JPH02212710A - Inclination sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a highly reliable sensor by arranging a container holding a liquid, an optical fiber tip part to project light to a reflector floating in the liquid and a light receiving part to receive reflected light from the reflector. CONSTITUTION:When a container 2 holding a liquid 1 is placed horizontally, light from a light source 4 is incident at a tip 3 of an optical fiber via an optical fiber and reflected on the surface of a reflector 7 floating in the liquid 1. An angle of the tip 3 of the optical fiber is adjusted before-hand, the reflected light 5 is kept from entering a light receiving section 6. In other words, when the container 2 is put horizontally, no detection output is obtained from the light receiving section 6. Then, when the container 2 is inclined by a certain angle theta, light emitted from the tip 3 of the optical fiber is reflected on the surface of the reflector 7 floating in the liquid 1 is indicated by the dotted line in the drawing and the reflected light 5 is incident into the light receiving section 6. Thus, a position number of a specified photo detector located at the incidence position among a plurality of those photo detectors of the light receiving section 6 is detected by a light detection circuit 8, thereby enabling the learning of the inclination of the container 2, namely, an object mounted on the container.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an inclination sensor, and more particularly to an inclination sensor that detects changes in the earth's crust and the amount of inclination of an object.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of inclination sensor is one that converts the change in the position of a pendulum hanging from a certain point into an electrical quantity and detects it as an amount of inclination. A device that detects a change in resistance value as an amount of slope was used.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-described conventional tilt sensor has the disadvantage that it has a large number of parts and is complicated because the displacement is once converted into an electrical quantity. Furthermore, since the amount of displacement is detected by the movement of a pendulum or a change in the resistance value of the liquid, there is a drawback of low reliability.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention relates to a tilt sensor installed on a device or an object to detect the amount of tilt thereof, including a container containing a liquid;
A liquid to be placed in the container, a reflector floating in the B'j liquid, an optical fiber tip provided on the side of the container so that the projected light enters the surface of the reflector, and the optical fiber tip. a light receiving section having a light source connected to the other end, and a plurality of light receiving elements disposed in two parts of the container and receiving reflected light from the reflector according to a relative angle between the reflector and the projected light; It is equipped with

[Example〕 Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, which does not show a longitudinal section of an embodiment of the present invention,
The tilt sensor of this embodiment consists of a container 2, a liquid 1 contained therein, a reflector 7 floating in the liquid 1, and optical fiber tips on both left and right sides attached to the sides of the container 2 at a certain angle. 3, a light source 4 attached to the other end of the optical fiber tip 3, and a light receiving section 6 having a plurality of light receiving elements disposed on the upper part of the container 2 and receiving reflected light 5 from the reflector 7.
Each light receiving element of the light receiving section 6 is connected to a detection circuit 8.

Next, regarding the operation of this embodiment, the second
This will be explained using the diagram and FIG.

First, FIG. 2 shows a state in which a container 2 containing liquid 1 is placed under water. At this time, light from a light source 4 passes through an optical fiber and is emitted from the tip 3 of the optical fiber. and liquid 1
It is reflected by N -1Ti'i of the reflector 7 floating in the .

Adjust the angle of the optical fiber tip 3 in advance! 1 By setting the reflected light 5 ("light receiving section () (7 - so that there are no people, that is, the element) 2 or 0) nsI, the detection output from the light receiving section 6 cannot be obtained.

Next, in Figure 3, container 2 is tilted g1 Kadokawa Tonono, c
At this time, the light emitted from the tip 3 of the optical fiber is reflected by the surface of the reflector 7 floating in the liquid 1 as shown by the dotted line in the figure, and the reflected light 5 is the received light. The light enters section 6. The inclination of the container 2 can be determined by detecting the position number of a specific light receiving element at this incident position among the plurality of light receiving elements of the light receiving section 6 using the light detection circuit 8.

this. It is possible to know the inclination of the object to which the container 2 is attached.

In this embodiment, only one plane X (the same plane as the paper plane of the figure) has been described, but the other planes perpendicular to this)' (planes perpendicular to the plane of the figure) can be constructed in the same way. This makes it possible to detect any inclination of the bottom of the container. Furthermore, by increasing the number of light receiving elements in the light receiving section 6, it is possible to detect the tilt angle with even higher accuracy. Further, in this embodiment, the light receiving section 6 is provided only on the upper surface of the container 2, but it may be arranged on the upper side surface.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention includes a container containing a liquid, an optical fiber tip that projects light onto a reflector floating in the liquid, and a light receiving section that receives reflected light from the reflector. This has the effect of providing a tilt sensor with a simple structure, a small number of parts, and high reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are longitudinal cross-sectional views, each not showing the operating state when this embodiment is used. 1...Liquid, 2...Container, 3...Optical fiber/< tip, 4...Light source, 5...Reflected light, 6...Light receiving part, 7...Reflector, 8...Detection circuit, θ・・Inclination angle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A tilt sensor installed on a device or object to detect the amount of tilt thereof includes a container containing a liquid, a liquid contained in the container, a reflector floating on the liquid, and a reflector provided on the side surface of the container. an optical fiber tip attached so that the projected light enters the surface of the reflector; a light source connected to the other end of the optical fiber tip; and a light receiving section having a plurality of light receiving elements that receive reflected light from the reflector according to a relative angle.