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US 2003/0193717 A1Published application
Wide-angle sensor system with a cube corner reflector, and production of the molds
OwnerHans-Erich Gubela SR.inventor
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OwnerHans-Erich Gubela SR.inventor
Estimating the term…
A wide angle reflector which can work in conjunction with a wide-angle sensor system for testing the wide angle reflector. In this case, reflex sensors transmit light onto a cube corner part surface, and measure the retro-reflected light. If the direction of irradiation of the light deviates too strongly from the normal to the cube corner part surface, the retro-reflective light, which serves as signal, is retro-reflected too weakly, or is not retro-reflected at all to the transmitter. This wide-angle sensor system with a cube corner part surface permits the observation of a large surface with an aperture angle of 80° and more. In addition, the wide-angle sensor system with cube corner part surface comprises a gauge for selecting the observation angle and the cube corner part surface which comprises a multiplicity of cube corners. In this case, the cube corner part surfaces, arranged around the center of the cube corner, are positioned at virtually a right angle to one another, and the axes of the cube corners deviate alternately by, for example +/−5° or more from the normal to the reflector surface.
A reflector with a multiplicity of cube corners, each cube corner comprising:
A wide-angle sensor system, comprising:
A wide angle sensor system comprising:
A mold for producing a reflector with a multiplicity of cube corners, said mold comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Backward citations are indexed for grants only.
Producing optical elements, e.g. lenses or prisms: production of reflex reflectors
Reflex reflectors: cube corner, trihedral or triple reflector type
Cube corner, trihedral or triple reflector type: plural reflecting elements forming part of a unitary plate or sheet
Producing particular articles from plastics or from substances in a plastic state
Term end not estimated
Applicant claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Application No. 102 16 579.3 filed Apr. 14, 2002. The international application under PCT article 21(2) was not published in English.
The invention relates to a method and construction of a reflector for wide angle observation of a reflecting surface via a reflex sensor which may also be equipped with polarization filters, or can operate as a laser reflex sensor.
The wide-angle sensor system with a cube corner surface comprises a gauge for selecting the observation angle. The cube corner surface comprises a multiplicity of cube corners. The cube corner part surfaces arranged around the center of the cube corner, specifically its reflecting sides, are at right angles to one another. The axis of the cube corners deviate alternately by −5° and +5° or more from the axis normal to the reflector surface. The surface of at least one cube corner surface is lengthened substantially.
Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings which disclose at least one embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood, however, that the drawings are designed for the purpose of illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.
In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:
FIG. 1 shows a single cube corner of the wide angle mirror structure of the reflector;
Referring in detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a single cube corner of the wide angle mirror structure of the reflector. The cube corner consists of three reflecting surfaces 1, 2, and 3 which are at near right angles to one another, specifically between 89° and 91°.
The slight deviations from 90° are necessary due to the different refractive properties of the plastics or glasses which are processed. These deviations are also important for the angular correction of the different shrinking behaviors of the materials which occur in mold construction. Metals used to form the reflector include stainless steel, nickel, brass, nickel silver, copper, aluminum, silver, and gold.
The shape of reflecting surface 3 is a scalene quadrilateral. This shape arises in conjunction with an inventive wide angle structure of the reflector when the structure in the horizontal is to be wide angled to both sides. The angle of inclination of the cube corner axes relative to the axis normal to the reflector surface is +5° for one group of the cube corners, and −5° for the second cube corner group. It is possible to add further cube corners with other angles of inclination of the cube corner axes of the wide angle structure, for example with angles of inclination of 0° or approximately +/−15°.