Development and Experimental Research of Different Mechanical Designs of an Optical Linear Encoder’s Reading Head

Optical linear encoders are widely used in manufacturing. They are accurate and have a relatively high resolution and good repeatability. However, there are a lot of side effects, which have an inevitable impact on the performance of an encoder. In general, the majority of these effects could be min...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Donatas Gurauskis, Krzysztof Przystupa, Artūras Kilikevičius, Mikołaj Skowron, Jonas Matijošius, Jacek Caban, Kristina Kilikevičienė
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-04-01
Series:Sensors
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/8/2977
Description
Summary:Optical linear encoders are widely used in manufacturing. They are accurate and have a relatively high resolution and good repeatability. However, there are a lot of side effects, which have an inevitable impact on the performance of an encoder. In general, the majority of these effects could be minimized by the appropriate design of an encoder’s reading head. This paper discusses the working principle of and commonly occurring errors in optical linear encoders. Three different mechanical designs are developed and implemented in the experimental reading head of the linear encoder in order to evaluate how mechanical construction influences the displacement measurement accuracy and total performance of the encoder.
ISSN:1424-8220