Design of an Imaging Optical System for Large-Sized Stepped Shaft Diameter Detection

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1. The authors do not sufficiently explain what the limitations of competing measurement methods are.
2. The authors should clearly indicate what the novelty of the method presented is.
3. Are the results presented based on calculations and simulations only?
4. Has the system been built and tested? Has a prototype been built to allow practical verification of the parameters?

1. The next steps in project development are presented. There is no precise definition of the project assumptions.
2. Does the work represent the optimisation process of a specific instrument?
3. No explanation of why the measurement range is limited to 600-800mm?
4. Are there any other limitations?
5. Must CCD sensors be used?
6. Is it possible to use other matrix sensors (e.g. CMOS)?
7. Can matrix detectors of other sizes be used?
8. Is it possible to adapt the system to measure a different diameter range?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I am very sorry for making you wait for so long, as there are many things to handle during the upcoming graduation season. First of all, thank you very much for your high appreciation of our article, which is a great encouragement for me. In our initial draft, after your review, you provided 12 suggestions, each of which is extremely important for this article and can make our draft more perfect. Thank you very much for taking the time to evaluate our manuscript so carefully. Each of your comments will be addressed below and incorporated into the manuscript. Changes in the manuscript will be highlighted in yellow font. Thank you!

Best regards,

Jiyu Li

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

In this manuscript authors use imaging system with dual telecentric optical system and  dual CCD camera for imaging  and measurements  of large sized step shaft dimensions.  I recommend it for publication in Applied Sciences, after the following comments and suggestions are taken into account in the new version.

In the Introduction, references for discussed optical imaging methods for measuring large diameter, are missing. Reference to Luo Chunhua et al., when was first mentioned is missing.

What was done for improving the system in Fig. 2, and this improvement was in respect to whish system? One that is described in the theses, Ref 20?

What was used as the light source in the model?

What type of error compensation was achieved by a flat mirror? 

The system is for detecting large-sized stepped shafts (between 600mm and 800mm,  why then 820 mm was used for calculation of the object-side linear field of view..

What is the \Lambda in Eq. 5?

Figure 3 a) Identify elements in the schematic, b) explain and discus spot diagram.  The same comments apply to Fig 4.

II is required that the Airy disk size should be of the size of the pixel size,  but in 3.1 Airy disc was larger than the pixel size. We can see later, when the Airy disc of the whole system was calculated, that indeed it is smaller than the CCF pixel. Pls comment on this. 

Fig 5b:  How MTF for the system was calculated? From calculated MTF of optical elements? Was this result used to determine the final combination of optical elements in the system? 

It is unusual to compare results with apparently not yet published results from the PhD theses. The theses results are not mentioned in the introduction, and we don’t know what was changed in the system described in the manuscript in respect the system in the theses. It would be acceptable to give a few respected theses results (no Table) in the Introduction, and authors understanding as how these drawbacks of the old system can be improved by the new system Introduction.   

The results of the manuscript should instead be compared to the results from apparently a benchmark in the field, the Ref 5.

No comment.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I am very sorry for making you wait for so long, as there are many things to handle during the upcoming graduation season. First of all, thank you very much for your high appreciation of our article, which is a great encouragement for me. In our initial draft, after your review, you provided 10 suggestions, each of which is extremely important for this article and can make our draft more perfect. Thank you very much for taking the time to evaluate our manuscript so carefully. Each of your comments will be addressed below and incorporated into the manuscript. Changes in the manuscript will be highlighted in yellow font. Thank you!

Best regards,

Jiyu Li

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf