High-Resolution Precision Digital Tachometer

A new approach to the digital measurement of angular velocity is presented. This new instrument performs the division by time that has been carefully avoided in the existing instruments. The accuracy and resolution of the transducer does not depend upon the number of quantizations/revolution. The measurements can be made in a very short time, leading to up to 14700 samples per second. An important feature of this instrument is that even at speeds close to zero (or at zero), the error is less than 0.02 percent and 1600 samples of the angular velocity can be obtained/second. This makes the instrument particularly suitable for the study and control of the transient behavior of motors and other rotating devices.