Synchro to digital converter

Claim 2

A synchro to digital converter for measuring rotational movement of a shaft rotatable in continuous predetermined angular increments, said converter comprising a synchro having a rotor winding responsive to the rotational movement of said shaft, the shaft including means for rotating said rotor winding in continuous predetermined equal angular increments, the synchro including a stator winding inductively coupled to the rotor winding, means for energizing one of said windings, means responsive to the output from the other of said inductively coupled windings to produce output voltages having null points representing a proximity condition of the rotor winding to said angular positions and the 180* opposite angular position of said rotor winding, second means responsive to said output voltages to produce a signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor winding, discriminator means responsive to output voltages produced by said first means for producing another signal dependent upon the angular position of said rotor winding relative to the 180* position, and means responsive to said signals produced by said second means and said discriminator means to register said equal angular incremental positions of the rotor winding.

Claim 3

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said discriminator means includes means for resolving ambiguities to determine the proximity condition of the rotor winding to the 0* or 180* opposite angular position.

Claim 4

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said first means for producing null output voltages include resistor networks connected between the output from said other inductively coupled winding of the synchro and said second means and said discriminator means, and said resistor networks being equal in number to half the number of the predetermined equal angular increments of rotation of the rotor winding during each revolution thereof.

Claim 5

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for rotating said synchro rotor winding includes a geneva coupling mechanism for positioning said rotor winding in equal angular increments of 36*.

Claim 6

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said means for rotating said shaft includes coupling means for effecting rotation of the rotor winding of the synchro to 10 discrete predetermined angular positions for each complete revolution of the rotor winding and in angular increments of 36*, and said register means includes a 1-2-4-5 flip-flop to register the 10 discrete angular positions of the rotor winding of the synchro effected by said coupling means.

Claim 7

The combination as set forth in claim 5 in which the output from said register means is connected to an indicator for the discrete angular positions of the rotor winding of the synchro.

Claim 8

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which said second means for producing the signal indicative of the angular position of said rotor winding includes binary ''''on'''' or ''''off'''' circuits.

Claim 9

The combination as set forth In claim 7 in which the threshold of said binary circuits are set at 50 percent to 100 percent, and said discriminator means includes logic means connected between said binary circuits and said register means to discriminate between two ''''on'''' signals of the binary circuits.

Claim 10

The combination as set forth in claim 7 in which said discriminator means includes other logic means to encode the angular position of the rotor winding in proximity to the 180* opposite angular position.

Claim 11

The combination as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for rotating said shaft includes coupling means for effecting rotation of said rotor winding in angular increments of 36*.

Claim 12

A synchro to digital converter for measuring rotational movement of a rotatable shaft, said converter comprising a synchro having inductively coupled stator and rotor windings, the rotor winding being responsive to the rotational movement of the shaft, said shaft including means for angularly positioning said rotor winding in continuous predetermined angular increments of 36* relative to the stator winding, one of said windings being energized by an alternating current voltage, and the other of said windings providing signals corresponding to the angular incremental position of the rotor winding relative to the stator winding; means responsive to the signals from said other winding of the synchro including a plurality of circuits for detecting the amplitude of the signals and each circuit being arranged to selectively provide a predetermined voltage corresponding to a predetermined incremental angular position of the rotor winding relative to the stator winding and to a corresponding opposite position of the rotor winding relative to said stator winding of the synchro, and means connected to the voltage means for detecting the predetermined voltages and providing digital signals corresponding to the incremental angular position of the rotor winding, a first phase sensitive demodulator connected to the predetermined voltage selectively provided by one of the circuits of said voltage means, a second phase sensitive demodulator connected to the predetermined voltage selectively provided by another of the circuits of said voltage means, and trigger means operable by outputs of said first and second phase sensitive demodulators to provide the angular incremental rotor winding position signals for distinguishing between an incremental angular position of the rotor winding and it corresponding opposite angular position, and means responsive to said digital and rotor winding position signals for registering the incremental angular position of the rotor winding of the synchro.

Claim 13

A synchro to digital converter for measuring rotational movement of a rotatable shaft, said converter comprising a synchro having inductively coupled stator and rotor windings, the rotor winding being responsive to the rotational movement of the shaft, said shaft including means for angularly positioning said rotor winding in continuous predetermined angular increments of 36* relative to the stator winding, one of said windings being energized by an alternating current voltage, and the other of said windings providing signals corresponding to the angular incremental position of the rotor winding relative to the stator winding; means responsive to the signals from said other winding of the synchro including a plurality of circuits for detecting the amplitude of the signals and each circuit being arranged to selectively provide a predetermined voltage corresponding to a predetermined incremental angular position of the rotor winding relative to the stator winding and to a corresponding opposite position of the rotor winding relative to said stator winding of the synchro, and means connected to the voltage means for detecting the predetermined voltages and providing digital signals corresponding to the incremental angular position of the rotor winding, a first phase sensitive demodulator connected to the predetermined voltage selectively provided by one of the circuits of said voltage means, a second phase sensitive demodulator connected to the predetermined voltage selectively provided by another of the circuits of said voltage means, and trigger means operable by outputs of said first and second phase sensitive demodulators to provide the angular incremental rotor winding position signals for distinguishing between an incremental angular position of the rotor winding and it corresponding opposite angular position, and means responsive to said digital and rotor winding position signals for registering the incremental angular position of the rotor winding of the synchro.

Claim 14

The combination defined by claim 11 in which said trigger means includes a first trigger device operable by the output from said first phase sensitive demodulator, a second trigger device, and logic elements operable by outputs of said first and second phase sensitive demodulators to control the second trigger device so that said first and second trigger devices of said trigger means may provide the rotor winding position signals for distinguishing between the incremental angular position of the rotor winding and its corresponding opposite angular position.

Claim 15

The combination defined by claim 11 in which said trigger means includes a first trigger device operable by the output from said first phase sensitive demodulator, a second trigger device operable by the output from said second phase sensitive demodulator, and logic elements operable by an output from said second trigger device and an output signal from the voltage detecting means so that said first and second trigger devices of said trigger means may provide the rotor position signals for distinguishing between the incremental angular position of the rotor winding and its corresponding opposite angular position.

Claim 16

The combination defined by claim 11 in which said trigger means includes first and second level sensitive binary ciRcuits, logic elements, and means operably connecting said binary circuits and logic elements between the outputs of said first and second phase sensitive demodulators and said voltage detecting means in such a manner that said trigger means may provide the rotor winding position signals for distinguishing between the incremental angular position of the rotor winding and its corresponding opposite angular position to the registering means responsive to the digital and rotor winding position signals.