What is an encoder revolution? What is an encoder step?

Number of encoder turnsand the number of steps are both parameters used to describe the measurement accuracy of the encoder, but they have some differences.

Number of encoder turnsUsually refers to the multi-turn encoder can be measured range, the encoder is divided into single-turn and multi-turn, for example, a single-turn encoder resolution is 4096, so the resolution of this single-turn encoder is 4096, because 2 of the 12th power is equal to 4096, also known as 12-bit encoder. The other is a multi-turn encoder 4096 turns, here refers to the encoder range of 4096 turns, if his single-turn resolution is 4096, and the number of turns is 4096, then its total range is 4096X4096.

Encoder stepsis the amount of position change that occurs when an encoder outputs a pulse signal, usually expressed as an angle or linear displacement. For example, if an encoder outputs 1 pulse in a pulse cycle and each pulse represents 0.01 degrees of rotation, the encoder step is 0.01 degrees.Encoder stepsIt is usually the smallest amount of change in the encoder output, which is closely related to the resolution and accuracy of the encoder.

Therefore, although both the number of encoder turns and the number of steps are used to describe the measurement accuracy of encoders, they describe different objects and meanings. In practical applications, it is necessary to select the appropriate encoder for the specific measurement needs, and measure and control according to its number of turns and steps.