07a_LASER_Diameter Measurement_EN
- Daniel Steiner
Diameter Measurement with Laser Cameras
Version 2.2
Date: 27.10.2022
Diameter measurement with iPEK, RICO or RIEZLER cameras
This measuring system consists of a PAN & TILT camera with two built-in lasers sources producing beams that are parallel to each other and symmetric to the view direction. Over the known vertical view angle (or field of view) you can calculate the distance of the camera to the laser dots. If you look perpendicular to the pipe surface and rotate the camera head 360° around the pipe axis a cross section profile of the pipe is going to be created.
For full control of the Parallel Laser camera from the WinCan application you will need the corresponding license, the latest software version (i.e. WinCan VX, 1.2022.13.X) as well as the package dotNet framework 4.0 from Microsoft.
The following camera systems are supported:
iPEK; SVC75
iPEK; SVC100
iPEK; RCX90
iPEK; RCX90 new
iPEK; RCX90 HD
iPEK; PTC50
iPEK; PTP70II
RICO; SR50
RICO; SR100
RICO; SR100 RPP
RICO; SR100 PLUS
RICO; SR100 PLUS V
RIEZLER; RSK-60100
RIEZLER; RCK-115
Configuration in WinCan VX
Hit the command Home > Programm Information and make sure the following features are activated for your license:
Note that the feature Diameter- Deform. Measurement with one laser also includes the control functionalities for the different types of Parallel-Laser cameras.
Hitting the button Parallel-Laser in the OSD panel is going to set the camera to the READY mode.
In case of working with an iPEK camera system the user will have to push the corresponding start button on the iPEK control unit. This is going to activate the laser dots, the camera head automatically rotates and the picture luminosity is reduced to 0%.
In case of working with camera systems from RICO or RIEZLER please contact the corresponding manufacturer for the required hardware control steps.
Measuring procedure
Make sure the camera is switched on and hit the button Parallel-Laser in the OSD-Panel to launch the measurement:
Click on the button SETUP in the status dialogue, select the camera type (1) and the specific configuration (2) used for the measurement:
The message Too many spots will warn you immediately if ever the image is too bright and the laser dots are not flashing up distinctly.
Switch the light off, click on the button Start Scan and the camera starts measuring the diameter:
Once the light is switched off and the image is dark enough the text Waiting (2) will be displayed, otherwise the text Waiting (1) is shown:
The laser dots are now flashing up and the camera head starts rotating. During the rotation a GREEN circle line is constantly drawn by the laser dots:
Finally the result is displayed in a separate dialogue and looks as follows:
The button Save Picture allows the user to save the displayed result as a picture in the JPEG format.
Diameter measurement with RAUSCH cameras
This measuring system consists of a PAN & TILT camera with two built-in lasers sources producing beams that are parallel to each other and symmetric to the view direction. Over the known vertical view angle (or field of view) you can calculate the distance of the camera to the laser dots. If you look perpendicular to the pipe surface and rotate the camera head 360° around the pipe axis a cross section profile of the pipe is going to be created.
For full control of the Parallel Laser camera from the WinCan application you will need the corresponding license, the latest software version (i.e. WinCan VX, 1.2022.13.X) as well as the package dotNet framework 4.0 from Microsoft.
The following camera systems are supported:
RAUSCH; KS60 D
RAUSCH; KS60 HD
RAUSCH; KS135
RAUSCH, KS135 HD
Configuration in WinCan VX
Hit the command Home > Programm Information and make sure the following features are activated for your license:
Note that the feature Diameter- Deform. Measurement with one laser also includes the control functionalities for the different types of Parallel-Laser cameras
Hitting the button Parallel-Laser in the OSD panel is going to set the camera to the READY mode.
Please contact the camera manufacturer RAUSCH regarding the required hardware control steps that may strongly depend on the camera type you currently use.
Measuring procedure
Make sure the camera is switched on and hit the button Parallel-Laser in the OSD-Panel to launch the measurement:
Click on the button SETUP in the status dialogue and select the camera as well as the configuration used for the measurement:
Camera systems from RAUSCH require additional information from a specific reference file that the manufacturer himself must provide together with the camera.
Hit the button Additional Settings (1) and click on Select (2) within the dialogue box that follows in order to browse for the matching reference file (3):
Simultaneously the RAUSCH software PipeCommander is going to run a MACRO shown as a separate icon bar (4) on the computer monitor. Make sure that the number of that MACRO set in brackets corresponds to the number of the COM-port (5) which can be selected within the same dialogue box. Finally hit the OK-button to confirm all settings:
Adjust the camera head to the pipe axis and switch off the light. The message Too many spots (1) will warn you immediately if ever the image is too bright and the laser dots are not flashing up distinctly:
Once the camera head has been centered precisely and the light is switched off you may hit the button Start Scan (2). The scan process is going to be launched automatically at the preferred site as soon as you have defined the corresponding iris value (3):
The text Waiting (2) is telling the user that the scan process has been initialized successfully, otherwise the text Waiting (1) is shown. In the latter case you will have to check whether the video image appears dark enough.
The laser dots are now flashing up and the camera head starts rotating. During the rotation around the horizontal axis, a GREEN circle line is drawn continuously by the laser dots:
In case the laser dots are drifting out of the image during the scan process the camera head must be re-centered and scanning repeated.
Finally the measurement result is displayed in a separate dialogue and looks as follows:
The button Save Picture allows the user to save the displayed result as a picture in the JPEG format.
Diameter measurement with IBAK cameras
In case of working with an IBAK camera system the user will have to push the corresponding start button located in the horizontal/vertical tool bar of the virtual text generator SoftControl.
Program Settings
Launch WinCanVX, hit the command Home > Settings > OSD (1) and select the device IBAK-SoftControl (3). Hitting the gear icon right to the device list box is opening another dialog with further options.
Next click on the Test button (4) to test the communication: The device number should then be highlighted in GREEN:
Create a new project and a new section. Type the pipe diameter into the section fields Diameter and Pipe Width. Confirm these entries and run the measurement via the corresponding control buttons which are located in the SoftControl tool bars.