Remote feature measurement
AssigneeRaytheon Technologies Corporation
InventorsJohn Quitter, Joseph D. Drescher
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system includes a laser-line imaging subsystem to measure a feature. The laser-line imaging subsystem includes a laser to project a laser-line, and a digital video camera mounted at an angle with respect to an axis of said laser to obtain an optical image of the laser-line. A control subsystem is operable to compute three-dimensional coordinate points via triangulation of an intersection between the laser-line and the optical image of the laser-line, the three-dimensional coordinate points data used by the control subsystem to calculate predictive airflow through the workpiece with respect to the volume of the machined holes.
Claims15
A system comprising:
- a workpiece mount for a thermally coated component of a gas turbine engine;
- a machining subsystem to machine a multiple of laser drilled holes in the thermally coated component while the component is on the workpiece mount;
- a laser-line imaging subsystem to measure each of the multiple of laser drilled holes manufactured by a machining subsystem, said laser-line imaging subsystem comprising a laser to project a laser-line, and a digital video camera mounted at an angle with respect to an axis of said laser to obtain an optical image of said laser-line;
- a robotic extension arm that mounts the laser-line imager;
- a robotic extension arm that mounts a laser drill of said machining subsystem, said robotic extension arm that mounts said laser-line imager and said robotic extension arm that mounts said laser drill are generally opposite with the workpiece mounted therebetween;
- and
- a control subsystem operable to compute three-dimensional coordinate points via triangulation of an intersection between said laser-line and the optical image of said laser-line,
- wherein more than tens of thousands of points per second are determined from each video frame to determine whether additional laser drilling of one or more of the multiple of laser drilled holes are required in response to the volume of the machined holes while the component is on the workpiece mount.
A method of machining holes, comprising:
- laser drilling a multiple of laser drilled holes through a thermally coated component of a gas turbine engine on a workpiece mount;
- measuring one or more of the multiple of laser drilled holes in the thermally coated component on the workpiece mount with a laser-line imaging subsystem with a laser to project a laser-line;
- obtaining an optical image of said laser-line with a digital video camera mounted at an angle with respect to an axis of said laser while the component is on the workpiece mount;
- computing three-dimensional coordinate points from each video frame of the optical image via triangulation of an intersection between said laser-line and the optical image of said laser-line while the component is on the workpiece mount;
- and
- calculating a predictive airflow through the workpiece with respect to a volume of the multiple of laser drilled holes, a diameter of each of the multiple of laser drilled holes derived via an off-axis angular orientation where an elliptical shape thereof is mathematically projected to estimate a through-hole diameter while the component is on the workpiece mount;
- and
- determining whether additional laser drilling of one or more of the multiple of laser drilled holes are required in response to the volume of the machined holes while the component is on the workpiece mount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.