In a closed loop system, a load is driven by a motor and an encoder measures the position of the load. There is no shortage of encoder options including magnetic encoders, capacitive encoders, resolvers, and optical encoders. However, there are key performance requirements that optical encoder deliver compared to other encoder options. In many applications, encoders need to provide very high resolution and accuracy with low power consumption from the overall system. While transmissive encoders are most common in the industry due to accessibility, optical encoders offer the highest resolution and accuracy.
VIDEO: Recorded at Motor & Drive Systems 2021.