Absolute distance meter that measures a moving retroreflector
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- FARO TECH INC
- Publication Date
- 2007-09-05
- Estimated Expiration
- Not applicable · inactive patent
Smart Images
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Abstract
Description
technical background
[0001] The present disclosure relates to coordinate measuring equipment. A coordinate measuring device is a class of instruments that measure the coordinates of a point by firing a laser beam at the point. The laser beam may be directed onto the point or may be directed onto a retroreflector target in contact with the point. In either case, the instrument determines the coordinates of the point by measuring the distance to the target and two angles. Distances are measured with distance measuring devices such as absolute range finders or interferometers. The angle is measured with an angle measuring device, such as an angle encoder. A gimbaled beam steering mechanism inside the instrument directs the laser beam to the point of interest. Example systems for determining coordinates of points are described in Brown et al., US Patent 4,790,651 and Lau et al., US Patent 4,714,339.
[0002] A laser tracker is a special class of coordinate measuring device th...