CA2672679A1 - Method and apparatus for thickness measurement - Google Patents
Method and apparatus for thickness measurement Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2672679A1 CA2672679A1 CA002672679A CA2672679A CA2672679A1 CA 2672679 A1 CA2672679 A1 CA 2672679A1 CA 002672679 A CA002672679 A CA 002672679A CA 2672679 A CA2672679 A CA 2672679A CA 2672679 A1 CA2672679 A1 CA 2672679A1
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- distance
- measuring means
- light
- main surface
- slit
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
- G01B11/02—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness
- G01B11/06—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material
- G01B11/0691—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring length, width or thickness for measuring thickness ; e.g. of sheet material of objects while moving
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
- G01B11/24—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures
- G01B11/245—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures using a plurality of fixed, simultaneously operating transducers
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
- G01B15/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electromagnetic waves or particle radiation, e.g. by the use of microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays or electrons
- G01B15/02—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electromagnetic waves or particle radiation, e.g. by the use of microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays or electrons for measuring thickness
- G01B15/025—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of electromagnetic waves or particle radiation, e.g. by the use of microwaves, X-rays, gamma rays or electrons for measuring thickness by measuring absorption
Abstract
The material thickness of extended objects can be efficiently determined using two distance measuring devices which project a strip of measuring light onto the object to be measured and operate as light section measuring devices. The first distance measuring device determines the distance from the first main surface of the object, and the second distance measuring device determines the distance from the second main surface of the object, opposite to the first main surface. Potential measuring errors caused by variations of the distance between the two distance measuring devices, resulting from vibrations or thermal deformations, are avoided by the additional use of an X-ray device for determining the material thickness of the object on the basis of the weakening of the X-radiation, caused by the object. The material thicknesss of the object between the first main surface and the second main surface can be determined with a high level of precision and speed, on the basis of the measured distances from the main surfaces of the object and the material thickness determined by the X-ray device.
Description
Method and Apparatus for Thickness Measurement Description The present invention relates to the thickness measurement of extensive geometrical objects and, in particular, to how the thickness of materials produced in webs, such as sheet metals, files or paper can be determined efficiently.
In thickness measurement of geometrically extensive objects, a number of problems arises, in particular when, such as in industrially-preprocessed sheets, the thickness of the objects to be tested can vary in a wide range, such as from 0.01 mm to several centimeters. If the geometrical extension in relation to the thickness of the objects is large or, in one direction, even approximately infinite, such as in materials, such as foils, paper or sheet metals wound on rollers, the problem exists that the thickness of a large area of the object has to be determined with a single measurement for keeping the overall measurement period at an acceptable level. Additionally, the problem arises that, in particular with materials produced in the form of webs, the demand for the tolerance of the thickness of the web is typically particularly high. For example, in automotive engineering, the sheet metal strengths are partly specified with extremely low tolerances, since maintaining the sheet metal strength is significant for the crash behavior of the finished vehicles. Additionally, when controlling sheet metal thicknesses, it also has to be considered that sheet metals are typically produced with high velocity in rolling mills, so that a large sheet metal area has to be tested per time unit. Among others, industrial rolling machines are used that can generate sheet metals with a width of up to 3 meters. Additionally, the sheet metal consists of a material that is opaque for conventional optical radiation, which additionally impedes measurement of sheet metal strength.
Tactile methods that can determine the thickness of the sheet metal in a spatially resolved manner by directly contacting the surface of the same, can hardly be used for such a purpose, since the same would have to mechanically detect a plurality of measurement points, which would increase the effort and thus, the cost for the quality control significantly. In industrial production methods, sheet metals are frequently generated so fast that the same exit at the output of a rolling apparatus with such high speeds that these sheet metals vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the surface. In such cases, the usage of tactile methods is, in principle, not possible. Similar considerations apply, apart from sheet metals, to a plurality of other planar materials, such as foils, paper, glasses or similar elements, which require specific material strength control with high accuracy.
Due to the problems outlined above, monitoring the wall strength during production is extremely expensive, with sheet metals it is generally performed radiometrically, i.e.
by using radio-active sources or X-ray tubes for generating X-radiation and detectors sensitive to radio-active rays or X-rays, respectively. Thereby, the material to be tested is screened with X-radiation or gamma radiation and the wall strength of the screened material is determined by the ray attenuation caused by absorption of the radiation in the material to be tested. Therefore, the ray intensity or the original ray intensity, respectively, has to be known and the ray intensity remaining after screening the material has to be detected by appropriate detectors. Radiation-sensitive detectors are generally very expensive apparatuses.
Currently, for example, normally counting tubes are used, which means detector tubes filled with gas and provided with high voltage, since the same are relatively long-term stable and show little drift (for example, temperature-induced).
In thickness measurement of geometrically extensive objects, a number of problems arises, in particular when, such as in industrially-preprocessed sheets, the thickness of the objects to be tested can vary in a wide range, such as from 0.01 mm to several centimeters. If the geometrical extension in relation to the thickness of the objects is large or, in one direction, even approximately infinite, such as in materials, such as foils, paper or sheet metals wound on rollers, the problem exists that the thickness of a large area of the object has to be determined with a single measurement for keeping the overall measurement period at an acceptable level. Additionally, the problem arises that, in particular with materials produced in the form of webs, the demand for the tolerance of the thickness of the web is typically particularly high. For example, in automotive engineering, the sheet metal strengths are partly specified with extremely low tolerances, since maintaining the sheet metal strength is significant for the crash behavior of the finished vehicles. Additionally, when controlling sheet metal thicknesses, it also has to be considered that sheet metals are typically produced with high velocity in rolling mills, so that a large sheet metal area has to be tested per time unit. Among others, industrial rolling machines are used that can generate sheet metals with a width of up to 3 meters. Additionally, the sheet metal consists of a material that is opaque for conventional optical radiation, which additionally impedes measurement of sheet metal strength.
Tactile methods that can determine the thickness of the sheet metal in a spatially resolved manner by directly contacting the surface of the same, can hardly be used for such a purpose, since the same would have to mechanically detect a plurality of measurement points, which would increase the effort and thus, the cost for the quality control significantly. In industrial production methods, sheet metals are frequently generated so fast that the same exit at the output of a rolling apparatus with such high speeds that these sheet metals vibrate in a direction perpendicular to the surface. In such cases, the usage of tactile methods is, in principle, not possible. Similar considerations apply, apart from sheet metals, to a plurality of other planar materials, such as foils, paper, glasses or similar elements, which require specific material strength control with high accuracy.
Due to the problems outlined above, monitoring the wall strength during production is extremely expensive, with sheet metals it is generally performed radiometrically, i.e.
by using radio-active sources or X-ray tubes for generating X-radiation and detectors sensitive to radio-active rays or X-rays, respectively. Thereby, the material to be tested is screened with X-radiation or gamma radiation and the wall strength of the screened material is determined by the ray attenuation caused by absorption of the radiation in the material to be tested. Therefore, the ray intensity or the original ray intensity, respectively, has to be known and the ray intensity remaining after screening the material has to be detected by appropriate detectors. Radiation-sensitive detectors are generally very expensive apparatuses.
Currently, for example, normally counting tubes are used, which means detector tubes filled with gas and provided with high voltage, since the same are relatively long-term stable and show little drift (for example, temperature-induced).
When monitoring the production of broad sheet metals, sometimes up to 100 of such detectors, and possibly several X-ray sources, have to be used for obtaining the required spatial resolution or sensitivity, respectively, of the thickness measurement across the whole width of the sheet metals that are up to 3 meters wide. Here, realistically obtainable measurement accuracies are in the range of 0.1 %
of the wall thickness, which means approximately 10 pm in sheet metals of 10 mm. An obvious disadvantage is the high costs induced by such a measuring apparatus. For example, a high-voltage channel of a high-voltage supply and a read-out or evaluation channel, respectively, of a signal processing electronic has to be provided for every counting tube.
A further disadvantage is that the obtainable measurement accuracy is determined by the statistics of X-radiation (Poisson statistics) . Thus, the signal to noise ratio is determined by the square root of the detected X-ray quanta.
With the given available measurement time, the spatial resolution or the thickness sensitivity, respectively, is limited. Although basically the measurement accuracy can be increased by a longer measurement period or integration time, respectively, this is not arbitrarily possible in industrial scale, since the material coming out of a production line has to be tested within a limited period of time. The basically possible activity increase of the used X-ray sources also increases the risk in a radiation accident and can, thus, only contribute in a limited manner to increasing the measurement speed or the obtainable measurement accuracy, respectively.
Additionally, for the usage in connection with extensive materials, such as sheet metal rolls, the X-ray method is only partly suitable, since the typical commercial detectors (counting tubes) have an extension of merely several centimeters, so that, as has already been mentioned above, a plurality of such detectors has to be used. Additionally, the obtainable spatial resolution is heavily limited by the finite extension of the counting tubes, since an individual counting tube can only detect the existence of a gamma quantum in the area covered by the same, wherein a further differentiation of the location of the gamma quantum within the counting tube is not possible.
The conventional X-ray methods have the disadvantage that they can obtain only a limited spatial resolution and that they use detectors, whose acquisition and operation is extremely complex and cost-intensive.
The British patent application GB 2 046 900 describes how the thickness of a fabric can be determined, wherein both opto-electronic sensors and X-ray sensors are used. Thereby, point-shaped opto-electronic distances sensors as well as point-shaped X-ray sensors are used. A thickness measurement signal of the X-ray sensor is corrected with a control signal of the opto-electronic thickness sensor.
The Japanese patent application JP 2004-037253 describes a method how the measurement accuracy of an opto-electronic distance sensor can be improved by one-dimensional opto-electronic and X-ray sensors when thermal influences causing a long-term drift of the opto-electronically determined distance or thickness signal of an object under test are corrected by the thickness signals of the X-ray sensor.
The international patent application WO 91/08439 describes a light-slit measurement method by which the surface outline of extensive three-dimensional objects can be determined.
For increasing the measurement accuracy, WO 91/08439 suggests measuring a calibration object of known geometrical extension in cyclic intervals with the light-slit sensor or the light-slit system, respectively, for performing calibration of the system.
of the wall thickness, which means approximately 10 pm in sheet metals of 10 mm. An obvious disadvantage is the high costs induced by such a measuring apparatus. For example, a high-voltage channel of a high-voltage supply and a read-out or evaluation channel, respectively, of a signal processing electronic has to be provided for every counting tube.
A further disadvantage is that the obtainable measurement accuracy is determined by the statistics of X-radiation (Poisson statistics) . Thus, the signal to noise ratio is determined by the square root of the detected X-ray quanta.
With the given available measurement time, the spatial resolution or the thickness sensitivity, respectively, is limited. Although basically the measurement accuracy can be increased by a longer measurement period or integration time, respectively, this is not arbitrarily possible in industrial scale, since the material coming out of a production line has to be tested within a limited period of time. The basically possible activity increase of the used X-ray sources also increases the risk in a radiation accident and can, thus, only contribute in a limited manner to increasing the measurement speed or the obtainable measurement accuracy, respectively.
Additionally, for the usage in connection with extensive materials, such as sheet metal rolls, the X-ray method is only partly suitable, since the typical commercial detectors (counting tubes) have an extension of merely several centimeters, so that, as has already been mentioned above, a plurality of such detectors has to be used. Additionally, the obtainable spatial resolution is heavily limited by the finite extension of the counting tubes, since an individual counting tube can only detect the existence of a gamma quantum in the area covered by the same, wherein a further differentiation of the location of the gamma quantum within the counting tube is not possible.
The conventional X-ray methods have the disadvantage that they can obtain only a limited spatial resolution and that they use detectors, whose acquisition and operation is extremely complex and cost-intensive.
The British patent application GB 2 046 900 describes how the thickness of a fabric can be determined, wherein both opto-electronic sensors and X-ray sensors are used. Thereby, point-shaped opto-electronic distances sensors as well as point-shaped X-ray sensors are used. A thickness measurement signal of the X-ray sensor is corrected with a control signal of the opto-electronic thickness sensor.
The Japanese patent application JP 2004-037253 describes a method how the measurement accuracy of an opto-electronic distance sensor can be improved by one-dimensional opto-electronic and X-ray sensors when thermal influences causing a long-term drift of the opto-electronically determined distance or thickness signal of an object under test are corrected by the thickness signals of the X-ray sensor.
The international patent application WO 91/08439 describes a light-slit measurement method by which the surface outline of extensive three-dimensional objects can be determined.
For increasing the measurement accuracy, WO 91/08439 suggests measuring a calibration object of known geometrical extension in cyclic intervals with the light-slit sensor or the light-slit system, respectively, for performing calibration of the system.
Hence, it is the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method that can determine the material strength of an object with a higher spatial resolution and more efficiently than so far possible.
This object is solved by an apparatus according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 12.
The present invention is based on the knowledge that the material strength of extensive objects can be determined efficiently by using two distance measuring means, wherein a first distance measuring means determines the distance to a first main surface of the object and a second distance measuring means determines the distance to a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface. If potential measurement errors-due to the extensive geometry are avoided by the fact that a reference means determines a reference distance between the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means, the thickness of the object between the first main surface and the second main surface can be determined with high accuracy and velocity.
Thereby, preferably, detectors or distance measuring means are used that can determine the distance to an extensive area on the surface of the object by a single measurement.
This is, for example, possible when applying the light-slit method.
In other words, it is the basic idea of the invention to determine the thickness of a web material by determining the distance from the upper and lower side of the web material to a detector arranged above or below, respectively, the web material, which allows, for example, a linear measurement of the distance. Suitable for this is, for example, the light-slit method. The problem of surface measurement of extensive objects is generally that due to the extension (for example, the large width of web materials), a mechanical structure for suspending the detectors above and below the object (web material) is required. Due to the large geometrical extension, it cannot be ensured that vibrations or thermal deformations do not corrupt the measurement result, in particular, since high-precision measurements in the range of several micrometers are to be performed. Such vibrations or deformations can, thus, cause a measurement error outside the normally required tolerances. According to this invention, this problem is solved by using a reference means for determining a reference distance between the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means. Thereby, a possible change of the distance of the two detector means above or below, respectively, the web material as well as, additionally, optionally possible tilting of one or several measurement heads perpendicular to the measurement direction is avoided. If, for example, web material is measured, such tilting along the advance direction of the produced web material could cause an additional measurement error, which can be corrected according to the invention.
Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, a first light-slit measuring means is used for determining a first distance between the first light-slit measuring means and the first main surface of a web material to be measured. A
second light-slit measuring means is used for determining a second distance from the second light-slit measuring means to a second main surface of the web material opposing the first main surface of the web material. The distance from the first light-slit measuring means to the second light-slit measuring means in the measurement direction is determined additionally as a reference distance by a reference means. Here, the measurement direction is the direction running parallel to the thickness of the object, which means perpendicular to the main surfaces.
This object is solved by an apparatus according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 12.
The present invention is based on the knowledge that the material strength of extensive objects can be determined efficiently by using two distance measuring means, wherein a first distance measuring means determines the distance to a first main surface of the object and a second distance measuring means determines the distance to a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface. If potential measurement errors-due to the extensive geometry are avoided by the fact that a reference means determines a reference distance between the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means, the thickness of the object between the first main surface and the second main surface can be determined with high accuracy and velocity.
Thereby, preferably, detectors or distance measuring means are used that can determine the distance to an extensive area on the surface of the object by a single measurement.
This is, for example, possible when applying the light-slit method.
In other words, it is the basic idea of the invention to determine the thickness of a web material by determining the distance from the upper and lower side of the web material to a detector arranged above or below, respectively, the web material, which allows, for example, a linear measurement of the distance. Suitable for this is, for example, the light-slit method. The problem of surface measurement of extensive objects is generally that due to the extension (for example, the large width of web materials), a mechanical structure for suspending the detectors above and below the object (web material) is required. Due to the large geometrical extension, it cannot be ensured that vibrations or thermal deformations do not corrupt the measurement result, in particular, since high-precision measurements in the range of several micrometers are to be performed. Such vibrations or deformations can, thus, cause a measurement error outside the normally required tolerances. According to this invention, this problem is solved by using a reference means for determining a reference distance between the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means. Thereby, a possible change of the distance of the two detector means above or below, respectively, the web material as well as, additionally, optionally possible tilting of one or several measurement heads perpendicular to the measurement direction is avoided. If, for example, web material is measured, such tilting along the advance direction of the produced web material could cause an additional measurement error, which can be corrected according to the invention.
Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, a first light-slit measuring means is used for determining a first distance between the first light-slit measuring means and the first main surface of a web material to be measured. A
second light-slit measuring means is used for determining a second distance from the second light-slit measuring means to a second main surface of the web material opposing the first main surface of the web material. The distance from the first light-slit measuring means to the second light-slit measuring means in the measurement direction is determined additionally as a reference distance by a reference means. Here, the measurement direction is the direction running parallel to the thickness of the object, which means perpendicular to the main surfaces.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the measuring means is used for checking the thicknesses of sheet metals produced by a press immediately after their production. Therefore, the sheet metals are moved in an advance direction between the first light-slit measuring means and the second light-slit measuring means.
Here, the great advantage of using contactiess light-slit measuring means is that the distance of the web material or the sheet metal web to the measurement head can be linearly detected across a width of more than 1 m by a single measurement. This means, with only a single measurement, a height profile perpendicular to the advance direction can be obtained, which describes more than 1 m of material width.
Here, additionally, the spatial resolution is heavily increased compared to radiation detectors in that the geometrical extension of the projected light strip limiting the resolution in the advance direction can, in principle, be made as small as desired in the advance direction. By varying the advance speed of the sheet metal material coming out of the press, the spatial resolution of the topography information, which means the height information on the surface of the material to be tested or the thickness profile, respectively, can be varied in any way.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a radiation detector is used as reference means for determining the reference distance between the first and the second light-slit measuring means or between the first and the second distance measuring means, respectively. Thereby, the radiation detector determines, for a position on the surface of the object to be tested, the material strength of the same by measuring the radiation intensity lost by absorption. According to the invention, a distance measurement of the surface area to the light-slit measuring means is performed in the same surface area by the first and the second light-slit measuring means. Based on the radio-_7..
metrically determined thickness of the object to be tested in a small geometrical area and the measurement of the distances of the light-slit measuring means to exactly this area, the exact distance of the first and second light-slit measuring means can be determined with high accuracy as reference distance. Any thermally or mechanically induced distance variations can, thus, be compensated with high precision.
Here, it is a great advantage of the above-described embodiment of the present invention that contrary to the prior art, complex and cost-intensive radiometric distance measurement methods only have to be used for a limited area on the surface of the object to be tested or once per distance measuring means, respectively. Thereby, the costs can be significantly reduced. Apart from this, for the above-mentioned reasons, the obtainable spatial resolution of the thickness profile to be measured is significantly increased by the light-slit method.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the obtainable measurement accuracy in the thickness direction can be additionally increased by performing a second radio-metric measurement with an X-ray means, wherein the X-ray means is connected to the first light-slit measuring means and the second light-slit measuring means. If the measurement with the second X-ray means is performed along a different X-ray direction than with the first X-ray means, for example at another angle relative to the surface of the object to be tested, possible tilting or possible geometric misalignment, respectively, of the light slit-measuring means can be assumed. Thereby, advantageously, the measurement accuracy can be further increased by performing, in addition to the distance of the two light-slit measuring means, also a correction of erroneous relative orientation in a further dimension of the two light-slit measuring means to each other.
ri In an alternative to the present invention, a reference object of predetermined known thickness is mounted on one or both sides of the web material to be measured or the object to be measured, respectively, so that the same is additionally measured by both light-slit measuring means together with the surface of the object to be measured. The light-slit measuring means have to be arranged such that part of the measuring light strip generated on the surface of the object by the light-slit measuring means is mapped onto the surfaces of the reference objects facing the light-slit measuring means.
Determining the reference distance can then be performed by determining the distance of the first and second light-slit measuring means to the surfaces of the reference object facing the same simultaneously with the distance to the object to be measured. Since the thickness of the reference object is exactly known, the distance between the first light-slit measuring means and the second light-slit measuring means can be calculated easily as reference distance. Thus, according to the invention, preferably, a material that is subject to a low thermal expansion is used for the reference objects.
As long as it is geometrically possible to detect respective reference objects simultaneously with the objects to be tested by the light-slit measuring means by simple insertion of cost-effective reference objects, maintaining the measurement accuracy can be ensured. Thus, the usage of expensive X-ray detectors can be fully omitted.
In a further alternative to the present invention, mounting reference objects on both sides of a web material to be tested additionally increases the obtainable measurement accuracy.
In summary, it can be said that the inventive method or the inventive apparatus, respectively, has the potential to obtain a higher spatial resolution and to increase the measurement velocity overall, wherein, at the same time, the cost of the used detectors can be significantly decreased compared to the prior art. This is obtained by supplementing radiometric detectors partly or completely by other measurement systems that can detect distances on a line or in an extensive geometrical area, such as light-slit methods.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be discussed below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
They show:
Fig. 1 an alternative to the invention with simple radiometric determination of the reference distance;
Fig. 2 an alternative to the invention with reference objects for determining the reference distance;
Fig. 3A a further alternative to the invention with and 3B several light-slit measuring means;
Fig. 4 a method alternative to the invention for determining the material strength of an object;
and Fig. 5 an alternative light-slit measurement method.
Since the inventive concept will be discussed in the following sections by using light-slit measuring means, the light-slit measurement method will be described briefly based on a simple example with regard to Fig. 5.
f Fig. 5 shows the surface of an object to be measured 2, a measuring light projector 4 emitting light in a light plane 6, so that a measuring light strip 8 is generated on the surface of the object 2. In the simplified case of a perfectly plane surface 2 shown in Fig. 5, the measuring light strip 8 is the straight line shown in Fig. 5.
The measuring light strip 8 is recorded via an appropriate sensor 10. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the sensor 10 is a two-dimensional matrix sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS
sensor. The exact type of sensor is not significant for the mode of operation of the inventive concept, generally, other types of sensors can be used as well.
If a measuring light line 8 is generated on the surface 2 of the object as a straight line, the image of the straight line, as shown in Fig. 5, will be mapped on the sensor 10.
The height information results from the geometry of the overall structure, in particular from the relative position of the sensor 10 and the measuring light projector 5. If, for example, the surface 2 of the object is moved in a direction 12, the measuring light strip is generated at another position on the surface 2 of the object, since the light plane 6 remains unaltered in space. Since the sensor 10 is also stationary, the image of the measuring light line (symbolized by black squares) will vary on the sensor in a direction 14. When the geometry of the light plane 6 and the sensor 10 is known, as is described above, the position of the surface 2 of the object in direction 12 can be inferred.
Equivalent considerations apply when the surface of the object is not plane. With the light-slit method shown in Fig. 5, topography information or height information, respectively, across the whole width of the surface 2 can be determined via a single pick-up of the sensor 10.
Sensors 10 specialized for light-slit measurement methods that can perform signal processing themselves at high speeds are used, so that the same merely provide, for example, the information about the brightest illuminated pixel of the sensor 10 as a measurement result. Such highly specialized sensors are thus particularly suited for fast measurement, since extensive signal post-processing, as it is required, for example, with conventional CCD, can be omitted.
In summary, light-slit measurement methods have the significant advantage that the height information along a spatially extensive measurement line 8 can be obtained with high velocity.
If the surface 2 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the measuring light line 8, and in a direction 16 below the light plane, and if pick-ups are performed successively by the sensor 10, the whole topography of the surface 2 of the device under test can be determined within a short time, which predestines the light-slit measurement method for the usage in measuring spatially extensive surfaces.
In the embodiments of the present invention described below, light-slit measurement methods are used for illustrating the inventive concept. However, with regard to its application, the inventive concept is in no way limited to the used light-slit measurement method. Rather, any other measurement methods that can measure the topography of a surface by distance measurement can be used according to the invention.
Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the reference distance is determined by radiometric measurement. Fig. 1 schematically shows, in a cut-away view, an object 20 to be measured, whose material strength 22(d) is to be determined, wherein the object 20 can be moved in a direction 24 between a first distance measuring means 26 and a second distance measuring means 28. Fig. 1 additionally shows a reference means, comprising an X-ray source 30a and an X-ray detector 30b, wherein the X-ray source 30a is arranged with regard to the first distance measuring means 26 and the X-ray detector 30b with regard to the second distance measuring means 28 in a known geometrical position.
This can also mean, for example, that the same are also connected in a mechanical manner. For the mode of operation of the inventive concept, it does not matter to which of the two distance measuring means the X-ray source 30a is connected, according to the invention, a mirror-image configuration is also possible.
The first and second distance measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, are shown merely schematically in Fig. 1, just as the X-ray source 30a and the X-ray detector 30b. The exact operating principle of the distance measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, is not significant for the application of the inventive concept. It is advantageous when the distance measuring means 26 and 28 can determine with one measurement, one distance to an extensive geometrical area on the surface of the object to be measured 20 associated with the same. This is, for example, the case in an inexpensive manner in the light-slit measuring means described with regard to Fig. 5. According to the invention, a first distance 32a between a first main surface of the object 20 associated with the first distance measuring means 26 and the first distance measuring means 26 is determined.
A second distance 32b between the second distance measuring means 28 and a second main surface of the object 20 facing the second distance measuring means 28 is determined by the second distance measuring means 28.
The distance between the first and the second distance measuring means 26 and 28 can be determined as a reference distance by the X-ray source 30a and the X-ray detector 30b.
Alternatively, the thickness of the object in a selected geometrical area of the object can be determined as reference distance. Therefore, the X-ray detector 30b determines the X-ray intensity emitted by the X-ray source 30a attenuated by the material strength of the object to be measured 20. By knowing the absorption behavior of the material of the object 20, the thickness 22 of the object 20 can be inferred. According to the invention, X-ray source 30a and X-ray detector 30b are connected to one distance measuring means each, and the thickness 22 of the object 20 is determined by the X-ray measuring means at a position of the surface of the object 20, which is also detected by the distance measurement of the distance measuring means 26 and 28. According to the invention, the distance between the first and second distance measuring means can be calculated from the sum of the distances 32a, 32b and the thickness 22 as reference distance.
This has the great advantage that the expensive X-ray technology only has to be used in a geometrically very limited part of the surface of the object 20 for determining the distance of the two distance measuring means from each other or to temporally track the same, respectively. The inventive high measurement accuracy of the material strength of the object can thus also be maintained with thermally or mechanically induced variations of the distance of the two distance measuring means 26 and 28.
Fig. 2 shows an alternative to the invention where the reference distance is determined by optical measurement.
In Fig. 2 and the four following Figures, functionally similar or functionally identical components, respectively, are provided with the same reference numerals, so that the description of the individual components can be mutually applied to different Figures. Additionally, objects provided with identical reference numerals can be alternatively used within the individual embodiments described below.
Fig. 2 shows, as a first distance measuring means 26, a light-slit measuring means, as it has already been described with regard to Fig. 5. As a second distance measuring means 28, a light-slit measuring means is used as well.
Additionally, Fig. 2 shows the object to be measured 20 in a perspective view, as well as a first reference object 40a and a second reference object 40b. The reference objects 40a and 40b each have a first reference main surface facing the first distance measuring means 26 or the first light-slit measuring means 26, respectively. A second main surface of reference objects 40a and 40b is facing the second distance measuring means 28 or the second light-slit measuring means 28, respectively. The reference objects 40a and 40b are also distinguished by the fact that the same have a precise predetermined thickness between the reference main surfaces.
Preferably, reference objects 40a and 40b are produced of materials subject to low thermal expansion.
As can be seen in Fig. 2, the geometrical arrangement of the light-slit measuring means 26 and 28 or the reference objects 40a and 40b, respectively, is selected such that parts 42a and 42b of the measuring light strip generated by the first light-slit measuring means 26 are generated on reference objects 40a and 40b. The same applies for light-slit measuring means 28, wherein due to the partly perspective view in Fig. 2, the light measuring strips generated on the second main surfaces of reference objects 40a and 40b are not visible in Fig. 2.
In the alternative to the invention shown in Fig. 2, the reference means for determining a reference distance between the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 also comprises two reference objects 40a and 40b.
Since the thickness of the reference objects 40a and 40b is exactly known, and the distances to the reference objects 40a and 40b are each also determined during operation of the measuring means of Fig. 2, for example, the distance between the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 can be determined as a reference distance by connecting the distances of the light-slit measuring means 26 to the first main surface of the reference objects 40a and 40b, the thickness of the reference objects 40a and 40b as well as the distances of the second light-slit measuring means 28 to the second main surface of the reference objects 40a and 40b. Alternatively, the difference of the actual thickness of the reference objects to the thickness determined by the light-slit measuring means can be used as reference amount. By means of the difference, the thickness values determined by the light-slit measuring means could be corrected across the whole width of the measuring light strips.
Although the usage of two reference objects 40a and 40b in the example shown in Fig. 2 additionally increases the obtainable measurement accuracy compared to using a single reference object additionally, in a further example, merely one reference object can be used for determining a reference distance.
In other words, Fig. 2 shows as an alternative to the invention a further possibility for obtaining a reference measurement, which results when the web width or the width of the object to be measured 20, respectively, is lower than the detection range of used light-slit apparatuses. In this case, reference objects 40a and 40b can be arranged on the right and left side of the web material 20, for example, in the form of sheet metal strips of known thickness at a known angle (preferably horizontally, as shown in Fig. 2). By comparing the thickness of these sheet metal strips determined by the measurement with the light-slit measurement heads, correction values can be determined, which are used for correcting the measurement data for the web material. Also, possible tilting of the light-slit measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, perpendicular to an advance direction 44 can be determined and corrected by measuring the reference objects.
In a further alternative to the invention, a light strip of monochromatic light, for example, light generated by a laser, is used as a measuring light strip. For avoiding the formation of speckle patterns on the surfaces of the statistical reference objects 40a and 40b, the reference objects (sheet metals) can be moved or vibrated, respectively, so fast in vertical (or horizontal) direction that speckles are averaged out during one light-slit measurement, typically lasting several hundred microseconds.
Since for evaluating or considering, respectively, the thickness and for calculating the reference distance merely the difference of the distance from the upper and lower sides of the web material to the respective light-slit measuring means or the respective measurement head, respectively, is used, the vertical position of the comparative sheet metals is insignificant. If the sheet metal, as preferred, has the same thickness at every position, the same applies for the horizontal position, which allows the suppression of speckle patterns in a simple manner according to the invention. This has the great advantage that laser light can be used, which allows, due to its low divergence, the formation of thinner" measuring light strips. This additionally increases the obtainable spatial resolution of the method.
As an alternative to the usage of laser light, a white light source can be used for projecting a light line, wherein the reference objects can then be arranged in a static manner.
If light-slit measuring means are used, the advance velocity of the object 20 in the advance direction 44 can be selected extremely high, since light-slit measuring means allow for a high measurement frequencies. Thereby, the throughput is greatly increased. Additionally, a high advance velocity in the advanced direction 44 avoids the formation of speckle patterns on the surface of the object, since the same are then averaged out during the measurement period of a measurement phase of the light-slit measuring means. The high possible measurement frequency of light-slit measurement methods allows to project light measuring strips by laser, and to utilize a resulting increase of the spatial resolution.
Additionally, by averaging the measurement signal across several traces of the sensor and by temporally filtering the measurement data, a further improvement of the accuracy of the thickness determination can be obtained when light-slit measuring apparatuses are used. This is possible, since light-slit sensors allow a resolution of 1 mm perpendicular to the advance direction even with 1.5 m width of the light-slit measuring strip, and the measurement frequency of light-slit sensors is significantly higher than the typically required time resolution.
Figs. 3A and 3B show further alternatives to the invention where the object 20 is spatially extended such that two light-slit measuring means are required per side of the object for determining distance information across the whole width of the object. Thus, in addition to the light-slit measuring means 26 facing a first main surface 46 of the object 20 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 associated with a second main surface 24 of the object 20, a third light-slit measuring means 50 (2a) and a fourth light-slit measuring means 52 (2b) are provided. Here, the third light-slit measuring means 50 is facing the first main surface 46, and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 is facing the second main surface 48. The light planes of the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the third light-slit measuring means 50 are determined by the geometry of the arrangement such that the same intersect in a central overlapping area 54. Additionally, the first light-slit measuring means 26 generates a measuring light-strip on the surface of the first reference object 40a, and the third light-slit measuring means 50 generates a measuring light strip on the surface of the second reference object 40b. The same applies in a mirror-inverted manner for the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52. The light planes of the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 also overlap within the central area 54, the second light-slit measuring means 28 generates a measuring light strip on the first reference object 40a, and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 generates a measuring light strip on the second reference object 40b.
For example, different light wavelengths with corresponding wavelength filters can be used for distinguishing between the different measuring light strips in the overlapping area, which is monitored simultaneously by two light-slit measuring means. Basically, other methods are possible, for example, fine structuring of the different measuring light strips, for example, by interrupting the measuring light strip in certain intervals so that identification can be obtained through this pattern.
As will be described again below, by using the concept it is also possible to determine the thickness of objects, which have a geometrical extension that exceeds the width maximally accessible with a single light-slit measuring means. Based on Fig. 3B, it is illustrated exemplarily how the thickness of the object 20 can be determined across the whole width of the same from the data of the four light-slit measuring means shown in Fig. 3A. Here, in Fig. 3B, first, for the simplified case of a perfectly planar surface, the pick-ups of the light measurement strips obtained by the sensors of the light-slit measuring means 26, 28, 50 and 52 are illustrated schematically. Here, the first light-slit pick-up segments 60a and 60b are associated with the first light-slit measuring means 26, light-slit pick-up segments 62a and 62b with the third light-slit measuring means 50, light-slit pick-up segments 64a and 64b with the second light-slit measuring means 28 and light-slit recording segments 66a and 66b with the fourth light-slit measuring means 52. Thus, the light-slit pick-up segments 60a, 62a, 64a and 66a are those parts of the measuring light strips that are generated on the surface of the object 20. The light-slit pick-up segments 60b, 62b, 64b and 66b symbolize those parts of the measuring light strips that are generated on the reference objects 40a and 40b.
In the case shown in Fig. 3B, the deviations that can result from the possible inclination or non-parallelism of the individual light-slit measuring means are illustrated in an exaggerated manner for making the method or concept, respectively, clearer.
In order to be able to determine the thickness across the whole width of the object 20 from the measuring light pick-ups of the individual measuring light strips shown schematically in Fig. 3B, first, possible tiltings of the individual measuring light means 26, 28, 50 or 52 are corrected, which is possible with the reference objects analogously to the case discussed in Fig. 2. Then, the results of the first light-slit measuring means 26 are synchronized with the results of the third light-slit measuring means 50, i.e. an angle a between the measuring light pick-up segment 60a and the measuring light pick-up segment 62a is varied for so long until both measuring light pick-ups 60a and 62a provide substantially identical values in the overlapping area 54. This means a possible non-parallelism of the light plane associated with the first light-slit measuring means and the light plane associated with the third light-slit measuring means is corrected. This ii ---- -------- -can be performed, for example, by a least square-fit, which minimizes the square errors of the individual measurements with regard to the value of the light-slit pick-ups obtained by adaptation in the overlapping area 54. The same method is pe.rformed for the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52, so that after adaptation of the different measurement heads, an image shown in Fig. 3B results. By determining the reference distance between the individual light-slit measuring means by using the distances measured to the reference objects 40a and 40b, the thickness of the object to be measured 20 can be determined across its overall width.
While in the alternatives to the invention the concept is illustrated in Figs. 3A and 3B by using merely two light-slit measuring means per side of the object to be measured, examples of measuring means can also have more than two light-slit measuring means per surface. If this is required to cover the whole width of the object 20, similar steps as outlined in Figs. 3A and 3B can be taken. In this case, in the first step, the angle error of the measurement head perpendicular to the advance direction is determined for both outer measurement arrangements that each detect a reference object located horizontally (or at a known angle).
For the measurement arrangements located further to the inside, the tilting is determined successively from the outside to the inside by using the overlapping areas for adapting the measurement curves. The thickness across the whole width of the object 20 then results analogously to the above-described method by using the known thicknesses of reference objects 40a and 40b.
In summary, it can be said that even when the web width is greater than the width that can be covered by a single distance measuring means or an arrangement of one light-slit detector each respectively arranged above and below the web material or the object 20, several such arrangements can be arranged beside one another for covering a greater width. In this case, only the outer measuring means or distance measuring means, respectively, detect one reference part or reference object, respectively, each. If the measurement areas of the arrangements sufficiently overlap, relative movements and possible tiltings of the measurement heads perpendicular to the advance direction can be corrected.
Since a light-slit measurement head only detects distances, tilting of a measurement head without correction would lead to incorrect thickness values. As already described above, a schematic illustration of the problem is shown, for example, in Fig. 3B. The left measurement arrangement (light-slit measuring means 26 and 28) detects the left reference part (reference object 40a), the right measurement arrangement (light-slit measuring means 50 and 52) detects the right reference part or the right reference object 40b, respectively. Possible tilting of the individual measurement heads perpendicular to the advance direction, which runs perpendicular to the illustration plane in the case shown in Fig. 3A, is determined and corrected with the help of the horizontally mounted reference objects. After correction of the angle errors, the results of the measurement heads la and 2a or lb and 2b, respectively, are adapted to each other, so that both measurement heads provide mostly identical values in the overlapping area (e.g. by least-square-fit). Thereby, continuous measurement results result for the upper or lower measurement arrangement, respectively.
In a last step, the results are adapted by comparison to the known thicknesses of the reference objects. After this step, thickness values for the web material exist for every measurement point. For a simplified illustration, it is assumed in the case shown in Figs. 3A and 3B that the object 20 or a web material to be tested, respectively, has a planar surface. Without limitation of the application of the inventive concept, according to the invention, non-planar objects can be measured as well, such as sheet metals that are curved in advance direction, or profile sheet metals that can have a triangular or square or rectangular profile, respectively.
Although Fig. 3 shows an example for usage of more than one light-slit measuring means per side of the object to be measured 20, wherein the reference distance is determined by reference objects, the concept with several light-slit measuring means is also possible in a further embodiment of the invention in connection with the radiometric sensors shown in Fig. 1 for determining the reference distance.
Here, for such a radiometric reference measurement, one radiometric sensor would be required per opposing light-slit measuring means, which means for the pairs of light-slit measuring means 26 and 28 or the light-slit measuring means 50 and 52, respectively. Reference objects 40a and 40b can then be omitted. As has already been discussed based on Fig.
1, only a single radiation detector is required for determining a distance change between the two light-slit measurement heads arranged above or below the object 20 or the web material, respectively, which would cause an error in the thickness measurement.
As has already been discussed based on Fig. 1, when using such radiometric methods (radiation source and radiation detector), simultaneously, possible tilting of the light-slit measurement heads can be corrected when, for every pair of opposing light-slit measuring means, additionally, a second radiometric measuring means is used.
As in the case shown in Fig. 3A, more than two light-slit measuring means per side can be used when using radiometric detectors for determining the reference distances, wherein then each light-slit measuring means has at least one radiometric measuring means for determining the reference distance associated with the same.
Based on Fig. 4, an alternative to the inventive method for determining the material strength of an object is illustrated schematically in the form of a block diagram.
For determining the material strength, a first distance between a distance measuring means and a first main surface of the object is determined first in a first distance measurement step 80.
In a second distance measurement step 84, a second distance between a second distance measuring means and a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface is determined.
In a third step 84, information about a reference distance allowing a determination of a deviation of an actual distance between the first distance measuring means 26 and the second distance measuring means 28 from a set value is provided.
In an evaluation step 86, the material strength of the object is determined from the first distance, the second distance and the reference distance.
Other measuring means than the light-slit measurement methods described in the embodiments can be used as distance measuring means. Here, for example, run time methods, such as ultrasound echo methods or radar echo methods can be taken into consideration that can use, for example, interferences of the reflected and emitted signals for obtaining precise distance information. Although reference objects with cuboid-shaped geometry are shown in Fig. 2 and 3A or 3B, respectively, according to the invention, reference objects of any other geometries can be used. In a further comparative example, a reference object in- the form of a rotating circular disc is used. Thus, on the one hand, it is obtained that no speckle patterns that decrease the measurement accuracy are formed when using lasers. on the other hand, possible non-planarities in the surface of the circular object that can be caused during production are averaged out by the rotation, so that, overall, the measurement accuracy can be further increased.
Here, the great advantage of using contactiess light-slit measuring means is that the distance of the web material or the sheet metal web to the measurement head can be linearly detected across a width of more than 1 m by a single measurement. This means, with only a single measurement, a height profile perpendicular to the advance direction can be obtained, which describes more than 1 m of material width.
Here, additionally, the spatial resolution is heavily increased compared to radiation detectors in that the geometrical extension of the projected light strip limiting the resolution in the advance direction can, in principle, be made as small as desired in the advance direction. By varying the advance speed of the sheet metal material coming out of the press, the spatial resolution of the topography information, which means the height information on the surface of the material to be tested or the thickness profile, respectively, can be varied in any way.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a radiation detector is used as reference means for determining the reference distance between the first and the second light-slit measuring means or between the first and the second distance measuring means, respectively. Thereby, the radiation detector determines, for a position on the surface of the object to be tested, the material strength of the same by measuring the radiation intensity lost by absorption. According to the invention, a distance measurement of the surface area to the light-slit measuring means is performed in the same surface area by the first and the second light-slit measuring means. Based on the radio-_7..
metrically determined thickness of the object to be tested in a small geometrical area and the measurement of the distances of the light-slit measuring means to exactly this area, the exact distance of the first and second light-slit measuring means can be determined with high accuracy as reference distance. Any thermally or mechanically induced distance variations can, thus, be compensated with high precision.
Here, it is a great advantage of the above-described embodiment of the present invention that contrary to the prior art, complex and cost-intensive radiometric distance measurement methods only have to be used for a limited area on the surface of the object to be tested or once per distance measuring means, respectively. Thereby, the costs can be significantly reduced. Apart from this, for the above-mentioned reasons, the obtainable spatial resolution of the thickness profile to be measured is significantly increased by the light-slit method.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the obtainable measurement accuracy in the thickness direction can be additionally increased by performing a second radio-metric measurement with an X-ray means, wherein the X-ray means is connected to the first light-slit measuring means and the second light-slit measuring means. If the measurement with the second X-ray means is performed along a different X-ray direction than with the first X-ray means, for example at another angle relative to the surface of the object to be tested, possible tilting or possible geometric misalignment, respectively, of the light slit-measuring means can be assumed. Thereby, advantageously, the measurement accuracy can be further increased by performing, in addition to the distance of the two light-slit measuring means, also a correction of erroneous relative orientation in a further dimension of the two light-slit measuring means to each other.
ri In an alternative to the present invention, a reference object of predetermined known thickness is mounted on one or both sides of the web material to be measured or the object to be measured, respectively, so that the same is additionally measured by both light-slit measuring means together with the surface of the object to be measured. The light-slit measuring means have to be arranged such that part of the measuring light strip generated on the surface of the object by the light-slit measuring means is mapped onto the surfaces of the reference objects facing the light-slit measuring means.
Determining the reference distance can then be performed by determining the distance of the first and second light-slit measuring means to the surfaces of the reference object facing the same simultaneously with the distance to the object to be measured. Since the thickness of the reference object is exactly known, the distance between the first light-slit measuring means and the second light-slit measuring means can be calculated easily as reference distance. Thus, according to the invention, preferably, a material that is subject to a low thermal expansion is used for the reference objects.
As long as it is geometrically possible to detect respective reference objects simultaneously with the objects to be tested by the light-slit measuring means by simple insertion of cost-effective reference objects, maintaining the measurement accuracy can be ensured. Thus, the usage of expensive X-ray detectors can be fully omitted.
In a further alternative to the present invention, mounting reference objects on both sides of a web material to be tested additionally increases the obtainable measurement accuracy.
In summary, it can be said that the inventive method or the inventive apparatus, respectively, has the potential to obtain a higher spatial resolution and to increase the measurement velocity overall, wherein, at the same time, the cost of the used detectors can be significantly decreased compared to the prior art. This is obtained by supplementing radiometric detectors partly or completely by other measurement systems that can detect distances on a line or in an extensive geometrical area, such as light-slit methods.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be discussed below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
They show:
Fig. 1 an alternative to the invention with simple radiometric determination of the reference distance;
Fig. 2 an alternative to the invention with reference objects for determining the reference distance;
Fig. 3A a further alternative to the invention with and 3B several light-slit measuring means;
Fig. 4 a method alternative to the invention for determining the material strength of an object;
and Fig. 5 an alternative light-slit measurement method.
Since the inventive concept will be discussed in the following sections by using light-slit measuring means, the light-slit measurement method will be described briefly based on a simple example with regard to Fig. 5.
f Fig. 5 shows the surface of an object to be measured 2, a measuring light projector 4 emitting light in a light plane 6, so that a measuring light strip 8 is generated on the surface of the object 2. In the simplified case of a perfectly plane surface 2 shown in Fig. 5, the measuring light strip 8 is the straight line shown in Fig. 5.
The measuring light strip 8 is recorded via an appropriate sensor 10. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the sensor 10 is a two-dimensional matrix sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS
sensor. The exact type of sensor is not significant for the mode of operation of the inventive concept, generally, other types of sensors can be used as well.
If a measuring light line 8 is generated on the surface 2 of the object as a straight line, the image of the straight line, as shown in Fig. 5, will be mapped on the sensor 10.
The height information results from the geometry of the overall structure, in particular from the relative position of the sensor 10 and the measuring light projector 5. If, for example, the surface 2 of the object is moved in a direction 12, the measuring light strip is generated at another position on the surface 2 of the object, since the light plane 6 remains unaltered in space. Since the sensor 10 is also stationary, the image of the measuring light line (symbolized by black squares) will vary on the sensor in a direction 14. When the geometry of the light plane 6 and the sensor 10 is known, as is described above, the position of the surface 2 of the object in direction 12 can be inferred.
Equivalent considerations apply when the surface of the object is not plane. With the light-slit method shown in Fig. 5, topography information or height information, respectively, across the whole width of the surface 2 can be determined via a single pick-up of the sensor 10.
Sensors 10 specialized for light-slit measurement methods that can perform signal processing themselves at high speeds are used, so that the same merely provide, for example, the information about the brightest illuminated pixel of the sensor 10 as a measurement result. Such highly specialized sensors are thus particularly suited for fast measurement, since extensive signal post-processing, as it is required, for example, with conventional CCD, can be omitted.
In summary, light-slit measurement methods have the significant advantage that the height information along a spatially extensive measurement line 8 can be obtained with high velocity.
If the surface 2 is moved in a direction perpendicular to the measuring light line 8, and in a direction 16 below the light plane, and if pick-ups are performed successively by the sensor 10, the whole topography of the surface 2 of the device under test can be determined within a short time, which predestines the light-slit measurement method for the usage in measuring spatially extensive surfaces.
In the embodiments of the present invention described below, light-slit measurement methods are used for illustrating the inventive concept. However, with regard to its application, the inventive concept is in no way limited to the used light-slit measurement method. Rather, any other measurement methods that can measure the topography of a surface by distance measurement can be used according to the invention.
Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the reference distance is determined by radiometric measurement. Fig. 1 schematically shows, in a cut-away view, an object 20 to be measured, whose material strength 22(d) is to be determined, wherein the object 20 can be moved in a direction 24 between a first distance measuring means 26 and a second distance measuring means 28. Fig. 1 additionally shows a reference means, comprising an X-ray source 30a and an X-ray detector 30b, wherein the X-ray source 30a is arranged with regard to the first distance measuring means 26 and the X-ray detector 30b with regard to the second distance measuring means 28 in a known geometrical position.
This can also mean, for example, that the same are also connected in a mechanical manner. For the mode of operation of the inventive concept, it does not matter to which of the two distance measuring means the X-ray source 30a is connected, according to the invention, a mirror-image configuration is also possible.
The first and second distance measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, are shown merely schematically in Fig. 1, just as the X-ray source 30a and the X-ray detector 30b. The exact operating principle of the distance measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, is not significant for the application of the inventive concept. It is advantageous when the distance measuring means 26 and 28 can determine with one measurement, one distance to an extensive geometrical area on the surface of the object to be measured 20 associated with the same. This is, for example, the case in an inexpensive manner in the light-slit measuring means described with regard to Fig. 5. According to the invention, a first distance 32a between a first main surface of the object 20 associated with the first distance measuring means 26 and the first distance measuring means 26 is determined.
A second distance 32b between the second distance measuring means 28 and a second main surface of the object 20 facing the second distance measuring means 28 is determined by the second distance measuring means 28.
The distance between the first and the second distance measuring means 26 and 28 can be determined as a reference distance by the X-ray source 30a and the X-ray detector 30b.
Alternatively, the thickness of the object in a selected geometrical area of the object can be determined as reference distance. Therefore, the X-ray detector 30b determines the X-ray intensity emitted by the X-ray source 30a attenuated by the material strength of the object to be measured 20. By knowing the absorption behavior of the material of the object 20, the thickness 22 of the object 20 can be inferred. According to the invention, X-ray source 30a and X-ray detector 30b are connected to one distance measuring means each, and the thickness 22 of the object 20 is determined by the X-ray measuring means at a position of the surface of the object 20, which is also detected by the distance measurement of the distance measuring means 26 and 28. According to the invention, the distance between the first and second distance measuring means can be calculated from the sum of the distances 32a, 32b and the thickness 22 as reference distance.
This has the great advantage that the expensive X-ray technology only has to be used in a geometrically very limited part of the surface of the object 20 for determining the distance of the two distance measuring means from each other or to temporally track the same, respectively. The inventive high measurement accuracy of the material strength of the object can thus also be maintained with thermally or mechanically induced variations of the distance of the two distance measuring means 26 and 28.
Fig. 2 shows an alternative to the invention where the reference distance is determined by optical measurement.
In Fig. 2 and the four following Figures, functionally similar or functionally identical components, respectively, are provided with the same reference numerals, so that the description of the individual components can be mutually applied to different Figures. Additionally, objects provided with identical reference numerals can be alternatively used within the individual embodiments described below.
Fig. 2 shows, as a first distance measuring means 26, a light-slit measuring means, as it has already been described with regard to Fig. 5. As a second distance measuring means 28, a light-slit measuring means is used as well.
Additionally, Fig. 2 shows the object to be measured 20 in a perspective view, as well as a first reference object 40a and a second reference object 40b. The reference objects 40a and 40b each have a first reference main surface facing the first distance measuring means 26 or the first light-slit measuring means 26, respectively. A second main surface of reference objects 40a and 40b is facing the second distance measuring means 28 or the second light-slit measuring means 28, respectively. The reference objects 40a and 40b are also distinguished by the fact that the same have a precise predetermined thickness between the reference main surfaces.
Preferably, reference objects 40a and 40b are produced of materials subject to low thermal expansion.
As can be seen in Fig. 2, the geometrical arrangement of the light-slit measuring means 26 and 28 or the reference objects 40a and 40b, respectively, is selected such that parts 42a and 42b of the measuring light strip generated by the first light-slit measuring means 26 are generated on reference objects 40a and 40b. The same applies for light-slit measuring means 28, wherein due to the partly perspective view in Fig. 2, the light measuring strips generated on the second main surfaces of reference objects 40a and 40b are not visible in Fig. 2.
In the alternative to the invention shown in Fig. 2, the reference means for determining a reference distance between the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 also comprises two reference objects 40a and 40b.
Since the thickness of the reference objects 40a and 40b is exactly known, and the distances to the reference objects 40a and 40b are each also determined during operation of the measuring means of Fig. 2, for example, the distance between the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 can be determined as a reference distance by connecting the distances of the light-slit measuring means 26 to the first main surface of the reference objects 40a and 40b, the thickness of the reference objects 40a and 40b as well as the distances of the second light-slit measuring means 28 to the second main surface of the reference objects 40a and 40b. Alternatively, the difference of the actual thickness of the reference objects to the thickness determined by the light-slit measuring means can be used as reference amount. By means of the difference, the thickness values determined by the light-slit measuring means could be corrected across the whole width of the measuring light strips.
Although the usage of two reference objects 40a and 40b in the example shown in Fig. 2 additionally increases the obtainable measurement accuracy compared to using a single reference object additionally, in a further example, merely one reference object can be used for determining a reference distance.
In other words, Fig. 2 shows as an alternative to the invention a further possibility for obtaining a reference measurement, which results when the web width or the width of the object to be measured 20, respectively, is lower than the detection range of used light-slit apparatuses. In this case, reference objects 40a and 40b can be arranged on the right and left side of the web material 20, for example, in the form of sheet metal strips of known thickness at a known angle (preferably horizontally, as shown in Fig. 2). By comparing the thickness of these sheet metal strips determined by the measurement with the light-slit measurement heads, correction values can be determined, which are used for correcting the measurement data for the web material. Also, possible tilting of the light-slit measuring means 26 or 28, respectively, perpendicular to an advance direction 44 can be determined and corrected by measuring the reference objects.
In a further alternative to the invention, a light strip of monochromatic light, for example, light generated by a laser, is used as a measuring light strip. For avoiding the formation of speckle patterns on the surfaces of the statistical reference objects 40a and 40b, the reference objects (sheet metals) can be moved or vibrated, respectively, so fast in vertical (or horizontal) direction that speckles are averaged out during one light-slit measurement, typically lasting several hundred microseconds.
Since for evaluating or considering, respectively, the thickness and for calculating the reference distance merely the difference of the distance from the upper and lower sides of the web material to the respective light-slit measuring means or the respective measurement head, respectively, is used, the vertical position of the comparative sheet metals is insignificant. If the sheet metal, as preferred, has the same thickness at every position, the same applies for the horizontal position, which allows the suppression of speckle patterns in a simple manner according to the invention. This has the great advantage that laser light can be used, which allows, due to its low divergence, the formation of thinner" measuring light strips. This additionally increases the obtainable spatial resolution of the method.
As an alternative to the usage of laser light, a white light source can be used for projecting a light line, wherein the reference objects can then be arranged in a static manner.
If light-slit measuring means are used, the advance velocity of the object 20 in the advance direction 44 can be selected extremely high, since light-slit measuring means allow for a high measurement frequencies. Thereby, the throughput is greatly increased. Additionally, a high advance velocity in the advanced direction 44 avoids the formation of speckle patterns on the surface of the object, since the same are then averaged out during the measurement period of a measurement phase of the light-slit measuring means. The high possible measurement frequency of light-slit measurement methods allows to project light measuring strips by laser, and to utilize a resulting increase of the spatial resolution.
Additionally, by averaging the measurement signal across several traces of the sensor and by temporally filtering the measurement data, a further improvement of the accuracy of the thickness determination can be obtained when light-slit measuring apparatuses are used. This is possible, since light-slit sensors allow a resolution of 1 mm perpendicular to the advance direction even with 1.5 m width of the light-slit measuring strip, and the measurement frequency of light-slit sensors is significantly higher than the typically required time resolution.
Figs. 3A and 3B show further alternatives to the invention where the object 20 is spatially extended such that two light-slit measuring means are required per side of the object for determining distance information across the whole width of the object. Thus, in addition to the light-slit measuring means 26 facing a first main surface 46 of the object 20 and the second light-slit measuring means 28 associated with a second main surface 24 of the object 20, a third light-slit measuring means 50 (2a) and a fourth light-slit measuring means 52 (2b) are provided. Here, the third light-slit measuring means 50 is facing the first main surface 46, and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 is facing the second main surface 48. The light planes of the first light-slit measuring means 26 and the third light-slit measuring means 50 are determined by the geometry of the arrangement such that the same intersect in a central overlapping area 54. Additionally, the first light-slit measuring means 26 generates a measuring light-strip on the surface of the first reference object 40a, and the third light-slit measuring means 50 generates a measuring light strip on the surface of the second reference object 40b. The same applies in a mirror-inverted manner for the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52. The light planes of the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 also overlap within the central area 54, the second light-slit measuring means 28 generates a measuring light strip on the first reference object 40a, and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52 generates a measuring light strip on the second reference object 40b.
For example, different light wavelengths with corresponding wavelength filters can be used for distinguishing between the different measuring light strips in the overlapping area, which is monitored simultaneously by two light-slit measuring means. Basically, other methods are possible, for example, fine structuring of the different measuring light strips, for example, by interrupting the measuring light strip in certain intervals so that identification can be obtained through this pattern.
As will be described again below, by using the concept it is also possible to determine the thickness of objects, which have a geometrical extension that exceeds the width maximally accessible with a single light-slit measuring means. Based on Fig. 3B, it is illustrated exemplarily how the thickness of the object 20 can be determined across the whole width of the same from the data of the four light-slit measuring means shown in Fig. 3A. Here, in Fig. 3B, first, for the simplified case of a perfectly planar surface, the pick-ups of the light measurement strips obtained by the sensors of the light-slit measuring means 26, 28, 50 and 52 are illustrated schematically. Here, the first light-slit pick-up segments 60a and 60b are associated with the first light-slit measuring means 26, light-slit pick-up segments 62a and 62b with the third light-slit measuring means 50, light-slit pick-up segments 64a and 64b with the second light-slit measuring means 28 and light-slit recording segments 66a and 66b with the fourth light-slit measuring means 52. Thus, the light-slit pick-up segments 60a, 62a, 64a and 66a are those parts of the measuring light strips that are generated on the surface of the object 20. The light-slit pick-up segments 60b, 62b, 64b and 66b symbolize those parts of the measuring light strips that are generated on the reference objects 40a and 40b.
In the case shown in Fig. 3B, the deviations that can result from the possible inclination or non-parallelism of the individual light-slit measuring means are illustrated in an exaggerated manner for making the method or concept, respectively, clearer.
In order to be able to determine the thickness across the whole width of the object 20 from the measuring light pick-ups of the individual measuring light strips shown schematically in Fig. 3B, first, possible tiltings of the individual measuring light means 26, 28, 50 or 52 are corrected, which is possible with the reference objects analogously to the case discussed in Fig. 2. Then, the results of the first light-slit measuring means 26 are synchronized with the results of the third light-slit measuring means 50, i.e. an angle a between the measuring light pick-up segment 60a and the measuring light pick-up segment 62a is varied for so long until both measuring light pick-ups 60a and 62a provide substantially identical values in the overlapping area 54. This means a possible non-parallelism of the light plane associated with the first light-slit measuring means and the light plane associated with the third light-slit measuring means is corrected. This ii ---- -------- -can be performed, for example, by a least square-fit, which minimizes the square errors of the individual measurements with regard to the value of the light-slit pick-ups obtained by adaptation in the overlapping area 54. The same method is pe.rformed for the second light-slit measuring means 28 and the fourth light-slit measuring means 52, so that after adaptation of the different measurement heads, an image shown in Fig. 3B results. By determining the reference distance between the individual light-slit measuring means by using the distances measured to the reference objects 40a and 40b, the thickness of the object to be measured 20 can be determined across its overall width.
While in the alternatives to the invention the concept is illustrated in Figs. 3A and 3B by using merely two light-slit measuring means per side of the object to be measured, examples of measuring means can also have more than two light-slit measuring means per surface. If this is required to cover the whole width of the object 20, similar steps as outlined in Figs. 3A and 3B can be taken. In this case, in the first step, the angle error of the measurement head perpendicular to the advance direction is determined for both outer measurement arrangements that each detect a reference object located horizontally (or at a known angle).
For the measurement arrangements located further to the inside, the tilting is determined successively from the outside to the inside by using the overlapping areas for adapting the measurement curves. The thickness across the whole width of the object 20 then results analogously to the above-described method by using the known thicknesses of reference objects 40a and 40b.
In summary, it can be said that even when the web width is greater than the width that can be covered by a single distance measuring means or an arrangement of one light-slit detector each respectively arranged above and below the web material or the object 20, several such arrangements can be arranged beside one another for covering a greater width. In this case, only the outer measuring means or distance measuring means, respectively, detect one reference part or reference object, respectively, each. If the measurement areas of the arrangements sufficiently overlap, relative movements and possible tiltings of the measurement heads perpendicular to the advance direction can be corrected.
Since a light-slit measurement head only detects distances, tilting of a measurement head without correction would lead to incorrect thickness values. As already described above, a schematic illustration of the problem is shown, for example, in Fig. 3B. The left measurement arrangement (light-slit measuring means 26 and 28) detects the left reference part (reference object 40a), the right measurement arrangement (light-slit measuring means 50 and 52) detects the right reference part or the right reference object 40b, respectively. Possible tilting of the individual measurement heads perpendicular to the advance direction, which runs perpendicular to the illustration plane in the case shown in Fig. 3A, is determined and corrected with the help of the horizontally mounted reference objects. After correction of the angle errors, the results of the measurement heads la and 2a or lb and 2b, respectively, are adapted to each other, so that both measurement heads provide mostly identical values in the overlapping area (e.g. by least-square-fit). Thereby, continuous measurement results result for the upper or lower measurement arrangement, respectively.
In a last step, the results are adapted by comparison to the known thicknesses of the reference objects. After this step, thickness values for the web material exist for every measurement point. For a simplified illustration, it is assumed in the case shown in Figs. 3A and 3B that the object 20 or a web material to be tested, respectively, has a planar surface. Without limitation of the application of the inventive concept, according to the invention, non-planar objects can be measured as well, such as sheet metals that are curved in advance direction, or profile sheet metals that can have a triangular or square or rectangular profile, respectively.
Although Fig. 3 shows an example for usage of more than one light-slit measuring means per side of the object to be measured 20, wherein the reference distance is determined by reference objects, the concept with several light-slit measuring means is also possible in a further embodiment of the invention in connection with the radiometric sensors shown in Fig. 1 for determining the reference distance.
Here, for such a radiometric reference measurement, one radiometric sensor would be required per opposing light-slit measuring means, which means for the pairs of light-slit measuring means 26 and 28 or the light-slit measuring means 50 and 52, respectively. Reference objects 40a and 40b can then be omitted. As has already been discussed based on Fig.
1, only a single radiation detector is required for determining a distance change between the two light-slit measurement heads arranged above or below the object 20 or the web material, respectively, which would cause an error in the thickness measurement.
As has already been discussed based on Fig. 1, when using such radiometric methods (radiation source and radiation detector), simultaneously, possible tilting of the light-slit measurement heads can be corrected when, for every pair of opposing light-slit measuring means, additionally, a second radiometric measuring means is used.
As in the case shown in Fig. 3A, more than two light-slit measuring means per side can be used when using radiometric detectors for determining the reference distances, wherein then each light-slit measuring means has at least one radiometric measuring means for determining the reference distance associated with the same.
Based on Fig. 4, an alternative to the inventive method for determining the material strength of an object is illustrated schematically in the form of a block diagram.
For determining the material strength, a first distance between a distance measuring means and a first main surface of the object is determined first in a first distance measurement step 80.
In a second distance measurement step 84, a second distance between a second distance measuring means and a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface is determined.
In a third step 84, information about a reference distance allowing a determination of a deviation of an actual distance between the first distance measuring means 26 and the second distance measuring means 28 from a set value is provided.
In an evaluation step 86, the material strength of the object is determined from the first distance, the second distance and the reference distance.
Other measuring means than the light-slit measurement methods described in the embodiments can be used as distance measuring means. Here, for example, run time methods, such as ultrasound echo methods or radar echo methods can be taken into consideration that can use, for example, interferences of the reflected and emitted signals for obtaining precise distance information. Although reference objects with cuboid-shaped geometry are shown in Fig. 2 and 3A or 3B, respectively, according to the invention, reference objects of any other geometries can be used. In a further comparative example, a reference object in- the form of a rotating circular disc is used. Thus, on the one hand, it is obtained that no speckle patterns that decrease the measurement accuracy are formed when using lasers. on the other hand, possible non-planarities in the surface of the circular object that can be caused during production are averaged out by the rotation, so that, overall, the measurement accuracy can be further increased.
Claims (7)
1. A measuring apparatus for determining the material strength of an object, comprising:
a first distance measuring means (26) for determining a first distance (32a) between the first distance measuring means (26) and a first main surface (46) of the object (20) facing the first distance measuring means in measurement direction;
a second distance measuring means (28) for determining a second distance (32b) between the second distance measuring means (28) and a second main surface (48) of the object (20) opposing the first main surface (46) in measurement direction;
an X-ray means (30a, 30b) arranged in a spatially stationary orientation with regard to the first (26) and the second distance measuring means (28) for inferring a first material strength of the object (20) along the X-ray direction from an attenuation of x-radiation caused by the object (20) along an X-ray direction; and an evaluation means for determining the material strength (22) of the object (20) between the first main surface (46) and the second main surface (48) by using the first distance (32a), the second distance (32b) and the first material strength.
a first distance measuring means (26) for determining a first distance (32a) between the first distance measuring means (26) and a first main surface (46) of the object (20) facing the first distance measuring means in measurement direction;
a second distance measuring means (28) for determining a second distance (32b) between the second distance measuring means (28) and a second main surface (48) of the object (20) opposing the first main surface (46) in measurement direction;
an X-ray means (30a, 30b) arranged in a spatially stationary orientation with regard to the first (26) and the second distance measuring means (28) for inferring a first material strength of the object (20) along the X-ray direction from an attenuation of x-radiation caused by the object (20) along an X-ray direction; and an evaluation means for determining the material strength (22) of the object (20) between the first main surface (46) and the second main surface (48) by using the first distance (32a), the second distance (32b) and the first material strength.
2. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means are implemented to determine the first distance and the second distance in a contactless manner.
3. The measuring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the measurement direction is perpendicular to the first main surface (46) of the object (20).
4. The measuring apparatus according to one of the previous claims, wherein the first distance measuring means and the second distance measuring means are implemented to determine a distance to a surface area of the object extended in a measurement direction, wherein the X-ray means (30a, 30b) is implemented to determine the first material strength for a surface area less extended in the measurement direction.
5. The measuring apparatus according to one of the previous claims, wherein the X-ray means is arranged with regard to the first (26) and the second distance measuring means such that the X-ray direction runs parallel to the measurement direction.
6. The measuring apparatus according to one of the previous claims, further comprising a second X-ray means arranged in a further spatially stationary orientation with regard to the first (26) and the second distance measuring means (28), for inferring a second material strength of the object (20) along the second X-ray direction from an attenuation of x-radiation caused by the object along a second X-ray direction; wherein the evaluation means is implemented to infer a relative spatial arrangement between the first (26) and the second distance measuring means (28) from the first and second material strength.
7. The measuring apparatus according to one of the previous claims, wherein the first distance measuring means comprises a first light-slit measuring means the second main surface of the object (20), wherein measuring light strips generated by the first means for generating a measuring light strip and by the third means for generating a third measuring light strip on the surface of the object spatially overlap in an overlapping area on the surface of the object, and wherein measuring light strips generated by the second means for generating the second measuring light strip and by the fourth means for generating the fourth measuring light strip on the second main surface of the object (20) spatially overlap in an overlapping area on the second main surface of the object (20).
12. The measuring apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the evaluation means is implemented to adapt distance information of the first and third light-slit measuring means in the overlapping area to each other for obtaining adapted distance information, so that the first and third light-slit measuring means show a deviation from the adapted distance information in the overlapping area that lies within a predetermined tolerance range.
13. A method for determining the material strength of an object, comprising:
determining a first distance between a first distance measuring means and a first main surface of the object facing the first distance measuring means in a measurement direction;
determining a second distance between a second distance measuring means and a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface in measurement direction;
determining a first material strength of the object from an attenuation of X-radiation in the X-ray direction caused along an X-ray direction by the object; and determining the material strength of the object in measurement direction between the first main surface and the second main surface by using the first distance, the second distance and the first material strength.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first distance, the second distance are determined in a contactless manner.
12. The measuring apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the evaluation means is implemented to adapt distance information of the first and third light-slit measuring means in the overlapping area to each other for obtaining adapted distance information, so that the first and third light-slit measuring means show a deviation from the adapted distance information in the overlapping area that lies within a predetermined tolerance range.
13. A method for determining the material strength of an object, comprising:
determining a first distance between a first distance measuring means and a first main surface of the object facing the first distance measuring means in a measurement direction;
determining a second distance between a second distance measuring means and a second main surface of the object opposing the first main surface in measurement direction;
determining a first material strength of the object from an attenuation of X-radiation in the X-ray direction caused along an X-ray direction by the object; and determining the material strength of the object in measurement direction between the first main surface and the second main surface by using the first distance, the second distance and the first material strength.
14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the first distance, the second distance are determined in a contactless manner.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE200610059415 DE102006059415A1 (en) | 2006-12-15 | 2006-12-15 | Thickness measurement device determines material thickness between first and second main surface using first and second measured distances and first material thickness measured from x-ray attenuation |
| DE102006059415.0 | 2006-12-15 | ||
| PCT/EP2007/010612 WO2008071337A1 (en) | 2006-12-15 | 2007-12-06 | Method and device for thickness measurement |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2672679A1 true CA2672679A1 (en) | 2008-06-19 |
| CA2672679C CA2672679C (en) | 2013-10-01 |
Family
ID=39092116
Family Applications (2)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2672679A Expired - Fee Related CA2672679C (en) | 2006-12-15 | 2007-12-06 | Method and apparatus for thickness measurement |
| CA2672685A Expired - Fee Related CA2672685C (en) | 2006-12-15 | 2007-12-06 | Method and apparatus for thickness measurement |
Family Applications After (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA2672685A Expired - Fee Related CA2672685C (en) | 2006-12-15 | 2007-12-06 | Method and apparatus for thickness measurement |
Country Status (7)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| US (2) | US8064072B2 (en) |
| EP (2) | EP2100092B1 (en) |
| JP (2) | JP5707041B2 (en) |
| AT (2) | ATE472091T1 (en) |
| CA (2) | CA2672679C (en) |
| DE (2) | DE502007004226D1 (en) |
| WO (2) | WO2008071337A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (15)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US8681345B2 (en) * | 2010-03-25 | 2014-03-25 | First Solar, Inc. | System and method for measuring photovoltaic module thickness |
| JP2012242138A (en) * | 2011-05-16 | 2012-12-10 | Kobe Steel Ltd | Shape measuring device |
| JP2012251816A (en) * | 2011-06-01 | 2012-12-20 | Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial System Corp | Shape measurement device |
| US9062964B1 (en) * | 2012-05-07 | 2015-06-23 | Clearwater Paper Corporation | Laser caliper measurement of paper material |
| US8570537B1 (en) | 2012-10-26 | 2013-10-29 | Nissan North America, Inc. | Method for bore chamfer measurement |
| JP6111495B2 (en) * | 2012-12-13 | 2017-04-12 | パナソニックＩｐマネジメント株式会社 | Optical measuring device |
| DE102013111761B4 (en) * | 2013-10-25 | 2018-02-15 | Gerhard Schubert Gmbh | Method and scanner for non-contact determination of the position and three-dimensional shape of products on a moving surface |
| US9575008B2 (en) * | 2014-02-12 | 2017-02-21 | ASA Corporation | Apparatus and method for photographing glass in multiple layers |
| KR101639882B1 (en) * | 2014-10-24 | 2016-07-25 | 주식회사 포스코 | Apparatus and Method for measuring thickness/composition of metal foil |
| HUP1600469A2 (en) * | 2016-07-27 | 2018-01-29 | Peter Teleki | Method for determining the geometric parameters and/or material state of a specimen based on in-situ radiographic imaging |
| US10260865B1 (en) * | 2016-09-13 | 2019-04-16 | National Technology & Engineering Solutions Of Sandia, Llc | High resolution, non-contact removal rate module for serial sectioning |
| JP6805078B2 (en) * | 2017-05-25 | 2020-12-23 | 株式会社神戸製鋼所 | Rubber sheet monitoring device and rubber sheet monitoring method |
| CN110319795B (en) * | 2018-03-29 | 2021-10-19 | 宝山钢铁股份有限公司 | Method and system for measuring thickness of steel plate coating |
| JP7119661B2 (en) * | 2018-07-06 | 2022-08-17 | セイコーエプソン株式会社 | Web forming apparatus, web processing apparatus, fiber raw material recycling apparatus, and web forming method |
| JP2022030051A (en) * | 2020-08-06 | 2022-02-18 | Ｔｏｗａ株式会社 | Cutting device and manufacturing method of cutting article |
Family Cites Families (41)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FR1312164A (en) * | 1960-12-22 | 1962-12-14 | United States Steel Corp | Method and apparatus for determining the profile of a surface |
| US3187185A (en) | 1960-12-22 | 1965-06-01 | United States Steel Corp | Apparatus for determining surface contour |
| JPS5815041B2 (en) * | 1977-12-24 | 1983-03-23 | 肇産業株式会社 | Inspection method and equipment |
| DE2913879C2 (en) * | 1979-04-06 | 1982-10-28 | Frieseke & Hoepfner Gmbh, 8520 Erlangen | Method for controlling the thickness of moving material webs |
| JPS5759107A (en) * | 1980-09-26 | 1982-04-09 | Hitachi Ltd | Method and device for measuring plate thickness |
| JPS60164202A (en) * | 1984-02-06 | 1985-08-27 | Sumitomo Metal Ind Ltd | Thickness measuring method of double layered materials |
| FI83911C (en) | 1986-05-14 | 1992-01-10 | Tapio Technologies Oy | FOERFARANDE OCH ANORDNING FOER MAETNING AV ETT HINNARTAT ELLER SKIVLIKT BANDS TJOCKLEK. |
| JPS6371610A (en) * | 1986-09-16 | 1988-04-01 | Furukawa Alum Co Ltd | Plate thickness measuring instrument for rolling machine |
| JPS63206602A (en) * | 1987-02-23 | 1988-08-25 | Japan Sensor Corp:Kk | Shape measuring apparatus |
| US4803371A (en) | 1987-09-30 | 1989-02-07 | The Coe Manufacturing Company | Optical scanning method and apparatus useful for determining the configuration of an object |
| KR920704092A (en) | 1989-12-05 | 1992-12-19 | 원본미기재 | Method and apparatus for optical measurement of an object |
| US5485082A (en) | 1990-04-11 | 1996-01-16 | Micro-Epsilon Messtechnik Gmbh & Co. Kg | Method of calibrating a thickness measuring device and device for measuring or monitoring the thickness of layers, tapes, foils, and the like |
| JPH04160304A (en) * | 1990-10-23 | 1992-06-03 | Nippon Steel Corp | Detecting apparatus of warp in widthwise direction of plate |
| JPH04184203A (en) * | 1990-11-20 | 1992-07-01 | Komatsu Ltd | Controller for position measuring apparatus |
| JP2536970B2 (en) | 1991-02-28 | 1996-09-25 | 川崎製鉄株式会社 | Plate thickness measurement method |
| JPH04332537A (en) * | 1991-05-03 | 1992-11-19 | Horiba Ltd | Method for measuring osteosalt |
| DE4220501A1 (en) | 1992-06-23 | 1994-01-05 | Robert Prof Dr Ing Massen | Optical thickness measurement during mfr. of strip material - using triangulation by measuring distance to material from head above and below material, directing reference line onto head and detecting with PSD or CCD line sensor, and determining position of head for position compensation. |
| JPH074931A (en) | 1993-06-15 | 1995-01-10 | Fujitsu Ltd | Peak detection method by means of light-selecting method |
| JP3048107B2 (en) * | 1994-03-17 | 2000-06-05 | 新日本製鐵株式会社 | Method and apparatus for measuring object dimensions |
| JPH08178643A (en) * | 1994-12-22 | 1996-07-12 | Nkk Corp | Method and device for measuring thickness of steel plate |
| JP3327068B2 (en) * | 1995-10-05 | 2002-09-24 | 松下電器産業株式会社 | Road surface measurement device |
| JPH09257446A (en) * | 1996-03-19 | 1997-10-03 | Shimizu Corp | Method and apparatus for measurement of thickness by using x-rays |
| JP3799708B2 (en) | 1996-12-24 | 2006-07-19 | 松下電工株式会社 | Optical displacement measurement system |
| DE19733297C2 (en) | 1997-08-01 | 1999-12-09 | Marcus Gut | Non-contact optical thickness measurement |
| US6281679B1 (en) | 1998-12-21 | 2001-08-28 | Honeywell - Measurex | Web thickness measurement system |
| JP2000258146A (en) * | 1999-03-05 | 2000-09-22 | Toshiba Corp | Radiation thickness measurement device |
| JP2000292132A (en) | 1999-04-08 | 2000-10-20 | Sumitomo Special Metals Co Ltd | Work quality inspecting method and apparatus |
| ATE270424T1 (en) | 1999-05-28 | 2004-07-15 | Ims Messsysteme Gmbh | METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE FLATNESS OF A STRIP OF MATERIAL |
| JP2001147116A (en) * | 1999-11-22 | 2001-05-29 | Toshiba Corp | Plate thickness measuring device |
| DE10060144A1 (en) | 2000-12-04 | 2002-06-13 | Dillinger Huettenwerke Ag | Thickness measuring device for sheet or web material uses optical distance measuring devices on opposite sides of sheet or web |
| US6757069B2 (en) * | 2001-03-05 | 2004-06-29 | Northrop Grumman Corporation | Laser non-contact thickness measurement system |
| JP4686924B2 (en) * | 2001-07-25 | 2011-05-25 | Ｊｆｅスチール株式会社 | Thickness measuring method, thickness measuring device and thickness control method for hot rolled steel sheet |
| JP3940327B2 (en) * | 2002-07-03 | 2007-07-04 | 新日本製鐵株式会社 | Metal plate thickness measurement method |
| JP4081414B2 (en) * | 2002-10-08 | 2008-04-23 | 新日本製鐵株式会社 | Strip shape inspection method and apparatus |
| JP2004170363A (en) * | 2002-11-22 | 2004-06-17 | Sumitomo Metal Ind Ltd | Edge position measuring method of long material and shape measuring method using the same, and edge position measuring device and shape measuring device using the same |
| JP2005049247A (en) * | 2003-07-30 | 2005-02-24 | Graphtec Corp | Floodlight using white light source, and three-dimensional shape measuring device using it |
| US8067072B2 (en) * | 2003-08-19 | 2011-11-29 | Daniel Brian Tan | Self opening bag stack and method of making same |
| JP4131843B2 (en) * | 2003-09-05 | 2008-08-13 | 株式会社東芝 | Chatter mark detector |
| US6967726B2 (en) | 2003-10-03 | 2005-11-22 | Honeywell International Inc. | Means for in-place automated calibration of optically-based thickness sensor |
| JP2006189389A (en) * | 2005-01-07 | 2006-07-20 | Jfe Steel Kk | Optical thickness measuring method and device |
| US20070280415A1 (en) * | 2006-05-31 | 2007-12-06 | Keith Waterson | Method of and apparatus for measuring the thickness of moving metal sheet articles |
-
2007
- 2007-12-06 WO PCT/EP2007/010612 patent/WO2008071337A1/en active Application Filing
- 2007-12-06 WO PCT/EP2007/010613 patent/WO2008071338A1/en active Application Filing
- 2007-12-06 DE DE502007004226T patent/DE502007004226D1/en active Active
- 2007-12-06 EP EP07856417A patent/EP2100092B1/en active Active
- 2007-12-06 JP JP2009540631A patent/JP5707041B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-12-06 US US12/517,396 patent/US8064072B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-12-06 JP JP2009540632A patent/JP5334861B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-12-06 CA CA2672679A patent/CA2672679C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-12-06 DE DE502007004215T patent/DE502007004215D1/en active Active
- 2007-12-06 EP EP07856418A patent/EP2089670B1/en active Active
- 2007-12-06 AT AT07856417T patent/ATE472091T1/en active
- 2007-12-06 US US12/516,012 patent/US8228488B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-12-06 AT AT07856418T patent/ATE472090T1/en active
- 2007-12-06 CA CA2672685A patent/CA2672685C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| DE502007004226D1 (en) | 2010-08-05 |
| CA2672679C (en) | 2013-10-01 |
| WO2008071338A1 (en) | 2008-06-19 |
| WO2008071337A1 (en) | 2008-06-19 |
| US20100073689A1 (en) | 2010-03-25 |
| EP2089670A1 (en) | 2009-08-19 |
| JP2010512524A (en) | 2010-04-22 |
| CA2672685C (en) | 2011-07-12 |
| US8064072B2 (en) | 2011-11-22 |
| EP2100092B1 (en) | 2010-06-23 |
| ATE472090T1 (en) | 2010-07-15 |
| JP5334861B2 (en) | 2013-11-06 |
| ATE472091T1 (en) | 2010-07-15 |
| JP5707041B2 (en) | 2015-04-22 |
| CA2672685A1 (en) | 2008-06-19 |
| EP2089670B1 (en) | 2010-06-23 |
| DE502007004215D1 (en) | 2010-08-05 |
| JP2010512525A (en) | 2010-04-22 |
| US8228488B2 (en) | 2012-07-24 |
| EP2100092A1 (en) | 2009-09-16 |
| US20100214555A1 (en) | 2010-08-26 |
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| CA2672679C (en) | Method and apparatus for thickness measurement | |
| CA2591885C (en) | Thin film thickness measurement method and apparatus | |
| US4988886A (en) | Moire distance measurement method and apparatus | |
| US5210593A (en) | Gauge for measuring the thickness of an unsupported web | |
| JP5405477B2 (en) | How to determine vehicle tire pressure and profile depth | |
| US5714763A (en) | Method and apparatus for optical alignment of a measuring head in an X-Y plane | |
| US9046349B2 (en) | Method and device for contactless determination of the thickness of a web of material, including correction of the alignment error | |
| US8218153B2 (en) | Apparatus and method for improving the measurement accuracy of digital 3D geometrical measurement systems | |
| TWI439664B (en) | Radiation thickness meter | |
| JP4970204B2 (en) | Straightness measuring device, thickness variation measuring device, and orthogonality measuring device | |
| JP5030699B2 (en) | Method and apparatus for adjusting thickness measuring apparatus | |
| JP2019095228A (en) | Wheel shape measurement method | |
| JP4131843B2 (en) | Chatter mark detector | |
| JP2017053793A (en) | Measurement device, and manufacturing method of article | |
| JP4545580B2 (en) | In-plane displacement meter | |
| JPH06167327A (en) | Measuring method for camber | |
| JPH0781841B2 (en) | Thickness measuring device | |
| JPH05231856A (en) | Thickness measuring instrument | |
| JP3282745B2 (en) | Plate width and meandering measurement device using two-dimensional distance meter | |
| JPH0737898B2 (en) | Flatness meter | |
| JP2002122419A (en) | Flatness measuring device | |
| JP2000283727A (en) | Device for inspecting plywood manufacturing | |
| JPH04319612A (en) | Apparatus for measuring sectional shape | |
| JPS6341486B2 (en) | ||
| JPH06307825A (en) | Method and device for measuring dimensions and appearance inspection device using it |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| MKLA | Lapsed |
Effective date: 20171206 |