5.

1 Advantages of Digital Transducers Lecture 7

Digital Transducers

Digital signals (digital information) have advantages over analog signals:

 Digital signals are less susceptible to noise, disturbances, or parameter
variation because data can be processed as binary words
 High reliability in a system can be achieved by minimizing analog
hardware components
5.0 Digital Transducers  Large amounts of data can be stored using compact, high-density data
storage methods
 Data can be stored or maintained for very long periods of time without
any drift or disruption by adverse environmental conditions
 Fast data transmission is possible over long distances with no
attenuation and with less dynamic delays
 Digital signals use low voltages (e.g., 0-12 V DC) and low power
 Digital devices typically have low overall cost
1 2

5.2 Shaft Encoders Lecture 7

Digital Transducers
Optical encoder: Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

Encoder is any transducer that generates a coded (digital) reading of a

measurement
-- shaft encoders are digital transducers used for angular velocity measures
Applications: Robotic manipulators, machine tools, data storage systems,
plotters, printers and other rotating machinery
Advantages: High resolution (word size), high accuracy (noise immunity),
relative ease of adaptation in digital control systems with reduction in cost
Encoder types: (1) incremental encoders and (2) absolute encoders
Techniques of transducer signal generation
(1) Optical (photosensor) method  By far, the optical encoder is most popular and cost-effective. The other
(2) Sliding contact method three approaches may be used in special circumstances
(3) Magnetic saturation method  Accuracy of the optical encoder depends on the precision of printing of
(4) Proximity sensor method 3 transparent windows on opaque background 4
Sliding contact encoder: Lecture 7
Digital Transducers
Magnetic encoder: Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

 A sliding contact such as a brush touches each track, and as the disk
rotates, a voltage pulse signal is picked off by it
 Advantages: High sensitivity, simplicity of construction, low cost
 Disadvantages: Friction, wear, brush bounce due to vibration
 Accuracy depends on precision of conducting patterns of encoder disk
5
 High strength magnetic area are imprinted on the encoder disk – etching,
stamping, and recording
 Signal pick-off device is a micro-transformer, which has primary and
secondary windings on a circular ferromagnetic core
 Advantage - magnetic encoders have noncontacting pick-off sensors 6

Proximity sensor encoder: Lecture 7

Digital Transducers 5.3 Incremental Optical Encoders Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

clockwise (cw) rotation

Two possible configurations:
(1) Offset sensor configuration and
(2) Offset track configuration

counterclockwise (ccw)
 It uses proximity sensor as the signal pick-off element: e.g., magnetic
induction probe or eddy current probe
-- Magnetic induction disk is ferromagnetic, raised areas change flux
linkage

Reference
-- Eddy current disk is plated with conducting material An incremental encoder disk
7 (offset sensor configuration) 8
5.3.1 Direction of rotation Lecture 7
Digital Transducers
5.3.2 Hardware features Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

 Observation from the shaped pulse signals of an encoder: The actual hardware of commercial encoders is not as simple shown earlier
-- in cw direction, lags by a quarter of a cycle (i.e., a phase lag of )
-- in ccw direction, leads by a quarter of a cycle
 Phase difference is determined by timing the pulses using a high-
frequency clock signal
-- Suppose that time begins when starts to rise. Let
number of clock cycles until begins to rise
number of clock cycles until begins to rise again
If direction of rotation is clockwise
If direction of rotation is counter clockwise  The light generated by the LED is collimated (parallel rays) using lens
 This pencil of parallel light passes through window of rotating code disk
-- Another scheme is checking the edge of when is high
 The masking disk is stationary but has windows identical to code disk
If is rising direction of rotation is clockwise
 When aligned, light from LED passes through more than one window of
If is falling direction of rotation is counter clockwise 9 10
the code disk, thereby improves the output signal level

5.3.2 Hardware features (Contd..) Lecture 7

Digital Transducers
5.3.3 Displacement measurement Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

 To avoid errors (reading light as no light) due to instabilities and changes  An incremental encoder measures displacement as a pulse count and it
in supply voltage another photosensor is placed half pitch away measures velocity as a pulse frequency
 This sensor always facing the opaque region produces a low signal If the range of the encoder is and the maximum count possible is
providing a reference for count of pulses
 A differential amplifier can be used to detect the correct signal level Angular position,
 Signal conditioning circuitry to improve the pulse shape are integrated
within the same housing 5.3.3.1 Digital resolution
The resolution of an encoder represents the smallest change in
measurement that can be measured realistically

Displacement resolution,

If the stored digital data size is bits and allowing for a sign bit, we have,

Use of two sensors at spacing to generate a shaped pulse

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 Lecture 7
Digital Transducers
5.3.3.2 Physical resolution Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

The digital resolution corresponds to a unit change in the bit value as, The physical resolution of an encoder is governed by the number of
windows in the code disk
 If only one pulse signal is used considering only one transition, this
resolution would be , where is the number of windows
Typically, Then,  If both quadrature pulse signals are used considering both rising and
falling transitions, the physical resolution is,

&
Note that, minimum count, (all bits 0) & maximum count, (all The larger value of the two resolutions governs the displacement resolution
bits 1). Therefore, we have,

Hence, digital resolution,

13 14
Quadrature signal addition to improve physical resolution

Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Example (1): Digital Transducers Solution (Contd..): Digital Transducers

For an ideal design of an incremental encoder, obtain an equation relating The resolution limited by the digital word size of the buffer is given by
the parameters and where
diameter of encoder disk
number of windows per unit diameter of disk
word size (bits) of the angle measurement For an ideal design, we need , which gives
Assume that quadrature signals are available. If and ,
determine a suitable disk diameter.
Solution
In this problem, we take the ideal design as the case where the physical
resolution is equal to the digital resolution. The position resolution due o Substitute, and to obtain
physical constraints (assuming that quadrature signals are available) is,

15 16
 Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Example (2): Digital Transducers 5.3.4 Velocity measurement Digital Transducers

A positioning table uses a backlash-free high-precision lead screw of lead Two methods for determining the velocities using incremental encoder are:
2 cm/rev, which is driven by a servo motor with a built-in optical encoder (1) Pulse-counting method – pulse count over a sampling period is
for feedback control. If the required positioning accuracy is measured, not good for low speeds
determine the number of windows required in the encoder track. In
addition, what is the minimum bit size required for the digital data (2) Pulse-timing method – time for one encoder cycle is measured,
register/buffer of the encoder count? suitable for low speeds
Solution Pulse-counting method
The required accuracy is . To achieve this accuracy, the required  To compute angular velocity using this method, if the counting during
resolution for a linear displacement sensor is . Lead of the lead sampling period is , average time for one pulse is .
screw is 2 cm/rev. To achieve the required resolution, the number of pulses
 If there are windows on disk, the angle for one pulse is
per encoder revolution is, pulses/rev
/
Assuming that quadrature signals are available, the required number of Hence, speed,
/
windows in the encoder track is 1000. Percentage of physical resolution is
(1/4000) 100% . Consider a buffer size of r bits, including a If quadrature signals are used, replace by in the above equation
sign bit. Then, we need,
17 18
bits

Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Pulse-timing method Digital Transducers Pulse-counting method Digital Transducers

 In this method, the time for one encoder pulse cycle (window-to-window A unity change in the count corresponds to a speed change of
pitch angle) is measured using high-frequency clock signal
 If the clock frequency is and if pulses are counted during encoder
period (between two windows), time between two windows is
Resolution can be improved with number of windows and the sampling
 Since angle between two windows is period but under transient conditions accuracy decreases in is increased

Pulse-timing method
The velocity resolution is given by,
 A single incremental encoder can serve as both position sensor and a
speed sensor where is the clock frequency. For large can be approximated
by . Then,
5.3.4.1 Velocity resolution
Velocity resolution of an incremental encoder depends on the method that
is employed to determine the velocity
 Resolution degrades quadratically with speed. It also degrades with
 Since both pulse-counting and pulse-timing methods are based on increasing . It can be improved by improving the clock frequency
counting, velocity resolution corresponds to a change in the count by19one 20
 Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Example (3): Digital Transducers Solution (Contd..) Digital Transducers

An incremental encoder with 500 windows in its track is used for speed b. Pulse-timing method
measurement. Suppose that
At 500 pulses/s, Pulse period
a. In the pulse-counting method, the count (in the buffer) is read at the
rate of 10 Hz With a 10 MHz clock, Clock count 10 10 2 10 20 10
b. In the pulse-timing method, a clock frequency 10 MHz is used Percentage resolution
Determine the percentage resolution for each of these two methods when ii. Speed = 100 rev/s, with 500 windows, we have 50,000 pulses/s
measuring a speed of (i) 1 rev/s, (ii) 100 rev/s.
a. Pulse-counting method
Solution
Pulse count (in 0.1 s)
Assume that quadrature signals are not used
Percentage resolution
i. Speed = 1 rev/s, with 500 windows, we have 500 pulses/s
a. Pulse-counting method b. Pulse-timing method

Counting period At 50,000 pulses/s, Pulse period

,

Pulse count (in 0.1 s) With a 10 MHz clock, Clock count 10 10 20 10 200

Percentage resolution 21 Percentage resolution 22

5.4 Absolute Optical Encoders Lecture 7

Digital Transducers
Lecture 7
Digital Transducers

 An absolute encoder directly generates a coded digital word to represent  If there are tracks, there are pick-off elements and the disk is divided
each discrete angular position of its code disk into number of sectors. If
Unlike an incremental encoder, no pulse counting is involved

 The data word uniquely determines the position at the time

5.4.1 Gray Coding
 A disadvantage with binary coding is that many bits can switch in one
transition
 This can lead to errors if pick-off elements are not properly aligned or if
the codes not properly printed and bit switching may not happen
simultaneously
 Consider transition from 0011 - 0100. If the third bit switches first we
will have 0001 which indicates a rotation in the other direction
 In gray code, each transition involves only one bit change
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 Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Sector coding for a 4-bit absolute encoder Digital Transducers 5.4.3 Velocity measurement Digital Transducers

 An absolute encoder can also be used for angular velocity measurement

 Either pulse-timing method (or) angle measurement method may be used
 In the pulse-timing method, the interval of two consecutive readings is
measured using a high frequency (2MHz) clock
 The clock is started and stopped by the coded word and a counter is used
to count the clock pulses
 In the angle measurement method, the change in angle is measured
within a sampling period

5.4.4 Advantages and drawbacks

 For small word sizes, the code may be given as a look-up table (above)
 Note that gray code is not unique. Other gray codes that provide single
bit switching between adjacent numbers can be developed 25
 Measurement is in coded form – does not require digital counters
 If a reading is missing, it will not affect the subsequent readings
 It needs to be powered and monitored only when a reading is taken
 More expensive than the incremental encoders (number of sensors)
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5.5 Encoder Error Lecture 7

Digital Transducers
Lecture 7
Digital Transducers
Shaft encoder errors can arise from several factors  All four of these parameters are random variables. Let their mean values
-- quantization error (due to digital word size limitations) be and the standard deviations be
-- Assembly error (eccentricity of rotation, etc.)  A conservative upper bound for the mean value of overall eccentricity is
-- Coupling error (gear backlash, belt slippage, loose fit, etc.)
-- Structural limitations (disk and shaft deformations due to loading)
-- Ambient effects (vibration, temperature, light noise, smoke, etc.)  And, assuming individual eccentricities are independent,

5.5.1 Eccentricity error

 Eccentricity ( ) is defined as the distance between the center of rotation
 Assuming that eccentricity has a
of the code disk and the geometric center of the circular code track
Gaussian distribution, the probability
 Nonzero eccentricity causes a measurement error (eccentricity error)
that eccentricity would fall between,
-- Shaft eccentricity ( ) – axis of rotation is different from geometric axis
-- Assembly eccentricity ( ) – center of code disk is not on the shaft axis and is 95.5%
-- Track eccentricity ( ) – center of the track is not the center of the disk and is 99.7%
27 28
-- Radial play ( ) – looseness in the assembly in radial direction
 Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Digital Transducers Example (4): Digital Transducers
 If the true angle is and measured angle is , the eccentricity error is The mean values and the standard deviations of the four primary
contributions to eccentricity in a shaft encoder (in millimeter) are as
follows:
The maximum error occurs when the line of eccentricity ( ) is Shaft eccentricity = (0.1, 0.01)
symmetrically located within the angle of rotation
Assembly eccentricity = (0.2, 0.05)
∆ / / Track eccentricity = (0.05, 0.001)
Radial play = (0.1, 0.02)
Estimate the overall eccentricity at a confidence level of 96%
Solution
For small angles, The mean value of the overall eccentricity may be estimated as the ems
value of the individual means, thus
Maximum error occurs when
The maximum gross error due to eccentricity, from the above, is

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Lecture 7 Lecture 7
Solution (Contd..) Digital Transducers Solution (Contd..) Digital Transducers

The standard deviation of the overall eccentricity may be estimated as

Assuming quadrature signals are used to improve the encoder resolution,

Resolution
Now, assuming a Gaussian distribution, an estimate for the overall
eccentricity at a confidence level of 96% is given by Note that the maximum error due to eccentricity is more than 10 times the
encoder resolution. Hence, eccentricity will significantly affect the
accuracy of the encoder.
Example (5):
Suppose that in the above example, the radius of the code disk is 5 cm.
Estimate the maximum error due to eccentricity. If each track has 1000
windows, determine whether the eccentricity error is significant.
Solution
With the given level of confidence, we have calculated the overall
eccentricity to be 0.36 mm. Now, the maximum angular error is given by,
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 Lecture 6 Lecture 6
Summary: Tactile sensing Summary (Contd..): Tactile sensing

 A digital transducer is a measuring device that produces a digital output
 Any transducer that generates coded (digital) reading of a measurement
can be termed as an encoder
 Shaft encoders are classified as (1) incremental, & (2) absolute encoders
 In incremental encoders, the direction of rotation is obtained by
determining the phase difference of the two output signals
-- If direction of rotation is clockwise
If direction of rotation is counter clockwise
-- If is rising direction of rotation is clockwise
If is falling direction of rotation is counter clockwise
-- Digital resolution,
-- Physical resolution,
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 An absolute encoder directly generates a coded digital word to represent
each discrete angular position (sector) of its code disk
-- gray code is not unique. Each transition involves only one bit change
 Eccentricity is defined as the distance between the center of rotation of
the code disk and the geometric center of the circular code track
-- Nonzero eccentricity causes a measurement error (eccentricity error)
-- mean value of the overall eccentricity,
-- standard deviation,
 Assuming that eccentricity has a Gaussian distribution, the probability
that eccentricity would fall between,
and is 95.5%
and is 99.7%
34