we have 2 Gear tooth sensor boards and we have no clue as to what the heck they do could some please tell me and my team what this thing does
THANKS IN ADVANCE
~Blue Twilight Robotics Team no. 2220
PS: links are fine
Basically a gear tooth sensor counts gear teeth. You place the sensor about 1mm away from a ferrous (essentially iron or steel, not aluminum!) gear or sprocket and it detects the change in a magnetic field as the tooth goes by. The sensor is wired up to an interrupt on the robot controller and programmed to count the number of teeth that go by. This information and simlar information on other kit sensors can be found in the FRC Sensor Manual found here.
A gear tooth sensor can be a good stand in for an optical encoder. By sensing the gear tooth count on a known gear, and knowing the reduction between that gear and what ever objects speed you want to know, you can deduce speed.
They are sometimes called ‘Hall effect’ sensors. This is more accurate as you can use them to sense any ferrous object, not just gear teeth. Bicycle computers use a hall effect sensor, I believe. Cellphones also use them sense when they are open. There are all sorts of cool applications, although counting teeth is the unglamorous role they usually get in FIRST.
-Andy A.
is there a wiring diagram for the GTS?