A three-dimensional measuring device includes a ball-shaped structure, an X-axis measuring module, a Y-axis measuring module and a Z-axis measuring module. The ball-shaped structure is moved and/or rotated in response to a movement of a movable object. The X-axis measuring module includes a first measuring structure and a first position sensor. The first measuring structure is movable along an X-axis direction and contacted with the ball-shaped structure. The Y-axis measuring module includes a second measuring structure and a second position sensor. The second measuring structure is movable along a Y-axis direction and contacted with the ball-shaped structure. The Z-axis measuring module includes a third measuring structure and a third position sensor. The third measuring structure is movable along a Z-axis direction and contacted with the ball-shaped structure.

A wall-climbing robot for measuring capacity of vertical metal tanks includes a robot body including a chassis, a casing, and wheels. The robot body further includes: an attraction unit including a plurality of magnets; a measurement unit including a bendable ruler provided on the chassis and protruding from a top of the casing; the rust removal unit including a rust removing bucket provided at a front side of the robot body, and a driver for the lifting and lowering of the rust removing bucket; and a control unit including a microcontroller, a posture detector, an obstacle detector, an attraction detector, and a distance sensor. The wall-climbing robot of the present invention leaves no indentation on a surface of the metal tank, and is not affected by the rusts formed on the surface.

The disclosed invention describes a method for determining a current state of a gas cell in an airship, particularly the lift. A computing device receives depth measurements of the interior of the gas cell using a lidar sensor positioned outside the cell and uses these depth measurements to create a mesh, segment a space within the mesh into geometric shapes, calculate the volume of the shapes, and use the calculated volume to estimate the total volume of the space within the mesh, representing the volume of gas within the gas cell. The computing device then uses the estimated volume to calculate the lift of the gas cell and sends the calculated lift to a control module of the airship.

A sensing device for measuring an offset along a longitudinal axis comprises a housing including a plurality of slots, two or more arrays of optical sensors aligned along the longitudinal axis, at least one of the arrays being offset along the longitudinal axis with respect to the other arrays and a microcontroller coupled to the two or more arrays of optical sensors and configured to determine a positional offset along the longitudinal axis at which light is detected by at least one of arrays of optical sensors. In some embodiments, each of the optical sensors of the arrays are positioned within the housing underneath one of the plurality of slots to reduce an angle of incidence of radiation received.

A self-calibrating system, apparatus, and method for accurately measuring a volumetric capacity of a tank. The system, apparatus and method comprise: a mechanism that adjusts a level of a platform; a light-emitting device with beam-like optics (laser, diode, etc.) mounted to the platform; mechanism for adjusting alignment of the light-emitting device with respect to the platform; a mechanism for rotating the platform by variable angles, including by 180-degrees; one or more level sensors (such as, for example, spirit levels, tilt sensors, or other devices) that provide feedback on the alignment of the platform normal to the gravity vector.

A self-calibrating system, apparatus, and method for accurately measuring a volumetric capacity of a tank. The system, apparatus and method comprise: a mechanism that adjusts a level of a platform; a light-emitting device with beam-like optics (laser, diode, etc.) mounted to the platform; mechanism for adjusting alignment of the light-emitting device with respect to the platform; a mechanism for rotating the platform by variable angles, including by 180-degrees; one or more level sensors (such as, for example, spirit levels, tilt sensors, or other devices) that provide feedback on the alignment of the platform normal to the gravity vector.

Tubular stretch correction for different operational conditions is applied to determine tubular wear volume. The tubular stretch correction is applied as a function of a stretch factor comprising a varying shift factor, axial load on the tubular string, pressure effects on the tubular string, buckling of the tubular string and/or temperature effects on the tubular string. Stretch factors are taken into account to determine the correct position of wear factors along the casing string, which are ultimately used to determine the casing wear volume.

A method of determining the volume of organic material in a composting device includes rotating a mixing paddle in a composting bin that stores the organic material; monitoring the torque from a motor that rotates the mixing paddle as the mixing paddle rotates; and determining the height of the organic material in the composting bin based on the motor torque and the angular displacement of the mixing paddle. The resulting height can be used to determine the volume of the organic material.

A system and method is disclosed for measuring the dimensions of physical objects. The systems and methods include a measuring instrument of significant length comprising an array of patch antennas arranged along the length of an elongate substrate such that the antenna array expands and contracts with the substrate. The system also includes a diagnostic computing device for measuring the array's electrical properties including resonance frequency and changes in said properties relative to reference electrical properties that correspond to a reference length of the array and substrate. Accordingly, based on the measured changes in electrical properties and the reference length, the diagnostic system can calculate the current length of the measuring instrument. Accordingly, the disclosed systems and methods can provide self-calibrating measuring systems and measuring systems capable of being deployed onto a structure for periodically calibrating the structure's dimensions as it expands or contracts during operation.

The disclosed invention describes a method for determining a lift of a gas cell of an airship. A computing device receives depth measurements of an interior surface of the gas cell comprising a lifting gas using a lidar sensor positioned outside at the top of the gas cell. The computing device performs a particular integration on the depth measurements and estimates a volume of the gas cell based on performing the particular integration. The computing device determines the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas using estimated volume of the gas cell. The computing device sends the lift of the gas cell comprising the lifting gas to a control module of the airship.