Displacement transducers
AssigneeThe Solartron Electronic Group Limited
InventorsEric Metcalf, Anthony John Ley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A displacement transducer comprises a charge coupled device having a plurality of light sensitive stages arranged in a line. An obturating member connected to a member whose displacement is to be transduced is disposed between the charge coupled device and a light source. As the obturating member is moved, it varies the amount of light received by the respective stages of the charge coupled device, so that the charge distribution in the charge coupled device is representative of the position of the obturating member and therefore of the member whose displacement is to be transduced.
Claims15
A displacement transducer comprising:
- a charge-coupled device having a plurality of light-sensitive stages arranged in a line,
- a light source,
- an obturating member disposed between the light source and the charge-coupled device, the charge-coupled device and the obturating member being relatively movable in dependence upon the displacement to be transduced so as to vary the amount of light received by, and the charge accumulated in, respective stages of the charge-coupled device in accordance with the relative positions of the charge-coupled device and the obturating member,
- a clock pulse generator for applying clock pulses to the charge-coupled device to successively shift the respective charge in each stage of the device towards an output stage, whereby to produce from said output stage an output signal whose level takes a succession of values each corresponding to the charge in a respective stage of the device, and
- means responsive to said output signal to derive a signal in accordance with the relative positions of the device and the member.
A displacement transducer comprising:
- a charge-coupled device having a plurality of light-sensitive stages arranged in a line,
- a light source,
- an obturating member disposed between the light source and the charge-coupled device, the charge-coupled device and the obturating member being relatively movable in dependence upon the displacement to be transduced so as to vary the amount of light received by, and the charge accumulated in, respective stages of the charge-coupled device in accordance with the relative positions of the charge-coupled device and the obturating member,
- the obturating member including a grating having a plurality of light-transmissive lines thereon, the width of the lines and their spacing from one another along the line of the stages of the device being of similar dimensions and being such that the number of lines which occupy the total length occupied by all the stages of the device differs by 1 from the number N of said stages, whereby the charge distribution in the device corresponds to one cycle of a triangular wave whose phase changes substantially linearly through 360.degree. as the obturating member moves a distance equal to the spacing of two adjacent stages of the device.
A displacement transducer comprising:
- a charge-coupled device having a plurality of light-sensitive stages arranged in a line,
- a light source, and
- an obturating member disposed between the light source and the charge-coupled device, the charge-coupled device and the obturating member being relatively movable in dependence upon the displacement to be transduced so as to vary the amount of light received by, and the charge accumulated in, respective stages of the charge-coupled device in accordance with the relative positions of the charge-coupled device and the obturating member,
- the stages of the charge-coupled device being arranged in a line extending around at least part of the circumference of a circle, in order to transduce rotary displacements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.