Optical positional encoder comprising immediately adjacent detectors
First Claim
1. An optical encoder for indicating the rotational movement of a shaft, comprising:
- an emitter means for emitting a light beam along a light path;
a light modulation means concentrically attached to the shaft and placed in the light path for modulating the light beam in response to the rotation of the shaft; and
a detector means, positioned in the light path, for detecting said modulated light beam with individual light detectors located immediately adjacent to one another and for generating more than one output signal in response to the rotation of the shaft wherein the output signals have substantially the same shape and are delayed from each other by approximately integer multiples of 360°
divided by the number of signals.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An optical shaft encoder has a light detector configuration that includes the function of a phase plate. The light detectors are one-half the width of a code wheel transmissive section and are arranged in groups of four so that each group corresponds to one pitch of the code wheel. The light detectors are interdigitated such that they are adjacent to one another and receive information from two channels. One light beam illuminates the four light detectors producing four electrical signals. The physical layout of the light detectors causes the output signals to be phase shifted 90° from each other. These signals are combined electronically in pairs forming quadrature push pull signals.
125 Citations
47 Claims
-
1. An optical encoder for indicating the rotational movement of a shaft, comprising:
-
an emitter means for emitting a light beam along a light path; a light modulation means concentrically attached to the shaft and placed in the light path for modulating the light beam in response to the rotation of the shaft; and a detector means, positioned in the light path, for detecting said modulated light beam with individual light detectors located immediately adjacent to one another and for generating more than one output signal in response to the rotation of the shaft wherein the output signals have substantially the same shape and are delayed from each other by approximately integer multiples of 360°
divided by the number of signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An optical encoder for indicating the rotational movement of a shaft, comprising:
-
an emitter means for emitting a light beam along a light path; a light modulation means concentrically attached to the shaft and placed in the light path for modulating the light beam in response to the rotation of the shaft; and a detector means, positioned in the light path, for receiving the modulated light beam with individual light detectors located immediately adjacent to one another and for generating index signals that reach their extreme amplitude at least once during each revolution of the shaft. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. An optical encoder for indicating an object'"'"'s movement along a route, comprising:
-
an emitter means for emitting a light beam along a light path; a light modulation means located next to the emitter means and in the light path for modulating the light beam in response to the object'"'"'s movement along the route; and a detector means, positioned in the light path, for receiving the modulated light beam with individual light detectors located immediately adjacent to one another and for generating more than one signal in response to the object'"'"'s movement along the route wherein the signals have substantially the same shape and are delayed from each other by approximately integer multiples of 360°
divided by the number of signals. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. An optical encoder for indicating an object'"'"'s movement along a route, comprising:
-
an emitter means for emitting a light beam along a light path; a light modulation means located next to the emitter means and in the light path for modulating the light beam in response to the object'"'"'s movement along a route; and a detector means, positioned in the light path, for receiving the modulated light beam with detectors located immediately adjacent to one another and for generating index signals that reach their extreme amplitude at least once during each excursion across the route. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
-
Specification