Strip LED Level for Instant Tilt Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional levels face challenges in instantly confirming the horizontal or tilt state, especially in dark environments and from a distance, due to the reliance on bubble tubes and difficulty in recognizing tilt direction and degree.
Innovation Solution
A level featuring strip-shaped light-emitters that glow linearly, with LEDs of different colors and sound emissions, allowing for immediate and accurate assessment of tilt angles and directions, even in dark conditions, using a display unit with horizontally positioned and bent strip-shaped members that emit light and sound corresponding to tilt angles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a bubble tube is used to check horizontal state, then the level can determine horizontal state, but it is difficult to immediately confirm the position of the bubble and the position is not seen at all in a dark place
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical bubble tube system with an electronic sensor system that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a control unit to detect and display tilt state. The sensor unit detects the tilt angle, and the control unit selectively causes specific LEDs to emit light, eliminating the need for optical detection of a bubble in dark environments.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs LEDs that can emit different colors of light to indicate different tilt states. The control unit selectively causes specific LEDs to emit light based on the detected tilt angle, allowing for clear visual distinction of horizontal and tilt states through color-coded indicators that are visible in all lighting conditions.
2Loss of information
If multiple line segments are arranged to form a visual display unit, then tilt information can be displayed, but it is difficult to instantly recognize the direction and the degree of the tilt
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the display into multiple individually controllable LED segments arranged in specific patterns. Each LED or group of LEDs represents specific tilt information, allowing the system to display only the relevant tilt data needed for quick recognition rather than presenting all possible information simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of requiring the user to interpret complex patterns of illuminated line segments to determine tilt direction and degree, the patent inverts the approach by having the control unit selectively illuminate specific LEDs that directly indicate the tilt state. This reversal of the information presentation method enables instant recognition of tilt direction and magnitude.
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
Enables instantaneous and accurate checking of horizontal and tilt states, including direction, in various lighting conditions and distances, enhancing usability in construction and piping sites.
Implementation Method 1
a light-emitting diode which emits light in a specific direction according to a tilt angle
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a level with which it is possible to check a degree of a horizontal state or a tilt state instantly and clearly by a strip-shaped light-emitter that linearly emits light. The level includes: a sensor 10 that detects a tilt angle; a display unit 2 including a plurality of strip-shaped display members that linearly emits light by an LED to display the tilt angle; and a controller 11 that receives an output signal from the sensor 10 and outputs a control signal so that a specific strip-shaped display member glows. The strip-shaped display members include one horizontal strip-shaped display member 5a positioned at a middle of the display unit and a plurality of strip-shaped display members 5b, 5c,... for tilt-angle display that has tips bent toward a center of the display unit. LEDs 6a, 6b,... are attached to ends of the strip-shaped display members, respectively, and a pair of strip-shaped display members which is point-symmetrical with respect to the center of the display unit simultaneously glows according to the tilt angle.