Patent ID: 6762409
Filing Date: 2004-07-13
Classification: G01B

Abstract:
Apparatus for determining the thickness of a layer of ice on the surface of a stationary or moving object, for example, of a building or aircraft, comprisinga reception device wherein illumination light is initially directed to a surface portion of an object and then strikes the reception device, the reception device having dispersive optics for spectral dispersion of the illumination light coming from the surface portion and a detector for receiving the spectrally dispersed illumination light, an evaluating device for determining intensity values of the illumination light influenced by the ice layer at different wavelengths &lgr; and for comparing these intensity values with reference values from a surface that is free of ice, the reception device being arranged inside the object, and the surface of the object has, at the portion to which the illumination light is directed, a window that is transparent for the illumination light and through which the illumination light passes.