US 8,009,282 B2Granted

Attachment angle measuring device and attachment angle measuring method

AssigneeToyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsShinji Tohyama, Yuichiro Oka, Koji Tomida

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Abstract

The present invention provides an attachment angle measuring device and an attachment angle measuring method which realize accurate measurement of attachment angle between an axle carrier and an absorber. An attachment angle measuring device measures an attachment angle θ between an axle carrier and an absorber as in the following. A slit light is projected to a first reflection position on an outer peripheral surface of an absorber rod and a reflected light from the first reflection position is received. A slit light is projected to a second reflection position on the outer peripheral surface of the absorber rod different from the first reflection position and a reflected light from the second reflection position is received. A first optical path distance between a projection start position of the slit light and the first reflection position is calculated based on the reflected light. A second optical path distance between the projection start position of the slit light and the second reflection position is calculated based on the reflected light. Based on the first optical path distance and the second optical path distance, attachment angle θ is calculated.

Claims12

Dependent claims

An attachment angle measuring device measuring an attachment angle between an axle carrier rotatably supporting a wheel and an absorber comprising an absorber main body attached to the axle carrier and an absorber rod slidably inserted into the absorber main body, comprising:

a first light projecting part projecting a light to a first reflection position on an outer peripheral surface of the absorber rod when the axle carrier is fixed at a predetermined measurement position, the absorber is attached to the axle carrier and the absorber rod does not contact any member except the axle carrier;
a first light receiving part receiving the reflected light from the first reflection position;
a second light projecting part projecting a light to a second reflection position different from the first reflection position on the outer peripheral surface of the absorber rod when the axle carrier is fixed at the predetermined measurement position, the absorber is attached to the axle carrier and the absorber rod does not contact any member except the axle carrier;
a second light receiving part receiving the reflected light from the second reflection position;
a first optical path distance calculating part calculating a first optical path distance between the first light projecting part and the first reflection position based on the reflected light received by the first light receiving part;
a second optical path distance calculating part calculating a second optical path distance between the second light projecting part and the second reflection position based on the reflected light received by the second light receiving part;
and
an attachment angle calculation part calculating the attachment angle between the axle carrier and the absorber based on the first optical path distance and the second optical path distance.

5 more elements

An attachment angle measuring method measuring an attachment angle between an axle carrier rotatably supporting a wheel and an absorber comprising an absorber main body attached to the axle carrier and an absorber rod slidably inserted into the absorber main body, comprising:

a fixing process in which the axle carrier to which the absorber is attached is fixed at a measurement position set previously;
a first light projecting and receiving process in which the absorber attached to the axle carrier fixed at the measurement position is kept not contacting anything except the axle carrier, and a light is projected to a first reflection position on an outer peripheral surface of the absorber rod of the absorber and the reflected light from the first reflection position is received;
a second light projecting and receiving process in which the absorber attached to the axle carrier fixed at the measurement position is kept not contacting anything except the axle carrier, and a light is projected to a second reflection position on an outer peripheral surface of the absorber rod of the absorber different from the first reflection position and the reflected light from the second reflection position is received;
a first optical path distance calculating process which calculates the first optical path distance between the projection start position in the first light projecting and receiving process and the first reflection position based on the reflected light received in the first light projecting and receiving process;
a second optical path distance calculating process which calculates the second optical path distance between the projection start position in the second light projecting and receiving process and the second reflection position based on the reflected light received in the second light projecting and receiving process;
and
an attachment angle calculating process in which the attachment angle between the axle carrier and the absorber is calculated based on the first optical path distance and the second optical path distance.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.