Rotary encoder

The working principle of rotary encoder is mainly to convert the mechanical displacement of rotation into electrical signal by using photoelectric conversion or magnetoelectric conversion technology. Specifically: The core components of a rotary encoder include a grating disk (or code disk), light-emitting elements (such as LEDs), and receiving elements (such as photodiodes or phototransistors). When the shaft of the rotary encoder drives the grating disk to rotate, the light emitted by the light-emitting element is cut into intermittent light rays by the slits on the grating disk, and the intermittent light rays are then received by the receiving element and converted into an initial electrical signal 1. The received initial electrical signal will be processed by subsequent circuits, such as amplification, shaping, etc., and finally output as pulse signals or code signals, which can be directly read and processed by the control system. In addition, depending on the type of encoder (such as incremental or absolute), these signals can be further used to measure parameters such as displacement, velocity, and direction. For example, the incremental rotary encoder can not only measure the rotation speed, but also determine the direction of rotation by outputting two sets of A/B pulses with a phase difference of 90 degrees. Absolute rotary encoders, on the other hand, can directly provide precise values for each position.