HOW TO USE REFLECTIVE OPTOCOUPLERS AS POSITION SENSORS

摘要

Due to its numerous qualities, namely their low cost, infrared reflective optocouplers are of large use in the industry to detect an object passing in their field of view. They nevertheless are mainly limited to deliver a pure dichotomic information. The purpose of the paper is to propose several solutions for using this component as an accurate position sensor at the industrial level. Linear and angular displacements are both considered with emphasis on a linear response. A global linearity of about 1% is achieved for a few centimeters and a few tens of degrees ranges.