Digital Rotary Encoder Rotary Potentiometer

Operating Voltage: 5V
Number of Pulses per Revolution: 20

A rotary encoder counts the number of output pulses during rotation in both the forward and reverse directions. Unlike a potentiometer, this rotational counting is unlimited. Using the buttons on the rotary encoder, it can be reset to its initial state, starting the count from 0.

Working Principle:
An incremental encoder is a rotary sensor that converts rotational displacement into a series of digital pulse signals. These pulses are used to control angular displacement. In the Eltra encoder, the conversion of angular displacement uses the photoelectric scanning principle. The reading system is based on the rotation of a radial indexing disk (code disk) consisting of alternating transparent and opaque windows, simultaneously illuminated perpendicularly by an infrared light source. The light projects the image of the code disk onto the surface of a receiver. The receiver is covered with a diffraction grating with the same window width as the code disk. The receiver's function is to sense the changes caused by the rotation of the disk and then convert these light changes into corresponding electrical changes. The low-level signal is then raised to a higher level, generating square pulses without any interference; this must be processed by electronic circuitry. Readout systems typically employ a differential method, comparing two identical signals with a 180° phase difference to improve the quality and stability of the output signal. The reading is derived from the difference between the two signals, thus eliminating interference.