Spherically mounted retroreflector having an embedded temperature sensor and socket

• US 9,329,028 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2013
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Faro Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Faro Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Bridges, Robert E., Steffey, Kenneth
• Primary Examiner(s): Geisel, Kara E
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHILLIPS, RUFUS L
• Application Number:
  US14/102,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20140098382A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/002 for measuring two or more coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/14 for measuring distance or clearance between spaced objects or spaced apertures G01B11/26 takes precedence; rangefinders G01C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 5/0014 due to temperature on machine tools B23Q11/0003
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/002 Active optical surveying means optical plumbing G01C15/105
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/06 Surveyors' staffs; Movable markers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/66 Tracking systems using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/003 Transmission of data between radar, sonar or lidar systems and remote stations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/497 Means for monitoring or calibrating

Abstract

A spherically mounted retroreflector (SMR) having an embedded temperature sensor and a socket for attaching to an electrical connector.

Claims

1. A probing system comprising a spherically mounted retroreflector (SMR), the SMR including a body, a retroreflector, and a temperature sensor, the body having a spherical exterior portion that has a sphere center, the body containing a cavity, the cavity sized to hold the retroreflector, the cavity open to a region outside the body, the retroreflector at least partially disposed in the cavity, the retroreflector having a set of three mutually perpendicular planar reflectors that intersect in a first set of three lines and in a common vertex point, there being a first distance between the vertex point and the sphere center, the temperature sensor embedded in the body of the SMR and in thermal contact with the SMR, the SMR further including a socket rigidly affixed to the body, the socket in electrical contact with the temperature sensor, the socket configured to accept a first electrical connector, the socket accessible to the first electrical connector from an outside surface of the SMR, the first electrical connector attached to a first end of an electrical cable.

2. The probing system of claim 1 further comprising a first electrical circuit, the first electrical circuit configured to be attached to a second end of the electrical cable, the first electrical circuit configured to provide electrical power to the temperature sensor, the temperature sensor being at a first temperature, the first electrical circuit configured to receive a first electrical signal from the temperature sensor and to provide a second electrical signal in response, the second electrical signal being responsive to the first temperature.

3. The probing system of claim 2 wherein the first electrical circuit is configured to provide the second electrical signal to a device, the device configured to measure three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of the vertex point and to determine 3D coordinates of the sphere center based at least in part on the second electrical signal and the 3D coordinates of the vertex point.

4. The probing system of claim 3 wherein the first electrical circuit is configured to provide the second electrical signal to the device as a wireless signal.

5. The probing system of claim 4 wherein the first electrical circuit includes an antenna, the antenna configured to transmit the wireless signal to the device.

6. The probing system of claim 5 wherein the first electrical circuit further includes a battery.

7. The probing system of claim 6 wherein the first electrical circuit includes an enclosure.

8. The probing system of claim 6 further including a glove configured to fit over a hand of an operator.

9. The probing system of claim 6 further including a strap or band configured to hold the probing system against a wrist of an operator.

10. The probing system of claim 3 wherein the SMR further includes an information storage element, the information storage element selected from the group consisting of a one-dimensional barcode, a two-dimensional barcode, and an radio-frequency identification tag, wherein the information storage element includes at least one temperature-related SMR parameter.

11. The probing system of claim 10 wherein the at least one temperature-related SMR parameter is a change in the first distance per unit change in the first temperature.

12. The probing system of claim 1, wherein:

the socket is disposed on or in the body of the SMR.