An encoder for all purposes

Tom Shelley reports on a breakthrough to delight both users and stockists A new encoder in only a single variety can be programmed to have any number of line numbers from 1 to 8,192. It costs only slightly more than the usual variety and can either be delivered at once from a stockist, or held by the user to replace any of the more conventional types that might happen to fail. The DRS 61 incremental encoder from Stick-Stegmann has a high resolution optical disk and a programmable ASIC based scanning element. While the makers are reluctant to explain exactly how the necessary versatility is achieved, they have revealed that the disk has a, "Very high precision that can be subdivided." In a demonstration, a PC was used to reprogram one of the units in just a few seconds so one unit could be used to temporarily replace any other. The zero pulse width, 90 deg or 180 deg can also be defined at the touch of a button. The price premium is only about £20 over and above conventional non programmable versions selling for about £130 each. These exist in literally thousands of different varieties, and new disks, if any new one has to be developed specially, incur a typical cost likely to be around 10,000 euros plus the additional costs incurred by a substantial lead time. Protection is to IP66 and according to Sick, strong interest has already been shown in the UK by, "A car maker and a couple of confectionary manufacturers." Other potential applications include: packaging machines, medical technology, elevator and conveyor systems, robotics, crane plants and metal processing. Sick (UK) Email Sick