Planetary screw potentiometer

Kragen Javier Sitaker, 02021-05-12 (updated 02021-12-30) (1 minute)

You could integrate a multiturn potentiometer into a planetary screw without occupying extra space, though plausibly this is a bad idea. One or more of the planets is metallic or otherwise strongly conductive, one of the threads on the continuous track (the nut for an inverse planetary screw, the screw for the normal type) is resistive, and the other linear element (the screw for an inverse planetary screw, the nut for the normal type) is conductive. This gives you ratiometric positional feedback and a potentiometer without sliding contact (and thus plausibly longer life than potentiometers normally have, though I suppose that if this is beneficial then there must be existing ball-bearing or gear potentiometers).

This might involve undesirable compromises to mechanical properties. Probably the best material for the planets is either conductive or non-conductive, so making one of them conductive represents a compromise. And needing to make most of one of the long linear elements insulating may be a drawback, since metals are plausibly better materials for them.

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