Heidenhain announces several significant technical upgrades to the already successful ERA 4000 angle encoder series, thereby adding increased reliability and functionality upon a strong foundation.These bearingless encoders are widely used in machines in the metrology, machine tool, semiconductor and robotic industries. Thanks to these improvements, the new ERA 4000 series stands out for its accuracy, ease of use and logistical flexibility, and is exactly mechanically compatible with previous models.
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New series
The ERA 4000 angle encoders from Heidenhain consist of a steel drum at various diameters with a 20-, 40- or 80- micron pitch on the outside diameter and a scanning unit that reads the scale. Distance-coded reference marks are available as an incremental system.
The biggest improvement with these encoders is the addition of Heidenhain Signal Processing to the scanning units. This function is an additional circuit in which the LED is dynamically driven and the scanning unit "learns" the quality of the signal returning from the drum and then adjusts the intensity of the LED in the next signal period. HSP works in an analog fashion and actually increases the speed capability of the encoder system to 1 MHz scanning, an increase of 285%.
Increased reliability
HSP also works despite impurities on the drum such as fingerprints, dust and liquid droplets, without amplifying electrical noise as other encoders that are more sensitive to this type of contamination often do. The result is increased reliability which results in less machine downtime.
source: IEN
