A New Concept for an Absolutely Encoded Angular Resolver

V. Mayer, T. Botzelmann, K.-P. Fritz, J. Seybold, H. Kück
Hahn-Schickard-Gesellschaft, Institute of Micro Assembly Technology, Allmandring 9b, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract

At HSG-IMAT a new concept for an absolutely encoded optical angular resolver has been developed. The key element of the sensor concept is a disc with a high precision solid measure which is fabricated using the well known manufacturing process for compact discs (CD-Technology). Using this process, it is possible to fabricate a high precision solid measure in high quantities and at low manufacturing costs. To detect the absolute angular position, a laser beam is focused onto the solid measure. The beam is deflected by the diffractive gratings of the solid measure, whereupon the different first orders fall onto separated elements of a photo diode array. To verify the principle of operation an experimental setup assembled under a microscope, with a CCD-chip instead of a photodiode array, was used to demonstrate the signal modulation. Based on these experiments, a small size demonstrator device was designed and assembled. The successful experimental results with this demonstrator device show the large potential of this new sensor concept for different applications.