Method and system for measuring height or relatively axial position

• US 7,148,958 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Issued: 12/12/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Ohmori, Makoto, Ohtomo, Fumio, Hayashi, Kunihiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALSOMIRI, ISAM A
• Application Number:
  US10/963,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20050099617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 791 Days
• Field of Search: 356/4.01, 356/5.01, 356/138, 356/139.1, 3561412-1414, 356/3.1, 356/3.12, 356/622, 356/623
• US Class Current: 356/141.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/004 Reference lines, planes or sectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/12 using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves

Abstract

A pair of rotary laser devices are vertically arranged while aligning their respective axes into a single axis and keeping said rotary laser devices away from each other in an axial direction thereof by a predetermined interval, and a light-receiving sensor is kept radially away from the single axis. A plurality of fan-shaped laser beams are emitted from each of the rotary laser devices, while rotating the laser beams. The laser beams include at least one fan-shaped laser beam in a plane inclined to a plane containing said single axis. The laser beams are received and detected with the light-receiving sensor. Inclinations of the rotary laser devices are determined relative to the light-receiving sensor, respectively, based on time intervals of said detection of the laser beams, and the position of the sensor are determined relative to said pair of the rotary laser devices in the axial direction.

Claims

1. A method for measuring a height or a relative position in an axial direction, said method comprising the steps of:

vertically arranging a pair of rotary laser devices, aligning respective axes of said pair of rotary laser devices into a single axis and keeping said rotary laser devices away from each other in an axial direction thereof by a predetermined interval;

arranging a light-receiving sensor, keeping said sensor radially away from said single axis;

emitting a plurality of fan-shaped laser beams from each of the rotary laser devices while rotating said laser beams, said laser beams comprising at least one fan-shaped laser beam inclined to a plane containing said single axis;

receiving and detecting the laser beams with the light-receiving sensor;

determining inclinations of the rotary laser devices relative to the light-receiving sensor, respectively, based on time intervals of said detection of the laser beams; and

detecting the position of the sensor relative to said pair of rotary laser devices in the axial direction.

2. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 1, wherein said plurality of fan-shaped laser beams are emitted from a light-emitting section of each of the rotary laser devices while said rotation of said pair of rotary laser devices around said single axis is so performed that said plurality of laser beams from each of the rotary laser devices scan a predetermined angular range around said single axis, said plurality of laser beams from each of the rotary laser devices are received and detected by a light-receiving section of the light-receiving sensor with time lags, intersecting angles between a horizontal reference plane and lines connecting the respective light-emitting sections to the light-receiving section are determined based on the detection time intervals with respect to the respective light-emitting sections, and a height of the light-receiving section from a ground level above which the rotary laser devices are arranged is determined based on said intersecting angles and information of heights of the respective rotary laser devices from the ground level.

3. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 2, wherein said light-receiving sensor is arranged on a support pole installed on a ground, and a level difference between said ground level and the ground on which is installed the support pole is calculated based on additional information of known height of said light-receiving section from the ground and information of determined height of the light-receiving-section from the ground above which the rotary laser devices are placed.

4. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 3, wherein said support pole is provided with an inclination detector adapted to detect an inclination of the support pole to a perpendicular line within a plane containing the support pole and the rotary laser devices, and said height or said level difference from said ground level above which the rotary laser devices are placed is corrected based on an inclination detection signal from the inclination detector.

5. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 1, wherein a polarized direction of the laser beams from one of the rotary laser devices is different from a polarized direction of the laser beams from the other, to discriminate the laser beams of one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

6. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 1, wherein the laser beams from at least one of the rotary laser devices are modulated to discriminate the laser beams of one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

7. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 1, wherein wavelength of the laser beams from one of the rotary laser devices is different from wavelength of the laser beams from the other, to discriminate the laser beams of one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

8. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 1, wherein a GPS (Global Positioning System) to detect an absolute position of the light-receiving sensor is mounted on the light-receiving sensor, and the absolute position determined by the GPS is displayed.

9. A system for measuring a height or position in an axial direction, said system comprising

a pair of rotary laser devices vertically arranged with respective axes of said pair of rotary laser devices being aligned into a single axis and said rotary laser devices being kept away from each other in an axial direction thereof by a predetermined interval;

and

a light-receiving sensor arranged so that said sensor is kept radially away from said single axis, wherein

a plurality of fan-shaped laser beams are emitted from each of the rotary laser devices while said pair of the rotary laser devices are rotated around said single axis,

said plurality of laser beams comprise at least one fan-shaped laser beam in a plane inclined to a plane containing said single axis,

the light-receiving section receives and detects said laser beams,

inclinations of the rotary laser devices are detected relative to the light-receiving sensor, respectively, based on time intervals of said detection of the laser beams, and

the position of the sensor is detected relative to said pair of rotary laser devices in the axial direction.

10. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 9, wherein based on the detection of the inclinations of the rotary laser devices, distances of the light-receiving sensor from the rotary laser devices, as well as the relative position of the light-receiving sensor in the axial direction to said pair of rotary laser devices, is calculated.

11. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 10, wherein a polarized direction of the laser beams from one of the rotary laser devices is different from a polarized direction of the laser beams from the other, to discriminate the laser beams of one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

12. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 10, wherein the laser beams from at least one of the rotary laser devices are modulated to discriminate said laser beams from one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

13. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 10, wherein wavelength of the laser beams from one of the rotary laser devices is different from wavelength of the laser beams from the other to discriminate the laser beams of one of the rotary laser devices from the laser beams of the other.

14. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 9, wherein

each of the rotary laser devices comprises a light-emitting section to emit said plurality of fan-shaped laser beams while said rotation of said pair of rotary laser devices around said single axis is so performed that said plurality of laser beams from each of the rotary laser devices scan a predetermined angular range around said single axis,

the light-receiving sensor comprises a light-receiving section to receive and detect said plurality of laser beams from each of the rotary laser devices with time lags,

the height-measuring system further comprises an arithmetic unit,

respective heights of the light-emitting sections from a ground level above which the rotary laser devices are installed are different from each other,

the laser beams from one light-emitting section are discriminative from the laser beams from the other light-emitting section,

the light-receiving sensor determines intersecting angles between a horizontal reference plane and lines connecting the respective light-emitting sections to the light-receiving section based on detection information of the respectively discriminative laser beams emitted from the respective rotary laser devices, and

the arithmetic unit determines the heights of the light-receiving sections from the ground level based on information of said intersecting angles and respectively known heights of the light-receiving sections.

15. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 14, which further comprises a setter for setting a desired height for said light-receiving sensor, and a display unit for making a display when the determined height of the light-receiving sensor from said ground level is in conformity with said desired value.

16. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 14, which comprises a support pole on which said light-receiving sensor is placed and which is installed on a ground, and wherein said arithmetic unit calculates a difference in level between the ground level on which the rotary laser devices are installed and the ground on which the pole is placed, based on information of known height of the light-receiving section from the ground level on which the pole is installed and the determined height of the light-receiving section from the ground level above which the rotary laser devices are installed.

17. The height-measuring method set forth in claim 16, wherein said support pole is provided with an inclination detector adapted to detect an inclination of the support pole to a perpendicular line within a plane containing the support pole and the rotary laser devices, and the arithmetic unit corrects said height of the light-receiving section from the ground level above which the rotary laser devices are installed or said level difference is based on an inclination detection signal from the inclination detector.

18. The height-measuring system set forth in claim 14, wherein said light-receiving sensor comprises a GPS (Global Positioning System) for detecting an absolute position of the light-receiving sensor, and the display unit displays the absolute position obtained by the GPS.