New scanner

Jon Lawson

A minimal sensor area of only 1.9 x 3.3mm is sufficient for the optical sensors in the iC-PNH EncoderBlue series to scan encoder code discs and generate sine signals in hi-fi quality. Evaluation is by interpolation ICs using a Nonius calculation, e.g. iC-MN and iC-MNF, permitting a very high angle resolution of more than 21 bits, even with code disc diameters of only 26mm. All devices of this series can be used with short-wave blue LED lighting for a high accuracy due to a sharper projection.

Compared with conventional absolute encoder sensors, iC-PNH sensors only scan three incremental Nonius tracks and one 2-bit gray code, saving on assembly space and simplifying illumination. The smaller scanning surface and the high sensitivity of the sensors help to reduce the amount of power needed for the obligatory LED, which is proving beneficial to the LED's expected lifetime. The phased arrays can be used with a blue LED, e.g. iC-TL46, which minimises distortion and increases the signal contrast. The encoder-typical IR-LED (e.g. iC-TL85) can also be used.