The measurement technology manufacturer SIKO relies on high-precision MEGATRON potentiometers
SIKO is known worldwide for its length, angle and speed measurement technology and produces pioneering measuring instruments and positioning systems for a wide range of applications. Although the products are characterized by a very high quality, there is occasionally room for improvement. For example, this was the case for geared potentiometers and potentiometric wire-actuated encoders. Thanks to the integration of MEGATRON potentiometers, SIKO has optimized the service life and also minimized the failure rate.
Potentiometer – the genuine True-Power-On
Potentiometric sensors are still very often used in industry for measured-data acquisition. The technology has been tried and tested for decades and has proven itself in many applications. Especially in applications with limited space, in which measured values have to be recorded over several shaft revolutions (multiturn), there are few alternatives to potentiometers – including and especially from an economic point of view. Due to technological reasons, potentiometers naturally have the ability to deliver the correct position information immediately after a de-energized state ("True Power-On"). Hardly any other technology combines this advantage in a compact and above all economical design, which additionally has an inherent immunity to EMC influences. Geared potentiometers are good example of potentiometer use in industrial applications.
Geared potentiometer with precisely adjustable measuring range
A geared potentiometer basically consists of two components: a measuring gear with precision gears and a potentiometer whose resistance value can be changed by rotating the shaft. The absolute measured values acquired in this way are transmitted as an analog signal to the evaluation unit for processing. Angle ranges, resistance values and gears of a geared potentiometer can be synchronized in the application. With SIKO geared potentiometers, users even have the option of configuring switching patterns using an integrated switching cam.
SIKO has a total of six geared potentiometer series in its product range, which are now equipped with precision potentiometers from MEGATRON. The GP09 series has a continuous hollow shaft and is suitable for shafts up to 20 mm in diameter. It offers ratios from 0.2 to 244 and resistance values from 1.5 to 10 kOhm. The GP09 can be used even in difficult environmental environments, because it can be filled with oil. This enables it to meet the requirements of protection category IP68. The GP43 even has a gear-ratio range of 0.1 ... 512 and has a solid shaft of 6 mm diameter. With this transmission potentiometer, up to 3 cam switching outputs can be freely adjusted. Thanks to their wide range of gear ratios, SIKO's geared potentiometers can also be adapted to a wide range of measuring paths. Preferred applications include textile machines, paper processing machines or actuators in power plants as well as slewing and hoisting gear for crane systems.
The sensor is the focal point
The new core of the SIKO geared potentiometers are high-precision multiturn potentiometers of the AL17/19 series from MEGATRON. The measurement technology specialist thoroughly tested more than 1,500 of the MEGATRON potentiometers without a single complaint. In addition to extensive environmental and load tests, the potentiometers also underwent tests in which the signal quality was examined. In an automated procedure, particular attention was paid to spiking and deviations in movement. None of the tests showed any quality deficiencies.
Lifespan of the precision potentiometer is high
MEGATRON'S precision potentiometers are very popular thanks to their numerous optimization options as well as their reliability and cost-effectiveness. The compact potentiometers (Ø 22 mm) with a measuring range of up to 3600° can be ideally matched to the application thanks to their numerous options and are also available with an easy-to-install plug version. Its highly tempered resistor element gives the AL17/19 series a significantly longer service life and reliability compared to standard potentiometers on the market. The high quality of the potentiometers enables precise position measurements over a significantly longer operating time than is the case with most comparable products. SIKO customers therefore benefit from the switch to MEGATRON potentiometers, above all thanks to even lower maintenance costs and downtimes.
Production is carried out under the strictest quality requirements
The potentiometric measuring principle is based on contact between the grinder and the resistance path, so that the sensor elements used are subject to immediate and unavoidable wear. The result is a microscopic abrasion that “settles” on the resistance path. And it is this abrasion that can influence the signal quality and manifests itself in spiking of the signals in potentiometers. Thanks to many years of know-how and the use of high-quality, optimally coordinated components, MEATRON has succeeded in reducing these negative effects of the measuring principle to a minimum.
Exact adaptation to the application
In addition, the specialists from Putzbrunn can adapt all potentiometers to the ambient conditions prevailing in the application, for example, to undamped vibrations that cause oscillatory movements of the grinder element on the resistance path. Assuming a conceivable 50 Hz tremor, there are approx. 8 million overflows within 24 hours at a seemingly static grinder position. This is subsequently expressed in the signals in what is known as spiking, which was preceded by above-average local wear on the resistance track.
MEGATRON therefore constructs the potentiometers in these cases in such a way that increased contact pressure acts on the grinder and presses it against the resistance path. This means that it can no longer retract so easily. When designing the contact pressure, however, tact is required: If it is too high, this results in premature wear of the resistance path and a reduced service life. Thanks to their many years of experience and their extensive precision engineering know-how, the MEGATRON experts can optimally and precisely adapt the grinding-resistance track system to the requirements of the application on request.
Even better product features
SIKO was able to optimize its geared potentiometers by using the MEGATRON precision potentiometers. The AL17/19 multiturn wire potentiometers extend the long service life of the products and additionally reduce the already very low failure rate. The new partnership will give users optimum wire-actuated encoders and/or geared potentiometer solutions for their applications.
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