Using laser triangulation, the laser light which will be scattered at the surface of the measurement object is evaluated. The scattering characteristics of technical surfaces can be very different. There are bright, matt nearly perfect scattering surfaces as weel as high-gloss finished nearly reflective surfaces which reflect the irradiated laser light nearly completely. Only a small part of the irradiated light will be scattered on the surface and may therefore be used for the measurement.
The sensor adjusts itself automatically to the scattering characteristics of the surface. For this purpose, the duration and intensity of the laser pulses will be optimized on each measuring cycle.
The sensor is able to compensate changes of the received light energy at a ratio of 640,000 : 1. This corresponds to a dynamic range of more than 115 dB.