12 ways to optimize your robot design using Heidenhain rotary encoders

Whatever your axis design, HEIDENHAIN has the optimal rotary encoder. If the gear shaft passes through the motor shaft, then your best choice is a dual encoder featuring a scanning unit and two rotor units. For more conventional axes, you can achieve high accuracy with a primary encoder on the motor and a secondary encoder on the output end of the axis.
E-Motion America Inc supplies Heidenhain reliable, high-accuracy motion control encoders for advanced robotics application and beyond.

Robotics design challenges

• Positioning accuracy should be high enough
• Rotary encoders need to be geometrically versatile enough
• Installation space is very limited
• The balance among cost, quality and performance should be adjusted.
• Rotary encoders, along with controller electronics and software, are key safety components due to their role in managing the speed and acceleration of the robotic arm.
• More challenges such as digital monitoring, quality inspection, time to market...

Twelve solutions

Robot designers must learn to juggle a variety of factors. Because robots are such complex systems, many components have a larger impact on the overall system than one might expect. The use of simple, low-cost components can actually make the overall design more complicated, error-prone and expensive. Read on to discover how inductive encoders from HEIDENHAIN allow you to meet the requirements of both robot design and production.


KCI 120 Dplus

Dual encoders The KCI 120 Dplus combines two hollow-shaft encoders that measure the speed of the motor and the angular displacement of the output axis (and thus the robotic joint). This dual encoder consists of two rotors with a scanning unit mounted between them. The speed-measurement rotor sits on the hollow shaft of the motor, while the position-measurement rotor is attached to the output axis. HEIDENHAIN offers a choice of variants based on the material and diameter of the motor shaft and output shaft. To identify our dual encoders, look for "Dplus" in the name.