Alps Electric Co., Ltd.

Hiraku Abe

Yoshihiro Takahashi

Ichiro Tokunaga

Yoji Shimojima

Yasuaki Ogawa

Hidemasa Suzuki

Shin Sugifune

Chiaki Aikawa

Kourou Hayasaka

Yasuhiro Mamiya

Minoru Uehara

A magnetic rotation sensor is disclosed, in which by raising the precision of the size between a first hole for positioning a magnetic rotation drum and second holes for positioning pin guides and at the same time by keeping the outer diameter of the pin guides at a high precision, the gap between the drum described above and a sensor supported by the pin guides can be kept precisely almost without any adjustment.

Construction for adjustably mounting sensor portion of magnetic rotation

Methods are provided for assembling a magnetic encoder wherein fluctuation of a magnetic gap arising from a change in temperature is minimized. The magnetic encoder comprises a magnetic scale having thereon a magnetic pattern which can be detected by a magnetic sensor, a sensor retainer for securely retaining the magnetic sensor with a magnetic gap left between the magnetic scale and the magnetic sensor, and a supporting member to which the sensor retainer is secured. According to the invention, a jig is affixed to a surface of the sensor retainer, and the jig is moved until the gap between the magnetic scale and the magnetic sensor reaches a predetermined width. The sensor retainer may be secured to a supporting member by first and second securing agents, the second securing agent being the harder and applied closer to the magnetic sensor than the first securing agent.

Methods for assembling and adjusting a magnetic encoder device

A magnetic rotary encoder device wherein fluctuation of a magnetic gap arising from a change in temperature is minimized, a printed circuit board on which an electric circuit electrically connected to a magnetic sensor is carried can be assembled readily, and a magnetic gap can be adjusted readily. The magnetic encoder device comprises a magnetic scale having thereon a magnetic code which can be detected by a magnetic sensor, a retaining member for securely retaining the magnetic sensor on a sensor mounting element with a magnetic gap left between the magnetic scale and the magnetic sensor, and a supporting member to which the retaining member is secured. A first bonding agent and a second, softer bonding agent secure the supporting member and portions of the sensor mounting element adjacent and remote from the supporting member to each other, respectively.

Precision Gap Magnetic Encode Device

In a magnetic sensor, a first series-connected magnetic resistance element circuit is connected parallel to a second series-connected magnetic resistance element circuit, which finally forms a bridge circuit. The magnetic resistance elements are subdivided into two or three subdivided pieces. These subdivided pieces are arranged at a predetermined interval and connected with each other by conductors having low resistivity.

Magnetic sensor

A code wheel for use with a reflective type optical rotary encoder which can be produced easily and optically read efficiently. The code wheel includes a non-reflective plate, and a reflective plate having a suitable number of notches formed along a periphery thereof and mounted in an overlapping relationship on the non-reflective plate whereby a reflective portion of the code wheel is formed by a face of the reflective plate between each two adjacent notches while a non-reflective portion is formed by a face of the non-reflective plate exposed through the corresponding notch of the reflective plate.

Code wheel for a reflective type optical rotary encoder

A manually-operated optical rotary encoder is provided with light receiving and emitting elements, the optical encoder generating a plurality of pulse signals. The rotary encoder comprises a reflecting plate and a non-reflecting plate which are superposed. The rotary encoder comprises a first code plate and a second code plate, which are alternately and continuously formed with light reflecting portions and non-reflecting portions. The rotary encoder further comprises a roller engageable with concavo-convex portion provided in the outer peripheral edge of the first code plate, a shaft for the roller and a supporting member for rotatably supporting the roller so that the latter may come into contact with the concavo-convex portions. The roller, the shaft and the supporting member are formed of synthetic resin.

Optical rotary encoder having superposed metal plate and shield plate

An optical rotary encoder is formed by a control pulse generator portion and a selector switch portion which are of the unitary construction. The control pulse generator portion is formed by a code plate having a plurality of alternately formed reflecting and non-reflecting areas, a plurality of light emitting and receiving elements facing the code plate and an inner shaft for rotating the code plate. The selector switch portion is formed by a second code plate having a plurality of light transmitting apertures, a plurality of light emitting elements facing the second code plate, a plurality of light receiving elements provided on the opposite side of the second code plate from those light emitting elements and an outer shaft for rotating the second code plate. The inner and outer shafts are connected to each other and have a common axis of rotation.

Optical rotary encoder

A star-shaped coupler for distributing the light signal emitted by any one of input-output devices among the other devices is disposed among these devices. The coupler comprises a plurality of single-core optical fibers for branching purposes. Each one end of those branching fibers whose number is less than the number of the input-output devices by one is bound together and is opposed to the end surface of the output single-core fiber for one of the input-output devices. The other end surfaces of the branching fibers are opposed to their respective end surfaces of the input single-core fibers for the other input-output devices. The end surfaces of the output fibers for the other input-output devices are connected with the end surfaces of the input fibers through the branching fibers. The other ends of the branching fibers which are opposed to their respective end surfaces of the input fibers are bound together to form bound portions corresponding to the input fibers.

Star-shaped coupler

Herein disclosed is an optically reflecting code plate having a number of reflective and unreflective portions formed alternately on the surface of its substrate. This substrate is made of aluminum of high purity, for example, and has its surface anodized with a colorless, transparent and porous aluminum oxide film. At predetermined positions of the oxide film, which are to be formed with the aforementioned unreflective portions, moreover, metal such as nickel, tin, copper, iron, cobalt, silver, manganese or selenium is deposited by electrodeposition in the bottoms of the pores of the oxide film thereby to form a metal-deposited layer. Moreover, the vicinities of the openings of the aforementioned pores are impregnated with a dye such as a black metallized complex salt dye or a Nigrosine dye to form a dye-impregnated layer. The aforementioned metal-deposited layer and the dye-impregnated layer are overlaid the later over the former thereby to form the unreflective portions. The remaining portion shaving neither the metal-deposited layer nor the dye-impregnated layer so that it is exposed directly to the outside is left as the reflective portions.

Optically reflecting code plate

A code wheel for use in a reflective optical rotary encoder includes a code wheel body formed of a light-reflective material, and a photosensitive layer directly coated on a flat surface of the code wheel body and exposed to light to produce angularly spaced non-reflecting surfaces, thereby providing alternate reflecting and non-reflecting surfaces on the code wheel body. The speed and direction of rotation of the code wheel can be detected by radiating light onto the reflecting and non-reflecting surfaces and detecting light reflected by the reflecting surfaces.

Growing community of inventors

Miyagi, Japan

Hiraku Abe