JPH0626862A - Apparatus for measuring amount of inclination - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve measuring accuracy by transmitting a pulse every time a moving body is moved by a minute unit, counting the transmitted signals, and measuring the inclined amount of at pendulum as a distance. CONSTITUTION:An apparatus for measuring amount of inclination is constituted of a pendulum 5, which is rotatably supported on a reference plate 3, and a distance measuring means, which measures the inclined amount of the pendulum 5. The distance measuring means measures a swinging amount J of the pendulum 5 as a distance. An inclination angle theta of the pendulum 5 is obtained based on the swinging amount J. The distance measuring means is constitued of the following parts and means and operated as follows. A moving body 10 is supported so that the body can perform linear motion in the turning direction of the pendulum 5. A returning spring 20 returns the moving body 10 to the original position when the moving body 10 is displaced in one direction. A distance-measuring-signal transmitting means 30 transmits a pulse every time the moving body 10 is moved by a minute unit. A reference-position detecting means 40 detects the fact that the moving body 10 has passed a reference point under the moving state with deflecting force. A counting means counts the pulses transmitted from the means 30. A pendulum detecting means 60 detects the arrival of the moving body 10 at the position of the pendulum and stops the counting operation of the counting means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tilt amount measuring device which can be used, for example, when measuring a height difference of rails, that is, a cant value.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various tilt measuring devices have been considered. As an example thereof, a structure in which a lever is attached to a rotary shaft of a potentiometer, a weight is attached to the lever to form a pendulum, and a shake of the pendulum is converted into an electric signal by a potentiometer to display an inclination angle, or Is planting or suspending a weighted lever on the pedestal, attaching a strain detection element such as a strain gauge to the lever, converting the inclination angle of the lever into an electric signal with the strain detection element and displaying the inclination angle on the display. A display structure or the like is considered.

[0003]

However, in the case of the structure in which the rotary shaft of the potentiometer is rotated by the pendulum to obtain the tilt angle, there is a drawback that a minute tilt angle cannot be detected accurately. That is, even if a high-resolution type potentiometer is used, there is a limit in converting the minute rotation amount of the rotating shaft into an electric signal with high accuracy. Further, since the slider is in sliding contact with the resistor inside the potentiometer, there is a frictional resistance there, so that there is a drawback that a relatively large dead zone occurs with respect to the minute inclination angle.

On the other hand, the strain gauge type tilt measuring device is greatly affected by a slight resistance change of the strain gauge and taken out, so that it is greatly affected by temperature fluctuations and the like, and a measure for stable operation is costly. There is.
There is also a drawback that the device becomes bulky. An object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks and to provide a tilt amount measuring device capable of measuring even a minute tilt angle with high resolution and causing no dead zone even in a minute tilt angle range. .

[0005]

The present invention comprises a pendulum and distance measuring means for measuring the tilt amount of the pendulum as a distance. As the distance measuring means, a moving body that moves along the rotation direction of the pendulum, a distance measuring signal transmitting means that emits a pulse each time the moving body moves by a small unit, and that the moving body passes the reference point. By the counting means which detects and starts counting the pulses transmitted by the distance measurement signal transmitting means, and the pendulum detecting means which detects that the moving body has reached the inclined position of the pendulum and stops the counting operation of the counting means. The tilt amount can be displayed on the display unit according to the numerical value counted by the counting means.

According to the present invention, the amount of inclination of the pendulum is measured as the distance by counting the transmission signals of the distance measuring signal transmitting means for transmitting a pulse each time the moving body moves by a minute unit, and thus the minute inclination is obtained. However, it can be measured accurately.

[0007]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, 1 indicates a pedestal. The bracket 2 is supported on the pedestal 1.
The bracket 2 is in the shape of a box with the upper surface open, and the reference plate 3 is attached to the opening surface of the bracket 2. One end side of the reference plate 3 is rotatably supported by a flexible hinge 3A, and the other end side of the reference plate 3 has a zero point adjusting means 4 for adjusting the inclination amount of the reference plate 3.
Is provided. The zero point adjusting means 4 includes a protruding piece 4A provided on the receiving metal fitting 2, a screw 4B penetrating the reference plate 3 and screwed into the protruding piece 4A provided on the receiving metal fitting 2, the reference plate 3 and the protruding piece 4A. And a spring 4C that applies a repulsive force between the two.

An inclination amount measuring device is mounted on the back side of the reference plate 3. The tilt amount measuring device according to the present invention comprises a pendulum 5 which is rotatably supported by the reference plate 3, and a distance measuring means for measuring the tilt amount of the pendulum 5. The distance measuring means measures the shake amount J of the pendulum 5 as a distance, and obtains the tilt angle θ of the pendulum 5, for example, from the shake amount J. The distance measuring means supports a moving body 10 supported so as to be linearly movable in the rotating direction of the pendulum 5, a return spring 20 for returning the moving body 10 to its original position when the moving body 10 is displaced in one direction, and a moving body. The distance measuring signal generating means 30 which emits a pulse each time the body 10 moves by a small amount, and the fact that the body 10 has passed the reference point in a state where the body 10 is moved by the biasing force of the return spring 20 are detected. The reference position detecting means 40, the counting means 50 (see FIG. 3) for counting the pulses transmitted by the distance measurement signal transmitting means 30, and the detection of that the moving body 10 has reached the position of the pendulum 5, and the counting means 5
And a pendulum detecting means 60 for stopping the counting operation of 0.

In this example, the moving body 10 is formed of a prismatic shaft. A pin 11 is embedded in a shaft that constitutes the moving body 10, and a return spring 20 is installed between the pin 11 and the reference plate 3. The distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 includes a rack 31 formed along the moving body 10, a speed increasing gear train 32 that meshes with the rack 31 to increase the moving speed of the rack 31, and a speed increasing gear train 32. The rotating shaft 32A that rotates at a speed increased by the
The disk 33 attached to 2A and rotating, and this disk 33
A large number of through holes 33A formed in the periphery of the
Optical switch means 3 for detecting passage of light and transmitting a pulse
4 and can be configured. This distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 is, for example, 8 when the moving body 10 moves by 1 mm.
The speed increasing ratio of the speed increasing gear train 32 and the number of the through holes 33A formed in the disk 33 can be selected so as to emit 0 pulses. Therefore, in this case, the moving amount of the moving body 10 can be measured with a resolution of 1/80 mm.

The reference position detecting means 40 is an optical switch 41.
And the pin 42 implanted in the moving body 10. When the pin 42 passes the position of the optical switch 41, the pin 42 blocks the light of the optical switch 41,
By cutting off this light, an electric signal is transmitted and the counting means 50
Then, the counting of the pulses transmitted from the distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 is started.

As the counting means 50, an up / down counter can be used. When the reference position detecting means 40 moves by the biasing force of the return spring 20, the moving body 10
When the passage of the pin 42 implanted in the
Set the initial setting value to. When the maximum allowable shake amount of the pendulum 5 is, for example, 5 mm, a numerical value of 5 × 80 is set in the counting means 50 as an initial setting value. The counting means 50 performs the down-count operation from this initial set value.

A pendulum detecting means 60 is mounted on the moving body 10. The pendulum detection means 60 can be composed of an optical switch 61. The pendulum 5 has an L-shaped bent portion 5A at the lower end thereof, and this bent portion 5A is the moving body 1
The movement of 0 passes through the recess 62 of the optical detection switch 61 that constitutes the pendulum detection means 60. This recess 62
As is well known, a light beam is passed through, and when this light beam is blocked by the bent portion 5A, the light receiving element outputs an electric signal to detect the tilted position of the pendulum 5. When the pendulum detecting means 60 detects the tilted position of the pendulum 5, the counting means 5
0 stops the counting operation. If the detected position of the pendulum 5 is a position where the inclination is zero, the count value of the counting means 50 is 0 and the counting operation is stopped.

When the position of the pendulum 5 is still not detected even when the count value becomes 0, the counting means 50 is switched to the up counter and, for example, a minus sign is added to the distance measuring signal transmitting means 3
The pulses of 0 are added and counted. In this way, in the state of FIG. 1, it is configured to be able to measure any inclination to the right and down. Reference numeral 70 denotes an operation knob for starting measurement. The operation knob 70 is rotatably supported by the reference plate 3 and has a spring 71.
For example, a biasing force is applied in the counterclockwise direction. A lever 72 is provided so as to project below the reference plate 3.
When the operation knob 70 is manually rotated in the clockwise direction, the lever 72 engages with the moving body 10 and moves the moving body 10 rightward.

The operation knob 70 is rotated until the optical switch 61 constituting the pendulum detecting means 60 abuts against the support 12 which supports the moving body 10. In this state, the pin 42 passes through the optical switch 41 and is displaced to the position shown by the broken line in FIG. At this time, the pin 11 applies tension to the return spring 20 to accumulate the return force in the return spring 20, and
The leaf spring 81 (see FIG. 2) provided on the side portion is pressed to control the sensor power switch 80 of each portion to the on state. That is, the sensor power switch 80 includes the reference position detection means 40, the distance measurement signal transmission means 30, and the pendulum detection means 60.
Of the optical switches 41, 34, 61 constituting the optical switch, and when the moving body 10 is moved slightly rightward by the operation knob 70, it is turned on. , 34, 61 are turned on, and measurement is possible. When the moving body 10 returns to the original position (left end), the light sources of the optical switches 41, 34, 61 which are automatically turned off are turned off.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the electrical configuration of the tilt amount measuring device of the present invention. Reference numeral 110 in the figure denotes a controller. The controller 110 can be composed of, for example, a microcomputer. The counting means 5 is provided inside the controller 110.
Up / down counter constituting 0 and counting means 50
The calculator 51 for calculating the inclination angle θ from the count value of, the decoder 52 for converting the calculation result into a signal for display, and the output of the decoder 52 are detected to be 0, and the detection output is used to count means. A zero detector 53 for switching the counting operation of 50 from down-counting to up-counting is provided. The output of the decoder 52 is given to the display 54 to display the inclination angle θ or the cant value of the rail.

The main power switch 81 and the optical switches 41, 34, 61 are connected to the input side of the controller 110.
The light source of each of the optical switches 41, 34, 61 is configured so that power is supplied from the sensor power switch 80 only during measurement and a detection signal is output. FIG. 4 shows a flowchart. In step, the main power switch 81 is turned on. In step, the operation knob 70 is rotated to move the moving body 10 to the right. In step, the sensor power switch 80 is turned on. Step operation knob 7
Let go of 0. In step, the pin 42 operates the optical switch 41 to set the initial setting value in the counting means 50. In step, the pulse transmitted from the distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 is counted down by one. In step, it is checked whether the pendulum detecting means 60 has detected the pendulum 5. Pendulum 5
When is not detected, the process branches to step. It is determined whether or not the zero point is detected in the step, and if the zero point is not detected, the process returns to the step, and the pulse output from the distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 is counted down by one pulse. The loop consisting of steps --- is repeated until the post pendulum 5 is detected. When the position of the pendulum 5 is detected in the step, EN
When it becomes D, the sensor power switch 80 is turned off and the process returns to the step to enter the standby state.

On the other hand, 0 is detected in step before detecting the pendulum 5.
When a point is detected, the subsequent loop is step ----
The counting means 50 performs an up-counting operation. When the pendulum 5 is detected during the up-counting operation, the process shifts from step to END, the sensor power switch 80 is turned off, and the process returns to step. With the above operation, the tilt angle or the cant value can be directly read and displayed on the display 54.

Here, the size of the lever of the pendulum 5 is, for example, 3
The number of the through holes 33A formed in the disk 33 constituting the distance measurement signal transmitting means 30 is set to 7.5 per mm, and the number of the through holes 33A is increased so that the disk 33 rotates once every 1 mm of the moving body 10. If the high speed gear train 32 is configured, the resolution of one pulse is 0.0125 mm. If the count value of the counting means 50 is N, tan θ = 0.0125 × N / 37.5
The angle θ can be obtained by

When the cant value of a rail having a gauge of, for example, 1500 mm is directly read and displayed, 1500 / 37.5.
Since = 40, the cant value can be displayed by multiplying the count value N of the counting means 50 by 40. In this case, if the count value is positive, the upper right cant in the state of FIG. 1, and if it is negative, the right downward cant.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the distance measuring means having a structure in which the distance measuring signal is transmitted according to the moving amount of the moving body 10 and the distance measuring signal is counted to measure the distance is used. Therefore, it is not affected by changes in temperature and humidity. However, since the moving amount of the moving body 10 is accelerated and the pulse signal is transmitted by the accelerated disk,
The resolution can be increased and the measurement accuracy can be improved.

Furthermore, since the moving body 10 has passed the reference position, the position of the pendulum 5 is detected, and a portion for generating a pulse from the rotation of the disk is constituted by an optical switch, all the movable portions are not in contact with each other. Becomes Therefore, since it is not affected by the frictional resistance, the dead zone does not occur even in the region of a slight inclination amount. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an advantage that even a small tilt angle can be accurately measured.

Further, since the structure is such that the sensor power switch is turned on only during the measurement, when the battery is used as the power source, the consumption of the battery can be reduced. Therefore, there is an advantage that the battery can be used for a long time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view for explaining an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a plan view of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining the electrical structure of the tilt angle measuring device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 moving body 20 return spring 30 distance measurement signal generating means 40 reference position detecting means 50 counting means 60 pendulum detecting means 70 operation knob

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A. A moving body that accumulates a restoring force in the spring as it is moved to the measurement start point side, and is returned to a predetermined position by this restoring force; A distance measuring signal generating means which is coupled to the moving body, and which outputs a pulse signal each time the moving body moves by a minute unit distance; A reference point detecting unit that detects that the moving body has passed a measurement start point in a state where the moving body is moved by the restoring force of the spring; and D. Counting means for starting counting of the pulses output by the distance measuring signal generating means when the reference point detecting means transmits a measurement start signal; A pendulum detection means that is attached to the moving body and detects that the pendulum passes through an inclined position; By the pendulum detecting means detecting the position of the pendulum, the counting operation of the counting means is stopped, and the controller for controlling the display of the tilt amount of the pendulum by the count value counted by the counting means. The configured tilt amount measuring device. 2. The tilt amount measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the movable body is constituted by a shaft that linearly moves,
The speed-increasing gear train meshes with the rack formed on this shaft, and the speed-increasing gear train rotates the disc at high speed, and a large number of through-holes formed in the disc are detected by optical switches to generate pulses for movement. A distance measuring signal transmitting means for measuring the minute unit movement amount of the body with high resolution is configured, and the pulse transmitted from this distance measuring signal transmitting means is counted by the counting means to measure the moving amount of the moving body, and the pendulum is measured. An inclination amount measuring device configured to measure the inclination amount of the pulse signal corresponding to the number of pulse signals transmitted by the distance measurement signal transmitting means. 3. The tilt amount measuring device according to claim 1, wherein an initial value is set in the counting means when the moving body has passed the reference position, and is gradually calculated every time the moving body moves from the reference position by a minute unit amount. A tilt amount measuring device configured to perform a subtraction operation on a numerical value so that the count value of the counting means becomes zero when passing a point where the tilt amount is zero. 4. The tilt amount measuring device according to claim 1, wherein an initial value is set in the counting means when the moving body passes the reference position, and the counting is performed every time the moving body moves by a minute unit amount from the reference position. Means for performing a subtraction operation so that the count value of the counting means becomes zero when passing through a point where the amount of inclination is zero, and after the count value becomes zero, the counting means is operated until the position of the pendulum is detected. A tilt amount measuring device configured to measure a tilt amount in different positive and negative directions by adding a sign different from that of the subtraction operation. 5. The tilt amount measuring device according to claim 1, wherein when the movable body is displaced to the reference point side, the sensor power switch is turned on in conjunction with this displacement of the movable body to turn on the light source of the optical switch only during measurement. A tilt amount measuring device configured to be turned on.