Full-Range Static Method of Calibration for Laser Tracker

• Published in: Electronics (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 22; p. 4709
• Main Authors: Hu, Chang’an, Lv, Fei, Xue, Liang, Li, Jiangang, Zhong, Xiaoyin, Xu, Yue
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2023
• Subjects: Accuracy; Calibration; Data analysis; Error analysis; Indication; Interferometers; Lasers; Measuring instruments; Methods; Sensors; Software; China
• ISSN: 2079-9292; 2079-9292
• DOI: 10.3390/electronics12224709

This paper focuses on the challenge of the inability to accurately calibrate the static measurement of a laser tracker across the full scale. To address this issue, this paper proposes to add a hollow corner cube prism on a 50 m high-precision composite guide rail to achieve a double-range measurement of the laser tracker. Data analysis indicated that, in the 77 m identical-directional double-range measurement experiment, the maximum indication error of a single-beam laser interferometer was −29.5 μm, and that of a triple-beam laser interferometer was 14.6 μm, and the measurement indication error was obviously small when the Abbe error was eliminated. The single-point repeatability of the tracker was 0.9 μm. In the 50 m identical-directional verification experiment, the results of the direct measurement outperformed those of the double-range measurement, and the indication errors under standard conditions were −4.0 μm and −8.9 μm, respectively. Overall, the method used in the experiment satisfies the requirements of the laser tracker. In terms of the identical-directional measurement, the measurement uncertainty of the tracker indication error is U ≈ 1.0 μm + 0.2L (k = 2) L = (0~77 m). The proposed method also provides insights for length measurements using other high-precision measuring instruments.