Automatic Device For Plotting Profiles Of Hydraulic Models

A novel optical probe is used as the sensor of an automatic hydraulic model contour follower. The sensor consists of a light source, a split lightpipe, and a photodiode. With an electromechanical servo system the probe is kept at a fixed, small distance from the contour to be measured. As the servo driven probe assembly is moved across the model to be measured, output signals proportional to the horizontal and vertical displacements are fed into an X-Y plotter, thus producing a profile of the model. The accuracy is better than 1/32″ (0.80101).