Automatic Curve Follower Using Polarized Light Beam Chopper

概要

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This paper describes a new automatic curve follower which can follow a graph given in a thin black line on a white paper or a curve photographically recorded in an oscillogram. The detector consists of two illuminators of the line to be followed, a microscope objective lens by which the image of the line is made, a Polaroid disc which is fixed at the image plane and is divided into two equal parts both having their polarizing planes mutually perpendicular, a rotating Polaroid disc drived by a synchronous motor, and a photo tube. The light flux passed successively, through the two Polaroid discs flickers alternatively at the two parts of the field. But the total flux, which the photo tube receives, remains constant as far as the curve runs through the center of the field. When the curve deviates from the position, the deviation is picked up by the photo tube as an alternating change of the total light flux having an amplitude proportional to the deviation and a reverse phase corresponding to its direction. This detector constitutes a servo-mechanism in conjunction with a voltage amplifier, a thyratron circuit and a split field motor which drives the screw of the follower. An appropriate masking of the field much improved the performance of the detector.
公益社団法人計測自動制御学会の論文