Position control arrangement, especially for a surveying instrument, and a surveying instrument
First Claim
1. An apparatus for controlling angular movement of a movable unit between an existing angular position and a desired angular position, comprisingan electric direct drive motor adapted to rotate said movable unit, said motor having a shaft defining an axis of rotation of the movable unit and being selectively operable in one of a normal mode for rotating said movable unit to a desired position and a friction mode permitting incident force to rotate said movable unit from said desired position to a new position;
- a mode control unit to enable said friction mode of said motor upon the application of said incident force; and
a friction control unit connected to said motor in said friction mode, and disconnected from said motor in said normal mode.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a position control arrangement for controlling the rotational position of a movable unit, especially for a surveying instrument, an electric motor is arranged to rotate the movable unit around an axis of rotation, and there are controllers for enabling the motor to stop the movable unit in a desired rotational position. The motor is a direct drive motor, the shaft of which forms the axis of rotation for the movable unit, and the motor is arranged to selectively operate in either a first, normal mode for rotating the movable unit to a desired position, or in a second, friction mode for providing resistance to a forced rotation of the movable unit from a predetermined position to a new position. A control unit detects the presence of a forced rotation and automatically changes the mode of operation in response thereto.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. An apparatus for controlling angular movement of a movable unit between an existing angular position and a desired angular position, comprising
an electric direct drive motor adapted to rotate said movable unit, said motor having a shaft defining an axis of rotation of the movable unit and being selectively operable in one of a normal mode for rotating said movable unit to a desired position and a friction mode permitting incident force to rotate said movable unit from said desired position to a new position; -
a mode control unit to enable said friction mode of said motor upon the application of said incident force; and a friction control unit connected to said motor in said friction mode, and disconnected from said motor in said normal mode. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A controller for controlling a direct drive motor having a rotating shaft, the controller comprising:
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input means for receiving an intended rotational position of said rotating shaft of said motor; position detecting means for detecting an actual rotational position of said rotating shaft; control means for controlling said rotating shaft to rotate from said actual rotational position of said rotating shaft to said intended rotational position of said rotating shaft; and friction control means for causing said motor to produce a torque resisting a manually forced rotation of said rotating shaft while said rotating shaft is manually rotated to a new rotational position, wherein said control means automatically connects said motor to said friction control means in response to a detection of said manually forced rotation of said rotating shaft to said new position, and automatically disconnects said motor from said friction control means when said new rotational position is reached.
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5. An apparatus for controlling rotational position of a movable unit about an axis of rotation, comprising:
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a motor for controllably applying torque to move the movable unit about the axis; a position detector to detect actual rotational position of the movable unit; a control circuit for selectively operating the motor in one of a normal mode and a friction mode, wherein (1) in the normal mode the control circuit is responsive to a difference between actual rotation position and an intended rotational position of the movable unit for controlling the motor to rotate the movable unit to the intended rotational position, and (2) in the friction mode the control circuit controls the motor to apply a torque resisting change of rotational position of the movable unit while permitting incident force to rotate the movable unit. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A survey instrument comprising:
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a housing; a movable unit rotatable back and forth around a first axis relative to said housing, and including survey optical equipment; and a first position control system for controlling the angular position of said movable unit, said first position control system comprising a first motor to rotate said movable unit about said one axis and a control circuit selectively to operate said first motor in one of a normal mode, in which said first motor rotates said movable unit to a desired position, and a friction mode in which said first motor applies a torque to said movable unit resisting change of angular position of said movable unit caused by incident force while permitting incident force to rotate said movable unit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification