Inductive type incremental angular position transducer and rotary motion encoder having once-around index pulse
First Claim
1. A rotary encoder comprising:
- a stator having at least one conductive pattern on one side thereof;
a rotor having another conductive pattern on one side thereof which faces said at least one conductive pattern of said stator; and
means for inductively coupling said another conductive pattern on said rotor to said at least one conductive pattern on said stator so as to generate an output signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor to said stator;
wherein said means for inductively coupling includes processing means for receiving at least an induced signal from said another conductive pattern on said rotor and generating said output signal, at least said processing means being located on a side of said stator opposite from said at least one conductive pattern.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An inductive-type rotary encoder includes a stator having at least one conductive pattern on one side thereof, and a rotor having another conductive pattern on one side thereof which faces the at least one conductive pattern of the stator. The conductive patterns are inductively coupled to one another so as to generate an output signal indicative of the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator. In order to reduce the overall size and number of parts required, the circuitry for energizing the stator conductive pattern(s) and for generating the output signal can be provided on a printed circuit board, the opposite side of which contains the at least one stator conductive pattern. In order to reduce noise as well as to reduce the first harmonic error, lead lines for attaching the stator and rotor conductive patterns to the controlling circuitry and a return line which extends along substantially the entire length of the rotor or stator conductive patterns and attaches to one of the lead lines are provided and specially located relative to undulations of the conductive patterns. Additionally, the length of spokes which define undulations of the respective rotor and stator conductive patterns can be controlled to improve the performance of the rotary encoder. A rotary encoder including inductively coupled rotor and stator conductive patterns for generating a relative angular position (or rotary speed) of the rotor relative to the staator, as well as stator and rotor index pulse patterns inductively coupled for generating an index pulse once per revolution of the rotor relative to the stator is also provided.
55 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A rotary encoder comprising:
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a stator having at least one conductive pattern on one side thereof; a rotor having another conductive pattern on one side thereof which faces said at least one conductive pattern of said stator; and means for inductively coupling said another conductive pattern on said rotor to said at least one conductive pattern on said stator so as to generate an output signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor to said stator; wherein said means for inductively coupling includes processing means for receiving at least an induced signal from said another conductive pattern on said rotor and generating said output signal, at least said processing means being located on a side of said stator opposite from said at least one conductive pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A rotary encoder comprising:
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a stator having at least one conductive pattern on one side thereof; a rotor having another conductive pattern on one side thereof which faces said at least one conductive pattern of said stator; and means for inductively coupling said another conductive pattern on said rotor to said at least one conductive pattern on said stator so as to generate an output signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor to said stator; wherein said at least one pattern and said another pattern are annular in shape and each include two lead lines for attachment to circuitry of said means for inductively coupling, all of said lead lines on said stator extending in one of the directions of radially outwardly and radially inwardly of said at least one conductive pattern, while all of said lead lines on said rotor extend in a direction opposite from the lead lines on said stator. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A rotary encoder comprising:
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a stator having at least one conductive pattern on one side thereof; a rotor having another conductive pattern on one side thereof which faces said at least one conductive pattern of said stator; and means for inductively coupling said another conductive pattern on said rotor to said at least one conductive pattern on said stator so as to generate an output signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor to said stator; wherein each of said at least one conductive pattern and said another conductive pattern; i) is annular in shape, extends less than 360°
around said stator and rotor, respectively, and has a length, measured along a circumference of its annular shape, with two ends; andii) includes a first lead, attached at one end thereof, and a return line attached at an opposite end thereof which extends back along said length to an area adjacent to said first lead, terminating at a second lead;
wherein the return line on said rotor extends around one of an inner and outer periphery of said another conductive pattern, while the return line on said stator extends around the other of the inner and outer periphery of said at least one conductive pattern. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A rotary motion encoder comprising:
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a stator having first and second conductive patterns on one side thereof and a first index pulse pattern radially spaced from said first and second conductive patterns; a rotor rotatable relative to said stator and having a third conductive pattern facing said first and second conductive patterns and a second index pulse pattern facing said first index pulse pattern, said second index pulse pattern being radially spaced from said third conductive pattern; means for inductively coupling said third conductive pattern with said first and second conductive patterns to determine the relative angular positions of said rotor relative to said stator; and means of inductively coupling said first and second index pulse patterns to generate an index pulse once per revolution of said rotor relative to said stator when inductive coupling between said first and second index pulse patterns is maximum.
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Specification