Resolver

What is Resolver ? Where are resolvers used ?

A resolver is a type of rotary electrical transformer used for measuring degrees of rotation. It is considered an analog device, and has a digital counterpart, the rotary (or pulse) encoder. The most common type of resolver is the brushless transmitter resolver (other types are described at the end). On the outside, this type of resolver may look like a small electrical motor having a stator and rotor. On the inside, the configuration of the wire windings makes it different.

Receiver resolvers
These resolvers are used in the opposite way to transmitter resolvers (the type described above). The two diphased windings are energized, the ratio between the sine and the cosine representing the electrical angle. The system turns the rotor to obtain a zero voltage in the rotor winding. At this position, the mechanical angle of the rotor equals the electrical angle applied to the stator.
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Differential resolvers
These types combine two diphased primary windings in one of the stacks of sheets, as with the receiver, and two diphased secondary windings in the other. The relation of the electrical angle delivered by the two secondary windings and the other angles is secondary electrical angle, mechanical angle, and primary electrical angle. These types were used, for instance, as analog trigonometric-function calculators