• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.69-77
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• 2017

This paper introduces an optical encoder using the reflection in the slit. The digital optical encoder is a sensor to generate a pulse according to the displacement. An optical encoder is composed of 3 parts: light source, slit plate and light-receiving element. In a conventional encoder, one slit produces one signal. The resolution of the digital optical encoder is determined by the number of slits in the encoder plate. The small slit size is most important among the factors that determine the resolution in a generic-type optical encoder. However, a small slit has low productivity and technical difficulties, so analog optical encoders have emerged as an alternative. Nonetheless, this alternative requires additional circuitry and equipment because of the noise and drafts in the analog signals. A new sensor is presented in this paper with a high resolution and a slit of the same size using the reflection in the slit. Then, the path of the light that passes through the slit ccording to the shape was analyzed, and some paths were expressed in the mathematical expressions. In addition, the optical paths were analyzed in the rectangular, octagonal, and circular encoders, and shown the obtained number of signals per slit by using them. Thus, we confirm that this method has the best performance in circle-shaped slits.