Sensor arrangement having code element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9297656-B2
Application number	US-201414201385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2014
Priority date	Mar 7, 2014
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include a sensor arrangement for inclination determination with respect to at least one axis. The sensor arrangement may include a code element having a code pattern and a line sensor, which is sensitive at least with respect to one wavelength range, having a reception direction orthogonal to its extension direction. In some embodiments the code element and the line sensor are arranged such that the extension direction of the line sensor and an extension direction of the code element are oriented in the same direction. The code element and the line sensor may be rigidly connected at a spacing of at least 1 mm and at most 10 mm such that a location, which is angle-dependent with respect to the reception direction, of a projection of the code pattern onto the line sensor can be determined by means of the line sensor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensor arrangement for inclination determination with respect to at least one axis comprising:
a code element having a code pattern and
a line sensor, which is sensitive at least with respect to one wavelength range, having a reception direction orthogonal to its extension direction,
wherein the code element and the line sensor are arranged such that the extension direction of the line sensor and an extension direction of the code element are oriented in the same direction, wherein the code element and the line sensor are rigidly connected at a spacing of at least 1 mm and at most 10 mm such that a location, which is angle-dependent with respect to the reception direction, of a projection of the code pattern onto the line sensor can be determined by means of the line sensor.

2. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement includes a body which is at least partially transparent with respect to the wavelength range of the line sensor, and wherein the body has the code element.

3. The sensor arrangement according to claim 2 , wherein the spacing of at least 1 mm and at most 10 mm is predefined by the spatial dimensions of the body, and the code element is provided on a first end side of the body and the line sensor is arranged on a second end side of the body opposite to the first end side, wherein the second end side and a detection surface of the line sensor form a shared contact surface.

4. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement includes a body which is at least partially transparent with respect to the wavelength range of the line sensor, and wherein the body has the code element on or in the body.

5. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement includes a body which is at least partially transparent with respect to the wavelength range of the line sensor, and wherein the body is designed as the code element.

6. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement includes a glass body or a plastic body, which is at least partially transparent with respect to the wavelength range of the line sensor.

7. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement has a spacer component, by means of which the code element is rigidly positioned in relation to the line sensor.

8. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the code element has regions of different transmissivity at least with respect to optical radiation having a wavelength from the at least one wavelength range, wherein the code pattern is represented by the regions of different transmissivity, wherein the regions of different body transmissivity define a line pattern having different line spacings and/or line widths.

9. The sensor arrangement according to claim 8 , wherein the regions of different transmissivity are designed such that the code pattern defines at least one linearly extending radiation-transmissive transmission region having a gap width.

10. The sensor arrangement according to any one of claim 9 , wherein the at least one transmission region includes a gap width and the code element is arranged with spacing in relation to the line sensor such that the diffraction condition d≦b 2 /λ B and/or the Fraunhofer diffraction condition d>>b 2 /λ B are fulfilled, wherein for the projection of the code pattern upon an illumination of the code element using the optical radiation of the wavelength (λ B ).

11. The sensor arrangement according to any one of claim 9 , wherein the at least one transmission region is designed and the code element is arranged with spacing in relation to the line sensor such that essentially far field diffraction conditions are provided for a diffraction of the optical radiation at the sensor arrangement.

12. The sensor arrangement according to any one of claim 9 , wherein the regions of different transmissivity are designed such that the code pattern along an extension axis of the code element has a plurality of the radiation-transmissive transmission regions having respective gap widths, wherein the radiation-transmissive transmission regions are arranged substantially parallel to one another and a gap spacing is respectively defined between each two adjacent transmission regions.

13. The sensor arrangement according to any one of claim 12 , wherein the gap spacing is respectively provided and the code element is arranged with spacing in relation to the line sensor such
that the condition d≠2 n s 2 /λ B is fulfilled, wherein n is an arbitrary number from the set of natural numbers, wherein for the projection of the code pattern upon an illumination of the code element using the optical radiation of the wavelength.

14. The sensor arrangement according to any one of claim 9 , wherein
the gap width (b) with respect to the extension axis of the code element is at least 0.05 mm, mm, and/or
the gap spacing (s) between at least two adjacent transmission regions is at least 0.5 mm.

15. The sensor arrangement according to claim 8 , wherein the regions of different transmissivity are designed such that an unambiguous location determination of the code pattern imaged onto the line sensor can be executed on the line sensor from a detected location of the regions on and using the line sensor.

16. The sensor arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement is implemented such that an inclination of the sensor arrangement with respect to the at least one axis can be derived from the location, which can be determined by means of the line sensor, of the projection of the code pattern on the line sensor within an inclination angle range of up to ±45° with respect to the axis.

17. An inclination determination method with respect to at least one axis, the method comprising:
illuminating in the same direction as the axis of a code element, so that an angle of incidence is defined by an alignment of the axis in relation to the code element,
detecting a position-sensitive of a projection of a code pattern generated by the illumination of the code element, and
deriving an inclination of the code element with respect to the at least one axis from a location, which can be determined by means of the position-sensitive detection, of the projection in relation to the code element, wherein the location of the projection in relation to the code element is dependent on the angle of incidence,
wherein the code element and a projection surface, on which the projection is generated are rigidly connected at a spacing of at least 1 mm and at most 10 mm.

18. The inclination determination method according to claim 17 , wherein the illuminating is collimated.

19. A computer program product, which is stored on a non-transitory machine-readable carrier, for controlling the illumination of the code element and the detection of the projection and for executing the derivation of the inclination of the code element of a method according to claim 17 .

Assignees

• Hexagon Technology Ct Gmbh

Inventors

• Jensen Thomas
• Siercks Knut
• Kipfer Peter

Classifications

• G01C15/008

  combined with inclination sensor · CPC title

• G01C15/06 Primary

  Surveyors' staffs; Movable markers · CPC title

• G01C9/00

  Measuring inclination, e.g. by clinometers, by levels · CPC title

• G01C2009/066

  optical · CPC title

• G01C15/105

  Optical plumbing · CPC title