Transducer Software. Platinum. Brushless DC electric motor. Motor from a 3.5" floppy disk drive. The coils, arranged radially, are made from copper wire coated with blue insulation. The rotor (upper right) has been removed and turned upside-down. The grey ring inside its cup is a permanent magnet. The rotor part of a brushless motor is often a permanent magnet synchronous motor, but can also be a switched reluctance motor, or induction motor. Brushless motors may be described as stepper motors; however, the term stepper motor tends to be used for motors that are designed specifically to be operated in a mode where they are frequently stopped with the rotor in a defined angular position. Rotary encoder. A Gray code absolute rotary encoder with 13 tracks.
At the top the housing, interrupter disk, and light source can be seen; at the bottom the sensing element and support components. A rotary encoder, also called a shaft encoder, is an electro-mechanical device that converts the angular position or motion of a shaft or axle to an analog or digital code. Thermoelectric effect. The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature differences to electric voltage and vice versa.
A thermoelectric device creates voltage when there is a different temperature on each side. Conversely, when a voltage is applied to it, it creates a temperature difference. At the atomic scale, an applied temperature gradient causes charge carriers in the material to diffuse from the hot side to the cold side. This effect can be used to generate electricity, measure temperature or change the temperature of objects.