A Real-Time Intelligent Valve Monitoring Approach through Cameras Based on Computer Vision Methods

Abstract

Abnormal valve positions can lead to fluctuations in the process industry, potentially triggering serious accidents. For processes that frequently require operational switching, such as green chemical processes based on renewable energy or biotechnological fermentation processes, this issue becomes even more severe. Despite this risk, many plants still rely on manual inspections to check valve status. The widespread use of cameras in large plants now makes it feasible to monitor valve positions through computer vision technology. This paper proposes a novel real-time valve monitoring approach based on computer vision to detect abnormalities in valve positions. Utilizing an improved network architecture based on YOLO V8, the method performs valve detection and feature recognition. To address the challenge of small, relatively fixed-position valves in the images, a coord attention module is introduced, embedding position information into the feature channels and enhancing the accuracy of valve rotation feature extraction. The valve position is then calculated using a rotation algorithm with the valve’s center point and bounding box coordinates, triggering an alarm for valves that exceed a pre-set threshold. The accuracy and generalization ability of the proposed approach are evaluated through experiments on three different types of valves in two industrial scenarios. The results demonstrate that the method meets the accuracy and robustness standards required for real-time valve monitoring in industrial applications.