Tilt detecting system and tilt detecting method

• US 9,733,082 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2015
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
• Inventors: Kumagai, Kaoru, Ohtomo, Fumio
• Primary Examiner(s): Bennett, G. Bradley
• Application Number:
  US14/923,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20160131479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 658 Days
• Field of Search: 33282, 33283, 33284, 33290, 33292, 33293, 33294
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/002 Active optical surveying means optical plumbing G01C15/105
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 15/06 Surveyors' staffs; Movable markers

Abstract

The invention provides a tilt detecting system comprising, a surveying instrument having a distance measuring function and a line laser projecting unit installed as horizontally rotatable for projecting a vertical line laser, and a photodetection device having at least two photodetection units provided at a known interval, a target with a retro-reflectivity and an arithmetic unit, wherein the line laser projecting unit is rotated, each of the photodetection units are made to scan the line laser and the arithmetic unit detects a tilting angle of the photodetection device based on a deviation between a photodetection time moment of each photodetection unit and the distance measurement result of the target of the surveying instrument.

Claims

1. A tilt detecting system comprising, a surveying instrument having a distance measuring function and a line laser projecting unit installed as horizontally rotatable for projecting a vertical line laser, and a photodetection device having at least two photodetection units provided at a known interval, a target with a retro-reflectivity and an arithmetic unit, wherein said line laser projecting unit is rotated, each of said photodetection units are made to scan said line laser and said arithmetic unit detects a tilting angle of said photodetection device based on a deviation between a photodetection time moment of each photodetection unit and the distance measurement result of said target of said surveying instrument.

2. A tilt detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said line laser projecting unit is moved reciprocally and said line laser is received at least twice by each photodetection unit.

3. A tilt detecting system according to claim 1 further comprising a diffraction grating provided on said line laser projecting unit, wherein said line laser is divided at a predetermined angular interval.

4. A tilt detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said photodetection unit is a polyhedron sensor having photodetection sensors installed at a predetermined angular pitch in a circumferential direction and said target is an omnidirectional prism.

5. A tilt detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said surveying instrument further has a tracking function, said surveying instrument projects a tracking light and tracks said photodetection device based on the tracking light reflected by said target.

6. A tilt detecting system according to claim 5, wherein said photodetection device further comprises a pole for supporting said photodetection device and a two-dimensional directional sensor for receiving the tracking light of said surveying instrument and detects an inclining angle in an approaching and separating direction with respect to said surveying instrument and a rotation angle around a centerline of said pole as a center.

7. A tilt detecting system according to claim 5, wherein said photodetection device is provided on a flying object, said surveying instrument has a tracking function, said surveying instrument measures a position of said flying object, and corrects the position of said flying object based on a tilting angle of said photodetection device.

8. A tilt detecting system according to claim 1, wherein said photodetection device has at least three photodetection units and wherein said line laser projecting unit is rotated at a known speed and said line laser is scanned by each photodetection unit, and said arithmetic unit detects a tilting angle of said photodetection device based on a deviation of photodetection time between another photodetection unit and one of the photodetection units as reference and a deviation of photodetection time between the other photodetection unit and said one as reference.

9. A tilt detecting system according to claim 8, wherein said line laser projecting unit is moved reciprocally and said line laser is received at least twice by each photodetection unit.

10. A tilt detecting system according to claim 8 further comprising a diffraction grating provided on said line laser projecting unit, wherein said line laser is divided at a predetermined angular interval.

13. A tilt detecting system according to claim 2 further comprising a diffraction grating provided on said line laser projecting unit, wherein said line laser is divided at a predetermined angular interval.

14. A tilt detecting system according to claim 2, wherein said photodetection unit is a polyhedron sensor having photodetection sensors installed at a predetermined angular pitch in a circumferential direction and said target is an omnidirectional prism.

15. A tilt detecting system according to claim 9 further comprising a diffraction grating provided on said line laser projecting unit, wherein said line laser is divided at a predetermined angular interval.

11. A tilt detecting method comprising, a step of projecting a vertical line laser from a line laser projecting unit installed on a surveying instrument, a step of horizontally rotating said line laser projecting unit around an optical axis of a tracking light as a center and scanning said line laser so as to pass at least two photodetection units installed at a known interval on a photodetection device, a step of measuring a distance to a target of said photodetection device by said surveying instrument, and a step of detecting a tilting angle of said photodetection device based on a deviation of photodetection time when each photodetection unit of said photodetection device is made to receive said line laser.

12. A tilt detecting method according to claim 11 comprising, a step of scanning said line laser so as to pass at least three photodetection units installed at a known interval on said photodetection device at a constant speed, and a step of detecting a tilting angle of said photodetection device based on a deviation of photodetection time between another photodetection unit and one of the photodetection units as reference and a deviation of photodetection time between the other photodetection unit and said one as reference when each photodetection unit is made to receive said line laser.