Scribd
Upload
418 views9 pages

Auto-Collimator and Its Application For Angle Measurement

An autocollimator is an optical instrument used to measure small angles through non-contact means. It works by projecting a beam of collimated light onto an external reflector, which reflects the beam back into the autocollimator. The autocollimator then measures any deviations between the emitted and reflected beams, allowing it to determine the angle of the reflector to very high precision. Autocollimators have a variety of applications, including precision alignment of components, angular measurement and monitoring, verification of angle standards, and measurement of straightness, flatness, and other angular attributes.

Uploaded by

Moula Moulali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
418 views9 pages

Auto-Collimator and Its Application For Angle Measurement

An autocollimator is an optical instrument used to measure small angles through non-contact means. It works by projecting a beam of collimated light onto an external reflector, which reflects the beam back into the autocollimator. The autocollimator then measures any deviations between the emitted and reflected beams, allowing it to determine the angle of the reflector to very high precision. Autocollimators have a variety of applications, including precision alignment of components, angular measurement and monitoring, verification of angle standards, and measurement of straightness, flatness, and other angular attributes.

Uploaded by

Moula Moulali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Auto-Collimator and its application for angle

measurement

Submitted by:
P. MOWLALI
17695A0352
4th year,1st sem
D section
INTRODUCTION
• An autocollimator is an optical instrument for non-contact measurement of
angles.
• They are typically used to align components and measure deflections in
optical or mechanical systems.
• An autocollimator works by projecting an image onto a target mirror and
measuring the deflection of the returned image against a scale, either visually
or by means of an electronic detector.
• A visual autocollimator can measure angles as small as 1 arc-second (4.85
micro-radians), while an electronic autocollimator can have up to 100 times
more resolution.
Principle of Auto-collimator
The principle on which this instrument works is given below:
• O is a point source of light placed at the principal focus of a collimating lens in Fig. 8.30. The
rays of light from O incident on the lens will now travel as a parallel beam of light. If this
beam now strikes a plane reflector which is normal to the optical axis, it will be reflected back
along its own path and focussed at the same point O.
• If the plane reflector be now tilted through a small angle 9, [Refer Fig. 8.31] then parallel
beam will be deflected through twice this angle, and will be brought to focus at O’ in the
same plane at a distance x from O. Obviously 00′ = x= 26. f, where f’\s the focal length of the
lens.
• There are certain important points to appreciate here :The position of the final image does
not depend upon the distance of reflector from the lens, i.e. separation x is independent of
the position of reflector from the lens. But if reflectoris moved too much back then reflected
rays will completely miss the lens and no image will be formed.
• Thus for full range of readings of instrument to be used, the maximum remoteness of the
reflector is limited. For high sensitivity, i.e. for large value of a; for a small angular deviation 8,
a long focal length is required.
fig.8.30.Principle of Auto-collimator
Working of Auto-collimator
• A cross line target graticule is positioned at the focal plane of telescope objective. when the
target graticule is illuminated rays of light diverging from the intersection point reach the
objective via beam splitter and are projected from objective as parallel.
• In this mode the optical system works as collimator. A flat reflector placed in front of objective
and normal to the optical axis reflects parallel light back along their original paths.They are
then brought to focus in the plane of target graticule and exactly coincident with its
intersection.
• A proportion of the returned light passes straight through the beam splitter and the return
image of the target crossline is therefore visible through the eyepiece thus operating as
telescope focussed at infinity.If the reflector is tilted for an angle, the reflected rays reflect
twice the angle of tilt and are brought to focus in the plane of the target graticule but linearly
displaced from the actual target by 2*(angle of tilt)*focal length. The linear displacement of
the graticule image is measured by an eyepiece graticule , optical micrometer or electronic
detector system , scaled directly in angular units. Auto-collimator responds only to reflector
tilt. Focal length and the effective aperture are the factorsdetermines the basic sensitivity and
angular measuringrange.
fig.Working of Auto collimator
Autocollimator
• An autocollimator is an optical instrument that is used to measure small angles with very high
sensitivity.
• As such, the autocollimator has a wide variety of applications including precision alignment,
detection of angular movement, verification of angle standards, and angular monitoring over
long periods.

Principles of Operation
• The autocollimator projects a beam of collimated light. An external reflector reflects all or part
of the beam back into the instrument where the beam is focused and detected by a
photodetector.
• The autocollimator measures the deviation between the emitted beam and the reflected
beam. Because the autocollimator uses light to measure angles, it never comes into contact
with the test surface.
Applications

• Measurement of small angular differences. For small angular measurements, autocollimator


provides a very sensitive and accurate approach.
• Auto-collimator is essentially an infinity telescope and a collimator combined into one
instrument.
• Measurement of straightness and flatness.
• Precise angular indexing in conjuction with polygons.
• Comparative measurement using master angles.
• Assessment of squareness and parallelism of components.
• Measurement of small linear dimensions
THANK
YOU

You might also like