Tape tension control for a tape transducer

Claim 2

A torque control circuit for controlling the currents of both take-up and supply reel motors of a three-motor tape recorder/reproducer, in which the take-up reel motor is equipped with a motion encoder which delivers an AC signal with frequency proportional to the motor speed, in which this signal, after amplification, is fed to the input of a frequency-to-voltage converter whose output voltage drives, via a first power amplifier, the supply reel motor, said signal being inverted and amplified in an additional inverting amplifier whose output voltage drives, via a second power amplifier, the take-up reel motor.

Claim 3

The torque control circuit of claim 1 in which a voltage shaping network is connected with the output of the frequency-to-voltage converter to adapt the converter output voltage to the required shape.

Claim 4

A torque control circuit for controlling the currents of both reel motors of a bidirectional two reel tape recorder and/or reproducer the two reels serving as take-up or supply reels depending on the direction of operation, in which both reel motors are equipped with motion encoders and the encoder outputs are connected to circuitry including a frequency-to-voltage converter by means of a switching device which is controlled simultaneously with the tape direction change to connect the output of the take-up motor encoder to the converter.

Claim 5

A torque control circuit for controlling the currents of both reel motors of a bidirectional two reel tape recorder and/or reproducer the two reels serving as take-up or supply reels depending on the direction of operation, in which both reel motors are equipped with motion encoders and the encoder outputs are connected to circuitry including a frequency-to-voltage converter by means of a switching device which is controlled simultaneously with the tape direction change to connect the output of the take-up motor encoder to the converter.

Claim 6

In a tape recording system having a transducing head, a tape supply reel, a tape take-up reel, a tape drive mechanism for moving the tape past the transducing head at a constant speed, a supply reel motor and a take-up reel motor, an improved torque control for the reel motors to maintain uniform tension on the tape, comprising: an optical speed encoder connected with said take-up reel, having a pulse output signal at a frequency directly related to take-up reel speed; a frequency-to-voltage converter having an input connected with said encoder having an output signal with an amplitude which is a function of the frequency f; means for controlling the torque of the supply reel motor in accordance with the amplitude of said converter output signal; and means for controlling the torque of the take-up reel motor in accordance with the inverse of the converter output signal.

Claim 7

In a tape recording system having a transducing head, a tape supply reel, a tape take-up reel, a tape drive mechanism for moving the tape past the transducing head at a constant speed, a supply reel motor and a take-up reel motor, an improved torque control for the reel motors to maintain uniform tension on the tape, comprising: an optical speed encoder connected with said take-up reel, having a pulse output signal at a frequency directly related to take-up reel speed; a frequency-to-voltage converter having an input connected with said encoder having an output signal with an amplitude which is a function of the frequency f; means for controlling the torque of the supply reel motor in accordance with the amplitude of said converter output signal; and means for controlling the torque of the take-up reel motor in accordance with the inverse of the converter output signal.

Claim 8

The torque control circuit of claim 11 including: means for scaling the amplitude of the output signal of said frequency to voltage converter to control the torque of the supply reel motor in accordance with the expression ##EQU3## and for scaling the amplitude of the output signal of the frequency to voltage converter to control the torque of the take-up reel motor in accordance with the expression C.sub.1 /f where D MAX is the maximum diameter of tape on a reel D 0 is the minimum diameter of tape on a reel C 1 is a constant relating tape speed and frequency.

Claim 9

The torque control of claim 5 having an optical speed encoder connected with each of said tape reels; and means for reversing the tape drive mechanism and the control of the tape reels for bidirectional operation of the recording system.