An error compensation method of laser displacement sensor in the inclined surface measurement

Laser triangulation displacement sensor is an important tool in non-contact displacement measurement which has been widely used in the filed of freeform surface measurement. However, measurement accuracy of such optical sensors is very likely to be influenced by the geometrical shape and face properties of the inspected surfaces. This study presents an error compensation method for the measurement of inclined surfaces using a 1D laser displacement sensor. The effect of the incident angle on the measurement results was investigated by analyzing the laser spot projected on the inclined surface. Both the shape and the light intensity distribution of the spot will be influenced by the incident angle, which lead to the measurement error. As the beam light spot size is different at different measurement position according to Gaussian beam propagating laws, the light spot projectted on the inclinde surface will be an ellipse approximatively. It's important to note that this ellipse isn't full symmetrical because the spot size of Gaussian beam is different at different position. By analyzing the laws of the shape change, the error compensation model can be established. This method is verified through the measurement of an ceramic plane mounted on a high-accuracy 5-axis Mikron UCP 800 Duro milling center. The results show that the method is effective in increasing the measurement accuracy.