Method of designing container of liquid reflection inclination sensor, inclination sensor including the container, and method of producing inclination sensor including the container

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10215561-B2
Application number	US-201715407804-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2017
Priority date	Jan 18, 2016
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

A method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor includes a liquid surface calculating step (S 1 ) that calculates a shape of a liquid surface of a liquid in a horizontal direction “x” and a vertical direction “y” by utilizing the Young-Laplace formula and the hydrostatic pressure formula, the liquid surface formed on a plate extending vertically and infinitely with respect to a horizontal part of the liquid surface, an optical simulation step (S 2 ) that obtains a light receiving pattern by reflecting a dark field pattern ( 4 ′) irradiated from an imaginary light source ( 2 ′) on an imaginary mirror plane (9 a ′) having the shape of the liquid surface, and a container adjusting step (S 3 -S 4 ) that adjusts a shape of a cylindrical container ( 10 ) for enclosing the liquid by judging whether image accuracy of the light receiving pattern satisfies demanded sensor accuracy.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor, comprising:
a liquid surface calculating step that calculates a shape of a liquid surface of a liquid in a horizontal direction “x” and a vertical direction “y” by utilizing the Young-Laplace formula and the hydrostatic pressure formula, the liquid surface formed on a plate extending vertically and infinitely with respect to a horizontal part of the liquid surface;
an optical simulation step that obtains a light receiving pattern by reflecting a dark field pattern irradiated from an imaginary light source on an imaginary mirror plane having the shape of the liquid surface; and
a container adjusting step that adjusts a shape of a cylindrical container for enclosing the liquid by judging whether image accuracy of the light receiving pattern satisfies demanded sensor accuracy.

2. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 1 , wherein
the liquid surface calculating step comprises a second step that obtains an actual contact angle “θ 1 ” of the liquid with the container, and offsets a y-axis of a first curve “f 1 ” representing the shape of the liquid surface in an x-axis direction until an angle between the first curve “f 1 ” and the y-axis corresponds to the actual contact angle “θ 1 .”

3. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 2 , wherein
the liquid surface calculating step comprises a third step that obtains the first curve “f 1 ” from each of two directions, one is from one side wall of the container and the other is from an opposite side wall, and obtains a second curve “f 2 ” representing a shape of the liquid surface in the container when “X” is a horizontal distance from a center of the container and “Y” is a height of the liquid surface.

4. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 3 , wherein
the liquid surface calculating step comprises a fourth step that complements the shape of the second curve “f 2 ” neighboring X=0 by utilizing a polynomial expression.

5. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 3 , wherein
the container adjusting step conducts the optical simulation step while fixing a light flux diameter of light from a light source which enters the container and assuming a length of the container in the “X” direction, and then, reduces the length of the container in the “X” direction when the image accuracy of the light receiving pattern satisfies the demanded sensor accuracy, and increases the length of the container in the “X” direction when the image accuracy of the light receiving pattern does not satisfy the demanded sensor accuracy.

6. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 3 , wherein
the container adjusting step conducts the optical simulation step while fixing a length of the container in the “X” direction and assuming a light flux diameter of the light from the light source which enters the container, and then, reduces the light flux diameter when the image accuracy of the light receiving pattern satisfies the demanded sensor accuracy, and increases the light flux diameter when the image accuracy of the light receiving pattern does not satisfy the demanded sensor accuracy.

7. The method of designing a container of a liquid reflection inclination sensor according to claim 3 , wherein
the method further comprises a container height designing step that obtains a highest value “Ymax” of the Y-value of the second curve “f 2 ,” and then, designs a height “h” of the container so as to be equal to or higher than a value resulting from adding the highest value “Ymax” to a height “h′” of a horizontal part of the liquid surface of the liquid.

8. A liquid reflection inclination sensor, comprising:
a light source;
a collimate lens that collimates a light flux from the light source;
a dark field pattern where light from the collimate lens enters, and having contrast recognizable through image analysis;
a beam splitter that sets the light which has passed through the dark field pattern toward a free liquid surface;
a focus lens that concentrates the light from the beam splitter;
a liquid that forms the free liquid surface;
a container that encloses the liquid, formed in a cylindrical shape with a minimum horizontal length designed so that image accuracy of a light receiving pattern satisfies demanded sensor accuracy, the light receiving pattern obtained by utilizing the Young-Laplace formula and the hydrostatic pressure formula and by reflecting the dark field pattern on an imaginary mirror plane having a shape of a liquid surface of the liquid formed on a plate extending vertically and infinitely with respect to a horizontal part of the surface;
a light receiving element that receives a reflected light from the free liquid surface; and
a processing unit that analyzes a light receiving image of the light receiving element.

9. A method of producing a liquid reflection inclination sensor, comprising:
a liquid surface calculating step that calculates a shape of a liquid surface of a liquid in a horizontal direction “x” and a vertical direction “y” by utilizing the Young-Laplace formula and the hydrostatic pressure formula, the liquid surface formed on a plate extending vertically and infinitely with respect to a horizontal part of the liquid surface;
an optical simulation step that obtains a light receiving pattern by reflecting a dark field pattern irradiated from an imaginary light source on an imaginary mirror plane having the shape of the liquid surface;
a container adjusting step that adjusts a shape of a cylindrical container for enclosing the liquid by judging whether image accuracy of the light receiving pattern satisfies demanded sensor accuracy; and
a step of forming a cylindrical container with a set minimum horizontal length.

Assignees

• Topcon Corp

Inventors

• Momiyama Homare
• Sugiura Akinobu
• Matsumoto Hideyuki

Classifications

• G01C9/06

  Electric or photoelectric indication or reading means · CPC title

• G01C2009/066

  optical · CPC title

• G01C9/20 Primary

  the indication being based on the inclination of the surface of a liquid relative to its container · CPC title

• G01F23/14

  by measurement of pressure · CPC title