System and method for measuring and mapping a surface relative to a reference

A system for measuring the displacement of a surface in a material handling system such as a crusher, transfer chute or other material handling structure relative to a base reference of the material handling system such as the base reference of the crusher, transfer chute or other material handling structure, wherein differences in measurements of displacement of the surface relative to the base reference over a time period represents a rate of change between the base reference and the surface which is used to determine if the surface requires at least one of maintenance and replacement, the system comprising:

• laser scanner to generate point cloud data in respect of a distal surface relative to a reference point of the laser scanner to define a three-dimensional image of the surface comprising a plurality of three-dimensional spatial points, wherein the laser scanner comprises:
• (i) a transmitter for transmitting laser radiation from the reference point towards the surface;
• (ii) a detector proximate to the reference point for detecting reflected laser radiation from the surface;
• and
• (iii) distance processing means to measure the distance between the laser scanner and the surface, and generate point cloud data in respect thereof;
• storage means to store data relevant to the base reference, the data of the base reference being relative to the surface;
• and
• processing means to process the three-dimensional point cloud image and the data of the base reference data to determine the displacement therebetween;
• characterised by the processing means including:
• (i) microprocessor circuitry interfaced with the laser scanner and storage means;
• (ii) determining means for determining the location and direction of key reference parameters of the object defined by the three dimensional image from the point cloud data;
• (iii) a referencing means to orientate the three-dimensional point cloud image of the surface relative to key reference data of the base reference and to transform the point cloud data and the data of the base reference into a common co-ordinate system;
• and
• (iv) displacement processing means to calculate the displacement using both sets of data in the co-ordinate system, wherein the calculated displacement and the rate of change in displacement is used to determine at least one of (1) when the surface will be worn to a degree in which it requires at least one of maintenance and replacement and (2) if the surface is worn to a degree in which it requires at least one of maintenance and replacement.

A method for measuring the displacement of a surface relative to a base reference thereof, wherein the surface is oriented with reference to a coordinate system of the base reference, the method comprising:

• using a laser scanner to generate point cloud data comprising a plurality of three dimensional spatial points, in respect of a measure of the spatial orientation of the surface relative to a reference point of the laser scanner, the point cloud data defining a three dimensional image of the surface;
• determining the location and direction of key reference parameters of the object defined by the three dimensional image from the point cloud data;
• obtaining base reference data in a prescribed co-ordinate system in respect of a base reference relative to the surface;
• and
• processing, using a computer comprising microprocessor circuitry interfaced with the laser scanner and storage means, the point cloud data and the base reference data, orientating the point cloud data relative to the key reference parameters defined by the data of the base reference and transforming the point cloud coordinate system of the three-dimensional point cloud image data into a co-ordinate system coinciding with the base reference data;
• and
• determining the relative displacement of the surface defined by the point cloud data with respect to the base reference in the coordinate system, wherein the relative displacement is compared against a prescribed threshold comprising a distance between the surface and data of the base reference in order to gauge the wear rate of the surface.