METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING SURFACE PROFILE INFORMATION

• Main Authors: THOMAS, BRADLEY S, PENNEY, CARL M, ROY, ROBERT N
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; Korean
• Published: 07.06.1995
• Edition: 6
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS; MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEARDIMENSIONS; OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS, OR APPARATUS; OPTICS; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING

A flying spot system uses a laser beam scanned in X and Y directions to provide surface profile information. The beam is applied to a surface under test and the time interval between the beginning of the sweep and the appearace of the beam image through an aperture is determined. This time interval is indicative of the beam angle which, through optical triangulation, is used to determine the surface height. A scan-descan arrangement and a plate with a small aperture are used to isolate a light detector from background light.