Rapid algorithm to detect presence and length of teeth on observable outline of excavator bucket
V. A. Kuznetsov, A. S. Ermakov, Dmitry V. Zhuravov · Gornyi Zhurnal · 2025
Operation quality and performance control of industrial machines is often associated with extreme operating conditions, unavailable communication channel and impossibility of a contact or manual control. For these reasons, one of the solutions for automated non-contact control is the development or adaptation of data processing algorithms for on-board devices limited in computing resources and dimensions. During operation of excavation machines, it is critical to control the presence of teeth on the working surface of buckets to prevent abnormalities of process flows, and to abate adverse consequences of unforeseen downtimes because of a tooth loss, accidental entry of teeth in crushing machines or conveyor belts, elevated cost of repair of excavator bucket parts, and reduced efficiency of excavation. Automated monitoring of the condition and length of bucket teeth is not a critical task in the technological process, therefore, the resources for its implementation are also limited. The existing missing tooth detection solutions offer stable results for a clean bucket only, and produce a high rate of false alarms due to other features of a setting. The algorithm for automated condition monitoring and length measurement of bucket teeth is developed and tested as a part of an on-board system, and an estimation of the accuracy and speed of the algorithm is presented. Additional features for the reliability estimation of the presence and length of teeth are defined to reduce the number of false alarms, but sensitivity to artifacts of the original data is not excluded. Stable performance can be guaranteed if there are at least three visible bucket teeth without dirt and obstructions. The results obtained can be used as a part of a hardware and software system for mining excavators of the most existing models for automated condition monitoring and length measurement of bucket teeth in real time. To obtain practical significance in a technological process, the result provided by the algorithm require generalization and analysis over a certain time interval.