Sequential Light-Slit 3D Surface Measurement Apparatus
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional light-slit methods for 3D measurement face challenges such as the inability to align multiple light lines accurately, resulting in incomplete surface measurement, shading effects, and difficulties with reflective surfaces, which lead to misinterpretations and increased costs due to the need for multiple cameras or complex adjustments.
Innovation Solution
The method involves sequentially projecting and detecting light lines using a support apparatus to ensure unambiguous identification, allowing for complete surface measurement with standard cameras and reducing shading effects by using differently colored lasers and optical filters, enabling efficient and cost-effective 3D imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple light lines are used to measure complete surface, then surface coverage is improved, but alignment precision deteriorates due to inability to align initial and end points
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a support apparatus as an intermediary system that includes a controller to manage the sequential activation of multiple light projectors and the camera. This mediator coordinates the complex multi-projector setup without requiring precise manual alignment of all light lines, thus maintaining surface coverage while improving alignment precision through automated control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic action by sequentially activating different light projectors rather than having them all active simultaneously. The controller activates projectors in a predetermined sequence, with each projector illuminating the surface in turn while the camera captures the light line position. This temporal separation eliminates the alignment problems of simultaneous multi-line illumination while maintaining complete surface measurement capability.
2Area of stationary object
If multiple cameras are used to detect complete surface, then measurement completeness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the single camera universal by enabling it to detect light lines from multiple different light projectors through sequential activation. The camera serves multiple functions by capturing measurements from all projectors over time, eliminating the need for multiple dedicated cameras while maintaining complete surface measurement capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses periodic action by sequentially activating different light projectors while a single camera remains continuously operational. This temporal multiplexing allows one camera to perform the work of multiple cameras, reducing device complexity while maintaining measurement completeness across the entire surface.
3Measurement precision
If light lines are projected at angles to detect surface topography, then measurement accuracy is improved, but shading effects worsen on elevated portions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic action by sequentially activating multiple light projectors positioned at different locations. When one projector creates shading on elevated portions, another projector activated in subsequent time periods illuminates those same portions from a different angle, eliminating the shading effect. This temporal sequencing allows accurate measurement of all surface areas including elevated portions that would be shaded in any single static configuration.
4Reliability
If sequential light line projection is used to enable unambiguous identification, then measurement reliability is improved, but measurement speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action through sequential activation of light projectors, where each projector is activated in turn rather than simultaneously. This temporal separation provides unambiguous identification of which light line is being measured, improving measurement reliability. The rapid switching between projectors maintains high measurement speed by ensuring that at any given moment, only one light source is active, eliminating the need for complex spatial separation or alignment procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for accurate, high-speed, and cost-effective 3D surface measurement by preventing shading and misinterpretations, maintaining high measurement rates, and enabling complete surface coverage with minimal additional expense, even with non-aligned light lines.
Implementation Method 1
a light line is projected onto an object to be tested. The course of the light line on the surface of the object is recorded at an angle to the projection direction by means of a camera.
Implementation Method 2
a camera support apparatus for enabling, by means of optics, producing a light-slit recording from different perspectives by means of the camera
Data Source
AI summary
In a light-slit method, a first and a second measurement light projection on a surface of an object to be measured may be unambiguously identified as a first or a second measurement light projection by a camera when there is a support apparatus operating the camera and/or the measurement light projectors such that, in each light-slit recording of the camera, either the first or the second measurement light projection is visible to the camera. The possibility of unambiguous identification allows evaluating several spatially overlapping and not exactly aligned measurement light projections by means of a camera.