Grade mechanism for tiltable laser optical systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9222773-B2
Application number	US-201214001435-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 10, 2012
Priority date	May 11, 2011
Publication date	Dec 29, 2015
Grant date	Dec 29, 2015

Abstract

Rotating construction laser device with a grade mechanism, including a code element and a position detection device for providing and detecting a feedback position information, and a leveling mechanism, which supports a lens barrel tiltably and is designed to tilt the lens barrel in order to have the level position detected by a tilt sensor and therewith to level the grade arm, the code element or the position detection device is arranged directly on the grade arm, and the feedback position information directly depends on the position of a reference point on the grade arm, the reference point being defined by the code element or the position detection device, respectively, thus allowing to deduce a position of the grade arm directly from the feedback position information, and/or to calculate a tilting angle of the grade arm with respect to the lens barrel directly from the feedback position information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A rotating construction laser device with a grade mechanism, comprising:
a lens barrel in which a laser optical system is disposed;
a frame structure that is fixed to, integrated into or directly provided by a part of the structure of the lens barrel;
a grade arm, which is tiltably supported on the frame structure in an XZ-plane, the XZ-plane having an X-axis and a Z-axis, the Z-axis being an optical axis of the laser optical system and the X-axis lying within a plane perpendicular to the Z-axis;
a tilt sensor which is provided at the grade arm and is configured to detect a level position of the grade arm;
a tilting mechanism, which is provided on the frame structure and is designed to tilt the grade arm relative to the XZ-plane;
a code element for providing a feedback position information and a position detection device for detecting the feedback position information; and
a leveling mechanism, which supports the lens barrel tiltably and is designed to tilt the lens barrel in order to have the level position detected by the tilt sensor and therewith to level the grade arm, wherein:
the code element or the position detection device is arranged directly on the grade arm, and the feedback position information directly depends on the position of a reference point on the grade arm, the reference point being defined by the code element or the position detection device, respectively, thus allowing to:
deduce a position of the grade arm directly from the feedback position information; and/or
calculate a tilting angle of the grade arm with respect to the lens barrel directly from the feedback position information.

2. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the code element is a shadow casting object, in particular a pin, a multitude of pins or a hole, the grade arm and the shadow casting object in particular being produced as a common work piece.

3. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the code element is a pin, a multitude of pins or a hole, the grade arm and the shadow casting being produced as a common work piece.

4. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 3 , wherein the shadow casting being produced as a common work piece.

5. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 2 , wherein
a light emitter and the shadow casting object are mounted on the grade arm, the shadow casting object being positioned on the reference point;
an optical linear detector is configured to receive the shadow of the shadow casting object in order to detect a position of the shadow casting object; and
the position detection device is configured to deduce a position of the grade arm from the position of the shadow casting object and/or to calculate a tilting angle between the grade arm and the optical axis based on the position of the shadow casting object.

6. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 5 , wherein
the light emitter comprises a light emitting diode.

7. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the code element is an encoder having a digital code providing the feedback position information.

8. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 7 , wherein
the digital code comprises the encoded absolute position of the grade arm or of the reference point on the grade arm; and
an encoder sensor is provided that is designed to detect at least a part of the digital code and to deduce a position of the grade arm from the detected part of the digital code.

9. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the position detection device is configured to determine:
the position of the reference point relative to a preset home position; and/or
the angle between the grade arm and the optical axis relative to a preset angle.

10. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the position detection device is configured to detect a position of a reference point on the grade arm within an angular range of at least 4° above and below a preset home position of the reference point on the grade arm.

11. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the tilting mechanism comprises:
a lead screw, which is rotatably driven by a driving motor; and
a nut, which is reciprocated by the lead screw and engages with the grade arm by engagement means and tilts the grade arm.

12. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the tilting mechanism comprises:
a lead screw, which is rotatably driven by a stepper motor; and
a nut, which is reciprocated by the lead screw and engages with the grade arm by engagement means and tilts the grade arm.

13. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the grade arm is tiltably supported on the frame structure in such a way that a bearing component is attached to the grade arm, the grade arm and the bearing component being shaped in such a way that they together form at least one bearing bushing, which is tiltably supported on a cylindrical pin by two linear supports.

14. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein at least two grade mechanisms.

15. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein at least two grade mechanisms, the at least two grade arms being aligned in a right angle in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis.

16. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein:
the grade mechanism is mounted pivotably around the optical axis, particularly in an angle of at least 90° , or
a double grade arm is tilted by two tilting mechanisms and has two orthogonally aligned tilt sensors.

17. A rotating construction laser device according to claim 1 , wherein the frame structure is incorporated into the lens barrel in such a way that:
the grade arm is tiltably supported on the lens barrel, and the tilting mechanism is provided on the lens barrel.

18. A method for determining a position of a grade arm of a grade mechanism of a rotating construction laser device, the rotating construction laser device comprising:
a lens barrel in which a laser optical system is disposed;
a frame structure that is fixed to, integrated into or directly provided by a part of the structure of the lens barrel;
a grade arm, which is tiltably supported on the frame structure in an XZ-plane, the XZ-plane having an X-axis and a Z-axis, the Z-axis being an optical axis of the laser optical system and the X-axis lying within a plane perpendicular to the Z-axis;
a tilt sensor which is provided at the grade arm and is configured to detect a level position of the grade arm;
a tilting mechanism, which is provided on the frame structure and is designed to tilt the grade arm relative to the XZ-plane;
a code element for providing a feedback position information and a position detection device for detecting the feedback position information; and
a leveling mechanism, which supports the lens barrel tiltably and is designed to tilt the lens barrel in order to have the level position detected by the tilt sensor and therewith to level the grade arm, wherein the method includes:
detecting the feedback position information, which directly depends on the position of a reference point on the grade arm the reference point being defined by the code element or the position detection device, respectively; and
deducing a position of the grade arm based on the feedback position information and/or calculating a tilting angle of the grade arm with resp

Assignees

• Winistörfer Martin
• Ammer Thomas
• Leica Geosystems Ag

Inventors

• Winistörfer Martin
• Ammer Thomas

Classifications

• G01C15/002 Primary

  Active optical surveying means (optical plumbing G01C15/105) · CPC title

• G01C15/004

  Reference lines, planes or sectors · CPC title

• G01C15/008 Primary

  combined with inclination sensor · CPC title