Motorized Potentiometer Uses

A variable resistor is called a potentiometer. It resists the flow of electric current in various electric circuits like speed controls, recording devices, flow meters, "tensioning" motors, printing presses, dimmer switches, thermostats, and joysticks. Remote-control operations and automation use motorized potentiometers as they give an economical analog solution. A geared servo motor and a 10-turn potentiometer form the motorized potentiometer. The gears given in these potentiometers are high- precision gears with limit switches that cut off the supply of motor, once the potentiometer wiper reaches both ends. The different gear boxes given in the potentiometer enable varying run-up and run-down time settings varying from 10 to 300 seconds.The main characteristics of motorized potentiometer include smooth performance, high linearity and resolution, reliable terminations and durability.

Joysticks

• Joysticks are devices used for gaming and entertainment devices, precision cameras, vehicle control and other functions. The have internal circuits in which the user’s motion is transformed into electrical signals that are picked up by the device's control software. These motions are sensed by the variable resistor called the potentiometer. The wiper blades of the potentiometer make the changes in the desired direction by moving across the fixed contact and mirroring changes in the joystick’s position.

Motorized Wheel Chairs

• Wheelchairs that are either motorized or run by electricity are controlled by a potentiometer. The motorized potentiometer makes the necessary speed controls without much manual interference. The potentiometer throttle control enables the user to have full control over the speed of the wheelchair, even enabling movement up and down the ramps such as those that are a common feature in hospitals.

Computers

• Potentiometers of high precision are used by analog computers to use constant factors to get intermediate results. They also help in calculations based on initial value problem, together with specified value. It is used as a function generator which uses a non-linear resistance card for giving approximate values to trigonometric functions.

Transducers

• A transducer is a device used to convert one form of energy into another. The various forms of energies that can be changed to or from a transducer are electro-mechanical, electrical, photonic, and photovoltaic. Displacement transducers have potentiometers in them that give a large output signal. Examples of transducers that use motorized potentiometers include loudspeakers and electric motors. Ultrasonic transducers use motorized potentiometers to both produce and detect ultrasonic waves. The motorized potentiometers are also used in television sets to get desired effects pertaining to picture control, vertical hold, brightness, and color.