A motorized potentiometer combines a potentiometer with an electric motor.
A motorized potentiometer combines a potentiometer with an electric motor.
Motorized potentiometers can be found in audio/video equipment, specifically mixing consoles. [1] In this application, they are called motorized faders. Mixing consoles with motorized faders typically are used to save and restore settings on the same console and sometimes to transfer settings to a different console. Save and restore also allows to control more channels then there are sliders by switching which tracks are controlled. [2] While historically, the faders where literal motorized potentiometers, nowadays faders may directly digitize the fader position and apply the value digitally in the digital signal processing.
Motorized potentiometers are used in industrial controls. [1]
Motorized potentiometers may be used for remote control applications. [3]
Motorized potentiometers can be used to build electrical/electronic analog computers. The motorized potentiometer can act as a computing element, but also as a way to convert a physical into an electrical value.
Radio control servo motors use a potentiometer as feedback for the servo position.
Some motorized potentiometers allow both manual and motorized operation.
Motorized potentiometers can be slide or rotary potentiometers. There also exist multiple turn motorized potentiometers. [4]
The end of travel may be detected using limit switches, a peak in motor current as the mechanism stalls, or a separate resistive element used for position feedback.
Given that the history of the motorized potentiometer is linked to electronic analog computers, and electronic analog computers to military use, recording keeping and publication were limited, also meaning that parallel invention was highly likely. The M9 Gun Director had a potentiometer controlled by op amps. [5] The Bomben-Abwurfrechner BT-9 has a motor driven potentiometer to convert a pressure into a potentiometer setting. [6]
In 1968 a patent was filled describing a motor-potentiometer combination where the motor only engages when energized, allowing manual operation. [7]
In 1970 a patent was filled describing a motor-potentiometer with overload clutch and interchangeable gear ratio. [8]
Manufactures are for e.g. Alps Electric. [9]
An analog computer or analogue computer is a type of computation machine (computer) that uses the continuous variation aspect of physical phenomena such as electrical, mechanical, or hydraulic quantities to model the problem being solved. In contrast, digital computers represent varying quantities symbolically and by discrete values of both time and amplitude.
Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals, and flight control computers determine how to move the actuators at each control surface to provide the ordered response. Implementations either use mechanical flight control backup systems or else are fully electronic.
A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control device in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a centre stick or side-stick. It has various switches to control functions of the aircraft controlled by the Pilot and First Officer of the flight.
A potentiometer is a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that forms an adjustable voltage divider. If only two terminals are used, one end and the wiper, it acts as a variable resistor or rheostat.
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic instruments, or recorded sounds. Mixers may control analog or digital signals. The modified signals are summed to produce the combined output signals, which can then be broadcast, amplified through a sound reinforcement system or recorded.
In mechanical and control engineering, a servomechanism is a control system for the position and its time derivatives, such as velocity, of a mechanical system. It often includes a servomotor, and uses closed-loop control to reduce steady-state error and improve dynamic response. In closed-loop control, error-sensing negative feedback is used to correct the action of the mechanism. In displacement-controlled applications, it usually includes a built-in encoder or other position feedback mechanism to ensure the output is achieving the desired effect. Following a specified motion trajectory is called servoing, where "servo" is used as a verb. The servo prefix originates from the Latin word servus meaning slave.
In the domain of digital audio, a control surface is a human interface device (HID) which allows the user to control a digital audio workstation or other digital audio application. Generally, a control surface will contain one or more controls that can be assigned to parameters in the software, allowing tactile control of the software. As digital audio software is complex and can play any number of functions in the audio chain, control surfaces can be used to control many aspects of music production, including virtual instruments, samplers, signal processors, mixers, DJ software, and music sequencers.
A motor controller is a device or group of devices that can coordinate in a predetermined manner the performance of an electric motor. A motor controller might include a manual or automatic means for starting and stopping the motor, selecting forward or reverse rotation, selecting and regulating the speed, regulating or limiting the torque, and protecting against overloads and electrical faults. Motor controllers may use electromechanical switching, or may use power electronics devices to regulate the speed and direction of a motor.
A lighting control console is an electronic device used in theatrical lighting design to control multiple stage lights at once. They are used throughout the entertainment industry and are normally placed at the front of house (FOH) position or in a control booth.
An analog stick, also known as control stick, joystick or thumbstick, is an input device for a controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default "center" position. While digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement, analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers to measure the exact position of the stick within its full range of motion. The analog stick has greatly overtaken the D-pad in both prominence and usage in console video games.
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An electronic component is any basic discrete electronic device or physical entity part of an electronic system used to affect electrons or their associated fields. Electronic components are mostly industrial products, available in a singular form and are not to be confused with electrical elements, which are conceptual abstractions representing idealized electronic components and elements. A datasheet for an electronic component is a technical document that provides detailed information about the component's specifications, characteristics, and performance. Discrete circuits are made of individual electronic components that only perform one function each as packaged, which are known as discrete components, although strictly the term discrete component refers to such a component with semiconductor material such as individual transistors.
An electronic speed control (ESC) is an electronic circuit that controls and regulates the speed of an electric motor. It may also provide reversing of the motor and dynamic braking. Miniature electronic speed controls are used in electrically powered radio controlled models. Full-size electric vehicles also have systems to control the speed of their drive motors.
A servomotor is a rotary or linear actuator that allows for precise control of angular or linear position, velocity, and acceleration in a mechanical system. It constitutes part of a servomechanism, and consists of a suitable motor coupled to a sensor for position feedback and a controller.
Intelligent lighting refers to lighting that has automated or mechanical abilities beyond those of conventional, stationary illumination. Although the most advanced intelligent lights can produce extraordinarily complex effects, the intelligence lies with the human lighting designer, control system programmer, or the lighting operator, rather than the fixture itself. For this reason, intelligent lighting (ILS) is also known as automated lighting, moving lights, moving heads, or simply movers.
A servo drive is an electronic amplifier used to power electric servomechanisms.
A digital potentiometer is a digitally-controlled electronic component that mimics the analog functions of a potentiometer. It is often used for trimming and scaling analog signals by microcontrollers.
Mitchell Electronics Incorporated, founded in 1979, is a manufacturer of equipment to test and run servomotors, encoders and resolvers as well as various third-party electronic devices. Corporate headquarters are located in Athens, Ohio, which is also where manufacturing takes place. The company is an associate member of the Electrical Apparatus Service Association (EASA), an international electromechanical trade organization.
The LN-3 inertial navigation system is an inertial navigation system (INS) that was developed in the 1960s by Litton Industries. It equipped the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter versions used as strike aircraft in European forces. An inertial navigation system is a system which continually determines the position of a vehicle from measurements made entirely within the vehicle using sensitive instruments. These instruments are accelerometers which detect and measure vehicle accelerations, and gyroscopes which act to hold the accelerometers in proper orientation.