Shaft encoder knows its place

. The DRS60 from Sick Stegmann avoids the need to manually move the encoder shaft to the position where the once per revolution pulse occurs prior to mounting. Since the width of the pulse can be less than one hundredth of a degree, the task varies from difficult to impossible with conventional units. The new unit has a button located under a cap on the rear of the encoder. When this button is pressed, the position where the zero pulse occurs is at once shifted to the current shaft position. It is therefore not necessary for a commissioning engineer to manually move the encoder shaft prior to mounting. The device is simply mounted and the button pressed. Encoders are available in solid shaft and hollow shaft designs, with interchangeable collets for hollow shafts from 6 to 15mm and 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch. Units are available with cable or connector exit and a choice of output circuits including RS422 (TTL) and push-pull (HTL). Number of lines is from 1 to 8192. LEDs have automatic light regulation to enhance lifetimes. Typical uses include print registration equipment on packaging machines and flyer and paper printing machines. It is said to reduce synchronising set up times from a typical 20 or 30 minutes to 1 or 2, and in one case is said to have halved packaging wastage. TS Erwin Sick Pointers * Reference pulse shaft position is established by pressing a button on the encoder * Number of lines is from 1 to 8192 * Setup time is drastically reduce and it is said that one customer claims to have halved its packaging waste by using the news device