Patent · US Expired

Position detecting element and range sensor

US5999249A · kind A · utility

3Cited by
4References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 14, 1997
Grant dateDec 7, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 14, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01B11/026
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A position detecting element that enables a position to be detected at high speed and high precision, and a range sensor using the same. The position detecting element is provided with a PIN photodiode array 1 having n segments and a parallel arithmetic processing portion 2 that calculates the segment having maximum intensity by comparing n outputs from the segments of the PIN photodiode array 1. The range sensor includes a light source by which the object to be measured is irradiated by optical beam, a lens that gathers rays of the reflected light from the surface of the object to be measured and the position detecting element mentioned above that detects the position of the light gathered by the lens.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.