MEE1027 – Instrumentation and Control Engineering

M02_Lecture 07
Optical Encoders

Dr. R. Jegadeeshwaran,
Associate Professor, SMBS,
VIT - Chennai Campus.

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Optical Encoders
• Any transducer that generates a coded reading of a measurement can be
termed an encoder.
• Shaft Encoders are digital transducers that are used for measuring angular
displacements and velocities.
• Relative advantages of digital transducers over their analogy counterparts:
• High resolution (depending on the word size of the encoder output and
the number of pulses per revolution of the encoder)
• High accuracy (particularly due to noise immunity of digital signals
and superior construction)
• Relative ease of adaptation in digital control systems (because
transducer output is digital) with associated reduction in system cost
and improvement of system reliability
• Shaft Encoders can be classified into two categories depending on the
nature and method of interpretation of the output:
• Incremental Encoders
• Absolute Encoders

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Optical Encoders
Incremental Encoders
• Output is a pulse signal that is generated when the transducer disk
rotates as a result of the motion that is being measured.
• By counting pulses or by timing the pulse width using a clock signal,
both angular displacement and angular velocity can be determined.
• Displacement, however, is obtained with respect to some reference
point on the disk, as indicated by a reference pulse (index pulse)
generated at that location on the disk. The index pulse count
determines the number of full revolutions.
Absolute Encoders
• An absolute encoder has many pulse tracks on its transducer disk.
• When the disk of an absolute encoder rotates, several pulse trains equal
in number to the tracks on the disk are generated simultaneously

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Elements of the Optical Encoder

• The optical encoder uses an opaque disk (code disk)
that has one or more circular tracks, with some
arrangement of identical transparent windows (slits) in
each track.
• A parallel beam of light (e.g., from a set of light emitting
diodes) is projected to all tracks from one side of the
disk.
• The transmitted light is picked off using a bank of
photo sensors on the other side of the disk that
typically has one sensor for each track.
• The light sensor could be a silicon photodiode, a
phototransistor, or a photovoltaic cell.

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Absolute Encoders

Photoelectric sensor

2 paths n paths
4 divisions 2n divisions
n optical barriers

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Absolute Encoders
• Commercially available encoders
• 10 bits  1024 div.  Resol. 0.35156º
• 12 bits  4096 div.  Resol. 0.088º
• 14 bits  16384 div.  Resol. 0.022º
• Encoder diameters: 50 to 175 mm

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Decimal Binary Gray

0 0000 0000

1 0001 0001

2 0010 0011

3 0011 0010

4 0100 0110

5 0101 0111

6 0110 0101

7 0111 0100

8 1000 1100

9 1001 1101

10 1010 1111

11 1011 1110

12 1100 1010

13 1101 1011

14 1110 1001

15 1111 1000

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Binary and Gray Codes

LSB

MSB
Ambiguity when reading the natural binary code

Elimination of the reading ambiguity using the Gray code

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Binary and Gray Codes

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Incremental Encoders
• Initial Position Uncertain
• Help from some other sensor
• Interpretation is complex
• Counter hardware required
• Compromise is fabrication is simple
• Hence cost is low

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Incremental Encoders
• the two A and B tracks
(channels) are in quadrature
(phase shift of 90° electrical),
allowing to detect the
direction of rotation
• a third track Z is used to
define the “0” reference
position, with a reset of the
counter.

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Under Standing Encoder Waveform

• Channel A Leading Channel B

• Channel B Leading Channel A

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Displacement Computation using Encoders

• Maximum count possible: M pulses
• Range of the encoder: ± θmax
• If the data size is r bits, allowing for a sign bit, M
= 2r-1, where zero count is also included.
• Then the displacement is given by

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Velocity Computation using Encoders

Pulse-Counting Method
• The pulse count over the sampling period of the
digital processor is measured and is used to calculate
the angular velocity. For a given sampling period,
there is a lower speed limit below which this method
is not very accurate.
• To compute the angular velocity ω, suppose that the
count during a sample period T is n pulses. Hence,
the average time for one pulse is T/n. If there are N
windows on the disk, the average time for one
revolution is NT/n. Hence ω (rad/s) = 2πn/NT.

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Velocity Computation using Encoders

Pulse-Timing Method
• The time for one encoder cycle is measured using
a high-frequency clock signal. This method is
particularly suitable for measuring low speeds
accurately.
• Suppose that the clock frequency is f Hz. If m
cycles of the clock signal are counted during an
encoder period (interval between two adjacent
windows), the time for that encoder cycle (i.e., the
time to rotate through one encoder pitch) is given
by m/f
• With a total of N windows on the track, the
average time for one revolution of the disk is
Nm/f. Hence ω = 2πf/Nm

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Eddy current or drag cup tachometer

• An eddy-current tachometer uses the interaction
of the magnetic fields generated by a permanent
magnet and a rotor, whose speed of rotation is
proportional to the eddy currents generated.
• The currents tend to deflect a disk, which is
mounted on the shaft and restrained by a spring,
through a certain angle.
• The deflection of the disk, which is rigidly
connected to a pointer, is indicated on a dial.

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Eddy current or drag cup tachometer

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DC Tachometer
• This is a small dc generator. It contains a permanent
magnet and an iron core rotor.
• No external supply voltage is required. The winding on
rotor are connected to commutator segments and the
output voltage is taken across pair of brushes that ride
on the commutator segments.
• DC tachometers provide visual speed readout of a
rotating shaft. Such tachometers are directly coupled
to a voltmeter which is calibrated in r.p.m.

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Magnetic pickup tachometer

• A coil wounded on permanent magnet not on iron core,
this configuration enable us to measure rotational
speed of the systems.
• In the construction of variable reluctance sensor, we
use ferromagnetic gearwheel. As the gearwheel rotates,
change in magnetic flux take place in the pickup coil
which further induces voltage. This change in
magnitude is proportional to the voltage induced in the
sensor.

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Magnetic pickup tachometer

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Pickup tachometer

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Stroboscope
• The instrument operates on the principle that if a
repeating event is only viewed when at one particular
point in it’s cycle it appears to be stationary. A mark
is made on rotating shaft, and a flashing light is
subjected on the shaft. The frequency of the flashing
is one very short flash per revolution.
• To determine the shaft speed we increases the
frequency of flashing gradually from small value until
the rotating shaft appears to be stationary, then note
the frequency. The frequency then doubled, if there is
still one apparent stationary image, the frequency is
again doubled. This continued until two images
appear 180 degrees apart. When first appear for these
two images the flash frequency is twice the speed of
rotation.

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Stroboscope
• Stroboscopes are used to measure angular speed
between 600 to 20000 rpm
• It’s advantage is that it doesn’t need to make contact
with the rotating shaft

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