What is an incremental rotary encoder?

The incremental encoder provides a certain number of pulses for each rotation of the shaft.

Periodic measurements or pulse counts per unit time can be used to measure the speed of movement.

If the number of pulses is accumulated after a reference point, the calculated value represents the parameter of rotation angle or stroke. The difference between output pulses of dual channel encoder is 90o. The electronic equipment that can receive the pulse can receive the rotation induction signal of the shaft, so it can be used to realize two-way positioning control; In addition, each turn of the three channel incremental rotary encoder generates a pulse called zero position signal.

So, what is absolute encoder?

The absolute value encoder provides a unique coded digital value for the position of each axis.

Especially in the application of positioning control, the absolute value encoder reduces the calculation task of the electronic receiving equipment, thus eliminating the complex and expensive input device. Moreover, when the machine is powered on or after the power failure, the current position value can be used without returning to the position reference point.

The single turn absolute value encoder divides the shaft into a specified number of measurement steps, and the maximum resolution is 13 bits, which means that it can distinguish 8192 positions at most + multi turn absolute value encoder can not only measure the angular displacement within one turn, but also measure the number of turns with multi-step gear. The number of laps of multiple laps is 12 bits, that is, the maximum 4096 laps can be recognized. The total resolution can reach 25 bits or 33554432 measurement steps. The parallel absolute value rotary encoder transmits the position value to the estimation electronic device in parallel through several cables.

Assuming the serial absolute encoder, the output data can be transmitted with standard interface and standardized protocol. At the same time, the point-to-point connection has realized the serial data transmission in the past: today, the use of fieldbus system is increasing.