Magnetics Business & Technology - March/April 2020 - 15

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devices in use worldwide, according to Christian Leeser, CEO of parent company Fraba
which is based in The Netherlands. Its two
main product operations are Posital and Vitector, a manufacturer of safety technology
for industrial doors. Posital makes use of the
technology in its self-powered rotation counters for multi-turn encoders. It also supplies
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mountable devices, to manufacturers of gas ǡ
and water meters seeking to eliminate the 	

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From use in keycards and tokens, to pulse generators and servo
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technology has been continually improved, he notes. Posital recently upgraded its facilities for producing the sensors. Production
capacity was doubled to 1 million units per year and the company
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"Our future success will be supported by our Aachen-based R&D
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innovative signal processing algorithms for our magnetic encoder
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invests about 10% of revenues into research and development
each year with about 40 researchers and developers on board.
A key part of Fraba's DNA has been avoidance of 'me too' products and the consistent emphasis on new and innovative solutions,
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patient, step-by-step work has enabled us to consistently improve the amount of energy harvested
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"Over the past 15 years, Fraba has established
itself as a trendsetter, leading the transition from
FRPSOH[ RSWLFDO HQFRGHUV WR UREXVW DQG OHVV H[pensive precision magnetic encoders. These products are offered in both stand-alone versions and
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Another recent product introduction employing
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Hollow Shaft Kit encoders. In November, Posital announced that they have been selected as a
complementary product in Rockwell Automation's
PartnerNetwork Encompass program.
8VLQJ FDSDFLWLYH WHFKQRORJ\ WKH\ PDUN D VLJQL¿cant innovation for industrial motion control, according to Posital. Until now, almost all throughor hollow-shaft encoders have been limited to a
single-turn measurement range, largely because
fully satisfactory multi-turn technology has been
QRWEHHQDYDLODEOH(PSOR\LQJWKHFRPSDQ\¶V:LHgand energy harvesting system, these encoders
feature an integrated rotation counter that records
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They are especially well suited to robots and co-

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they can be integrated directly into the joints of the robot arms.
Their open-center form factor leaves room for designers to route
mechanical components, cables, pneumatic or hydraulic lines
through the center of the joint.
:KLOH3RVLWDOHDUOLHUFKDPpioned the switch from
optical to magnetic measurement technologies in
encoders, the new Hollow
Shaft series represents a
deliberate break with the
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typically require that key
components be placed on
the centerline of the deYLFH PDNLQJ LW GLI¿FXOW WR
adapt to hollow center con¿JXUDWLRQV 7KH FDSDFLWLYH
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measurement technique enDEOHVDULQJVKDSHGFRQ¿JXration.
Capacitive encoders have two key components, a rotor and a stator, which function as plates in a capacitive system. Capacitive
coupling between the plates changes as the rotor turns relative
to the stator, varying the modulation of electrical signals transmitted through the system. A sophisticated signal processing system
analyzes changes in signal strength and phase angle to precisely
determine the angular position of the rotor relative to the stator.

www.ichaus.de/tw28
phone: +49 6135 92 92-300

iC-TW28

10-bit Low-Latency Sin/Cos Interpolator
with Auto-Calibration and Line Driver
* Input up to 700 kHz, AB output up to 12.5 MHz
* Flexible interpolation rates of × 0.25 to × 256
* Fast commissioning: on push of a button
* Configuration via pins or SPI
* Field programmable: remote access
via Encoder Link
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* Space-saving QFN of 5×5 mm
* On-Chip EEPROM and
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automatica 2020
Munich, June 16 - 19
hall B5, booth 508

Sensor + Test 2020
Nuremberg, June 23 - 25
hall 1, booth 532

March/April 2020 * Magnetics Business & Technology

15
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Magnetics Business & Technology - March/April 2020

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