Ferranti Plc

Robert John Cormack

Ian Drummond Crawford

Henry Bruce Marshall

A feedback servo positioning system for motor 13 is configured under the control of microprocessor 27 either as a position feedback servo for small displacement demands or an acceleration feedback servo for large displacements. In the latter role, the processor determines an intermediate position (e.g. mid point), accelerating the motor at maximum acceleration rate until the intermediate position is reached, and then calculates the deceleration rate required to stop the motor at the demand position. During deceleration the instantaneous position and velocity are monitored to update the optimum deceleration rate to compensate for variations from the initially computed value due to friction and other measurement errors.

Servo positioning system

Apparatus for controlling the direction of a beam of optical radiation from, say, a laser, includes two prisms of small apex angle independently rotatable about a common axis. A control circuit is responsive to the actual angular positions of the prisms and to inputs indicating the desired beam position to cause the prisms to be moved to the appropriate positions.

Growing community of inventors

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Robert John Cormack