Optics: measuring and testing – Range or remote distance finding – With photodetection
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-03
2003-07-01
Tarcza, Thomas H. (Department: 3662)
Optics: measuring and testing
Range or remote distance finding
With photodetection
C356S139030, C408S013000, C408S016000, C408S24100G, C007S163000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06587184
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a positioning aid for definite placement, of a forward-advanced tool of a hand tool device, such as a drill hammer, a bolt setting device or a chain saw, longitudinal to the line of travel of the tool.
In routine tasks, in particular, in the construction industry, the set-down point of a tool, in a sequence of work operations, frequently has, in the line of travel of the tool, an absolute or incrementally set lateral distance to a reference point, such as, for example, a wall, edge, ceiling, floor or any other structural part running parallel to the line of travel of the tool. In such cases either each of these set-down points is marked by the user in a preparatory work step, or a temporary measuring aid, such as a straightedge, is used by the operator between each work step.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,371, a passive optical positioning aid constructed as a mirror sight acts, on a chain saw, as the hand tool device, in conjunction with the operator's line of sight, as an integrated positioning aid for placement of the hand tool device at a set lateral distance relative to the edge.
According to DE 2838968, a hammer drill has an electronic depth stop that uses an ultrasound echo process, a high-frequency radar, or an optical laser, in a triangulation technology, as the distance measuring system parallel to the line of travel of the tool.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,493, a milling machine has a laterally radiating, optically expanded laser functioning as a light source for a passive, image producing process.
Further, according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,025, a sensor system of a robot hand has a plurality of optical distance measuring systems for determining a position.
According to DE 19836812, a hand laser measuring device with a modulated optical laser, as the distance measuring system, comprises a plurality of different angularly oriented individual measurements using an arithmetic algorithm to determine the shortest distance to a surface.
The object of the present invention is to provide a positioning aid integrated with the hand tool device for laterally predetermined set-down points of the tool.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object is achieved essentially by the present invention. In accordance with the invention, a positioning aid mountable on a hand tool device driving a tool, in a line of travel, on the work piece, comprises at least one non-contacting distance measuring system with a distance measuring sensor for measuring the distance from the distance measuring sensor to an at least diffusely reflecting object along a line of measurement and a computing component for comparing the measured value with a preset desired value and for producing a signal dependent on said comparison, whereby the line of measurement is oriented perpendicular to the line of travel on the work piece.
As a result of the perpendicularity of the line of measurement of the distance measurement to the line of travel on a work piece, as in conventional contactless processes, the line of measurement is consistently placed within the plane running perpendicular to the line of travel on the work piece, and, thus, to the surface of the work piece, independent of the advance of the hand tool device. Usually, a lateral desired value is programmed as the desired distance within the plane. The desired value is entered using the conventional data entry means such as keys, and the signaling is provided by the usual output means such as beepers, light emitting diode or numerical displays. The line of measurement can be selected or preset within the plane, by turning the hand tool device with the non-rotationally mounted positioning aid or the rotationally displaceable positioning aid relative to the hand tool device about the line of travel on the work piece.
Preferably, the positioning aid is designed to be combined with the hand tool device, and preferably, with a standardized supplemental hand grip or connected to the suction head of a dust extractor, whereby the positioning aid can be easily and rapidly mounted or removed from the hand tool device, if required.
Preferably, the distance measuring sensor or a deflection means deflecting the measurement signal into the lateral line of measurement, such as a suitable mirror, is arranged along the line of travel on the work piece in close proximity to the tool tip, whereby at the time of set-down of the hand tool device, an angular error of the line of travel on the work piece toward the perpendicular of the work piece surface generates only a minimized lateral error of the measured value.
Preferably, the distance measuring sensor and/or the deflection means is spring-loadedly mounted and can be displaced axially, contacting the work piece surface at the time of set-down of the hand tool device and thus, being located as close as possible to the work piece to not impair the advancement of the tool.
Preferably, the distance measuring sensor and/or the deflection means is freely rotational with respect to the line of travel on the work piece, and accordingly its weight is asymmetrically distributed, such that in a working direction deviating from the gravitational direction, i.e., the horizontal direction, a passive automatic preferred orientation of the line of measurement is produced. In a further advantageous active preferred orientation of the line of measurement, the gravitational line can be picked up, preferably, by acceleration sensors in the electrical control of pivotable deflection means via a computer unit.
Alternatively, preferably, the distance measuring sensor and/or the deflection means can be pivotally-locked at an angle of 90°, at least in one dimension, such that the line of measurement can be selected either perpendicularly within the plane relative to the working direction or parallel to the working direction, wherein in the parallel case the positioning aid serves as a depth stop.
Alternatively, preferably, the distance measuring sensor and/or the deflection means has an electromagnetic or micro-mechanical deflection means with respect to the line of measurement, at least in one dimension, oscillating in a scan range, and the computing unit has an arithmetic algorithm for determining an end distance within the oscillation period, whereby, within the scanning range, the line of measurement automatically given is either perpendicular to a surface or to an adjacent edge, of a structural part, or to one most distant corner. In a laser beam, the deflection means is, preferably, a rotating mirror, prism, fiber optic or laser diode.
Preferably, at least the distance measuring sensor and/or the deflection means are doubly or triply present and oriented at 90° to each other relative to the line of measurement, whereby, simultaneously, two or three independent lines of measurement, for example, lateral positioning and depth, are detectable.
Preferably, the positioning aid comprises main-independent generators or induction coils permeated by the magnetic alternating field, of the hand tool device, as the power source, whereby the power supply cable can be eliminated.
Preferably, the current measured value is transferable, as the desired value, into a storage means, of the positioning aid, using one single transfer key, whereby a very simple and reliable input can be made, even in the rough environment of the construction industry.
Preferably, the signaling is connected with a control means of the hand tool device that, preferably, switchably, permits the appropriate activation, of the hand tool device, only if the measured value lies, in a preferably pre-selectable tolerance range of, for example, ±1 cm of the desired value, whereby, for example, in bolt setting devices, compliance with a minimum distance between set bolts is achievable.
Preferably, the distance measuring sensor is an optically active sensor with an optically visible laser beam, which is driven modulated as a phase, of a pulse period meter or unmodulated in a triangulation process, whereby the lateral line of me
Dass Klaus
Schaer Roland
Würsch Christoph
Andrea Brian
Hilti Aktiengesellschaft
Sildey Austin Brown & Wood, LLP
Tarcza Thomas H.
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