Portable coordinate measurement machine
First Claim
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1. 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 joints, at least one of said joints including at least one bearing/transducer cartridge;
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 said cartridge further 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 discrete component, said housing having a pair of ends with an outer surface therebetween, said outer surface defining a structural element of said at least one joint; and
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.
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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.
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Citations
79 Claims
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1. A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume, comprising:
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a manually positionable articulated arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of joints, at least one of said joints including at least one bearing/transducer cartridge;
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 said cartridge further 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 discrete component, said housing having a pair of ends with an outer surface therebetween, said outer surface defining a structural element of said at least one joint; and
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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A bearing/transducer cartridge, comprising:
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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 discrete component, said housing having a pair of ends with an outer surface therebetween, said outer surface defining a structural element of said at least one joint; and
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. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume, comprising:
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a manually positionable articulated arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of jointed arm segments, each arm segment including at least one position transducer for producing a position signal;
a measurement probe attached to a first end of said articulated arm;
a base attached to a second end of said articulated arm;
said arm being progressively tapered from said base to said probe with said arm having the largest diameter at said base and the smallest diameter at said probe; and
an electronic circuit which receives the position signals from the transducers and provides a digital coordinate corresponding to the position of the probe in a selected volume. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75)
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76. A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume, comprising:
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a manually positionable articulated arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of jointed arm segments, each arm segment including at least one position transducer for producing a position signal;
a measurement probe attached to a first end of said articulated arm;
said jointed arm segments including threaded ends and wherein said jointed arm segments are threadably interconnected to each other; and
an electronic circuit which receives the position signals from the transducers and provides a digital coordinate corresponding to the position of the probe in a selected volume. - View Dependent Claims (77)
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78. A portable coordinate measurement machine (CMM) for measuring the position of an object in a selected volume, comprising:
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a manually positionable articulated arm having opposed first and second ends, said arm including a plurality of jointed arm segments, each arm segment including at least one position transducer for producing a position signal;
a measurement probe attached to a first end of said articulated arm;
said jointed arm segments including complimentary male and female tapered ends and wherein said jointed arm segments are interconnected to each other using said tapered ends; and
an electronic circuit which receives the position signals from the transducers and provides a digital coordinate corresponding to the position of the probe in a selected volume. - View Dependent Claims (79)
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Specification