Compact laser rangefinder
A laser distance measuring device comprising a transmitter channel ( 1 ), a receiver channel ( 2 ) and a dimensionally stable multilayer base printed circuit board ( 3 ), with the transmitter channel ( 1 ) and the receiver channel ( 2 ) being mounted and symmetrically disposed one on each side of the base printed circuit board ( 3 ), with the base printed circuit board ( 3 ) serving as a mechanical foundation, as an optical and electrical shield, as a carrier of electrical and optical connections and, optionally, as a heat conductor.
1. A laser distance measuring device comprising:
a transmitter channel and a receiver channel, wherein said transmitter channel comprises a laser transmitter and an optical transmission system which together define a transmission axis, and said receiver channel comprises a receiver and an optical reception system which together define a reception axis, wherein said reception axis is aligned parallel to the transmission axis, and
a printed circuit board which is opaque to the radiation of the laser transmitter, and upon which the laser transmitter and the receiver are mounted, wherein the laser transmitter and the optical transmission system are disposed on one surface of the printed circuit board, and the receiver and the optical reception system are disposed upon a surface of the printed circuit board on an opposite side of said one surface,
wherein the printed circuit board is a dimensionally stable multilayer base printed circuit board, said base printed circuit board having solder points for attaching the laser transmitter and the receiver, the size of said solder points being larger than the alignment area necessary to align the laser transmitter and the receiver, and the laser transmitter and the receiver each being indirectly connected to the solder points by way of an adjoined printed circuit board, while each of the adjoined printed circuit boards is fitted, respectively, with the laser transmitter and the receiver and the laser transmitter is mounted on an adjoined printed circuit board and the receiver is mounted on a second adjoined printed circuit board, said transmission axis and said reception axis being oriented perpendicular to a main plane of said adjoined printed circuit board, said adjoined printed circuit board being oriented perpendicular to the base printed circuit board, and the adjoined printed circuit board and the base printed circuit board being connected via the solder points and wherein the base circuit board comprises a plurality of alternating electrically nonconductive and electrically conductive layers, with at least one of the electrically conductive layers being a full-surface inner copper layer which serves as optical and electrical shielding layer, wherein the surfaces of the base printed circuit board comprise at least one free area wherein said free area is coated with a copper layer which acts as a heat sink and which is connected with the inner full-surface copper layer, and wherein the optical transmission system and the optical reception system have a planar phase along their circumference, for connecting the optical transmission system and the optical reception system to the base printed circuit board.
2. The laser distance measuring device of claim 1 , wherein the laser transmitter and the receiver, the optical transmission system and the optical reception system and, optionally, additional components, are disposed in a mirror-symmetrical position relative to the base printed circuit board so as to subject both sides of the base printed circuit board uniformly to mechanical and thermal stress.
3. The laser distance measuring device of claim 1 , wherein the electrically nonconductive layers are made of a fiberglass-reinforced epoxy resin.
4. The laser distance measuring device of claim 1 , wherein the base printed circuit board comprises at least one optical conductor track, and wherein the laser transmitter and the receiver are physically mounted anywhere on or in the base printed circuit board,
wherein a beam-emergence opening, downstream in the beam direction, of an optical conductor track connected with the laser transmitter is disposed in the focal plane of the optical transmission system, and a beam-entrance opening, upstream in the beam direction, of an optical conductor track connected with the receiver is disposed in the focal plane of the optical reception system.
5. The laser distance measuring device of claim 1 , wherein the base printed circuit board comprises at least one plug-in connector, for connecting the laser distance measuring device to an external unit.
6. The laser distance measuring device of claim 1 , wherein the optical transmission system and the optical reception system are made of a transparent polymer.