Optical triangulation gauging system
US4146327A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 27, 1976 |
| Grant date | Mar 27, 1979 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 27, 1996 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01C3/00
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An optical triangulation gauging system utilizing the position of a scanned laser beam to determine the position of an unknown surface or material thickness by optical triangulation. The scanned laser beam is split into two components by a beam splitter, one component, the reference beam, is passed through a calibration reticle having alternate opaque and transparent bands. The alternate transmission and occultation of the beam viewed through the reticle is used to generate calibration pulses that accurately describe the location of the gauging beam. The gauging component of the scanned beam is projected on to the surface to be measured. The back scattered light from this surface is viewed at a given angle, through a lens system that focuses the light onto a split photo detector. The position of the reference beam is interrogated as the scan beam image passes from one side of the split detector to the other. The reticle line spacing, the view angle of the lenses, and the optical path lengths provide an accurate measurement of surface movement independent of surface color or composition.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.