A method of correcting a position reading from a position sensing arrangement. The position sensing arrangement is suitable for sensing the position of a revolute joint of an articulated structure, and comprises a disc having a magnetic ring with magnetic pole pairs and a magnetic sensor assembly comprising a magnetic sensor array for detecting the magnetic pole pairs of the magnetic ring. The method comprises: for each pole pair of the magnetic ring, taking a calibration pole pair position reading with the magnetic sensor array, and generating a pole pair correcting function by comparing the calibration pole pair position reading with a model pole pair position reading; averaging the pole pair correcting functions of the pole pairs of the magnetic ring to generate an average pole pair correcting function for the magnetic ring; taking a position reading with the magnetic sensor array, the position reading comprising a plurality of pole pair position readings; and generating a corrected position reading by deducting the average pole pair correcting function from each pole pair position reading.

An inductive sensor device (23) having a scale unit (24) and a sensor unit (25) that can be moved relative to each other in a measuring direction (M) is described. The scale unit contains scale elements (26) that are adapted to create a field pattern (P(x)) in measuring direction (M) that is detected by means of a receive circuit (35) of the sensor unit (25). The receive circuit (35) contains at least a first receive coil set (36) and a second receive coil set (37) that are offset in measuring direction (M). In so doing a first spatial phase and a second spatial phase receive signal is provided by these receive coil sets (36, 37) respectively. These spatial phases can be used for absolute position determination.

A multi-turn absolute encoder, an encoding method and a robot are disclosed. The multi-turn absolute encoder includes a rotary shaft, a control circuit board, a magnet, a Hall sensor, a controller, a primary controller, a single-turn absolute encoder and a non-volatile memory. One side of the control circuit board is vertically provided with the rotary shaft. The magnet is connected to the rotary shaft and configured to synchronously rotate about the rotary shaft. The Hall sensor is configured to acquire turn count information of the rotary shaft upon power interruption. The primary controller is configured to calculate an absolute position information of the rotary shaft based on the turn count information of the rotary shaft, a relative position information of the rotary shaft and the absolute position information of the rotary shaft stored in previous power interruption.

An apparatus for rotary encoding includes a knob configured to be rotated. The apparatus also includes multiple switches each configured to selectively form or not form a connection based on a current rotational position of the knob. The apparatus further includes a controller configured to generate or use a digital value associated with the current rotational position of the knob. The digital value is defined by which switches have or have not formed connections. Locations where the switches form the connections are selected such that the digital values uniquely identify different rotational positions of the knob and are non-sequential as the knob is rotated.

An absolute encoder includes a circuit board disposed away from a rotation shaft of a motor. The circuit board includes first fixing portions and a second fixing portion. At each of the first fixing portions, an adjustment portion is disposed between the circuit board and a top end portion of a given pillar is provided, the adjustment portion being set to adjust a distance between the circuit board and the top end portion of the given pillar, so that a height of the circuit board at each first fixing portion is set to be the same as a height of the circuit board at the second fixing portion. Each adjustment portion is a resist layer formed between a surface of the circuit board and a top end surface of a given first pillar.

There is provided an electromagnetic inductive encoder that allows reduction in the number of tracks on a scale for reduction in the size of the scale. The electromagnetic inductive encoder includes a scale having a scale pattern, a head, and computation unit. The head includes transmission unit, which includes transmission coils, and reception unit, which includes reception coils. The scale pattern has a first pattern, which causes the reception coils to receive positive current, and a second pattern, which causes the reception coils to receive negative current. The computation unit includes a determination unit, which, when the positive current is detected, determines that the current is associated with the first pattern, and, when the negative current is detected, determines that the current is associated with the second pattern, a signal generation unit, which generates a signal formed of 1 representing the first pattern and 0 representing the second pattern based on the result of the determination, and a position calculation unit, which calculates the position of the head based on the signal generated by the signal generation unit.

A method of assembling a position sensing arrangement for sensing the position of a revolute joint of an articulated structure. The position sensing arrangement comprises a magnetic sensor assembly and a disc having a first magnetic ring with j magnetic pole pairs and a second magnetic ring with k magnetic pole pairs. A boundary of the disc is constrained by the articulated structure. The method comprises: determining a number of pole pairs of the first magnetic ring to be an integer p such that the first magnetic ring is separated from the constrained boundary by at least the magnetic sensor assembly; determining a number of pole pairs of the second magnetic ring to be an integer q such that the second magnetic ring is separated from the first magnetic ring by a predetermined distance; and if p and q are co-prime: selecting j to be p and k to be q; and assembling the position sensing arrangement by mounting the disc to the articulated structure such that both the disc and the revolute joint are permitted to rotate about the same axis.

A displacement measurement device for a sensing device. The sensing device includes a first displacement sensor. The displacement measurement device includes: a drive signal generating circuit configured to output a drive signal to the first displacement sensor; a first signal processing circuit configured to receive a signal from the first displacement sensor and output a first ADSO signal; and a computing device including a first timer. The first timer is configured to receive a CLK512 signal and the first ADSO signal, and time or count according to the CLK512 signal and the first ADSO signal; and the CLK512 signal is a square wave signal related to a period and phase of the drive signal.

A track assembly includes a support assembly, an electronic control unit and a track. The track may include a first track. The first track may include one or more segments. The one or more segments may include a plurality of first features. The support assembly may include a first sensor and/or a second sensor that may be connected to the electronic control unit. The electronic control unit may be configured to determine a first location of the support assembly along the one or more segments via the plurality of first features, the first sensor, and/or the second sensor. The first sensor and/or the second sensor may be disposed substantially in the track. The first sensor and/or the second sensor may be configured to sense information from the plurality of first features. The first features may include a first portion and/or a second portion.

A high resolution encoder device using a number of static sensors distributed on a circumference, and a rotating disc, having several sections of two different properties on an annular track according to a predefined pattern, placed so that the sensors can sense the properties of the sections of track in proximity. An auxiliary unit is also provided and by itself or in combination with the sensor signal values, provides a first low resolution position value. In a first processing step, the signals of each sensor are compared to a threshold, and bit values zero or one for each sensor are set according to the comparison result. All bits are then set in a digital word, in order to create a code number, which in combination with the output of the auxiliary unit, is characteristic of a first low resolution position value. For each low resolution position value, a mathematical combination of signals values is defined. The values of the result of said mathematical combination of the signals value is then used as an entry variable to pre-recorded tables to output high resolution position value.