An Enhanced Detection System of Drill Rod Bending Degree Based on Two-Dimensional Laser

Drill rod straightness has to be strictly controlled and the maximum bending degree detection needs to be used in the straightening process. The mechanical bending degree measurement depends on machinery instruments and workers’ experience, often with low efficiency and precision. While the optical inspection, as a non-contact detection method, with higher precision and lower installation accuracy requirements, is frequently applied in the online detection system. Based on this, an enhanced bending degree detection system for a drill rod is proposed in this paper. Compared to the existing detection system, the main progress is to use a two-dimensional laser to quickly obtain arc profile data and fit with ellipse. Segment inspection idea is also utilized is this system as the camera that could obtain the whole drill rod in one shot needs extremely high resolution and price. A specialized algorithm is designed to fit the cross-section shape and whole centerline displacement based on the least square method. Some laboratory tests are conducted to verify this detection system, findings of which are compared to manual measured results. The maximum bending degree error is 2.14 mm and the maximum position error is 8.21 mm, which are both within the tolerance of error. Those results show the feasibility and precision of this enhanced detection system.