Innovative Optical Rotary Encoder Design: Z-Streams, Phased-Array

The most basic optical rotary encoder design has certain limits in signal stability and count methodology because it is limited to only a couple of signal outputs. The basic A/B signal is not the limit of optical rotary encoder design. Innovation for both incremental and absolute encoders allows optical engines to be highly accurate and to perform better in more extreme environments:

• For incremental encoders, a rotary optical engine requires some kind of external method to provide a baseline or index. This can be done by adding a track which only outputs a signal once every rotation, which provides the index marker.
• To limit susceptibility to shock or vibration, a phased-array optical rotary encoder averages multiple signals for a single output.
• For absolute encoders, multiple gears and sensors can be used in a single optical rotary encoder. Using multi-turn printed circuit boards and gear train keeps a perpetual count of the shaft rotation, and each gear keeps its own absolute position. This provides an exceptionally high level of accuracy for an absolute optical rotary encoder – up to 4 million counts per revolution

Previous： About Rotary Encoder

Next： How to exclude whether the encoder breakdown？