The present application generally relates to the field of management of power plants, and in particular, to a system for power plant management and a device for building a 3D virtual model of a power plant.
With the rapid development of information technologies, the management mode of a power plant has changed from manual management to electronic management, and is shifting to a digital management mode with widespread application of digital technologies. Thanks to the development of automation equipment, the inspection for the power plant may rely on the support for the fully manual monitoring of remote videos and manual operations. Data of equipment in a power plant are sent via a running remote data acquisition apparatus to a remote monitoring platform over a network. When the equipment of the power plant is abnormal, the remote monitoring plat form alerts inspection personnel, who can, in turn, inform a technician responsible for the maintenance of the abnormal equipment, so as to maintain the equipment on site to improve the efficiency of equipment maintenance.
For the existing power plant inspection technologies, a large number of cameras are required in order to monitor each position of the power plant in real time. This not only requires a large amount of financial investment, but also generates a large amount of video data, which requires a large amount of manpower for monitoring and makes it difficult to determine the surveillance video that needs attention. Usually, the monitoring may be presented to the inspection personnel in the form of a two-dimensional model or data table of the power plant. However, in this case, it is difficult for the inspection personnel to monitor an actual operation state of the equipment, and the inspection personnel do not know the current actual situation of the equipment, which reduces the efficiency of handling abnormal conditions.
With the development of 3D virtual reality technologies, some power plants are managed in a virtual power plant manner, in which a 3D model of the power plant is first built and such a 3D model may be built manually or built using a design model of the power plant during the design. Either way, due to the complex structure of the power plant, the 3D modeling thereof would take a large amount time and manpower, and this 3D model is different from the current state of the power plant and cannot accurately reflect the actual situation of the power plant. If this solution is adopted, the modeling process will be extremely complex and will slow down the application process of virtual power plant management. So in fact, this solution is only useful for small-scale simulation and training for the personnel, or for marketing or commercial usages, and because the virtual power plant modeling is actually not associated with the actual equipment and environment of the power plant, this solution cannot be used in the actual inspection and operation of the power plant.
In addition, the management personnel cannot know the positions of the inspection personnel or power plant operators during the inspection and field operations by the inspection personnel or power plant operators, and cannot learn about an operating state of the power plant in time, making it difficult to manage the personnel in the power plant.
Embodiments of the present application provide a system for power plant management and a device for building a 3D virtual model of a power plant to at least address the problems existing in the prior art that it is difficult to monitor the actual operating state of the equipment, to perform 3D modeling of the entire power plant, and to determine the positions of the personnel.
According to an embodiment of the present application, a system for power plant management is provided, including: a power plant data module for acquiring equipment data associated with power plant equipment in a power plant and layout data associated with a layout of the power plant; a database module for building a database according to the acquired equipment data; an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) route planning module for creating UAV route planning data according to the layout data, the UAV route planning data including a UAV route and photographing positions at which photographing needs to be performed; a UAV data acquisition module for acquiring UAV data, the UAV data including power plant images taken at the photographing positions along the UAV route by a UAV and position data associated with the photographing positions; and a model building module for
According to another embodiment of the present application, a device for building a 3D virtual model of a power plant is provided, including: a receiving unit for receiving equipment data associated with power plant equipment in a power plant and layout data associated with a layout of the power plant; a memory for storing the acquired equipment data; a UAV route planning unit for creating UAV route planning data according to the layout data, the UAV route planning data including a UAV route and photographing positions at which photographing needs to be performed; a UAV data acquisition unit for acquiring UAV data, the UAV data including power plant images captured at the photographing positions along the UAV route by a UAV and position data associated with the photographing positions; and a model building unit for building a 3D virtual model of the power plant according to the equipment data and the UAV data.
The accompanying drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present application, and constitute a part of the present application. The illustrative embodiments of the present application and the description thereof are for the explanation of the present application and do not constitute an undue limitation of the present application. In the accompanying drawings:
According to an embodiment of the present application, a system for power plant management is provided, including: a power plant data module for acquiring equipment data associated with power plant equipment in a power plant and layout data associated with a layout of the power plant; a database module for building a database according to the acquired equipment data; an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) route planning module for creating UAV route planning data according to the layout data, the UAV route planning data including a UAV route and photographing positions at which photographing needs to be performed; a UAV data acquisition module for acquiring UAV data, the UAV data including power plant images taken at the photographing positions along the UAV route by a UAV and position data associated with the photographing positions; and a model building module for building a 3D virtual model of the power plant according to the database and the UAV data.
In this way, it is possible to conveniently and quickly build the 3D virtual model for the entire power plant, thereby improving the efficiency of system establishment.
Furthermore, the system further includes: a virtual reality module for providing the 3D virtual model to a terminal device for display to a user.
In this way, an intuitive 3D view of the power plant can be provided for the user of the system.
Furthermore, the virtual reality module further includes: a data association module for associating the equipment data with virtual equipment in the 3D virtual model; and an inter face module for providing a virtual interface in the 3D virtual model, the virtual interface including a control panel for displaying the equipment data associated with the virtual equipment.
In this way, the user can determine and identify the equipment in the power plant from the 3D view of the power plant and can conveniently obtain information about the equipment.
Furthermore, the power plant data module further includes: a sensor module for acquiring operating data associated with the power plant equipment; and a data processing module for obtaining an operating state of the power plant equipment according to the operating data, the operating state being configured to be displayed in the control panel.
In this way, the system for power plant management can acquire and display the current state of the equipment for the user.
Furthermore, the virtual reality module further includes: a virtual camera module for providing a movable virtual camera in the 3D virtual model, a virtual view field of the virtual camera in the 3D virtual model being provided to a virtual reality device of the user; and an operation input module for receiving operation commands input by the user, and controlling the movement of the virtual camera in the 3D virtual model as well as the virtual view field.
In this way, the user of the system is able to control a position needing to be observed in the 3D view of the power plant by operation and provide the user with a simulation of an on-site view field.
Furthermore, the system further includes: a position module for providing positions of personnel of the power plant in the 3D virtual model.
In this way, the management personnel can obtain an intuitive representation of the positions of the personnel of the power plant in the power plant and provide an improved management mode.
Furthermore, the equipment data includes equipment operation data, power plant design data and historical data.
In this way, basic information about the power plant and the equipment therein is acquired.
Furthermore, the system further includes: a model modification module for receiving modification data to modify the 3D virtual model of the power plant. In this way, it is possible to improve and maintain the 3D virtual model of the power plant.
Furthermore, the system further includes: a management module for managing user authorities and system configurations of the system.
In this way, system security measures and basic system settings are provided for power plant management.
Furthermore, the terminal device includes a web browser, a mobile phone, and a virtual reality device.
In this way, the user is provided with a remote and intuitive display of the power plant state.
According to another embodiment of the present application, a device for building a 3D virtual model of a power plant is provided, including: a receiving unit for receiving equipment data associated with power plant equipment in a power plant and layout data associated with a layout of the power plant; a memory for storing the acquired equipment data; a UAV route planning unit for creating UAV route planning data according to the layout data, the UAV route planning data including a UAV route and photographing positions at which photographing needs to be performed; a UAV data acquisition unit for acquiring UAV data, the UAV data including power plant images captured at the photographing positions along the UAV route by a UAV and position data associated with the photographing positions; and a model building unit for building a 3D virtual model of the power plant according to the equipment data and the UAV data.
In this way, it is possible to conveniently and quickly build the 3D virtual model for the entire power plant, thereby improving the efficiency of system establishment.
In the existing power plants, only manually built power plant models are used. Virtual reality can only be useful for small-scale training for personnel, simulation of an operating environment or advertising usages. The model building needs a complex work and cannot accurately reflect the complete environment of the power plant, and cannot achieve data association between equipment in the virtual model and actual equipment of the power plant. Likewise, the on-site 3D real-time positions of the personnel cannot be reflected in the system. The technical solutions of the present application address the above technical problems, and provide an improved power plant management solution which can perform 3D modeling on a power plant conveniently, accurately and completely, and associate a model in virtual reality with actual conditions of the power plant and equipment data, thereby providing the management personnel with a view of positions of the personnel in the virtual reality 3D model, achieving convenient and intuitive real-time power plant management, and improving the user experience.
In order to enable a person skilled in the art to better understand the solutions of the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely some of, rather than all of, the embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present application without creative efforts should be within the protective scope of the present application.
It needs to be noted that the terms such as “first” and “second” in the description and claims of the present application as well as the aforementioned accompanying drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order of precedence. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in a sequence other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms “include” and “have” and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a system, product, or device that includes a series of modules or units is not necessarily limited to those modules or units that are explicitly listed, but may include other modules or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such products or devices.
A system 1 for power plant management is provided according to an embodiment of the present application.
In this system, the data of the power plant equipment and the layout data of the power plant are received from a distributed control system to obtain basic information about the power plant and the equipment therein, and these pieces of information are all used to build the 3D virtual model of the power plant. The power plant data module 11 acquires data directly from the power plant equipment via an interface, or receives input original design data of the power plant, and the these pieces of data are stored in the database module 13. The database module 13 may include a data archive and a knowledge base library containing basic information about the power plant and the equipment therein. Compared with a conventional manual 3D modeling method, the present application provides a faster modeling method, in which a UAV is used to take images of various positions of the power plant and these images can be processed by software to implement 3D modeling. The system 1 includes the UAV route planning module 15 that provides a flight route for the UAV to take the images of the power plant, so as to plan (e.g., by a route algorithm) a route at which photographing needs to be performed, and the route includes one or more positions at which photographing needs to be performed, so that the UAV takes images for the targets to be photographed at desired angles in the power plant while the UAV passes through these photographing positions along the photographing route, to obtain image data for 3D modeling. The UAV can carry a device capable of taking high-definition images to provide accurate modeling data for 3D modeling. Moreover, the UAV can reach areas that are not reachable for personnel, thereby facilitating the photo graphing of the various positions of the power plant, to obtain images of various actual desired positions and angles in the power plant. The UAV data acquisition module 17 acquires the image data taken by the UAV and the position data associated with the images taken by the UAV, such as GPS geographic position coordinates, such that the specific positions and the image data can be associated during modeling. The model building module 19 builds the 3D virtual model based on the data, for example, by processing the image data, creating 3D image points in 3D model coordinates for the photographed targets in the images, and generating the corresponding positions in the 3D virtual model in combination with the position data. The images taken by the UAV at various angles can also be used to conveniently remove unwanted objects there from during the 3D modeling, identify and generate models for targets of interest in the power plant management and generate models. In addition, the model building module 19 creates a triangular mesh for a target in the 3D virtual model to establish a 3D model of the target, and can create a map for the 3D model of the target, for example, in combination with the captured image data, to obtain an immersive 3D model of the target. In this way, according to the data and position information of the power plant and equipment in the database, 3D modeling can be quickly performed on the power plant upon the obtaining of the image data by the UAV in accordance with the route and the photographing positions. This method can also be applied to 3D modeling inside a building of the power plant.
In this way, it is possible to conveniently and quickly build the 3D virtual model for the entire power plant, thereby improving the efficiency of system establishment. Meanwhile, a large amount manpower required for 3D modeling work and thus system investment is saved.
In this way, an intuitive 3D view of the power plant can be provided for the user of the system.
In this way, the user can determine and identify the equipment in the power plant from the 3D view of the power plant and can conveniently obtain information about the equipment.
In this way, the system for power plant management can acquire and display the current state of the equipment for the user.
In this way, the user of the system is able to control a position needing to be observed in the 3D view of the power plant by operation and provide the user with a simulation of an on-site view field. The user can operate and manage more accurately based on the acquired images.
In this way, the management personnel can obtain an intuitive representation of the positions of the personnel of the power plant in the power plant and provide an improved management mode. The position of the equipment and the positions of the personnel, etc., are displayed in an integrated plat form provided in the present application. When an abnormal situation occurs, the management personnel can know the positions of the on-site personnel in the power plant, and can also obtain the position of the abnormal equipment, thereby facilitating the dispatch of personnel and the monitoring of the real-time positions of the personnel.
According to an example embodiment of the present application, the equipment data includes equipment operation data, power plant design data and historical data. These pieces of data reflect information such as an initial design of the power plant, a current state of the power plant, and a state of the equipment, thereby providing the basic information during modeling and power plant management. Other information about the power plant and the equipment can also be obtained as needed.
In this way, basic information about the power plant and the equipment therein is acquired.
In this way, it is possible to improve and maintain the 3D virtual model of the power plant.
In this way, system security measures and basic system settings are provided for power plant management.
According to an example embodiment of the present application, the terminal device includes a web browser, a mobile phone, and a virtual reality device. The 3D virtual model of the power plant can be remotely provided to the user, and the user can view the 3D virtual model in various ways and perform inspections on the power plant in the 3D virtual model. The user can enter, via the web browser, a display screen provided by the system, and control the virtual camera via an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse. The 3D virtual model can also be presented via a screen of the mobile phone, and the user controls the view field in the 3D virtual model via the keyboard of the mobile phone. It is also possible to provide a display of the 3D virtual model in more immersive manner via the virtual reality device. For example, the user can control the movement and the view field in the 3D virtual model via a virtual reality helmet, via a virtual display handle, a joystick, etc., so that a roaming experience of inspection is provided, and areas of interest can be observed freely and quickly.
In this way, the user is provided with a remote and intuitive display of the power plant state.
In this way, it is possible to conveniently and quickly build the 3D virtual model for the entire power plant, thereby improving the efficiency of system establishment. Meanwhile, a large amount manpower required for 3D modeling work and thus system investment is saved.
The technical solutions provided in the present application provide an immersive presentation of the power plant environment for the user (such as the power plant inspection personnel or management personnel), and the user can quickly move to an area that needs to be observed or inspected to obtain information about this area, which improves the efficiency of dealing with an abnormal state. The modeling of the power plant is performed by the adopting UAV photography in combination with the basic information about the power plant, so that the financial investment and modeling time are greatly reduced. With the virtual reality technologies and positioning apparatuses, the management personnel can intuitively manage the personnel of the power plant, so as to be able to make decisions and give operational instructions more quickly when encountering emergencies. This technical solution improves the experience of the user in managing the power plant and provides the user with more satisfactory management functions, while providing an economical power plant management solution.
In the above embodiments of the present application, the various embodiments have described in different emphases, and the portions that are not detailed in a certain embodiment may be considered with respect to the related descriptions of other embodiments. In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content may be implemented in other manners. The apparatus embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units or modules is only a logical function division, and in actual implementations, there may be another division manner. For example, multiple units or modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not implemented. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an in direct coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, modules or units, and may be electrical or otherwise.
The units or modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components dis played as units or modules may or may not be physical units or modules, that is, the components may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units or modules. Some or all of the units or modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objective of the solution of the embodiment.
In addition, each functional unit or module in various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit or module, or each unit or module may be physically present separately, or two or more units or modules may be integrated into one unit or module. The above integrated unit or module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit or module.
The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence or the contribution to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes a plurality of instructions used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network de vice, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in various embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes a USB flash disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a mobile hard disk, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc, and the like, which can store program codes.
The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present application, and it should be noted that a person of ordinary skill in the art can also make several improvements and modifications without departing from the principle of the present application, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered to be within the protection scope of the present application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2018 1 0026619.8 | Jan 2018 | CN | national |
This application is the national phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2019/050556 which has an International filing date of Jan. 10, 2019, which designated the United States of America and which claims priority of Chinese Patent Application CN201810026619.8, filed Jan. 11, 2018, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein, in the entirety and for all purposes.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2019/050556 | 1/10/2019 | WO | 00 |