Denso Corporation

Fumiaki Mizuno

Noriyuki Ozaki

Shinji Kashiwada

Kazuhisa Onda

Yoshiaki Hoashi

Teiyuu Kimura

Kenichi Yanai

Akifumi Ueno

Mitsuhiro Kiyono

Hitoshi Yamada

An optical detector is configured to project a projection beam toward a measurement area and detect a return beam from the measurement area. The optical detector includes: a projecting optical system that forms a projection optical axis to project the projection beam; a receiving optical system that forms a receiving optical axis to receive the return beam, and a housing having a housing chamber to house the projecting optical system and the receiving optical system, and an optical window for the projection beam and the return beam to travel between the housing chamber and the measurement area. The projection optical axis and the receiving optical axis are offset from each other to define an overlap region inside the housing chamber where footprints of the projection beam and the return beam overlap with each other.

Optical detector

An optical detector includes a light emitter having a light emitting window extended in an extension direction to emit a projection beam from the light emitting window toward a measurement area and to detect a return beam from the measurement area. The optical detector includes a scanning mirror that scans by reflecting the projection beam. The scanning mirror swings within a finite angular range around a rotation axis that is along a direction corresponding to the extension direction.

An optical distance measuring device includes a light emitting element in which a plurality of light emitting unitsthat emit light are arranged so that a gap is present between adjacent ones of the light emitting units, a transmission unit through which the light is transmitted, a drive unit that changes a positional relationship between the light emitting element and the transmission unit, and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light of the light. The drive unit changes the positional relationship between the light emitting element and the transmission unit, thereby changing an irradiation path of the light along an arrangement direction.

Optical distance measuring device

A rotation angle detection apparatus includes an incremental rotary scale and a detector. The rotary scale includes both a detection region having a scale formed therein for detecting a rotation angle of an object and a non-detection region having no scale formed therein. The detector generates, based on an input signal indicating change in the position of the scale of the detection region which changes according to change in the rotation angle of the object, an electrical signal that periodically changes according to the change in the position of the scale of the detection region. Further, the detector detects the rotation angle of the object based on the electrical signal. Furthermore, the detector detects a reference angle for the rotation angle of the object by counting the number of positional changes from an end of the scale of the detection region; the positional changes are indicated by the input signal.

Growing community of inventors

Kariya, Japan

Fumiaki Mizuno