Metrological instrument
First Claim
1. A metrological instrument for determining a surface profile of a surface of a component, the instrument comprising:
- a component support to support the component;
a mover to effect relative movement between a measurement probe and the component support so that the measurement probe follows changes in the surface of the component in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the relative movement;
a measurer to provide measurement data indicating a displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows the changes in the surface of the component;
an orientation controller to control an orientation of the component;
a measurement controller to control the mover to causethe measurement probe to follow a reference measurement path along the surface with the component in a first orientation so that the measurer obtains reference data,the measurement probe to follow a first section of a measurement path along the surface with the component in a second orientation so that the measurer obtains first measurement data, andthe measurement probe to follow a second section of the measurement path along the surface with the component in a third orientation so that the measurer obtains second measurement data; and
a processor to process the measurement data, the processor being operable;
to define a datum using the reference data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the reference measurement path with the component in the first orientation,to align the first measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the first section of the measurement path with the component in the second orientation to the datum to produce aligned first measurement data,to align the second measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the second section of the measurement path with the component in the third orientation to the datum to produce aligned second measurement data, and thento use the aligned first and second measurement data to generate the surface profile of the surface of the component.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A metrological instrument determines a surface profile or form of a surface (61) of a workpiece (60) by effecting relative movement between a probe (11, 12) and the surface (61) so that the probe follows and is displaced by changes in the surface topography. A measure of the displacement of the probe as it follows the surface is obtained by a displacement provider which may be an interferometric gauge (35). Instead of making a measurement along a single measurement path over the surface (61), respective measurements are made on sections (61d and 61e or 61g and 61h) of that measurement path to obtain corresponding measurement data sets and these measurement data sets are independently positioned or aligned to a reference data set. The reference data set may be obtained by a measurement made on another section (61c) of the measurement path (61), on another measurement path (61f) over another surface (62a and 62b) of the component or on another measurement path over a surface on which the component is located. The aligned measurement data sets are then merged together to form a profile of the surface.
20 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A metrological instrument for determining a surface profile of a surface of a component, the instrument comprising:
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a component support to support the component; a mover to effect relative movement between a measurement probe and the component support so that the measurement probe follows changes in the surface of the component in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the relative movement; a measurer to provide measurement data indicating a displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows the changes in the surface of the component; an orientation controller to control an orientation of the component;
a measurement controller to control the mover to causethe measurement probe to follow a reference measurement path along the surface with the component in a first orientation so that the measurer obtains reference data, the measurement probe to follow a first section of a measurement path along the surface with the component in a second orientation so that the measurer obtains first measurement data, and the measurement probe to follow a second section of the measurement path along the surface with the component in a third orientation so that the measurer obtains second measurement data; and a processor to process the measurement data, the processor being operable; to define a datum using the reference data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the reference measurement path with the component in the first orientation, to align the first measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the first section of the measurement path with the component in the second orientation to the datum to produce aligned first measurement data, to align the second measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the second section of the measurement path with the component in the third orientation to the datum to produce aligned second measurement data, and then to use the aligned first and second measurement data to generate the surface profile of the surface of the component. - 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, 41, 43, 44)
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40. A method of determining a surface profile of a surface of a component, the method comprising:
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effecting relative movement between a measurement probe and a component support to cause the measurement probe to follow a reference measurement path along the surface of the component with the component in a first orientation to obtain reference data indicating a displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows the changes in the reference path, to cause the measurement probe to follow a first section of a measurement path along a surface of the component with the component in a second orientation to obtain first measurement data indicating the displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows changes in the first section of the measurement path, and to cause the measurement probe to follow a second section of the measurement path along the surface of the component with the component in a third orientation to obtain second measurement data indicating the displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows changes in the second section of the measurement path; defining a datum using the reference data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the reference measurement path with the component in the first orientation; aligning the first measurement data to the datum to produce aligned first measurement data, the first measurement data being obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the first section of the measurement path with the component in the second orientation; aligning the second measurement data to the datum to produce aligned second measurement data, the second measurement data being obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the second section of the measurement path with the component in the third orientation; and
using the aligned first and second measurement data to generate the surface profile of the surface of the component. - View Dependent Claims (42)
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45. A metrological instrument for determining a surface profile of a surface of a component, the instrument comprising:
- component support means for supporting the component;
moving means for effecting relative movement between measurement probe means and the component support means so that the measurement probe means follows changes in the surface of the component in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the relative movement;
measuring means for providing measurement data indicating the displacement of the measurement probe means as the measurement probe means follows changes in the surface;
orientation control means for controlling orientation of the component;
measurement controlling means for controlling the moving means to causethe measurement probe means to follow a reference measurement path along the surface with the component in a first orientation so that the measuring means obtains reference data, the measurement probe means to follow a first section of a measurement path along the surface with the component in a second orientation so that the measuring means obtains first measurement data, and the measurement probe means to follow a second section of the measurement path along the surface with the component in a third orientation so that the measuring means obtains second measurement data; and processing means for processing the measurement data, the processing means being operable to define a datum using the reference data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the reference measurement path with the component in the first orientation, to align the first measurement data to the datum to produce aligned first measurement data, the first measurement data being obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the first section of the measurement path with the component in the second orientation; to align the second measurement data to the datum to produce aligned second measurement data, the second measurement data being obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the second section of the measurement path with the component in the third orientation, and then to use the aligned first and second measurement data to generate the surface profile of the surface of the component.
- component support means for supporting the component;
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46. A metrological instrument for determining a surface profile of a surface of a component, the instrument comprising:
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a component support to support the component; a mover to effect relative movement between a measurement probe and the component support so that the measurement probe follows changes in the surface of the component in a direction perpendicular to the relative movement direction; a measurer to provide measurement data indicating a displacement of the measurement probe as the measurement probe follows the changes in the surface of the component; a measurement controller to control the mover to cause the measurement probe to follow a reference measurement path along the surface of the component with the component in a first orientation relative to the measurement probe so that the measurer obtains reference data, the measurement probe to follow a first section of a measurement path along the surface of the component with the component in a second orientation relative to the measurement probe so that the measurer obtains first measurement data, and the measurement probe to follow a second section of the measurement path along the surface of the component with the component in a third orientation relative to the measurement probe so that the measurer obtains second measurement data; and a processor to process the measurement data, the processor being operable; to define a datum using the reference data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the reference measurement path with the component in the first orientation, to align the first measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the first section of the measurement path with the component in the second orientation to the datum to produce aligned first measurement data, to align the second measurement data obtained by the measurer when the measurement probe follows the second section of the measurement path with the component in the third orientation to the datum to produce aligned second measurement data, and then to use the aligned first and second measurement data to generate the surface profile of the surface of the component.
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Specification