Potentiometer with angular displacement

Industrial sensors are those sensors which are used for industrial measurement. There are various types of sensors like light sensor displacement sensor, pressure sensor etc.

Today we start with Angular Displacement sensor. It is used to measure angular movement. For eg.. Potentiometer

Potentiometer

Potentiometer uses the angular position of shaft using variable resistor. It is normally made with thin film of resistive material. A wiper can be moved along the surface of resistive film. As the wiper moves towards one end, there will be change in resistance proportional to distance moved. If voltage is applied across resistor, The voltage at the wiper interpolate the voltage at the ends of the resistor.

The above example shows the normal potentiometer with angular shaft or wiper.

We have many types of potentiometer as described below:

Division by use of resistive material

Linear taper potentiometer: The voltage division across the metal is same. From one end to another end we get Linear variation with change in position of wiper.

Logarithmic potentiometer: It gives logarithmic change in output as according to change in position of wiper.

 

Division by its function:

Analog Potentiometer: It is very tough for measurement of accurate value but it is precise and long lasting.

Digital potentiometer: As generation need to save time and efficient result, It gives us quick result with storage capacity and also easy to hold wiper position.

Membrane potentiometers

A membrane potentiometer uses a conductive membrane that is deformed by a sliding element to contact a resistor voltage divider. Linearity can range from 0.5% to 5% depending on the material, design and manufacturing process

Potentiometer is used in many applications in present industries like Audio control, Television, Motion control, Transducers etc

Computation

In general this transfer function is a complex rational functional with frequency.

Examples

Resistive divider

A resistive divider is the case where both impedances, Z₁ and Z₂, are purely resistive (Figure 2).

Substituting Z₁ = R₁ and Z₂ = R₂ into the previous expression gives:
Any ratio V_out/V_in greater than 1 is not possible. That is, using resistors alone it is not possible to either invert the voltage or increase V_out above V_in.

Similarly we mostly use potentiometer in industry for below functions:

·        Low-pass RC filter

·        Capacitive divider

·        Loading effect

Applications

.As we know we can use it in many application. But it is used in below applications for precise results.

Sensor measurement

High voltage measurement

Level shifting

We only need basic knowledge about potentiometer as shown above for PLC industrial Automation. For detail notes on potentiometer or any queries then contact me on blog or send mail or message me on FB page.