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ALPS ELECTRIC EUROPE GmbH has developed the high-durability RDC90 Series resistive rotary sensor. Samples will be available from August 2011. Control of internal mechanisms inside robots, controllers and other commercial equipment needs to be optimized to ensure greater safety, convenience and energy efficiency. This requires detection of the mechanism's current status, including parameters such as position and angle. Position and angle detection requires a sensor with high precision, for accurate detection of mechanism movement, and high durability, for withstanding repetitive movements and vibrations. Sensors include magnetic and optical non-contact types, and resistive contact types. Resistive sensors are widely used due to the following merits: easy output processing and mounting, low susceptibility to the effects of external noise, and convenience in that a return to an original position is not required since position can be detected as soon as power is turned on. The RDC90 Series is a resistive-type rotary sensor which, while compact, achieves high durability of 100 million dither cycles, or 10 million full cycles. Position sensors, when used together with an equipment-controlling motor actuator, are constantly influenced by the motor's vibrations. Although slight, these vibrations wear away the pivotal resistive elements, affecting position detection accuracy. The RDC90 Series fulfills the durability requirement by incorporating a long-lasting resistive element used successfully in the past for automotive applications such as throttle position sensors. The RDC90's long-lasting resistive element has a specular surface, meaning friction applied to brushes sliding over the element is low, thereby minimizing noise and achieving micro-linearity (linearity in weak signal regions) within +/-0.1%. Features
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