Patent ID: 8315834

Claim:
A method for measuring the thickness of a coating on a component comprising the steps of: providing a component having a first surface; measuring one or more surface distances between an optical measurement device and at least one surface target point on the first surface; applying a coating on at least a portion of the first surface of the component, wherein the portion includes the at least one surface target point; measuring one or more coating distances between the optical measurement device and at least one coating target point, the at least one coating target point being substantially superimposed over the at least one surface target point, wherein the one or more coating distances are less than the one or more surface distances, whereby the optical measurement device is located on the same side of the first surface during both the step of measuring one or more surface distances and the step of measuring one or more coating distances; calculating the difference between the surface distance measurement and the coating distance measurement so as to determine the thickness of the coating at the at least one target point; and storing the calculated difference in a data acquisition device.