Optical 3D measuring apparatus used for measuring chamber volume of a cylinder head and chamber volume correcting method for a cylinder head of an engine

• US 5,517,311 A
• Filed: 05/24/1994
• Issued: 05/14/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Takeuchi, Akihiro, Shibata, Kazuhito, Ozeki, Osamu, Tsukada, Toshihiko, Nomura, Tetsuhiko, Yamamoto, Shin
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Hoa Q.
• Application Number:
  US08/248,215
• Time in Patent Office: 721 Days
• Field of Search: 356/372, 356/375, 356/376, 356/379, 356/380, 356/3.01, 356/3.07, 29/888.06, 29/557, 73/149, 33/1 V
• US Class Current: 356/606
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/2518 Projection by scanning of the object
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4927 Cylinder, cylinder head or engine valve sleeve making

Abstract

A 3D volume measuring apparatus using an optical measuring technique performs an accurate measurement by using a common master clock signal to move a slit beam and to perform a measuring operation using the slit beam. An optical sensor has a slit beam source which projects the slit beam onto a surface of an object. A video camera receives an image of the optical cutting line. A master clock pulse generating unit is provided for generating master clock pulses. The slit beam is scanned on the object in synchronization with the master clock pulses. Information of the image of the optical cutting line is obtained in synchronization with the master clock pulses, so that the contour of the vertical section corresponding to the optical cutting line is obtained. A chamber volume correcting method using the 3D volume measuring apparatus is provided in which method an exact cutting depth for a cylinder head can be calculated so that a chamber of the cylinder head has an exact target volume. The cutting depth is determined in accordance with the measured volume of the chamber before a finish machining is performed.

Claims

1. A chamber volume correcting method for a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, a chamber surface of said cylinder head being machined so as to adjust a volume of a chamber to a predetermined target volume at which chamber surface a chamber is open, said chamber volume correcting method comprising the steps of:

(a) projecting a slit beam onto an inner surface of said chamber of the cylinder head so as to form an optical cutting line on said inner surface of said chamber, and receiving an image of the optical cutting line by an optical sensor, the slit beam being scanned in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the slit beam;

(b) obtaining a contour of a vertical section corresponding to the optical cutting line so as to obtain a vertical section area, and calculating a volume of said chamber by means of integral calculus in accordance with each vertical section corresponding to each scanning position of the slit beam by interpolating between points of the cutting line so as to define a lid and a bottom of the contour;

(c) determining a relationship between a cutting depth from said chamber surface and a change in volume of said chamber

(d) calculating a cutting depth by which the volume of said chamber becomes the predetermined target volume in accordance with said relationship determined in step (c); and

(e) machining said chamber surface of said cylinder head by the cutting depth calculated in step (d).

2. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cylinder head is formed using a die mold, and further comprising the steps of:

(f) determining a similarity level of the contour of the vertical section measured in step (b) to a predetermined contour of said chamber; and

(g) determining a presence of a defect in said die mold when a value of said similarity level determined in step (f) is outside a predetermined range.

3. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the relationship determined in step (c) is obtained by means of interpolation performed on three points obtained by calculations using information of the contour obtained in step (b).

4. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of chambers are formed in said cylinder head, and further comprising the steps of:

(h) determining whether or not the cutting depth is present which cutting depth is to be calculated in step (d) so that volume of each of said chambers falls in a predetermined range; and

(i) removing a small volume from said chambers, when it is determined in step (h) that the cutting depth is not present, so that the cutting depth by which the volume of each of said chambers falls within the predetermined range is obtained.

5. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (a) comprises the steps of:

(a-1) projecting the slit beam onto the inner surface of said chamber from a slit beam source of an optical sensor; and

(a-2) receiving an image of the optical cutting line by a video camera provided in said optical sensor, and

wherein the step (b) comprises the steps of;

(b-1) generating master clock pulses;

(b-2) scanning the slit beam on the inner surface of said chamber in synchronization with said master clock pulses; and

(b-3) obtaining information of the image of said optical cutting line in synchronization with said master clock pulses;

(b-4) calculating the contour of the vertical section corresponding to said optical cutting line; and

(b-5) calculating a volume of said chamber by means of integral calculus.

6. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step (b-2) comprises the steps of:

(b-2-1) driving said optical sensor by means of a motor;

(b-2-2) generating positional information of the optical sensor by counting the number of said master clock pulses;

(b-2-3) obtaining a difference between the positional information generated by counting said master clock pulses generated in the step (b-1) and positional information corresponding to an angular position of said motor;

(b-2-4) obtaining a translational speed of said optical sensor by differentiating rotational speed information supplied by said motor;

(b-2-5) generating and outputting a command signal representing a rotational speed of said motor in accordance with the difference obtained in the step (b-2-3), the translational speed obtained in the step (b-2-4) and said master clock pulses generated in the step (b-1); and

(b-2-6) controlling a current to be supplied to said motor in accordance with said command signal generated in the step (b-2-5) so that said motor outputs a torque corresponding to a translational speed of said optical sensor.

7. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the step (b-3) comprises the steps of:

(b-3-1) supplying a signal for starting a projection of said slit beam when said master clock pulses are input;

(b-3-2) generating positional information of said slit beam by counting said master clock pulses generated in the step (b-1) so as to supply the information of the image of said optical cutting line together with a scanning position of said slit beam corresponding to the information of the image of said optical cutting line; and

(b-3-3) generating vertical and horizontal coordinate values of a vertical section of said chamber corresponding to said optical cutting line using the information obtained in the step (b-3-2).

8. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (a) comprises the steps of:

(a-1) projecting the slit beam onto the inner surface of said chamber from a slit beam source of an optical sensor; and

(a-2) receiving an image of the optical cutting line by a video camera provided in said optical sensor, and

wherein the step (b) comprises the steps of;

(b-1) rotating a polarization filter, which is provided between said cylinder head to be measured and said video camera of said optical sensor, about an optical axis of said video camera;

(b-2) calculating non-normal degree value which represents deviation level of distribution of optical intensity of the image of said optical cutting line from a normal form; and

(b-3) controlling rotation of said polarization filter so that non-normal degree value is minimized.

9. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step (b-2) comprises the step of:

(b-2-1) calculating the non-normal degree value as a difference value between a horizontal scanning position at which optical intensity of the image of said optical cutting line is maximum and a horizontal scanning position which is obtained by means of a weighted mean in accordance with optical intensity of the image of said optical cutting line.

10. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step (b-2) comprises the step of:

(b-2-1) storing in a memory an angle of said polarization filter and non-normal degree value corresponding to said angle.

11. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the step (b-3) comprises the step of:

(b-2-2) reading said angle stored in said memory at which angle said non-normal degree value is minimal.

12. The chamber volume correcting method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom of the chamber is determined by detecting contact points in the contour corresponding to valve holes in the chamber.