REDWIRE For 50 years, POSITAL has manufactured bit parallel rotary encoders

May 26, 2022 REDWIRE is news you can use from leading suppliers. Powered by FRASERS.

Posted by FRABA Inc


POSITAL-FRABA, based in Hamilton New Jersey, is the North American member of the international FRABA Group, a family of... Read more

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50 years of parallel encoders: POSITAL remains a reliable partner in the MRO market by holding on to absolute encoders with bit-parallel interface.

POSITAL-Fraba remains an innovative manufacturer of industrial position sensors used for many motion-control and safety systems – including rotary encoders with bit parallel communications interfaces. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the time the company began supplying these encoders to customers, and POSITAL remains committed to this unique product.

Since 1972, POSITAL absolute encoders with parallel interfaces have offered unmatched dynamic response, and innovative designs have helped to keep these devices relevant.

Based on optical measurement technology

The company can supply cost-efficient products like these encoders to a low-volume niche market because of its modular design philosophy and a flexible manufacturing system with a minimum order quantity of one. POSITAL designs its encoders as assemblies of interchangeable components; aside from a few specialized parts, parallel-interface encoders have most of the same parts as units with serial, fieldbus, or industrial Ethernet interfaces. The corporation can keep supplying this market as long as it can source the required components.

The resolution of these encoders depends on the amount of conductors in the connecting cable, which leads to a trade-off between cable size and resolution. When the performance of serial interfaces evolved, parallel interfaces declined in popularity, resulting in them being eliminated from the portfolios of many manufacturers. But there is a modest, steady demand for plug-compatible replacements, as many parallel-interface encoders are still in service.

These bit parallel absolute rotary encoders are based on POSITAL optical measurement technology, and they come in single and multi-turn configurations – the former up to 16-bit resolution, the latter up to 25-bit output. An embedded micro-controller manages output, so that many coding options are supported, including Binary, Gray, and excess Gray. Users can implement custom codes (e.g., Petherick, or codes used in cam or end-switch-type applications) through software to enable reproduction of the functional characteristics of older sensors used in public transportation, machine tools, and other long-lived applications.

These devices are available with a broad variety of options for housing material, flange design, and shaft configuration (including through hollow), like other POSITAL encoders. The tradition continues half a century later.

For more information, contact POSITAL.


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Posted by FRABA Inc


POSITAL-FRABA, based in Hamilton New Jersey, is the North American member of the international FRABA Group, a family of... Read more

Contact supplier