REAL TIME NON-CONTACT OPTICAL SURFACE MOTION MONITOR

OPTRA HAS PREVIOUSLY DEMONSTRATED THAT IN-PLANE SURFACE MOTIONS OF A NON-COOPERATIVE OBJECT CAN BE MEASURED REMOTELYAND PRECISELY BY A 2-FREQUENCY HENE LASER PROBE. OPTRA PROPOSES TO FURTHER RESEARCH THIS TECHNIQUE FOR THE REAL-TIME MONITORING OF VERY HIGH SURFACE VELOCITIES AND MOTIONS AS FOUND IN MANY INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES AS EXEMPLIFIEDBY A HIGH SPEED CONTINOUS CASTING STEEL ROLLING MILL. IF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SUCCESSFUL, THE TECHNIQUE WOULD BE PARTICULARY ATTRACTIVE SINCE; (1) THE MEASUREMENT IS NON-CONTECT AND ALLOWS FOR LARGE WORKING DISTANCES BETWEEN PROBE AND OBJECT SURFACE, (2) THE MEASUREMENT IS NOT AFFECTED BY RADIATION EMITTED BY SURFACES AT HIGH TEMPERATURES AND (3) SINCE THE PROBE HEAD CAN BE MADE WHOLLY PASSIVE THROUGH USE OF A FIBER OPTIC LINK, AND CONSTRUCTED FROM HIGH TEMPERATURE MATERIALS, IT SHOULD BE WELL-SUITED FOR OPERATION IN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS. ALSO SINCE THE MEASUREMENT IS RAPID, THE SENSOR WILL ALLOW FOR REAL-TIME PROCESS CONTROL WHICH COULD LEAD TO IMPROVED PRODUCTION YIELDS AND A REDUCTION IN ENERGY CONSUMPTION.