Multi-beam laser probe for measuring position and orientation of freeform surface

This study develops a novel optical non-contact probe that measures the position and orientation (normal vector) of a freeform surface. The probe system comprises a five-laser-beam projector and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. The probe is integrated on a three-axis platform. Five designed laser beams project onto a measuring surface, where five light spots are observed. The CCD captures the image of this surface and processes it. The 3D coordinates of the five light spots can be then computed. The normal direction at the central spot on the measuring surface is determined from two crossed curves through the coordinates of these five light spots. Two crossed curves are constructed using the Bezier method. The normal vector is the cross-product of two tangent vectors to the two crossed curves at central spot. A scheme for calibrating and making measurements using this five-laser-beam probe is proposed and verified experimentally. Experimental results demonstrate that this five-laser-beam probe system can measure the position and orientation of a freeform surface. The range of depths that can be measured using this probe is 2.4 mm and the range of angles is 40°. The positional measuring accuracy of the complete system is approximately 30 μm while the orientational accuracy is 1.8°.