Method and apparatus for optical distance measurement

US4976543A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• BAUMER ELECTRIC AG · CH

Inventors

• Werner Scheck · Kempten, DE
• Siegfried Idler · Kempten, DE
• Bernard Furrer · Winterthur, CH

Key dates

• Filing date: Dec 19, 1988
• Grant date: Dec 11, 1990
• Expiry date: Dec 19, 2008

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S17/08
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A bundled light beam projected by a light source (21), particularly a laser light source, onto the target is partly reflected back into the measuring apparatus (20), focussed by a concave mirror (61, 81) and split by a beam splitter (26) into two partial beams (25,25'), where the light detectors (28,28'), which in one dimension are at least as long as the partial beams, are arranged at different distances from the beam splitter (26). A linear dependence between the quotient signal and the distance (15) from the measuring apparatus (2) to the target (11) results from the quotient of the detector signals.