with the direction of travel; however, the optical axes of the wide-angle lens systems must run parallel to one another so that fully spherical images of the channel through which the camera car travels can be mathematically formed from the two hemispherical images. The image data to be combined to form a full image must, however, be captured at a location where the optical centers of the two lenses are the same.

It is possible for the flash unit 1 to be set up to alternately illuminate the area covered by one wide-angle lens 5 and the other wide-angle lens 6. In this embodiment, the mirror system is adjusted so that the sensor field of the camera records the image from both lenses. It is also possible for the optical deflection device 2 to be designed to be pivotable for alternately projecting the image covered by one or the other wide-angle lens 5, 6 onto the sensor field.

The optical deflection device 2 can be designed as a mirror or as a prism.

Claims (5)

1. Camera carriage for inspecting sewer pipes, with a chassis, a lighting device ( 1 ) and an electronic camera ( 4 ), characterized by two wide-angle lenses ( 5 , 6 ) arranged at a distance from one another and an optical deflection device ( 2 ) arranged on the common optical axis of the lenses ( 5 , 6 ), which directs the image captured by the two lenses ( 5 , 6 ) onto the sensor field ( 3 ) of the electronic camera ( 4 ). 2. Camera dolly according to claim 1, characterized in that the lighting device is a flash unit ( 1 ). 3. Camera carriage according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical deflection device ( 2 ) is a mirror. 4. Camera carriage according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the optical deflection device ( 2 ) is a prism. 5. Camera carriage according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the optical deflection device ( 2 ) is arranged for alternately projecting the image captured by one or the other wide-angle lens ( 5 , 6 ) onto the sensor field.