Three-dimensional shape optical measurement using constant gap control and error compensation

The optical laser displacement sensor is widely used for noncontact measurement of the three-dimensional (3D) shape profile of the object surface. When the surface of an object has a slope variation, the sensor gain is proportionally varied according to that of the object surface. In order to solve the sensor gain variation problem, the constant gap control method is applied to adjust the gap to the nominal distance. Control error compensation is also proposed to cope with the situation even when the gap is not perfectly controlled to the nominal distance using an additional sensor attached to the actuator. 3D shape measurement applying the proposed constant gap control method shows better performances rather than the constant sensor height method. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.