Angular position measurement apparatus
AssigneeZymark Corporation
InventorWilliam J. Buote
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An angular position measurement system including a rotatable mechanism, a potentiometer coupled to the rotatable mechanism and adapted to produce a first output signal indicative of the angular position thereof; a graduated element retaining a plurality of annularly distributed graduations representing different angular positions of the rotatable mechanism, and a detector for producing second output signals in response to alignment thereof with any of the graduations. Also included is a drive for producing relative movement between the graduated element and the detector in response to rotation of the rotatable mechanism so as to render the second output signal indicative of an angular position of the rotatable mechanism and a comparator for comparing the angular positions indicated by the first and second output signals.
Claims20
Angular position measurement apparatus comprising:
- rotatable means;
- potentiometer means coupled to said rotatable means and adapted to produce a first output signal indicative of the angular position thereof;
- element means retaining a plurality of annularly distributed gradations representing different angular positions of said rotatable means;
- detector means for producing second output signals in response to alignment thereof with any of said gradations;
- drive means for producing relative movement between said element means and said detector means in response to rotation of said rotatable means so as to render said second output signal indicative of an angular position of said rotatable means;
- and
- comparator means for comparing the angular positions indicated by said first and second output signals.
A method of measuring angular position of a rotatable shaft comprising the steps of:
- coupling a potentiometer to said shaft so as to provide a first output signal indicative of the angular position thereof;
- providing an element retaining a plurality of annularly distributed gradations, representing different angular positions of said shaft;
- locating with respect to said element a detector adapted to produce a second output signal in response to alignment with any of said gradations;
- producing relative movement between said element and said detector in response to rotational movement of said shaft so as to render said second output signal indicative of the angular position of said shaft;
- and
- comparing the angular positions of said shaft indicated by said first and second signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.