Our previous post, provided an overview of the A25SB, British Encoder Products Company's (BEPc) new multiturn absolute encoder.  We focused on its novel energy harvesting technology that provides turns counting without batteries or gears.   Coupled with the on-board FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory) chip, this system has the capacity to store 39-bits of multiturn resolution.

Let's put that 39-bits (equivalent to 549,755,813,888) figure into perspective with some hypothetical encoder applications.

99 Billion Bottles of Beer on the Wall Your MA36 encoder is part of a high speed bottling line...a very, very high speed line with a shaft turning 12,000 RPMs. You are tracking anywhere from 8 to 14 bits of single-turn resolution.  You maintenance team is so good, they keep your line running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with no down time.  Depending the stage of your career, you might actually retire before the MA36 counter resets...over 5-1/2 years later!  (Give those maintenance folks a bonus!)

Around-The-World-In-39-Bits Let's attach a 500mm circumference measuring wheel to your MA36 and do some linear measurement. No need to think small, lets tackle something really big, like say, the planet earth.  Start in Greenwich, England at the Prime Meridian and Go West.  When you eventually come back around from the East, 25,000 miles later, your internal MA36 counter will reset.  However, you will have an accurate measurement of good old Terra, right down to a resolution of 240 nanometers, or about twice the width of a human hair.

Perhaps in the spirit of The Magic School Bus, we've had some fun escaping reality to illustrate the turns counting capacity of the MA36.  For all practical purposes, and for most conceivable real-world encoder applications, its capacity is virtually unlimited.  When you put the MA36 to work, you won't need to worry about hitting the reset limit and losing position data.

The most important encoder application is YOURS! If you'd like to find out how the features of the MA36 can benefit your application let us know.