The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 28, 2017
Filed:
Dec. 01, 2015
Robert Smythe, Middletown, CT (US);
Artur Olszak, Tucson, AZ (US);
Piotr Szwaykowski, Tucson, AZ (US);
Robert Smythe, Middletown, CT (US);
Artur Olszak, Tucson, AZ (US);
Piotr Szwaykowski, Tucson, AZ (US);
APRE INSTRUMENTS, LLC, Tucson, AZ (US);
Abstract
A non-contact optical probe utilizes an optical reference surface that projects a curved test wavefront toward the test surface and detects it by creating curved interferometric fringes localized in space in front of the reference surface. When a point to be measured on the test surface intersects the location of the fringes, the condition is detected by the probe. Because the fringes are localized at a known position in space with respect to a reference system, the precise coordinate of the surface point can be established. Such localized fringes are preferably produced by a spectrally controllable light source. The curvature of the fringes ensures a sufficiently large angle of acceptance for the probe to capture light reflected from points of high surface slope. The probe is particularly suitable for coordinate measurement machines.