Position sensor
First Claim
1. A radiant e ne rgy angle sensor comprising an evacuated radiant energy chamber within a housing, a pair of linear araay of detectors in said chamber and mounted at one end of the housing with said arrays positioned normal to each other to provide X and Y channels, a pair of slits at the opposite end of the housing, each of said slits positioned perpendicular to an associated one of the linear arrays, and electrical circuit means connected to the detectors and having separate X and Y axis outputs, said X and Y axis outputs being representative of the angle at which radiation strikes the sensor as measured by the passing of radiation through the slits and determination of the position at which the line of radiation passing through one of the slits crosses the associated array, there being a lens-free radiation path from outside said housing to said arrays.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A radiant energy angle sensor is provided wherein the sensitive portion thereof comprises a pair of linear array detectors with each detector mounted normal to the other to provide X and Y channels and a pair of slits spaced from the pair of linear arrays with each of the slits positioned normal to its associated linear array. There is also provided electrical circuit means connected to the pair of linear array detectors and to separate X and Y axes outputs.
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Citations
11 Claims
- 1. A radiant e ne rgy angle sensor comprising an evacuated radiant energy chamber within a housing, a pair of linear araay of detectors in said chamber and mounted at one end of the housing with said arrays positioned normal to each other to provide X and Y channels, a pair of slits at the opposite end of the housing, each of said slits positioned perpendicular to an associated one of the linear arrays, and electrical circuit means connected to the detectors and having separate X and Y axis outputs, said X and Y axis outputs being representative of the angle at which radiation strikes the sensor as measured by the passing of radiation through the slits and determination of the position at which the line of radiation passing through one of the slits crosses the associated array, there being a lens-free radiation path from outside said housing to said arrays.
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9. A radiant energy angle sensor comprising an evacuated radiant energy chamber within a housing, a pair of linear array detectors, mounted at one end of the housing with said arrays positioned normal to each other to provide X and Y channels, a pair of slits positioned perpendicular to an associated one of the linear arrays, and electrical circuit means connected to each of the detectors and having separate X and Y axis outputs, said circuit means includes a pair of peak hold detectors with one of said peak hold detectors corresponding to the X axis output and the other corresponding to the Y axis output, voltage divider means connected to the peak hold detectors with the output of the voltage dividers supplied as voltage references for threshold detectors, there being one for each of the Y and X axis outputs, each peak hold detector storing a peak corresponding to an associated array, said X and Y axis outputs being representative of the angle at which radiation strikes the sensor as measured by the passing of radiation through the slits and determination of the position at which the line of radiation passing through one of the slits crosses the associated array, there being a lens-free radiation path from outside said housing to said array.
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10. A method of determining the angle of a source of radiant energy from a preselected point including the steps directing the radiant energy through a pair of slits positioned normal to each other onto a pair of linear array detectors also mounted normal to each other and normal to the corresponding slit, each array having pixels providing a voltage level responsive to the radiant energy;
- and recording the voltage levels for all pixels of the linear arrays that exceed the noise voltage of each pixel with pre-recorded correction factors and computing the center of the source of radiant energy from the voltage levels and pixel positions in the pair of linear arrays and wherein there is a lens-free radiation path from the source to each array.
- View Dependent Claims (11)
Specification