A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING THE INCLINATION ANGLE OF A PILE OF A POWDERY OR GRANULAR MATERIAL

摘要

By the side of a powdery or granular material stacked in a conical pile on a horizontal surface, a sensor that emits sensor light and, by receiving light reflected from a spot illuminated by the sensor light, detects the distance to the pil e of the powdery or granular material is placed with the optical axis of the sensor l ight horizontal. While the sensor is moved in a horizontal direction perpendicula r to the optical axis of the sensor light, the distance to each of a plurality of measurement points arranged horizontally at regular intervals along a line t hat runs on said pile of the powdery or granular material so as to face the move ment path of the sensor. This step is performed every time the sensor is moved vertically a predetermined distance at a time. In each session of the step, a point is extracted that is closest to the sensor, and a function describing a stra ight line approximating the curve through all of the thus extracted points is determin ed by the least-squares method. Then, the angle of this straight line with respect to a horizontal plane is determined.