Patent ID: 8478563

Claim:
A method for dimensionally characterizing an object, the object comprising a cylindrical surface of revolution about a longitudinal axis, comprising: emitting at least two pulsed waves, in a medium suitable for propagating these waves, each respectively from an emitter to a separate measuring point of the cylindrical surface, detecting pulsed waves reflected, by the cylindrical surface, at each of the measuring points, calculating a position of and value of a characteristic of the object at each of the measuring points, from a travel time of the at least two pulsed waves over a path comprising a forward section between each emitter and the corresponding measuring point and a return section between the corresponding measuring point and a receiver, and calculating remaining values of the characteristic for a characteristic curve of the cylindrical surface, over 360° about the longitudinal axis by interpolation from the corresponding position of and value of the characteristic at each of the measuring points, the characteristic curve being defined by at least one ovalization parameter, wherein the characteristic curve is calculated based on the position of and values of the characteristic at the measuring points and corresponds to a thickness curve given by: Th=[Th F ·sin(2 πt+φ F )]+[ Th 2F ·sin(4 πt+φ 2F )]+ Th avg where Th F is an amplitude of a variation of thickness calculated for an excentration of the object relative to the longitudinal axis and based on the position of and values of the characteristic at the measuring points, φ F is a phase of the variation of thickness calculated for an excentration of the object relative to the longitudinal axis and based on the position of and values of the characteristic at the measuring points, Th 2F is an amplitude of a variation of thickness calculated for an ovalization of the object and based on the position of and values of the characteristic at the measuring points, φ 2F is a phase of the variation of thickness calculated for an ovalization of the object and based on the position of and values of the characteristic at the measuring points, Th avg is an average value of thickness calculated over all the measuring points, t is a sampling period of the characteristic curve.