JP2002296031A - Laser surveying instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dispense with keys for changing the set values of scanning width and scanning speed by making it possible to automatically change the set values of the scanning width and scanning speed according to the set value of condensing distance of a laser beam, in a laser surveying instrument. SOLUTION: This laser surveying instrument is equipped with a focus motor 35 with a focus lens 44 for changing the condensing distance of the laser beam 6 according to the set condensing distance, a rotation part 4 for causing the beam 6 to scan back and forth according to the set scanning width and scanning speed, and a control part C for controlling the focus motor 35 and rotation part 4, wherein the control part C sets the condensing distance of the laser beam 6 according to a signal from a long-range key 16 or short-range key 18 and automatically sets the scanning width and scanning speed according to the condensing distance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser surveying instrument (level planar) for indicating a reference plane such as a horizontal plane or a vertical plane with a visible laser beam when performing construction or the like indoors and outdoors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in a perspective view in FIG. 5, a conventionally used laser surveying instrument 1 emits a visible light laser beam 6 from a rotating section 4 driven by a main motor (not shown), and The reference plane such as a horizontal plane or a vertical plane is indicated by reciprocally scanning the optical laser beam 6. Then, the visible light laser beam 6 is condensed by a movement of the condenser lens to a distance of several steps (hereinafter referred to as a focal distance d) according to the distance to the wall surface 8 to be irradiated. The distance was set manually. Further, the set values of the scan width θ (the angle between the inversion directions α and β) of the visible light laser beam 6 and the scan speed v can also be manually adjusted.

Therefore, in order to change the set values of the focusing distance d, the scan width θ, and the scan speed v, a key for increasing the set value and a key for decreasing the set value are provided.

[0004]

However, like the conventional laser surveying instrument, each key is operated to change the set values of the focusing distance of the visible light laser beam, the scan width and the scan speed. Changing the setting value
This is cumbersome for the operator and reduces the work efficiency.
Therefore, it has been demanded that the set values of the laser beam focusing distance, scan width, and scan speed can be easily changed with as few keys as possible.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a focusing distance changing means for changing a focusing distance of a laser beam according to a set focusing distance, In a laser surveying instrument including a rotating unit that reciprocally scans a laser beam according to a set scan width and a scanning speed, and a control unit that controls the focusing distance changing unit and the rotating unit, the control unit includes Focusing distance setting means for setting the focusing distance of the laser beam by a signal from the optical distance input means, and a scanning width for setting a scanning width and a scanning speed according to the focusing distance set by the focusing distance setting means And speed setting means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the laser surveying instrument according to the first aspect of the present invention, the control unit stores a table of scan widths and scan speeds according to the focusing distance of the laser beam.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an optical system of a laser surveying instrument 1 of the present embodiment and a control system for controlling the optical system. This laser surveying instrument 1 is shown in FIG.
In the same manner as the conventional laser surveying instrument 1 shown in (1), a rotary unit 4 is provided, a laser beam 6 is emitted from the rotary unit 4,
Receiving the laser beam reflected by the controller, the laser beam 6 is reciprocally scanned with reference to the position of the reflector plate 54 from the rotation of the main motor (stepping motor) 37 for rotating the rotating unit 4 to indicate a reference plane. As the reflecting plate 54, a cat's-eye reflecting plate from which the laser light returns to its original position even when the laser surveying instrument 1 is not facing directly is used. Further, the reflection plate 54
As shown in FIG. 4, a scale 55 is provided on the side surface, which is convenient when it is necessary to mark how many mm above the position where the laser beam 6 has been received.

More specifically, the optical system of the laser surveying instrument 1 includes an upper light source 40 such as a laser diode for emitting a laser beam upward, and a focus motor 35.
Focus lens 4 that changes the focusing position of the laser beam emitted from upper light source 40
4, an objective lens 50 for condensing a laser beam transmitted through a focus lens 44 and a beam splitter 46 to be described later, and a laser diode 40 for generating linearly polarized light. A plate 48 and a pentaprism 52 that transmits part of the laser beam transmitted through the objective lens 50 in the vertical direction and reflects the rest in the horizontal direction.

The laser beam 6 emitted in the horizontal direction from the pentaprism 52 irradiates the wall surface 8 by rotation, and is reflected by a reflector 54 attached to the wall surface 8. The laser beam reflected by the reflector 54 reverses the optical path that has just come, passes through the λ / 4 plate 48, and returns to linearly polarized light.
The light is reflected at a right angle by the beam splitter 46 and enters a light receiver such as a photodiode 56. The output of the light receiver is processed by the controller C via the amplifier 65. A wedge glass 58 is arranged in the optical path of the laser beam 6, and by adjusting the position of the wedge glass 58, the direction of the laser beam 6 can be finely adjusted.

In order to scan the laser beam 6, the pentaprism 52 is fixed in the rotating unit 4 driven by a main motor (stepping motor) 37. The rotating unit 4 is provided with a skylight 60 and a side window 62. The laser beam emitted from the upper light source 40 is transmitted through the pentaprism 52 and the prism 64, and is transmitted through the skylight 6.
From 0, the light reflected by the pentaprism 52 is emitted from the side window 62 to the outside. The entire optical system of FIG. 1 is mounted on a leveling table (not shown), and is adjusted so that the optical system is vertical. Here, the vertical laser beam 7 emitted to the outside from the skylight 60 indicates a vertical line above the laser surveying instrument 1. Also, the side window 62
The laser beam 6 emitted to the outside from the substrate shows a reference line such as a horizontal line on the wall surface 8.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, a lower light source 42 such as a laser diode for emitting a laser beam downward is also provided, and the laser beam emitted from the lower light source 42 is directed downward to the laser surveying instrument 1. Shows a vertical line.

The focusing distance d of the laser beam 6 (the reflecting plate 54
And the distance to the pentaprism 52. To be precise, it includes the distance between the objective lens 50 and the pentaprism 52, but this distance can be ignored. ), A control system for driving and controlling the focus lens 44 and the rotating unit 4 to change the set values of the scan width θ and the scan speed v includes a focus motor 35 and a main motor (stepping motor) 3.
7, a photodiode 56 which receives the laser beam reflected by the reflector 54 and generates an electric signal, and an electric signal from the photodiode 56 and a focusing distance input means such as the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 18. From the signal from
A control unit (microcomputer) C for controlling the driving of the focus motor 35 and the main motor 37 is provided.
Here, the focus lens 44 and the focus motor 35
Constitutes the condensing distance changing means of the first aspect.

In this embodiment, the main motor 37 uses a stepping motor that makes one revolution (360 ° rotation) with a predetermined number of pulses (4000 pulses). Therefore, each time one pulse is sent from the control unit C, the main motor 37 can be rotated by a predetermined angle (5′24 ″), and the rotation direction of the main motor 37 can be changed by changing the polarity of this pulse. .

Further, the laser surveying instrument of this embodiment has a switch panel 10 as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the switch panel 10 includes a power switch 12 and a laser beam 6 to be irradiated.
Mode changeover switch 14 for changing the mode to scan mode, stop mode, vertical mode, light receiver mode, long distance key 16 for increasing the set value of the focusing distance (to increase the focusing distance), and setting the focusing distance Short distance key 18 for lowering the set value (closer the focusing distance), and a plurality of LEDs (light emitting diodes) 20 for displaying the set value of the focusing distance
(LED4-LED8), L indicating the operating mode
Indicators such as an ED 22, an LED 24 for indicating whether battery replacement or charging is necessary, and an LED 26 for warning when an error occurs in the laser surveying instrument 1 are provided.

The switch panel 10 omits a key for changing the set values of the scan width θ and the scan speed v of the laser beam 6. In the present embodiment, the keys for changing the set values of the scan width θ and the scan speed v of the laser beam 6 are omitted, and only two of the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 18 which are the focusing distance input means are used. The reason for the arrangement is described below.

In order to show the reference line as accurately as possible on the wall surface 8 on which the laser beam 6 is irradiated, it is desirable that the spot diameter of the laser beam 6 irradiated on the reflecting plate 54 disposed on the wall surface 8 be as small as possible. For this purpose, it is necessary to focus the laser beam 6 on the reflector 54. The reflected light from the reflecting plate 54 is reflected by the objective lens 50 and the beam splitter 46 and forms an image on the photodiode 56. Therefore, it is necessary to change the focusing distance of the laser beam 6, that is, the set value of the focusing distance according to the distance to the reflection plate 54.

On the other hand, in order to improve the visibility of the irradiated laser beam 6 and increase the working efficiency, it is necessary to set the scan width θ and the scan speed v of the laser beam 6 to optimal values. By the way, in many cases, when the distance to the reflector 54 for irradiating the laser beam 6 is long,
The scan width θ and the scan speed v are reduced, and conversely, when the distance to the reflector 54 for irradiating the laser beam 6 is short, the scan width θ and the scan speed v are increased.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in Table 1 below, based on the average scan width θ and scan speed v selected by many workers for an arbitrary distance to the reflection plate 54, Concentration distance d, scan width θ, and scan speed v are determined for each of the eight distance setting steps and each distance setting step, and Table 1 is stored in advance in control unit C. When the distance setting stage is set by the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 18, the control unit C sets the scan width θ and the scan speed v with reference to Table 1 stored in advance. Therefore, only by setting the focusing distance with the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 18 according to the distance to the reflection plate 54, the optimum scanning width θ for visually recognizing the laser beam 6 irradiated at that distance. And the scanning speed v can be automatically set.

[0020]

[Table 1]

Here, a procedure performed by the control unit C for controlling the focus motor 35 and the main motor 37 in the scan mode of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the user operates the laser surveying instrument by pressing the power switch 12, the flow advances to step S1 to automatically set the scan mode. When the scanning mode is set, the control unit C turns on the upper light source 40, and sets the initial values of the focusing distance d, the scanning speed v, and the main motor 37.
The rotation irradiation of the laser beam 6 is started according to the rotation direction. That is, a pulse P having a polarity corresponding to the rotation direction of the main motor 37 and a pulse frequency corresponding to the scan speed v is sent to the main motor 37, and the rotating unit 4 is rotated at the scan speed v.

Next, the process proceeds to step S2, where the long distance key 1
6 or the operation of the short distance key 18 is detected. Here, when the keys 16 and 18 are not pressed for a predetermined time, the control unit C sets the distance setting stage stored as the initial value, the light collection distance d, the scan speed v, the scan width θ, the rotation direction of the main motor, and the like. Is determined to have not been changed, and the process proceeds to step S7 described below.

On the other hand, when the laser beam 6 is not focused on the reflecting plate 54, the operator presses the long distance key 16 or the short distance key 18. Upon detecting that the long distance key 16 or the short distance key 18 has been pressed, as described below,
The routine from step S3 to step S6 is performed.
When this routine starts, the process first proceeds to step S3, and the distance setting stage in Table 1 is determined. That is,
Each time the long distance key 16 is pressed once, the control unit C raises the stored distance setting step by one, and conversely,
Each time the short distance key 18 is pressed once, the distance setting step is lowered by one step. Further, the control unit C sets the LE according to Table 1.
D20 is turned on to display the approximate focusing distance d to assist the worker in setting the focusing distance.

When the distance setting step is determined, step S
4, the control unit C refers to the stored Table 1 and
The focusing distance d in the distance setting stage is set. Steps S4 and S3 constitute the converging distance setting means according to the first aspect.

When the focusing distance d is set, step S5
To perform focus control. That is, the focus distance signal d 'is sent to the focus motor 35, and the focus lens 44 is moved to change the focus distance d to a set value.

Next, proceeding to step S6, the control unit C
The scan width θ and the scan speed v are set with reference to Table 1 stored based on the determined distance setting stage.
This step S6 constitutes the scan width and speed setting means according to the first aspect.

Next, the process proceeds to step S7, where the direction of the reflecting plate 54 attached to the wall surface 8 is detected. When the reflected laser beam from the reflector 54 is incident on the photodiode 56, a reference azimuth pulse η is generated when the reflected laser beam is equal to or higher than the threshold level. It can be seen that the direction is 54, that is, the reference direction. Therefore, at this time, the count value of the pulse P sent from the control unit C to the main motor 37 is set to zero. If the polarity of the pulse P is-, counting of the pulse P is started so as to decrease by one for each pulse. The count value of the pulse P corresponds to the horizontal angle of the laser beam 6 from the reference direction. Here, when the reflected laser beam from the reflecting plate 54 cannot be detected, the process returns to step S2.

When the reference azimuth is determined, the process proceeds to step S8, where the inversion azimuths α and β are determined. For this purpose, the azimuths separated from the reference azimuth by half the scan width θ on both sides are determined as the inversion azimuths α and β. The inversion directions α and β are determined as the number of pulses corresponding to half of the scan width θ. For simplicity of explanation, if the main motor 37 rotates 360 ° in 3600 pulses and rotates 0.1 ° in one pulse, when the scan width θ is 2 °, the main motor 37 is separated by 1 ° on both sides of the reference direction. The azimuths are determined as the inversion azimuths α and β, respectively, and the corresponding count values of the pulse P are determined as +10 and −10, respectively.

Next, proceeding to step S9, it is determined whether or not the laser beam 6 has reached the reversal directions α and β. For this, when the count value of the pulse P sent to the main motor 37 reaches the number of pulses determined in step S8, it is determined that one of the inversion azimuths α or the other inversion azimuth β has been reached. For example, when the scan width is 2 °, when the count value becomes +10, it is determined that one of the inversion directions α has been reached, and when the count value has become −10, it has been determined that the other inversion direction β has been reached. I do. When it is determined that the scanning direction of the laser beam 6 has reached one of the inversion directions α and β, the process proceeds to step S10 described below,
When it is determined that neither of the inversion directions α and β has been reached, step S9 is repeated.

In step S10, the control section C inverts the polarity of the pulse P sent to the main motor 37, and at the same time inverts the direction in which the count value of the pulse P sent to the main motor 37 increases or decreases. That is, assuming that the pulse polarity is + (-) and the count value of the pulse P is increased (decreased) by one for each pulse, the polarity of the pulse P is set to-(+), and The count value is decreased (increased) by one for each pulse. Thus, the rotation direction of the main motor 37 is reversed, and the scanning direction of the laser beam 6 is also reversed.

Then, returning to step S2, and thereafter, by repeating steps S2-S10, the laser beam 6 reciprocally scans within the set scan width θ at the set scan speed v.

On the other hand, in the laser surveying instrument 1 of this embodiment, each time the mode switching key 14 is pressed, the mode is switched between the scan mode, the light receiver mode, the vertical mode, and the stop mode. When the mode switching key 14 is pressed to set the stop mode in which the laser beam 6 is stopped, or when the main motor 37 stops due to a failure or the like, the focusing distance d is always set to infinity or divergent light, and The LED 8 indicating that the optical distance d is infinity or divergent light is turned on. The reason for this is that if the stationary laser beam 6 enters the eyes of the worker, energy is continuously concentrated on one point to avoid adversely affecting the eyes of the worker.

As is apparent from the above description, in the laser surveying instrument 1 of this embodiment, the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 1
8 can simultaneously change the focal length d of the laser beam 6, the scan width θ, and the scan speed v, so that the burden on the operator is reduced and workability is improved. The circuit can be simplified and manufactured inexpensively as much as the number of keys for changing the scan speed v is reduced.

Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible.

For example, the set distance steps may be more than eight steps, or may be fewer. However, in order to obtain a satisfactory laser beam condensing property at any distance and not to increase the burden of storing and referring to a table, it is necessary to use eight steps as in this embodiment. It is appropriate to have a set distance step of the order.

In order to change the focusing distance, a dial is used as the focusing distance input means instead of the long distance key 16 and the short distance key 18, and a set distance step or a continuous distance is set according to the rotation angle of the dial. May be set.
Further, the scan width θ and the scan speed v may be stored as a function of the set distance, without using Table 1 to determine the scan width and the scan speed according to the focusing distance.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the irradiation direction of the laser beam 6 is indirectly obtained from the count value of the pulse P sent to the main motor 37. However, the rotation angle of the main motor 37 is directly detected by the encoder. Then, it may be obtained from this rotation angle. Further, instead of using an LED as the display, a display such as a liquid crystal display may be used to display the focusing distance and the like by using numbers and characters.

[0039]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the laser surveying instrument of the present invention operates the focusing distance input means only,
The laser beam focusing distance, scan width, and scan speed can be changed at the same time, which reduces the burden on the operator and improves workability.In addition, the circuit becomes simpler because the number of keys for changing the scan width and scan speed is reduced. It can be manufactured at low cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the table of the scan width and the scan speed according to the focal length of the laser beam is stored, the scan width and the scan speed can be quickly obtained from the focal length. These can be changed quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an optical system and a control system of a laser surveying instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an operation panel of the laser surveying instrument.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart performed by a control unit C of the laser surveying instrument.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a target used with the laser surveying instrument.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an overview of a laser surveying instrument of the related art or the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser surveying instrument 4 Rotating part 16 Long distance key (focusing distance input means) 18 Short distance key (focusing distance input means) 35 Focus motor (focusing distance changing means) 44 Focus lens (focusing distance changing means) ) C control unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shun-ichiro Sakamoto 260-63 Hase, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside the Sokia Atsugi Plant (72) Inventor Yuji Ishiguro 260-63, Hase-Aya, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa Inside the Sokia Atsugi Plant ( 72) Inventor Sachiko Moriyama 260-63 Hase, Atsugi-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Sokia Atsugi Plant Co., Ltd. (Reference) 2H051 AA00 CC02 CC08 CC13

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A focusing distance changing means for changing a focusing distance of a laser beam according to a set focusing distance, and a rotating unit for reciprocally scanning the laser beam according to a set scanning width and scanning speed. A laser surveying instrument comprising a control unit for controlling the focusing distance changing unit and the rotating unit, wherein the control unit sets a focusing distance of the laser beam by a signal from a focusing distance input unit. Setting means;
A laser surveying instrument comprising: a scan width and a speed setting means for setting a scan width and a scan speed according to the light focusing distance set by the light focusing distance setting means. 2. The laser surveying instrument according to claim 1, wherein the control unit stores a table of a scan width and a scan speed according to a focusing distance of the laser beam.