Field

The present invention relates to an adjustment assembly, and a method related to an adjustment assembly. More particularly, the invention relates to an adjustment assembly and a method for adjusting position and/or level and inclination of a measurement device installed in a bracket.

Background

The applicant provides solutions for measuring position and movement related to sports. For this purpose, a variety of measuring devices are provided for operation in field, that enable obtaining data on position and movement of athletes and sports and/or game media. In many sports, the game medium, such as a ball, a hockey puck or a curling stone primarily moves on the ground. For accurately tracking motion of a game medium moving on the ground, it is beneficial to dispose the measurement device used for tracking as close to the ground as possible or at least at a level at which the game medium moves.

Description of the related art

An adjustment screw in this connection refers to a ball jointed, threaded adjustment screw that may be rotated in two planes. The adjustment screw may be for example a ball jointed levelling foot or a knurled screw with a thrust pad. In the following, words levelling foot and thrust pad are equivalent, and may be used alternatively. Both devices are known to have a threaded stud, in other words a threaded screw, attached or attachable to a levelling foot with a ball joint such that the threaded stud may be rotated and tilted with respect to the thrust pad.

A ball jointed levelling foot, for example one according to Ganter Norm 638 (GN638) is commonly used for example levelling furniture. Designs are available both with a plastic thrust pad, suitable for sensitive surfaces and stainless steel for higher loads and/or aggressive environments. These screws are typically adjustable with hex keys, also known as an Allen Wrench, but may also be designed to be adjustable with various types of screwdrivers.

Knurled screws with movable thrust pad, for example according to Ganter Norm 421.12 (GN421.12) have the same functions as the GN638 but are operated by a plastic thumb screw. A threaded stud is ball jointed to a thrust pad.

A well nut, also called a rubber well nut, a rubnut, rubber nut or rawlnut, is a known fastener when something needs to be connected to a surface. A well nut comprises a threatened metal insert, equivalent to a threaded nut, embedded in a flanged bushing made of a flexible material, such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber such as EPDM, neoprene or like. In a typical well nut, the threatened metal insert is made of brass or steel, but any sufficiently hard metal is applicable. A well nut is not particularly strong but known to be useful for sealing holes and/or for isolating vibration. When used for the traditional purpose of sealing holes, the flange is tightened against a piece being fastened on one side of the piece and the bushing is compressed by the nut, thereby forming a lip behind the piece being fastened, thus sealing the hole.

US 10167996 B2 discloses a base plate and a bracket configured to be variably adjustable relative to the base plate. Each of the at least three adjustment means comprise a head and teeth structure causing the adjustment screw to be rotatable relative to the base plate.

US 2014308063 A1 discloses a base plate and a variably adjustable bracket. One of the through holes in the bracket comprises a ball joint.

US 2015069193 A1 discloses a base plate and a bracket. The assembly has two adjustment means with an adjustment screw comprising a ball joint.

US 5743618 A discloses an adjustment means between a bracket and a nut receiving hole. The nut comprises a flanged bushing. Summary

A bracket refers to any kind of structure configured for suspending at least one measuring device.

Objects of the invention are to provide an apparatus and a method to facilitate positioning/levelling and inclination of a bracket and to use the bracket for suspending a measuring device. The objects of the present invention are achieved with an adjustment assembly according to the claim 1. The objects of the present invention are further achieved with a method according to the claim 9.

The preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.

The present invention is based on the idea of coupling a solid bracket to a solid base plate using at least three adjustment means comprising an adjustment screw and a well nut.

According to a first aspect, an assembly is provided, the assembly comprising a solid base plate configured to be disposed on an underlying surface, the base plate defining a reference plane, a solid bracket configured to be variably adjustable relative to the base plate, wherein the bracket comprises at least three through holes in it and wherein the part/parts of the bracket comprising the at least three through holes define/defines a first plane above the reference plane, and at least three adjustment means for adjustably connecting the base plate and the bracket. Each adjustment means comprises an adjustment screw comprising a ball joint causing the adjustment screw to be rotatable and inclinable relative to the base plate. Each adjustment means further comprises a well nut disposed in one of the through holes of the bracket, the well nut comprising a flanged bushing made of flexible material and a nut embedded in the bushing, wherein, before assembling the bushing in the through hole, outer diameter of the bushing is greater than a diameter of the respective through hole in the bracket such that the outer diameter of the bushing is reduced by the through hole after assembling.

According to a second aspect, the bracket comprises a suspension part configured for suspending a measurement device, such as a laser sensor, and wherein adjusting said at least three adjustment means causes adjusting position and inclination of the first plane relative to the reference plane and simultaneously causes adjusting position and inclination of a suspension plane defined by the suspension part relative to the base plate.

According to a third aspect, the suspension plane is parallel with the first plane, such that adjusting the first plane into horizontal position causes adjusting the suspension plane into horizontal position.

According to a fourth aspect, the suspension part of the bracket is configured to suspend a measurement device on the opposite side of the bracket than the base plate and/or to suspend the measurement device on the same side of the bracket as the base plate.

According to a fifth aspect, the suspension part at least partially extends laterally outside the base plate and the suspension part is configured to suspend the measurement device at least partially in a position that is laterally outside an area determined by the base plate in the reference plane, and wherein the base plate is configured to act as a counterweight for preventing the assembly from being tilted due to weight of the measurement device and/or the suspension part.

According to a sixth aspect, the adjustment screw comprises a thrust pad coupled to the screw part of the adjustment screw with the ball joint, and wherein the thrust pad is fixed to the base plate.

According to a seventh aspect, the thrust pad is fixed to the base plate with a metal fixing part. According to an eighth aspect, a single shape-cut metal fixing part is configured to fix thrust pads of the at least three adjustment screws.

According to a first method aspect, a method for adjusting an assembly is provided. The assembly comprises a solid base plate configured to be disposed on an underlying surface, the base plate defining a reference plane, a solid bracket configured to be variably adjustable relative to the base plate, wherein the bracket comprises at least three through holes in it and wherein the part/parts of the bracket comprising the at least three through holes define/defines a first plane above the reference plane, at least three adjustment means comprising an adjustment screw comprising a ball joint causing the adjustment screw to be rotatable and inclinable relative to the base plate. The method comprises adjustably connecting the base plate and the bracket with the at least three adjustment means. Each of the at least three adjustment means further comprise a well nut disposed in one of the through holes of the bracket. Each well nut comprises a flanged bushing made of flexible material and a nut embedded in the bushing, and before assembling the bushing in the through hole, outer diameter of the bushing is greater than a diameter of the respective through hole such that the outer diameter of the bushing is reduced by the through hole after assembling. The method then comprises adjusting position and inclination of the first plane relative to the reference plane by rotating the adjustment screws.

According to a second method aspect, the bracket comprises a suspension part configured for suspending a measurement device, such as a laser sensor, and said adjusting position and inclination of the first plane relative to the reference plane simultaneously adjusts position and inclination of a suspension plane defined by the suspension part relative to the reference plane.

According to a third method aspect, the suspension plane is parallel with the first plane, such that adjusting the first plane into horizontal position causes adjusting the suspension plane into horizontal position. According to a fourth method aspect, the method further comprises suspending, by the suspension part of the bracket, a measurement device on the opposite side of the bracket than the base plate or on the same side of the bracket as the base plate.

The present invention has several advantages. By using flexible well nuts for coupling the bracket to the adjustment screws, tilting the bracket relative to the base plate does not cause wear out of threads of the adjustment screws and/or the nut, and the flexible bushing even enables improved adjustment range for the levelling. The flexible bushing of the well nut also isolates or damps vibrations from traveling from the base plate to the bracket and to the measurement device. The flexible bushing also stabilizes adjustment settings of the assembly, which is particularly beneficial in case of vibration experienced by and/or via the base plate. The well nuts further reduce risk of harm caused on the measurement device by static electricity, since the flexible material of the well nuts electrically isolates the bracket from the base plate. The adjusting assembly according to the invention is robust and therefore particularly suitable for field use.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following the invention will be described in greater detail, in connection with preferred embodiments, with reference to the attached drawings, in which

Figure la shows a perspective view of an exemplary assembly and figure lb is a cross-section of the same assembly.

Figures 2a shows a perspective view and figure 2b is a cross-section of the exemplary assembly when inclined.

Figure 3 shows a well nut.

Figure 4 illustrates adjustment means. Figure 5 is a side view of an adjustment assembly according to a preferred embodiment.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the adjustment assembly according to the preferred embodiment.

Figure 7 is a top view of the adjustment assembly according to the preferred embodiment.

Figure 8 is a side view of the adjustment assembly with a measurement device.

Figure 9 is a perspective view of the adjustment assembly with a measurement device.

Figure 10 is a perspective view of an alternative adjustment assembly with a measurement device.

Detailed description

The figures la and lb show a simplified example of an assembly according to prior art. Figure la is a perspective view, whereas figure lb illustrates a cross- section of the same assembly.

In this example, two adjustment screws (15) are used for coupling a solid base plate (10) and a solid bracket (20). Adjustment screws (15) are threaded (not shown). The bracket (20) comprises threaded through holes and the adjustment screws (15) traverse through these through holes. The bracket (20) may be leveled relative to the base plate by rotating the adjustment screws (15). In this example, the adjustment screws (15) are of type ball jointed levelling foot. The adjustment screws (15) have in their lower end towards the solid base plate (10) a ball joint (11) that allows the adjustment screws to rotate and incline relative to the base plate (10). In the upper end of the adjustment screw (15), opposite to the ball joint (11), there is a recess (16) fitted for a hex key such that the adjustment screw (15) may be rotated with a hex key when inserted in to the recess (16). The levelling feet are fixed to the base plate (10) using fixing means (13) that disable movement of the levelling feet (12) with respect to the base plate.

For illustration purposes, only two adjustment screws (15) are shown. In such configuration, ball joints of the adjustment screws (15) allow inclining the bracket (20) relative to the solid base plate (10) in one direction without rotating the adjustment screws (15), but such inclination is not controlled with the adjustment screws (15). It is understood by a skilled person, for enabling controlled inclination of the bracket (20) in more than one direction, at least three adjustment screws (15) are needed, that are not arranged in a straight row. Positions of the three adjustment screws (15) would thus form a triangular configuration. In the following, we demonstrate a problem of such prior art arrangement when the adjustment screws (15) are used for levelling the bracket (20). An important measure is the fixed distance (dl) between the two through holes in the bracket, illustrated with a dashed arrow.

Figures 2a and 2b illustrate a problem arising when the adjustment screws (15) in the assembly of figures la and lb are used for inclining the solid bracket (20) with respect to the solid base plate (10). For the inclining operation, the adjustment screws (15) are rotated for tilting the bracket (20) with respect to the base plate (10). Rotating the adjustment screws (15) with mutually different amounts causes also tilting of the adjustment screws (15). While the lower end of the adjustment screws (15) with the ball joint (11) is fixed via a thrust pad (12) fixed to the base plate with fixing means (13), such tilting of the adjustment screws (15) distance (dl) between the adjustment screws (15) in the direction of the base plate (10) remains unchanged, but distance between the adjustment screws (15) along the level defined by the bracket (20) necessarily changes. Since the through holes (23) in the bracket (20) are fixed and cannot move, unwanted forces will immediately affect the threads of the through holes (20) and of the adjustment screws (15), which may in practice disable adjustment beyond a very small amount and/or bend the adjustment screws (15) and/or will eventually wear out the threads in the adjustment screws (15) and/or in the through holes (23).

Various solutions have been used for solving this problem. For example, a plurality of adjustment screws rotating freely in the bracket may be used, i.e. not having any threads in the bracket but only through holes allowing the adjustment screws to move and incline with respect to the bracket. For maintaining tension, each screw has been encircled by a spring extending between the base plate and the bracket. This kind of solution is commonly used in many applications, for example in 3D printers for leveling the printing bed. This solution, however, has its drawbacks. Tension of the spring can cause the levelling setting to gradually change especially due to vibration. This problem may be solved with a locking nut but installing a locking nut in the base plate or in the bracket is tricky, it may require adding washers and/or other additional parts so that the solution adds amount of parts and thus adds cost. Also, using typically electrically conductive locking nuts makes the entire adjustment setup conductive, which may be problematic when using the assembly for sensitive electronics.

The problems of prior art may be deviated by using adjustment means according to the invention, comprising an adjustment screw (15) and a well nut (30).

Figure 3 illustrates a well nut (30) as known in the prior art. The well nut (30) comprises a flanged bushing (31) made of flexible material and a threaded metal insert, i.e. a nut (32), embedded in the bushing (31). The end of the bushing (31) opposite to the flange (33) may optionally be beveled, which facilitates ease of installation of the well nut (30).

Figure 4 schematically illustrates the adjustment means according to the invention. The adjustment screw (15) has threads (not shown) preferably extending over the shaft of the adjustment screw (15) and in its one end a ball joint (11) enabling the adjustment screw (15) to be rotatable and inclinable relative to a thrust pad (12). When the thrust pad (12) is fixed to a base plate (not shown), the adjustment screw (15) is thus also rotatable and inclinable relative to the base plate, but neither the thrust pad (12) nor the ball joint (11) can move horizontally with respect to the base plate.

The well nut (30) is disposed in a through hole of the bracket (20). The through hole does not need to be threaded. Before assembling the bushing (31) of the well nut (30) in the through hole in the bracket (20), outer diameter (d2) of the bushing (31) should be slightly greater than a diameter (d3) of the through hole in the bracket (20) such that the bushing (31) is compressed by the through hole when assembled. Thus, the outer diameter (d2) of the bushing (31) becomes reduced by the through hole when assembled. This increases friction between the bushing (31) and the through hole, that enables the well nut (30) to be held in place even when the adjustment screw (15) is rotated during adjustment operation. As known in the art, the flexible material of the bushing (31) of the well nut (30) may be for example natural or synthetic rubber or neoprene. When installed, the bushing (31) of the well nut (30) is preferably disposed in the through hole of the bracket such that the through hole is located between the flange (31) and the embedded metal nut (32), thus allowing maximum flexibility of the bushing (31) within the through hole.

The adjustment means according to figure 4 may be used to adjust level/height of the bracket (20) relative to a solid base plate, onto which the thrust pad (12) is fixed, by rotating the adjustment screw (15). When a plurality of adjustment means is disposed between the base plate and the bracket (20), both the vertical distance of the bracket (20) and the base plate and inclination of the bracket (20) relative to the base plate may be adjusted. Preferably, three adjustment means are used, installed in a triangular configuration, each adjustment means connecting the base plate (10) and the bracket (20). This enables both the vertical distance and the inclination of the bracket (20) relative to the base plate (10) to be controlled by the adjustment means with minimum amount of parts. Alternatively, four or even more adjustment means may be used for example if additional stability is required. In such case, the configuration of the plurality of adjustment means is preferably polygonal.

Figure 4 shows an adjustment means with ball jointed leveling foot, configured to be turned with a hex key or a screwdriver. This arrangement allows using in practice the entire length of the adjustment screw for adjusting. Alternatively, the adjustment screw may comprise a knurled screw with a movable thrust pad, operated by a plastic thumb screw permanently attached to the screw part. Thus, additional tools are not needed for adjusting operation. However, the plastic thumb screws may act as unnecessary obstacles for the measurement device, or they may limit the adjustment range in comparison to a levelling foot with no fixed thumb screw.

In a typical prior art use, a well nut is intended to be used to seal a bolt hole by compressing the well nut to form a lip behind the piece being fastened while the screw draws the embedded nut towards it. However, in the proposed use according to the invention, no such compression for lip forming is needed nor even enabled. Rather, compression of the bushing (31) of the well nut (30) occurs due to 1) smaller diameter of the through hole than the bushing (31) and 2) inclination of the adjustment screw (15) and the embedded nut relative to the through hole.

Figure 5 illustrates a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention, namely an assembly comprising a base plate (10), a bracket (20) and a plurality of adjustment means as illustrated in the figure 4. Both the base plate (10) and the bracket (20) are preferably solid structures. In this example, the base plate (10) comprises a plurality of mutually attached shape-cut flat metal sheets, but the base plate (10) may comprise just a single metal sheet. Any heavy metal, such as steel, is particularly suitable material for the base plate (10), since it is heavy, and it can be cut to shape for example using laser cutting. Heavy weight is preferred since the base plate (10) thus acts as a counterweight, balancing and stabilizing the assembly.

A single, solid base plate (10) is preferred, which forms a reference plane (54) for the adjustment assembly. Position of the reference plane (54) is defined by the underlying surface (50) on which the base plate (10) rests. Fixing means (13) for fixing the thrust pads (12) is in this embodiment formed as a single shape-cut metal part fixing all three thrust pads (12) and attached to the base plate (10) so that it forms a part of the base plate (10), further adding its weight and thus stability of the assembly. Alternatively, separate fixing means (13) may be provided for fixing at least one thrust pad (12) to the base plate (10).

Parts of the bracket (20) comprising the through holes for the well nuts (30) preferably form an adjustable plane (55) above the reference plane (54), that may be adjusted into horizontal position using the adjustment means. The assembly thus enables adjusting the adjustable plane (55) of the bracket (20) horizontally although the base plate (10) may not be in horizontal position for example due to uneven or sloping underlying surface (50). The bracket (20) is preferably configured to suspend a measurement device. For this purpose, the bracket (20) may comprise at least one measurement device suspension part that forms a suspension plane (55') that is preferably parallel with the adjustable plane (55). When the adjustable plane (55) and the suspension plane (55') are parallel, and the adjustable plane (55) is adjusted horizontally, also the measurement device suspended on the suspension plane (55') defined by the suspension part (21) will be suspended by the bracket in horizontal position.

The measurement device may be attached to the suspension part (21) on the same side of the bracket (20) as the base plate (10), or the measurement device may be attached to the suspension part (21) on the opposite side of the bracket (20) than the base plate (10). By disposing the measurement device (60) on the same side of the bracket (20) as the base plate (10), in other words below the suspension plane (55') of the bracket, the measurement device may be brought very close to the underlying surface. The bracket (21) may further comprise a frame (22) or frames (22) enabling a further device to be suspended by the bracket (20).

Part of the bracket (20), in particular the suspension part (21) may be formed to extend laterally outside the area of the base plate (10) used as the counterweight. Such arrangement is optional, but this further facilitates suspending the measurement device (60) very close to the underlying surface (50). In some embodiments, the base plate (10) may be shaped such that it does not extend between the suspended measurement device (60) and the underlying surface.

Figure 6 shows a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, with three adjustment means (15, 30). Preferably, the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20) has at least one installation hole (23) for attaching a measurement device to the suspension part (21) using for example screws. In this example, there are three installation holes (23). In this example, the base plate (10) extends in the direction of the suspension part (21) of the bracket so that no part of the bracket (20) extends laterally beyond the area defined by outer edges of the base plate (10). This prevents the assembly from tilting even if the measurement device was heavy in comparison to the baseplate and the bracket. For enabling installing a measurement device as close to the underlying surface as possible, the base plate (10) has a hole (66) in it.

Figure 7 shows a top view of the preferred embodiment of the invention, which shows the that the area of the base plate (10) extends laterally beyond that of the bracket (20, 21, 22). This view also shows clearly the triangular placement of the adjustment means (16, 30).

Figure 8 illustrates a side view of the adjustment assembly of figures 5 to 7 in an installation with a measurement device (60) attached to the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20). In this example, the measurement device (60) may be for example a laser scanner, and it is attached below the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20), in other words on the same side of the bracket (20) with the base plate (10), thus enabling disposing the measurement device (50) very close to the underlying surface (50). Instead of the laser scanner, any type of measurement device may be suspended to the suspension part (21). Alternatively, the measurement device may be attached to the suspension part (21) on the opposite side of the bracket (20) than the base plate (10), in other words above the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20), in which case it is further above the underlying surface (50). In addition to the measurement device (60), other equipment, for example a control computer (65) may also be also suspended to the bracket (20). The frame part (22) of the bracket (20) may be specifically designed and utilized for suspending the control computer (65). The control computer (65) may be electrically coupled to the measurement device (60) and used for controlling the measurement device (60), and/or for receiving measurement data from the measurement device (60). The control computer (65) may further provide connections for communicating data from and to external computing devices.

Figure 9 illustrates a perspective view of the adjustment assembly according to the preferred embodiment with a measurement device (60) attached below the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20). The suspension part (21) is preferably flat on both sides, so that suspending the measurement device (60) is possible on either side of the suspension part, depending on the application, and, in particular, depending on the desired measurement level of the measurement device (60). The suspension part (21) may have one or more installation holes (23) for fixing the measurement device (60) to the suspension part (21) for example with screws (not shown). A control computer (65) with electrical and/or optical connections is disposed within the space defined by the frames (22) of the bracket (20). Figure 10 shows a perspective view of an alternative embodiment with a measurement device (60) attached below the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20). The embodiments of figures 9 and 10 differ only by that in this example, the base plate (10) is smaller so that the suspension part (21) of the bracket (20) extends laterally outside the area defined by the base plate (10). Such arrangement reduces risk that the base plate (10) would interfere with the measurement. The base plate (10) shall be heavy enough to act as a counterweight, so that the assembly does not tilt due to weight of the measurement device (60) and the parts of the bracket (20) extending laterally outside the supporting area formed by the base plate (10).

It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that as technology advanced, the basic idea of the invention can be implemented in various ways. The invention and its embodiments are therefore not restricted to the above examples, but they may vary within the scope of the claims.