A SLURRY SPREAD QUANTIFICATION SYSTEM AND A METHOD FOR QUANTIFYING A SLURRY SPREAD

Abstract

The application describes a slurry spread quantification system (200) comprising a forming table including a forming area and at least one slurry outlet (120) configured to, in use, dispense a slurry (130) into the forming area, a sensor (210) trained on the forming area and configured to capture an image of the forming area; and a processor (220) operable to: analyse the image to identify the slurry (130); determine at least one characteristic of the slurry (130); and output at least one indication of the at least one characteristic of the slurry (130). A method, a computer implemented method and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to control a system (200) as described are also discussed.

Claims

1. A slurry spread quantification system comprising: a forming table including a forming area and at least one slurry outlet configured to, in use, dispense a slurry into the forming area; a sensor trained on the forming area and configured to capture an image of the forming area; and a processor operable to: analyse the image to identify the slurry; determine at least one characteristic of the slurry; and output at least one indication of the at least one characteristic of the slurry.

2. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, wherein the analysis of the image to identify the slurry includes analysing one or more of a shape, a colour, a contrast and/or a brightness of at least a portion of the image.

3. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic of the slurry includes one or more of an area, a depth, a shape, a width, a velocity and/or a rheological property

4. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to provide a continuous image feed, and the processor is configured to provide a continuously updating output.

5. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, wherein the system comprises a mixer configured to mix ingredients to form the slurry and provide the slurry to the at least one slurry outlet and/or a forming table vibration system, and wherein the processor is further configured to control operation of the mixer and/or the forming table vibration system.

6. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 5, wherein in response to the at least one indication falling outside of a predetermined acceptable range the processor is configured to change at least one operation of the forming table vibration system and/or operation of the mixer.

7. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to effect a continuous change in operation of the mixer and/or the forming table vibration system.

8. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to calculate a sum of or average of the at least one indication over a predetermined time period and change operation of the mixer and/or the forming table vibration system in response to the sum of or average of the at least one indication over the predetermined time period falling outside of a predetermined acceptable range.

9. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to: identify a desired change in the at least one characteristic; consult a predetermined list of mixer operation changes and/or forming table vibration system operation changes and corresponding changes in the at least one characteristic; identify a predetermined mixer operation change and/or a predetermined forming table vibration system operation change which causes a corresponding change in the at least one characteristic that is similar to the desired change in the at least one characteristic; and change at least one operation of the mixer according to the identified predetermined mixer operation change and/or change at least one operation of the forming table vibration system according to the identified predetermined forming table vibration system operation change.

10. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to amend the predetermined list of mixer operation changes and/or the predetermined list of forming table vibration system changes to add new entries including mixer operation changes and/or forming table vibration system operation changes and corresponding changes in the at least one characteristic identified through use of the system, and/or delete entries which include mixer operation changes and/or forming table vibration system operation changes where the measured corresponding change in the at least one characteristic differs from the corresponding change in the at least one characteristic included in the predetermined list.

11. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to analyse a first portion of the image separately from a second portion of the image.

12. The slurry spread quantification system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to compare the at least one characteristic of the first portion to the at least one characteristic of the second portion to identify a difference between the first portion and the second portion, and the at least one identifier includes a value related to the identified difference between the first portion and the second portion.

13. A method for quantifying a slurry spread with the slurry spread quantification system of claim 1, the method comprising the steps: dispensing slurry into the forming area; capturing, by the sensor, an image of the forming area; analysing, by the processor, the image to identify the slurry; determining, by the processor, at least one characteristic of the slurry; and outputting, by the processor, at least one indication of the at least one characteristic of the slurry.

14. Computer implemented method for controlling a system according to claim 1.

15. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to control a system according to claim 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] An embodiment of the present invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0048] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of stucco slurry spreading apparatus; and

[0049] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the stucco slurry spreading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 along with a slurry spread quantification system.

[0050] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of stucco slurry spreading apparatus 100. The apparatus 100 includes a mixer 110 configured to mix ingredients into a slurry. The mixer 110 includes two slurry outlets 120 configured to dispense slurry 130 onto a moving sheet of paper 140. Other numbers of slurry outlets 120 are envisaged. The paper 140 moves away from the mixer 110, from left to right in the view shown in FIG. 1, and forms one surface of the final plasterboard product. The mixer 110 may be a continuous mixer such that ingredients are continually or periodically introduced into the mixer and slurry is continually dispensed from the mixer 110.

[0051] Due to the inherent viscosity of the slurry 130, the slurry 130 flattens and spreads over time on the paper 140. Accordingly, the area of the slurry 130, seen from the plan view as shown in FIG. 1, increases as it moves away from the mixer 110 and has more time to spread when compared to slurry 130 that has more recently been dispensed.

[0052] The slurry 130 from each of the two slurry outlets 120 eventually spreads enough to meet the slurry of the other slurry outlet 130 at a meet point 150. The slurry from each of the two slurry outlets 120 then forms a single slurry 130 mass that continues to spread over the paper 140 and increase in area, in the view shown in FIG. 1.

[0053] The slurry 130 may have a non-uniform depth or other undesirable spread characteristic. The slurry 130 and paper 140 pass through or by an extruder 160, which is configured to flatten the slurry 130 to a uniform and predetermined depth corresponding to the desired thickness of the plasterboard product.

[0054] The slurry 130 characteristics and the slurry 130 spread characteristics in the region between the slurry outlets 120 and the extruder 160 may be of interest. Accordingly, a slurry spread quantification system, as shown in FIG. 2, may be provided to analyse the slurry 130 in the region bounded by lines 170, 180 aligned with outlet apertures of the two slurry outlets 120 and the entrance to the extruder 160 respectively. However, it is also envisaged that slurry 130 spread characteristics in the region downstream of the extruder 160 may be of interest. In such embodiments, the extruder 160 is located within the forming area.

[0055] FIG. 2 is a schematic side view of the stucco slurry spreading apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 along with a slurry spread quantification system 200. The slurry spread quantification system 200 includes a camera 210 configured to capture a video feed of the slurry 130 and paper 140 between the lines 170, 180 bounding the region of interest. The camera 210 is configured to provide the video feed to a processor 220.

[0056] The processor 220 is configured to analyse the video feed from the camera 210 to determine a characteristic of the slurry 130 and/or a characteristic of the slurry 130 spread. For example, the processor 220 may be configured to determine an area of the slurry 130 and an area of the paper 140 within the region of interest, and output a value corresponding to the percentage of the paper 140 that is covered by the slurry 130. Other characteristics are envisaged.

[0057] The processor 220 may be configured to carry out a number of analysis steps in order to provide the value corresponding to the percentage of the paper 140 that is covered by the slurry 130. The processor 220 may be configured to receive, as an input from a user, a field of the video related to a region of interest, a field of the video including paper 140 only, a field of the video including slurry 130 only, and a field of the video related to the slurry outlets 120. The field of the video related to the slurry outlets 120 may be a field of the video that has a width equal to the width of the slurry outlets 120 and a length which is sufficient to include the meet point (not shown in FIG. 2).

[0058] The processor 220 may then, via pixel characterisation or any other analysis technique, determine areas within the field of the video related to the region of interest that corresponds to the paper 140 and to the slurry 130. If pixel characterisation is used, the processor 220 may identify pixels which are similar to the pixels within the field of the video including slurry 130 only and determine said pixels include slurry, and identify pixels which are similar to the pixels within the field of the video including paper 140 only and determine said pixels include paper. The processor 220 may then be able to calculate a total percentage area, within the region of interest, of the paper 140 that is covered by slurry 130.

[0059] In addition, the processor 220 may be configured to split the video feed images into portions and analyse each portion separately. Each image may be split into two halves, along a line bisecting the two slurry outlets 120 and the meet point (not shown in FIG. 2), and a symmetry between the two halves assessed.

[0060] The processor 220 is configured to provide information, such as the value corresponding to the percentage of the paper 140 that is covered by the slurry 130, to a display 230. The display 230 may show the information in a graph or otherwise.

[0061] The processor 220 is also configured to provide information, such as the value corresponding to the percentage of the paper 140 that is covered by the slurry 130, to an automation system 240. The automation system 240 may control operation of the mixer 110 as described above. The automation system 240 may control operation of the mixer 110 in response to the information provided by the processor 220. For example, if the area of the paper 140 covered by the slurry 130 is lower than a predetermined acceptable range, the mixer 110 may be operated to add more water and/or fluidizer to the slurry to decrease viscosity.

[0062] The processor 220 is also configured to provide information, such as the value corresponding to the percentage of the paper 140 that is covered by the slurry 130, to a supervision system 250. The supervision system 250 may allow a user to supervise production.

[0063] A laser sensor 260 is also provided and is configured to measure a spread characteristic, such as a depth, of the slurry 130 at the entrance to the extruder 160. The laser sensor 260 may provide measurements or other information to the processor 220.