Donaueschingen / Waldkirch, November 2007 – With the VFS60, SICK STEGMANN has introduced a new hollow shaft encoder that is particularly suitable for installation on asynchronous motors. Encoder technology for this area of application has taken an important technological step forwards due to the numerous improvements offered by this encoder.

The electrical insulation between the motor shaft and the encoder itself is a feature that considerably increases the device’s immunity to interference, and thus its availability. Thanks to its operating temperature range of between -20°C and +100°C, the series is also particularly suitable for applications in which anything but laboratory conditions apply. A further improvement enhances the smooth running of the encoder. The distance between the two ball bearings in the encoder has been increased to 30 mm so that vibrations are reduced even at maximum operating speeds of 12,000 min-1 – achieving optimised concentricity.

Proven “basics” retained
Despite all the special features, the basics have not been overlooked in the VFS60: line numbers of from 1 to 65,536 per rotation, hollow shaft diameters of up to 15 mm, external housing dimension of 60 mm, simple mounting thanks to numerous torque multipliers, universal cable outlet, and differing electrical interfaces (TTL and HTL) cover the basic demands of most producers of asynchronous motors. Finally, the VFS60 complies with the requirements of the RoHS and has CE and UL approvals. More electrical and mechanical designs will follow in the new year.