US Patent 7199880 Method and apparatus for optically scanning a vehicle wheel

A method and apparatus for scanning a vehicle wheel rotatable about a measuring shaft of a wheel balancing machine. A light source scans the vehicle wheel by emitting a light beam onto the wheel surface, which is reflected and received by a receiver 11. The light source and the receiver are configured to move together with each other. An evaluation device is coupled to the receiver and a position sensor specifying the positions of the light source and the receiver. The evaluation device ascertains dimensions and positions of constituent parts of the vehicle wheel in a computer-aided procedure based on data obtained by the scanning process.