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Optical Encoders

AMETEK Airtechnology Group design and manufacture optical encoders for an array of specific applications. The Encoder technology and expertise available at Muirhead is applied both individually for accurate digital position sensing and in the design of Actuators which combine motors and drives for motion control and positional information of a system. AMETEK often supplies combinations of different products, common examples include:


  • Stepping Motor / Encoders
  • Torque Motor / Encoders
  • Limited Angle Motor / Encoders
  • Torque Motor / Roller Screw / Encoders

The main advantages of optical encoders over other sensors are, extreme accuracy, signal stability, repeatability, low mass and inertia, ruggedness, wide speed range, digital data direct to control system, versatility with data codes, output types, sizes and the ability to operate from a DC supply. 

  • Typical Optical Encoder Parameters +


    • Smallest – 15 mm dia.
    • Largest – 450 mm dia.
    • Finest – 1,048,576 absolute positions per rev.
    • Most Accurate – better than 6 arc seconds
  • Applications +


    • Gunnery,
    • Inclinometers (or clinometers)
    • Submarine periscope positioning
    • Cockpit illumination controls
    • Infrared search & track (IRST) optical focusing
    • Thermal imaging, optical motor commutation
    • Missile seeker head positioning
    • Telescopes