Standard industrial encoders, whether incremental or absolute, can provide solutions to the needs of many general industrial motion control applications. However, these devices are more likely to fail when placed in harsh environments that expose them to strong shocks and vibrations, prolonged immersion in liquids, intensive cleaning procedures, aggressive contaminants, or electromagnetic noise.
Heavy Duty encoders are designed to offer maximum robustness and reliability, as well as to ensure the best performance even in the toughest conditions. With their protective housing, robust design and large ball bearings, work in conditions where standard encoders cannot. In addition, many applications demand redundant solutions to comply with the highest safety requirements. So several sensor manufacturers have developed safety-certified redundant encoders that include two systems installed in one single housing and shaft.
But these certified devices have some disadvantages: they are more expensive than standard industrial encoders because of the cost of the certification. They are also less flexible and usually limited to a few mechanical options. Furthermore, it should be noted that for the implementation of systems with safety function not all components have to meet the safety requirements. This makes it possible to use non-safety-certified redundant encoders and achieve the required safety level cost-effectively.
In this regard, manufacturers of encoders such as Hohner Automation have developed more flexible and cost-efficient solutions with redundant encoders that are positioned between the standard industrial encoders and the Heavy Duty ones. Like their certified counterparts, these robust devices have two measurement modules built into a shared housing (mounted in tandem on a shared shaft), but in this case signals from both systems are transmitted to the controller that is the responsible for comparing their output. So they can be less expensive and more versatile than specialty safety-certified encoders.
Hohner customized redundant encoders are available in a wide variety of options. You can choose from different technologies (optical or magnetic), a more robust mechanics (adapted to different environments) and isolated electronics. In addition, Hohner offers the possibility of different surface finishes (stainless steel, anodized aluminium) depending on the application, as well as the option of programming the encoder according to customer needs.
Hohner Automation has 40 years of experience manufacturing rotary encoders worldwide. One of its strengths is the creation of customized solutions adapted to the needs of its customers, beyond the standard catalog options. With its range of heavy duty redundant encoders, Hohner fills the gap between the less robust standard encoders and the most expensive safety-certified encoders, opening up new possibilities to a wide variety of customers.
