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US 6,935,036 B2Granted
Portable coordinate measurement machine
AssigneeFaro Technologies, Inc.
InventorsSimon Raab, Seyed Ali Sajedi, Kenneth J. Hasloecher, Marc Barber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable coordinate measurement machine comprises an articulated arm having jointed arm segments. The arm includes modular bearing/encoder cartridges which are attached to each other at predetermined angles using dual socket joints. Each cartridge contains at least one, and preferably two preloaded bearing assemblies and an encoder, preferably optical encoder, all assembled in a cylindrical housing.
Claims95
A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume, comprising:
- a manually positionable articulated arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of rotary joints;
- a measurement probe attached to a first end of said articulated arm;
- an electronic circuit which receives the position signals from transducers in said arm and provides a digital coordinate corresponding to the position of the probe in a selected volume;
- and
- wherein at least one of said rotary joints comprises;
- a rotatable shaft;
- at least one bearing on said shaft;
- a periodic pattern of a measurable characteristic;
- at least one read head spaced from and in communication with said pattern;
- a housing surrounding said at least one bearing, pattern, read head and at least a portion of said shaft so as to define a singular component;
- said pattern and said read head being associated with said shaft and housing such that said pattern and read head are rotatable with respect to each other;
- and
- wherein said singular component includes the functionality of measuring rotation, supporting rotation and transferring rotation.
10 more elements
A bearing/transducer cartridge, comprising:
- a rotatable shaft;
- at least one bearing on said shaft;
- a periodic pattern of a measurable characteristic;
- at least one read head spaced from and in communication with said pattern;
- a housing surrounding said at least one bearing, pattern, read head and at least a portion of said shaft so as to define a singular component;
- said pattern and said read head being associated with said shaft and housing such that said pattern and read head are rotatable with respect to each other;
- and
- wherein said singular component includes the functionality of measuring rotation, supporting rotation and transferring rotation.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.