Measuring method and measuring device

• US 9,704,237 B2
• Filed: 10/10/2013
• Issued: 07/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Original Assignee: Kobe Steel Limited
• Inventors: Takahashi, Eiji, Araki, Kaname
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLOOM, NATHAN J
• Application Number:
  US14/433,794
• Publication Number:
  US 20150254829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 13/00 Tyre sidewalls; Protecting, decorating, marking, or the like, thereof B60C17/08 takes precedence; tyre shoulders B60C11/01; removable tyre sidewall trim rings B60B7/01
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/24 for measuring contours or curvatures
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 11/2408 for measuring roundness
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/027 using light, e.g. infrared, ultraviolet or holographic techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10004 Still image; Photographic image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30108 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/001 using an image reference approach
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods

Abstract

A measuring unit (301) acquires measurement data for a plurality of lines by repeatedly executing, on a reference tire, a measurement process to acquire measurement data for one line. A first acquisition unit (311) generates height data for one line for each of the plurality of sets of measurement data measured by the measuring unit (301), arranges the generated plurality of values of one-dimensional height data into a matrix form, generates two-dimensional height data for the measured face, and generates reference shape data. A second acquisition unit (314) acquires object one-dimensional height data from one-line shape data measured by the measuring unit (301) for the object tire. The measuring method and measuring device are characterized in that a removal unit (315) compares the object one-dimensional height data and the one-dimensional height data of the reference shape data at the same position in the sub-scan direction for the object one-dimensional height data, and removes, from the object one-dimensional height data, the height component of the projection.

Claims

1. A measuring method for measuring a surface form of a measurement surface, the measurement surface being a tread surface or a sidewall surface of a tire having a projection formed thereon, the method comprising:

a first measuring step of performing a measurement process a plurality of times while shifting a spotlight emitted from a spot light source in a sub-scanning direction on a reference tire, and acquiring a plurality of pieces of measurement data, the measurement process including illuminating the measurement surface with the spotlight, scanning the measurement surface in a main-scanning direction with the spotlight, receiving reflected light, and acquiring measurement data for one line;

a first acquisition step of generating pieces of one-dimensional height data respectively from the plurality of pieces of measurement data, arranging the plurality of generated pieces of one-dimensional height data in a matrix, and generating two-dimensional height data of the measurement surface;

a step of generating reference form data of the reference tire by;

extracting a boundary of the projection from the two-dimensional height data using an edge detection filter;

extracting a region surrounded by the extracted boundary as the projection; and

associating a position of the extracted projection with the two-dimensional height data;

a second measuring step of performing the measurement process on the measurement surface of a target tire, which is a measurement object, and acquiring the measurement data for one line;

a second acquisition step of generating one-dimensional height data using the measurement data acquired in the second measuring step; and

a removal step of comparing target one-dimensional height data, which is the one-dimensional height data acquired in the second acquisition step, with one-dimensional height data in the reference form data, a corresponding position of which in the sub-scanning direction is the same as the target one-dimensional height data, and removing a height component of the projection from the target one-dimensional height data, wherein

in the step of generating the reference form data, an average or a median of height data at each position in a background region other than the projection is calculated as a reference value of the background region from height data at each position of the two-dimensional height data, a height component at each position in the projection is generated by subtracting the reference value from height data at each position in the projection, and the generated height component is associated with the two-dimensional height data, and

in the removal step, a region of the projection in the target one-dimensional height data is identified using one-dimensional height data in the reference form data, a corresponding position of which in the sub-scanning direction is the same as the target one-dimensional height data, and the height component is subtracted from the height data at each position in the identified region of the projection to thereby exclude the projection from the target one-dimensional height data.

2. The measuring method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a run-out calculation step of calculating a difference between a maximum value and a minimum value of the target one-dimensional height data from which the height component has been removed in the removal step, as a run-out value of the target tire.

3. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein

the edge detection filter is a Sobel filter.

4. The measuring method according to claim 1, wherein

in a case where the measurement surface is the tread surface, the main-scanning direction is a circumferential direction of a tire, and the sub-scanning direction is a width direction of the tire, and

in a case where the measurement surface is the sidewall surface, the main-scanning direction is a direction concentric with a rotation axis of the tire, and the sub-scanning direction is a radial direction of the tire.

5. A measuring device that measures a surface form of a measurement surface, the measurement surface being a tread surface or a sidewall surface of a tire having a projection formed thereon, the measuring device comprising:

a measuring unit that performs a measurement process a plurality of times while shifting a spotlight emitted from a light source in a sub-scanning direction on a reference tire, and acquires a plurality of pieces of measurement data, the measurement process including illuminating the measurement surface with the spotlight, scanning the measurement surface in a main-scanning direction with the spotlight, receiving reflected light, and acquiring measurement data for one line; and

a processor, wherein

the measuring unit includes;

a rotating unit that rotates the tire about a center axis of the tire;

a spot light source that emits the spot light to illuminate the measurement surface of the rotated tire, thereby allowing the measurement surface to be scanned in a main-scanning direction with the spotlight; and

a camera that receives reflected light from the measurement surface, performs the measurement process the plurality of times while shifting the spotlight in the sub-scanning direction, and acquires the plurality of pieces of measurement data, the processor includes;

a first acquisition unit that generates pieces of one-dimensional height data respectively from the plurality of pieces of measurement data, arranges the plurality of generated pieces of one-dimensional height data, and acquires two-dimensional height data of the measurement surface; and

a generation unit that extracts a boundary of the projection from the two-dimensional height data using an edge detection filter, extracts a region surrounded by the extracted boundary as the projection, associates a position of the extracted projection with the two-dimensional height data, and generates reference form data,

the generation unit calculates an average or a median of height data at each position in a background region other than the projection as a reference value of the background region from height data at each position of the two-dimensional height data, generates a height component at each position in the projection by subtracting the reference value from height data at each position in the projection, and associates the generated height component with the two-dimensional height data,

the measuring unit performs the measurement process on the measurement surface of a target tire, which is a measurement object, and acquires the measurement data for one line,

the processor further including;

a second acquisition unit that generates one-dimensional height data using the measurement data acquired in the measuring unit; and

a removal unit that compares target one-dimensional height data, which is the one-dimensional height data acquired in the second acquisition unit, with one-dimensional height data in the reference form data, a corresponding position of which in the sub-scanning direction is the same as the target one-dimensional height data, and removes a height component of the projection from the target one-dimensional height data, wherein

the removal unit identifies a region of the projection in the target one-dimensional height data using one-dimensional height data in the reference form data, a corresponding position of which in the sub-scanning direction is the same as the target one-dimensional height data, and subtracts the height component from the height data at each position in the identified region of the projection to thereby exclude the projection from the target one-dimensional height data.