Non-contact vehicle orientation and alignment sensor and method

A non-contact sensor for determining orientation of a tire and wheel assembly of a vehicle, said non-contact sensor comprising:

• a sensor housing, said sensor housing retaining a projector assembly and an imager;
• said projector assembly including a light emitter, a lens assembly and a mask, said mask including mask apertures with said light emitter configured to project light through said lens assembly and said mask apertures and onto the tire and wheel assembly with said mask apertures creating a light pattern of projected light onto the object;
• said imager configured to image reflections of said light pattern from the tire and wheel assembly;
• wherein said projector assembly and said imager are angled with respect to one another when retained by said sensor housing whereby said imager images reflections of said light pattern at an angle relative to the projection of said light pattern, and wherein a processor is configured to process imaged reflections of said light pattern to derive the orientation of the object;
• wherein said lens assembly comprises an internal lens and an outer lens, and wherein said mask is disposed between said internal lens and said outer lens, and wherein said projector assembly comprises a projector housing having a threaded bore within which said internal lens is fixed, and wherein said outer lens comprises a focus lens having a threaded end engaged with said threaded bore.

A non-contact sensor system for determining orientation of a tire and wheel assembly of a vehicle, said non-contact sensor system comprising:

• a pair of non-contact sensors with one of said non-contact sensors positioned on either side of a tire and wheel assembly of a vehicle, and wherein each said non-contact sensor comprises;
• a projector assembly, said projector assembly including a light emitter, a lens assembly and a mask, said mask including mask apertures with said light emitter configured to project light through said lens assembly and said mask apertures and onto a portion of the tire and wheel assembly with said mask apertures creating a light pattern of projected light onto the portion of the tire and wheel assembly, wherein said lens assembly comprises an internal lens and an outer lens, and wherein said mask is disposed between said internal lens and said outer lens, and wherein said projector assembly comprises a projector housing having a threaded bore within which said internal lens is fixed, and wherein said outer lens comprises a focus lens having a threaded end engaged with said threaded bore;
• an imager, said imager configured to image reflections of said light pattern from the portion of the tire and wheel assembly;
• and
• a sensor processor;
• wherein said projector assembly and said imager are angled with respect to one another, and wherein said sensor processor is configured to process imaged reflections of said light pattern to derive geometric orientation information of the portion of the tire and wheel assembly;
• said non-contact sensor system further comprising a central processor, and wherein said central processor receives the geometric orientation information from both said non-contact sensors, with said central processor configured to derive the orientation of the tire and wheel assembly.