The packaging industry typically utilizes equipment involving rotary motion along several axes. This includes actions such as spooling, indexing, sealing, cutting, conveying and other automated machine functions that usually represent an axis of rotary motion. For accurate control, often a rotary encoder is the preferred sensor for motion feedback.
Many packaging machine functions are driven by servo or vector duty motors. These usually have their own encoders to provide closed-loop feedback for the control system. Alternatively, the encoders are applied to a non-motor axis of motion. Both incremental and absolute encoders are widely used in packaging machinery.
The packaging industry typically uses encoders for the following functions:
