FREE ESSAY ON MOTION-TYPE SENSORS

MOTION-TYPE SENSORS

The purpose of this lab was to gain an understanding of the operation of motion-type
sensors such as a potentiometer, encoder, and tachometer. In the course of this
experiment we learned how to properly calibrate this equipment and perform data
acquisition on it. 
BACKGROUND:
The most commonly measured physical quantities are position and velocity. This is because
it is important to know how a mechanism moves in order to control its behavior. Rotary
sensors are often employed because of the ease in converting rotational velocity to
linear velocity, and vice versa. The three most common motion sensors will be briefly
discussed:
Potentiometer:
Previously we learned that a potentiometer is a resistor with a variable resistance
controlled by the movement of a rotating shaft. The resistance is expressed as: