IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,625,257
Granted Patent B2
US 9,625,257 · App. 14/323,522 · Granted Apr 18, 2017

Coordinate measuring apparatus and method for measuring an object

Inventors: Ralf Christoph (Giessen, DE); Wolfgang Rauh (Waldenbuch, DE)
Assignee: WERTH MESSTECHNIK GMBH
G01B15/00A61B6/4417A61B6/583A61B6/584G01B15/04G01N23/046G01T7/005G01T7/10G01N23/083G01N2223/1006G01N2223/3306G01N2223/419
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,625,257
App. No.
14/323,522
Granted
Apr 18, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

The invention relates to a coordinate measuring apparatus for measuring an object, having an x-ray sensory mechanism as a first sensory mechanism that is provided with an x-ray source and at least one x-ray sensor which detects the x-rays, and a second sensory mechanism such as a tactile and/or an optical sensory mechanism that can be placed in the x, y, and/or z direction of the coordinate measuring apparatus in relation to the object. In order to be able to easily measure also large-size test objects, the x-ray sensory mechanism can be positioned in the coordinate measuring apparatus according to the second sensory mechanism.

Claims (37)

1. A method for measuring an object, said method comprising:

providing a coordinate measuring device having an x-ray detector, an x-ray sensor system with an x-ray source, and a rotatable table, having a rotation axis, arranged between the x-ray source and the x-ray detector;

arranging the object and a calibration body on the table;

rotating the table about the rotation axis;

imaging, by tomography, the object and the calibration body during the rotating step;

using the calibration body to determine a position of the rotation axis relative to at least one of the x-ray source and the x-ray detector during the imaging;

mathematically correcting the determined position; and

factoring into a reconstruction algorithm, a position of the rotation axis that deviates from a nominal position.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising arranging the calibration body in a carrier having a lower x-ray absorption property than an x-ray absorption property of the calibration body.

3. The method according to claims 2 , comprising configuring the calibration body as calibration spheres.

4. The method according to claim 3 , comprising determining a position of the calibration spheres on the rotation axis using at least one of an optical and a tactile sensor, and correcting a position of the rotation axis using the determined position.

5. A method for measuring an object, said method comprising:

providing a coordinate measuring device having an x-ray detector, an x-ray sensor system with an x-ray source, and a rotatable table, having a rotation axis, arranged between the x-ray source and the x-ray detector;

arranging the object on the table;

determining a spatial location of the rotation axis relative to the x-ray source and the x-ray detector using at least one of the x-ray sensor system, a tactile sensor system, and an optical sensor system;

mathematically correcting a position of the rotation axis that deviates from a nominal position, using the determined spatial location; and

factoring into a reconstruction algorithm, the position of the rotation axis that deviates from the nominal position.

6. The method according to claims 1 or 5 , wherein, prior to the factoring step, 2-dimensional x-ray images undergo at least one of a distortion correction, a bright signal correction, a dark signal correction, a mathematical translation, a mathematical rotation, a resampling process, a linearity characteristic line correction, and an image processing filtering.

7. The method according to claims 1 or 5 , comprising at least one of rotating, translating, and distorting a single 2-dimensional image to correct the position of the rotation axis that deviates from the nominal position.

8. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:

providing a calibration body; and

arranging the calibration body on a carrier having a lower x-ray absorption property than an x-ray absorption property of the calibration body.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the object and the calibration body are arranged on the table.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the calibration body is arranged on the table, and wherein the calibration body is measured simultaneously with the object.

11. A method for measuring an object, said method comprising:

providing a coordinate measuring device having an x-ray sensor system with an x-ray detector and an x-ray source,

adjusting a rotation axis of a rotatable rotation table, on which the object is arranged, using at least one of a calibration procedure and correcting a drift of the rotation axis,

wherein determining a position of the rotation axis in the coordinate measuring device comprises:

providing a standard comprising four spheres arranged at corners of a rectangle, wherein spacing of the spheres relative to one another is known or is calibrated;

positioning the standard on the rotation axis;

rotating the standard so that a defined plane is parallel to the x-ray detector;

measuring a position of the four spheres in a measuring field of the x-ray detector by capturing an x-ray image;

calculating an average magnification M 1 from the four measured sphere distances, nominal sphere distances, and a nominal pixel size of the x-ray detector;

rotating the rotation axis by 180°;

measuring positions of the four spheres in an image; and

calculating an average magnification M 2 from the four measured sphere distances, the nominal sphere distances, and the nominal pixel size.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein a Y-position of the rotation axis is calculated from the four sphere positions prior to and following the rotation using the following formula: Pdyn=(Pkyn 1 * M 2 + Pkyn 2 * M 1 )/(M 1 +M 2 ) with Pdyn being the Y-position of the rotation axis on the detector for sphere n, Pkyn 1 being the Y-position of the sphere n at a rotation angle 0°, Pkyn 2 being the Y-position of the sphere n at a rotation angle 180°, M 1 being the average magnification at a rotation angle 0° and M 2 being the average magnification at a rotation angle 180°.

Priority Claims (3)
DE 10 2004 026 357 · May 26, 2004 · national
DE 10 2004 050 257 · Oct 14, 2004 · national
DE 10 2005 018 447 · Apr 20, 2005 · national
Continuity (2)
Division 11597625
Related Publication 20150030121A1 · Jan 29, 2015