Increasing the reuse of wood in bulky waste using artificial intelligence and imaging in the VIS, IR, and terahertz ranges

Bulky waste contains valuable raw materials, especially wood, which accounts for around 50% of the volume. Sorting is very time-consuming in view of the volume and variety of bulky waste and is often still done manually. Therefore, only about half of the available wood is used as a material, while the rest is burned with unsorted waste. In order to improve the material recycling of wood from bulky waste, the project ASKIVIT aims to develop a solution for the automated sorting of bulky waste. For that, a multi-sensor approach is proposed including: (i) Conventional imaging in the visible spectral range; (ii) Near-infrared hyperspectral imaging; (iii) Active heat flow thermography; (iv) Terahertz imaging. This paper presents a demonstrator used to obtain images with the aforementioned sensors. Differences between the imaging systems are discussed and promising results on common problems like painted materials or black plastic are presented. Besides that, pre-examinations show the importance of near-infrared hyperspectral imaging for the characterization of bulky waste

Verfahren und Vorrichtung zur Bestimmung einer Position von Fehlstellen oder Schädigungen an Rotorblättern einer Windkraftanlage in eingebautem Zustand

The invention relates to a method and a device for determining the position of defects or damage on rotor blades (4) of a wind turbine (1) in an installed state, comprising the steps: a. a localisation instrument (5) is guided along the rotor blade (4) and the defect or damage is detected; b. the localisation instrument (5) has a GPS module (6) by means of which the GPS data of the localisation instrument (5) is detected at the defect or damage; c. the position of the investigated wind turbine (1) is detected by means of the GPS module (6); d. using the position data of the wind turbine (1), the hub height (n) of the wind turbine (1) is retrieved from a database and the distance (d) of the defect or damage of the rotor blade (4) from the hub (34) is calculated in an evaluation unit (8) from the difference between the GPS data of the localisation instrument (5) and the hub height (n) of the wind turbine and in accordance with the rotor blade position

Aktive und passive Thermographie zur Inspektion von Rotorblättern von Windenergieanlagen - liegend oder hängend, von innen und von außen

Rotorblätter von Windenergieanlagen unterliegen hohen und zum Teil stochastischen Belastungen durch den Wind, die Zentrifugalkraft und ihr eigenes Gewicht. Eine regelmäßige Inspektion auf Produktionsfehler oder Verschleißerscheinungen kann einer Fortentwicklung von Schäden bis hin zum Blattbruch und zum Anlagenverlust vorbeugen. Stand der Technik sind derzeit die visuelle Inspektion sowie der so genannte Perkussionstest, bei dem der Inspizierende das Blatt abklopft und aus dem entstehenden Klang Rückschlüsse auf seinen Zustand zieht. Die aktive Wärmefluss-Thermographie wie auch die boden- oder luftgestützte passive Thermographie kann einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Inspektionen leisten. Im Beitrag wird die Problemstellung ausführlich erläutert und die praktische Durchführung der aktiven Wärmefluss-Thermographie bei am Boden liegenden sowie an hängenden (an der Anlage installierten) Blättern dargestellt. Die passive Thermographie an drehenden Rotorblättern weist nicht nur thermische Signaturen der inneren Strukturen nach, die als Folge thermischer Anregung durch den naturgegebenen Verlauf der Außentemperatur entstehen. Sie zeigt auch aerodynamische Strukturen am Blatt sowie Erwärmungen aufgrund von Reibung und ähnlichen Phänomenen. Um die Thermographie-Bilder visuell besser auswerten zu können, sind Algorithmen zum Zusammenfügen der Bilder zu einem Blattpanorama und Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung des optischen Kontrasts nützlich. Ein laufendes Projekt des WKI untersucht die Inneninspektion von Rotorblättern durch ein Roboterfahrzeug und wird kurz vorgestellt

Heat flow thermography for non-destructive testing of composites and natural materials: An application-oriented overview

Heat flow thermography is a non-destructive testing method that offers a number of advantages. These include the relatively quick inspection of larger areas, the ease of interpretation of the results and the absence of potential hazards such as ionizing radiation. The disadvantage is, depending on the application, its limited penetration depth. The present article explains the physical principles of the process and provides examples of concrete realizations, mainly in the field of composites and natural materials. One focus is on the evaluation of the acquired thermal images and image series, since they often contain more information than is visible at first glance, and a suitable post-processing of the data is the key to a successful application

Inklusive Klassenlabels und registrierte RGB-Bilder

The dataset contains 44 hyperspectral near-infrared images of bulky waste samples. For each hyperspectral image, there is also an RGB and a label image assigning one of 9 classes to each pixel. The majority of samples are crushed furniture from IKEA and the other objects are from a real waste plant or self-collected bulky waste. Details of the file structure are given in "readme.txt" of the provided dataset. The measurements are part of the work described in https://publica.fraunhofer.de/entities/publication/dde5f89c-f87b-4644-b084-f4edf66c4b19/detailsDas Projekt wird von dem Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft (BMEL) gefördert. Projektträger ist die Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V. mit der funding reference 2220HV048A.Three tiff-files files per sample collection are given in this dataset, with 44 bulky waste sample collections in total. One RGB image (3300x4782 pixel), one hyperspectral image (550x797 pixel with 210 channels) and one gray-scale image (3300x4782 pixel) encoding a class in each pixel (class index = gray scale value / 12). For hyperspectral imaging, the camera FX17e from SPECIM was chosen. The camera collects hyperspectral images with 224 bands ranging from 900nm to 1700 nm. 14 channels at the edge of the spectrum have been removed in the provided images, due to a low sensitivity. The frame rate was set to 104.17 Hz, resulting in a resolution of 1mm/pixel in both axes of the image. A prism-based RGB line scan camera (SW-4000T-10GE) was used to make recordings of the sample scenario. These images were utilized for labelling and conventional RGB image analysis. The frame rate of the RGB camera was set to 625 Hz. The spatial resolution was 0.15mm/pixel. As a light source, halogen lamps were used for both cameras. By moving the samples on a conveyor belt with a speed of 0.108 m/s, images with two spatial axes were constructed using the push-broom method. The scanning lines of the hyperspectral and the RGB camera differ by a few centimeters, which was corrected using a marker-based registration. Each pixel in a hyperspectral image corresponds to a 6x6 pixel region in the RGB and the label image. To have a one-to-one pixel correspondence for all images, one can downsample the RGB and label images by a factor of 6

Anatomic accuracy, physiologic characteristics, and fidelity of very low birth weight infant airway simulators

Background!#!Medical simulation training requires realistic simulators with high fidelity. This prospective multi-center study investigated anatomic precision, physiologic characteristics, and fidelity of four commercially available very low birth weight infant simulators.!##!Methods!#!We measured airway angles and distances in the simulators Premature AirwayPaul (SIMCharacters), Premature Anne (Laerdal Medical), Premie HAL S2209 (Gaumard), and Preterm Baby (Lifecast Body Simulation) using computer tomography and compared these to human cadavers of premature stillbirths. The simulators' physiologic characteristics were tested, and highly experienced experts rated their physical and functional fidelity.!##!Results!#!The airway angles corresponded to those of the reference cadavers in three simulators. The nasal inlet to glottis distance and the mouth aperture to glottis distance were only accurate in one simulator. All simulators had airway resistances up to 20 times higher and compliances up to 19 times lower than published reference values. Fifty-six highly experienced experts gave three simulators (Premature AirwayPaul: 5.1 ± 1.0, Premature Anne 4.9 ± 1.1, Preterm Baby 5.0 ± 1.0) good overall ratings and one simulator (Premie HAL S2209: 2.8 ± 1.0) an unfavorable rating.!##!Conclusion!#!The simulator physiology deviated significantly from preterm infants' reference values concerning resistance and compliance, potentially promoting a wrong ventilation technique.!##!Impact!#!Very low birth weight infant simulators showed physiological properties far deviating from corresponding patient reference values. Only ventilation with very high peak pressure achieved tidal volumes in the simulators, as aimed at in very low birth weight infants, potentially promoting a wrong ventilation technique. Compared to very low birth weight infant cadavers, most tested simulators accurately reproduced the anatomic angular relationships, but their airway dimensions were relatively too large for the represented body. The more professional experience the experts had, the lower they rated the very low birth weight infant simulators

Anatomic accuracy, physiologic characteristics, and fidelity of very low birth weight infant airway simulators

Background Medical simulation training requires realistic simulators with high fidelity. This prospective multi-center study investigated anatomic precision, physiologic characteristics, and fidelity of four commercially available very low birth weight infant simulators. Methods We measured airway angles and distances in the simulators Premature AirwayPaul (SIMCharacters), Premature Anne (Laerdal Medical), Premie HAL S2209 (Gaumard), and Preterm Baby (Lifecast Body Simulation) using computer tomography and compared these to human cadavers of premature stillbirths. The simulators' physiologic characteristics were tested, and highly experienced experts rated their physical and functional fidelity. Results The airway angles corresponded to those of the reference cadavers in three simulators. The nasal inlet to glottis distance and the mouth aperture to glottis distance were only accurate in one simulator. All simulators had airway resistances up to 20 times higher and compliances up to 19 times lower than published reference values. Fifty-six highly experienced experts gave three simulators (Premature AirwayPaul: 5.1 +/- 1.0, Premature Anne 4.9 +/- 1.1, Preterm Baby 5.0 +/- 1.0) good overall ratings and one simulator (Premie HAL S2209: 2.8 +/- 1.0) an unfavorable rating. Conclusion The simulator physiology deviated significantly from preterm infants' reference values concerning resistance and compliance, potentially promoting a wrong ventilation technique. Impact Very low birth weight infant simulators showed physiological properties far deviating from corresponding patient reference values. Only ventilation with very high peak pressure achieved tidal volumes in the simulators, as aimed at in very low birth weight infants, potentially promoting a wrong ventilation technique. Compared to very low birth weight infant cadavers, most tested simulators accurately reproduced the anatomic angular relationships, but their airway dimensions were relatively too large for the represented body. The more professional experience the experts had, the lower they rated the very low birth weight infant simulators