Incremental encoder VS absolute encoder

Not suitable for all applications of encoder, you need according to your application needs to choose the appropriate encoder. Incremental encoder ease of integration and maintenance. In less sophisticated application cost is the main concern of the user, incremental encoder can yet be regarded as the best choice at this moment, the incremental encoder is often used in the speed or rate monitoring, such as adjusting the warehouse or sorting facilities in the conveyor speed. According to whether the application needs to control direction, you can decided to adopt single channel incremental encoder or quadrature encoder.

As mentioned above, the type of absolute encoder can be used in safety critical, are not allowed to return to the initial position of the encoder applications, such as high performance CNC machine tool applications. In addition, the type of the encoder or return to the initial position will substantially increase the cost of operation time or application the application of the ideal choice, for example in the last days of analysis of DNA sequencer power outage, the system need to restart without damage to the cultivating of samples or impact analysis results. Absolute encoder support when to restore power to continue to work. Due to the absolute encoder outputs are digital signal, therefore compatible with a variety of communication protocol and the bus, including the BiSS, synchronous serial interface (SSI), DeviceNet, Profibus and Modbus, CANopen and other many communication protocol based on Ethernet.

If there is no appropriate feedback device, even with the best in the world positioning components also of no help. According to the application characteristics, select the appropriate encoder which can realize the ideal solution. Original equipment manufacturer and machine tool manufacturers need to understand the various features of incremental encoder and absolute encoder, and comparing with the application requirements, thus, according to the budget to build as planned with the required performance and service life of the product or system.