Everett, I haven’t had an opportunity to see how the Technatool optical encoder is packaged, but in general the magnetic encoder technology that I used can be packaged into less space than an optical encoder. The main caveat is that some space is required axially at the end of the motor shaft. But if there’s enough room to mount an optical encoder, then the shaft can probably be shortened to make axial space for the magnetic sensor.everettdavis wrote:Knowing what you do of the DVR design, could it be retrofitted or would it have to be totally engineered?
I wonder how many if any of the DVR patents involve the present sensor designs.
Do you own any patents that could be licensed to Teknatool?
I am working on a PowerPro & NOVA/Teknatool folder on my Google Drive. Nothing there yet, but NOVA side will have some things there soon. They are different but experience the same error codes.
I will add another post here later with some preliminary notes about it and the link etc. for folks who want to browse that info and tech notes.
Everett
As for the electrical interface, it is very flexible. I used the single-turn absolute serial output. But the IC also supports quadrature (A/B/I) incremental output, and analog velocity. I seem to recall single-turn absolute parallel output being available as well, but perhaps on a different IC with more pins.
As for patent rights, I believe the only patents that would be applicable are owned by the IC manufacturer. Buying the devices from them takes care of any license issues.
I would be happy to consult with ShopSmith and/or Technatool on the design. Product-design consulting is my day job.