Patent ID: 6476914
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: G01B

Abstract:
A method for ascertaining alignment of two successive shafts comprising the steps of:providing at least one measurement pointer for generating a light beam having low divergence; providing at least one reference element including an optoelectronic array with a plurality of pixels; orienting said light beam from said measurement pointer such that said light beam is incident on said at least one reference element to illuminate and activate at least some of said plurality pixels of said optoelectronic array; determining coordinate values of illuminated and activated pixels of said optoelectronic array to determine the position of said illuminated and activated pixels which correspond to a light spot on said optoelectronic array; measuring the quantity of at least one of light scattering and variance to determine a shape of the light spot incident on said optoelectronic array; and generating a plurality of geometrical measured values corresponding to an alignment characteristic including at least one of distance and angular offset between said two shafts based on said coordinate values of the illuminated and activated pixels forming the light spot, wherein said alignment characteristic is determined based on a computed arithmetic average which indicates a middle position of said light spot.