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US 9,541,376 B2Granted
Chromatic confocal sensor and measurement method
AssigneeMitutoyo Corporation
InventorKoji Kubo
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AssigneeMitutoyo Corporation
InventorKoji Kubo
Estimating the term…
Provided is a chromatic confocal sensor including: a light source section that emits a plurality of light beams having different wavelengths; an optical head that includes an objective lens that converges the plurality of light beams at different focal positions and selects, as measurement light, light reflected by an object to be measured at the focal position out of the plurality of light beams; a spectroscope including diffraction gratings that split the selected measurement light into a plurality of diffracted light beams and a sensor that receives two or more of the plurality of diffracted light beams; and a signal processing/control section that calculates a position of the object to be measured based on a difference between light reception positions of the two or more diffracted light beams received by the sensor.
A chromatic confocal sensor, comprising:
A measurement method, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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For measuring length, width or thickness: by measuring distance between sensor and object
Optical details of the image generation: multi-spectral or wavelength-selective arrangements, e.g. wavelength fan-out, chromatic profiling
Aspects not specifically covered by any group under G01B, e.g. of wheel alignment, caliper-like sensors: using chromatic effects to achieve…
Measuring length, thickness or similar linear dimensions
About 9 years 4 months of term left · ends 26 Feb 2036 (estimated)
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2015-039996 filed Mar. 2, 2015 and Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2016-035124 filed Feb. 26, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a chromatic confocal sensor and a measurement method that uses it.
From the past, the chromatic confocal technique has been used for measuring a height of an object to be measured and the like. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2011-39026 (hereinafter, referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a chromatic confocal displacement meter (hereinafter, referred to as chromatic sensor) as shown in FIG. 1. In the chromatic sensor, a color to be focused on a work changes on a one-on-one basis according to a height (displacement) of the work. By extracting light of a color to be focused on the work and specifying the color (optical wavelength), the height of the work that is in a one-on-one relationship with the color is measured (paragraphs [0002], [0003], etc. in specification of Patent Document 1).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structural example of a chromatic confocal sensor according to a first embodiment;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged diagram of an optical head shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged diagram of a spectroscope shown in FIG. 1;
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structural example of a chromatic confocal sensor according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the descriptions below, the chromatic confocal sensor will simply be referred to as chromatic sensor.