Opto Encoder 3 Click is a linear incremental optical sensor/encoder Click, which can be used for the movement or rotation encoding. The TCUT1800X01 sensor is equipped with one infrared LED with the wavelength of 950nm, and four phototransistors. Encoders of this type are widely used for many applications which involve precise detection of the position, speed, or rotational angle of an object. Rotary encoders are often used for various types of controllers on many different devices. Whether it be a rotary encoded knob controller or a rotation encoder on a motor shaft, the principle is the same - it includes an optical sensor, just like the one found on Opto Encoder 3 Click.

Opto Encoder 3 Click is supported by a mikroSDK compliant library, which includes functions that simplify software development.

Opto Encoder 3 Click is a linear incremental optical sensor/encoder Click which can be used for the movement or rotation encoding. Encoders of this type are widely used for many applications, which involve precise detection of the position, speed, or rotational angle of an object. Rotary encoders are often used for various types of controllers on many different devices. Whether it be a rotary encoder knob controller or an angle encoder on a motor shaft, the principle is the same - it includes an optical sensor, just like the one found on Opto Encoder 3 Click. This Click board™ features an optical sensor in a tall dome design, which allows more physical space, even for a vertical signal encoding. It can be used as an optical sensor in automotive applications, motion, speed, and direction sensor, for precise motor shaft positioning applications, knob encoder applications, and similar applications, where dual channel optical sensing can be utilized.

The optical sensor used on the Opto Encoder 3 Click is the TCUT1800X01, a tall dome quad channel transmissive optical sensor with phototransistor outputs from Vishay. This sensor is equipped with one infrared LED with the wavelength of 950nm, and four phototransistors. These phototransistors are positioned behind small slits on the sensor, on the opposite side of the LED. They form four separate channels. When the transistors get illuminated by the LED, they become conductive. The collectors of these transistors are connected to the same pin, while their emitters are routed to separate output pins of the TCUT1800X01 - E1, E2 E3, and E4. This allows the activity on each channel to be detected by the host MCU separately.

Since the signals of these output channels are not enough to drive pins on a host MCU, the Click board™ features two additional buffer IC – the SN74LVC125A, from texas instruments. E1, E2, E3, and E4 pins are routed to the input pins od the buffer IC. These pins are pulled to a LOW logic level by the pull-down resistors, to avoid floating. The output pins of the buffer are routed to the mikroBUS™ AN, RST, INT, and PWM pins respectively.

Signal encoding itself is done by the host MCU. Having four optical sensing channels, Opto Encoder 3 Click has the ability of both speed and direction encoding. The most common usage is encoding of the step motor position: a cylinder with slits is physically mounted above the sensor so that the LED can illuminate the phototransistors only through these slits. By rotating this cylinder, the light beam will be blocked periodically. The single sensor output will be a pulse train, while the cylinder is rotating. Having two photo sensors physically distanced by a small amount, allows the pulse signal of the first sensor to be either delayed or expedited with respect to the pulse on the second sensor, depending on the rotational direction. By adding two more sensors, the resolution and reliability of the position reading are further increased.

Provided Click board™ library offers easy to use functions that can be used to get the encoder position. The provided example application demonstrates the usage of these functions and can be used for further custom development.

• Interface: GPIO
• Compatibility: mikroBUS™
• Dimensions: 42.9 x 25.4mm
• Input Voltage: 3.3V, 5V
• IR LED forward voltage: Min. 1V, Typ. 1.2V, Max. 1.4V
• Switching Rise Time (5V): Typ. 9µs, Max. 150µs
• Switching Fall Time (5V): Typ. 16µs, Max. 150µs

• Schematic
• TCUT1800 Datasheet
• mikroSDK
• GitHub