Topography Measurement for Monitoring Manufacturing Processes in Harsh Conditions

High precision manufacturing, e.g. milling and grinding, which have manufacturing tolerances in the range of <10 μm require microscopic measurement techniques for the inspection of the manufactured components. These measurement techniques are very sensitive to cooling liquids and lubricants which are essential for many manufacturing processes. Therefore, the measurement of the components is usually conducted in separate and clean laboratories and not directly in the manufacturing machine. This approach has some major drawbacks, e.g. high time consumption and no possibility for online process monitoring. In this article, a novel concept for the integration of high precision optical topography measurement systems into the manufacturing machine is introduced and compared to other concepts. The introduced concept uses a reservoir with cooling liquid in which the measurement object is immersed during the measurement. Thereby, measurement disturbance by splashing cooling liquids and lubricants can effectively be avoided.

Improved phase-shifting diffraction interferometer for microsphere topography measurements

In this study, an improved phase-shi^ng diffraction interferometer for measuring the surface topography of a microsphere is developed. A common diode-pumped solid state laser is used as the light source to facilitate ap- paratus realization, and a new polarized optical arrangement is designed to filter the bias light for phase-shifting control. A pinhole diffraction self-calibration method is proposed to eliminate systematic errors introduced by optical elements. The system has an adjustable signal contrast and is suitable for testing the surface with low reflectivity. Finally, a spherical ruby probe of a coordinate measuring machine is used as an example tested by the new phase-shifting diffraction interferometer system and the WYKO scanning white light interferometer for experimental comparison. The measured region presents consistent overall topography features, and the resulting peak-to-valley value of 84.43 nm and RMS value of 18.41 nm are achieved. The average roughness coincides with the manufacturer＇s specification value.

Placido disk-based topography versus high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera for corneal power measurements in keratoconic and post-LASIK eyes：reliability and agreement

AIM：To compare the repeatability/reproducibility of measurement by high-resolution Placido disk-based topography with that of a high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera and assess the agreement between the two instruments in measuring corneal power in eyes with keratoconus and post-laser in situ keratomileusis（LASIK）. METHODS：One eye each of 36 keratoconic patients and 20 subjects who had undergone LASIK was included in this prospective observational study. Two independent examiners worked in a random order to take three measurements of each eye with both instruments. Four parameters were measured on the anterior cornea：steep keratometry（Ks）,flat keratometry（Kf）,mean keratometry（Km）,and astigmatism（Ks-Kf）. Intra-examiner repeatability and inter-examiner reproducibility were evaluated by calculating the within-subject standard deviation（Sw）the coefficient of repeatability（R）,the coefficient of variation（Co V）,and the intraclass correlation coefficient（ICC）. Agreement between instruments was tested with the BlandAltman method by calculating the 95% limits of agreement（95% Lo A）.RESULTS：In keratoconic eyes,the intra-examiner and inter-examiner ICC were 〉0.95. As compared with measurement by high-resolution Placido disk-based topography,the intra-examiner R of the high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera was lower for Kf（0.32 vs 0.88）,Ks（0.61 vs 0.88）,and Km（0.32 vs 0.84）but higher for Ks-Kf（0.70 vs 0.57）. Inter-examiner R values were lower for all parameters measured using the high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera. The 95% Lo A were-1.28 to ＋0.55 for Kf,-1.36 to ＋0.99 for Ks,-1.08 to ＋0.50 for Km,and-1.11 to ＋1.48 for Ks-Kf. In the post-LASIK eyes,the intra-examiner andinter-examiner ICC were 〉0.87 for all parameters. The intra-examiner and inter-examiner R were lower for all parameters measured using the high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera. The intra-examiner R was 0.17 vs 0.88 for Kf,0.21 vs 0.88 for Ks,0.17 vs 0.86 for Km,and 0.28 vs 0.33 for Ks-Kf. The inter-examiner R was 0.09 vs 0.64 for Kf,0.15 vs 0.56 for Ks,0.09 vs 0.59 for Km,and 0.18 vs 0.23 for Ks-Kf. The 95% Lo A were-0.54 to ＋0.58 for Kf,-0.51 to ＋0.53 for Ks and Km,and-0.28 to ＋0.27 for Ks-Kf. CONCLUSION：As compared with Placido disk-based topography,the high-resolution rotating Scheimpflug camera provides more repeatable and reproducible measurements of Ks,Kf and Ks in keratoconic and post-LASIK eyes. Agreement between instruments is fair in keratoconus and very good in post-LASIK eyes.

COMPACT PHASE GRATING INTERFERENCE SENSOR FOR MICRO-DISPLACEMENT

On the basis of existing techniques, a compact micro-displacement sensor of phase grating interference （PGI） is described, which adopts cylindrical hologram diffraction grating as the calibration standard. The optical principle of the sensor is explained, and the relation between the grating motion displacement and the phase shift of interference stripes is deduced. The improvement of the integral structure and the method of photoelectric signal processing are described in detail. With the software system based on the virtual instrument development platform Labwindows/CVI and other hardwares such as the precision displacement worktable, the surfaces of typical parts are measured and the characterization results are given. The sensor has wide measuring range and high resolution, its sensitivity and resolution being independent of the wavelength of the incident light. The vertical measuring range is 0-6 mm, and the vertical resolution is 0.005μm. The experimental results show that the sensor can be used to measure and characterize the surface topography parameters of the plane and curved surface.