Patent ID: 7020239
Filing Date: 2006-03-28
Classification: G01B,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method to determine the cross-sectional geometry of a flat ribbon cable, the flat ribbon cable having a longitudinal direction, an upper and a lower side and two edges, each edge having a position, and the flat ribbon cable comprising an insulation ( 14 ) and a plurality of parallel, metallic conductor paths ( 12 ) within the insulation, each having a width and being spaced from the edges of the flat ribbon cable and from each other, the insulation having a first thickness above and a second thickness below each conductor path, and a third thickness beyond the conductor paths, comprising the steps of: irradiating one side of the flat ribbon cable by means of an x-ray source with an x-ray beam which stimulates an emission of X-ray luminescence radiation from the metallic conductor paths with a predetermined intensity; shielding two detectors against the radiation of the x-ray source, one detector being provided on the same side of the flat ribbon cable as the x-ray source and the other detector being provided on the opposing side, measuring the intensity of the x-ray luminescence radiation and determining the first and the second thickness of the insulation, measuring the intensity of the x-ray radiation transmitted through the flat ribbon cable with a third detector placed on the opposing side of the flat ribbon cable as the x-ray source, and moving the x-ray beam and/or the third detector in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the flat ribbon cable, so that the position of the edges of the cable and/or the spacings between each pair of adjacent conductor paths are determined from the intensity measured by the third detector.