Dec 10 2010
Hamamatsu Photonics announced that it has unveiled an optical switch Photo IC that processes the angle information directly into digital data.
S11067-01CT Photo IC
The S11067-01CT angle sensor has a compact footprint of 4.5 × 4.5 × 1.6 mm and is ideal for high-volume applications such as encoders, tilt detectors in the digital cameras, and automotive steering angle sensors.
Photo ICs integrate signal processing electronics with a photodiode in an integrated circuit package. The photo ICs lessen production costs, decrease space and simplify the design on the printed circuit board (PCB). They are utilized as photinterrupters that operate in strong ambient light, and for laser beam identification in printers.
An encoder can be developed by utilizing a rotating plate in combination with a semicircular slit with the S11067-01CT and an LED. The LED light passes through the slit and lights up the 720 elements that are present in the circular photodiode array. In order to offer absolute angle information, the digital data is then output serially. The S11067-01CT angle sensor has an enhanced angular resolution of 0.25°.
Source: http://www.hamamatsu.com/