JPH0449889B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a device for detecting the orientation of a lens barrel in an equatorial mount.

[Prior art] This kind of conventional equatorial mount It is possible to rotate the lens barrel, which is held in the tube holder E at the tip of the declination axis D, in any direction, and the displacement of right ascension and declination at that time can be adjusted according to the right ascension axis C and the declination axis. This can be seen from the right ascension scale ring and the declination scale ring ring, which are placed on each of the latitude and latitude axes.

However, in recent years, motors have been attached to the right ascension and declination axes of the equatorial mount You can rotate axis 2 toward the target celestial body, or install incremental rotary encoders on right ascension axis and declination axis 2 to read the amount of rotation of each axis, process this with a microcomputer, and use the current mirror. Many attempts have been made to digitally display the right ascension and declination values of the direction in which the tube is facing. However, when using such a microcontroller to rotate the right ascension axis C and declination axis D, or to display the right ascension and declination values, the following problems regarding declination will occur. .

In other words, the declination is +90° at the celestial north pole, 0° at the celestial equator,
Since the angle is -90° at the celestial south pole, if we say that the lens barrel is oriented toward a declination of 60° as shown in Figure 4, the lens barrel will be facing east and west. There are two possible states. (In this case, west-east is for convenience, and the right side of the right ascension axis C is east, and the left side is west.) Therefore, microcontroller c is set to 50° declination.
When an instruction is given, microcomputer c calculates and issues a command signal to motor m to rotate the declination axis N by 10 degrees, but as can be seen from Figure 4, motor m The latitude axis must be rotated clockwise when the lens barrel is in the east direction, and counterclockwise when it is in the west direction. In other words, the microcomputer c must reverse the direction of rotation of the motor m depending on the orientation toward the lens barrel.

On the other hand, when attempting to read the rotation amount of the declination axis D using the incremental rotary encoder e shown in Fig. 6 and display the declination value by processing it with the microcomputer c, there is also a problem due to the orientation to the lens barrel. occurs.

In other words, in this rotary encoder e, the light emitted from the light emitting diode ri' and passed through the left and right slits of the slit plate nu, and the slit plate nu, is transmitted over the entire peripheral area of the rotary plate, which is attached to the declination axis, in the circumferential direction, etc. When the wave passes through a group of slits etched at intervals, it is converted into current by a photodiode and outputted as two rectangular wave trains CW and CCW via a rectifier circuit (see Figure 7). Since these two rectangular wave trains CW and CCW are generated with a phase difference of 90 degrees (electrical angle), a gate circuit is required to cut off the remaining rectangular wave trains CW and CCW when they arrive at whichever comes first. Then, the gate circuit outputs either one of the rectangular wave trains CW or CCW depending on the direction of rotation of the declination axis.
will be input to the microcomputer c, and the microcomputer c will count these rectangular wave trains CW and CCW to measure the amount of displacement of the declination axis N, and add it to the currently internally stored declination value, for example. If you want to display the declination value by adding when the rectangular wave train CW is input and subtracting when the rectangular wave train CCW is input, the When the is facing east, rotating clockwise will generate two rectangular wave trains CW,
CCW is output, the gate circuit blocks the rectangular wave train CW, and the rectangular wave train CCW is output. When rotating, the rectangular wave train CW is input to the microcomputer c, so it is added and displayed. However, as shown in Figure 5B, when the lens barrel faces west, this becomes the opposite.

In other words, when the lens barrel rotates clockwise, the rectangular wave train CCW is input to the microcomputer c, so the microcomputer c subtracts it from the internally stored declination value and displays it. If it rotates to the right while facing west, the declination will be higher, so
Microcomputer c must add the value to the stored declination value and display it, and similarly, when the vehicle rotates to the left, it must subtract and display the value. In other words, depending on the orientation to the lens barrel, the microcomputer c can
The internal arithmetic processing must be reversed.

As mentioned above, when trying to control the equatorial mount X with the microcomputer c, the motor m Since it is necessary to reverse the direction of rotation of the lens and reverse the processing of the signal obtained from the rotary encoder e, it is necessary to always instruct the microcomputer c about the direction of the lens barrel.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for detecting the east-west direction of the lens barrel in an equatorial mount, which detects and inputs the orientation of the lens barrel to a microcomputer that controls such an equatorial mount. It is something to do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The device of the present invention has a declination scale ring attached to the lower fixed side of the declination axis. and a detection means, which is provided with the detection means on the upper rotation side of the declination axis that rotates integrally with the lens barrel, so as to be able to detect rotational misalignment.

[Example] Next, the apparatus of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The device A of the present invention protrudes and extends along the declination scale ring 2 over a half-circle on the left side from +90° to -90° indicated on the declination scale ring 2 provided on the lower fixed side 1a of the declination axis 1. The declination scale ring 2 on the upper rotation side 1b outer periphery 1 side of the declination axis 1 is sandwiched between the semicircular protrusion 3, which is the detected means, and the declination scale ring 2 is fixed at a position where it can face the semicircular protrusion 3. ,
It consists of a micro switch 5 which is a detection means and has a switch bar 4 whose tip can be freely touched on a cantilever projecting on the semi-circular projection piece 3. In the figure, reference numeral 6 denotes a lens barrel that is adjustably inserted into a tube holder 1c formed in a T-shape at the top end of the upper rotation side 1b, and rotates integrally around the upper rotation side 1b.

Note that the detected means and the detection means are not limited to these, but the declination axis 1 and the declination scale ring 2 are made of non-magnetic materials, the detected means is made of a magnetic material, and the detection means is a proximity switch, which is connected to the lower fixed side 1a. Upper rotation side 1
It may be embedded in the sliding end surface of b so as not to be exposed to the outside, or the detection means may be a reflective detection switch using light or ultrasonic waves as a detection medium.

[Function] Since the device A of the present invention is constructed as described above, when the lens barrel 6 is directed eastward, the switch bar 4 is disengaged from the semicircular protrusion 3 and the micro switch 5 is
On the other hand, when facing west, the switch bar 4 rides on the protrusion 3 and the micro switch 5 is turned off, depending on the orientation of the lens barrel 6.
It is possible to obtain contact signals that are two switching operation signals, OFF. Therefore, a microcomputer connected via an appropriate means can determine and switch the orientation of the lens barrel 6 based on this contact signal, so that the above-mentioned declination can be changed.
Determines in which direction motor m should be rotated in response to an instruction of 50°, and rotates motor m in the correct direction.It also counts and adds the input rectangular wave sequences CW and CCW. This means that the declination value can be accurately displayed by performing a switching operation to determine whether it should be subtracted or not.

[Effects] As described above, the present invention detects the orientation of the lens barrel, which is extremely important information for a microcomputer that controls an equatorial mount, and has extremely excellent effects in microcomputer control of an equatorial mount.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a detector for detecting the east-west direction of the lens barrel in an equatorial mount, and Fig.
Linear sectional view, Figure 3 is a side view of the equatorial mount, Figures 4 and 5 A and B are illustrations of defects in the equatorial mount using a microcomputer, and Figures 6 and 7 are incremental rotary encoders. A schematic slope diagram and its output parallel diagram. A... Device for detecting the east-west direction of the lens barrel in the equatorial mount, 1... Declination axis, 1a... Lower fixed side, 1b...
Upper rotation side, 2...Declination scale ring, 3...Protrusion piece, 4...
...Switch bar, 5...Micro switch, 6...
...lens barrel.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A detection means extending along one half circumference of the scale from +90° to -90° on a declination scale ring attached to the lower fixed side of the declination axis; 1. A detection device for detecting the east-west direction of a lens barrel in an equatorial mount, comprising a detection means provided on an upper rotation side that rotates integrally with the lens barrel so as to be able to detect when rotational misalignment occurs. 2. The equator according to claim 1, wherein the detection means and the detection means are a semicircular protrusion that extends and a micro switch that protrudes a switch bar that can freely come into contact with the protrusion when the rotations and slides slip. A detection device for the east-west direction of the lens barrel. 3. The detection device for the east-west direction of the lens barrel in an equatorial mount according to claim 1, wherein the detection means and the detection means are a magnetic body and a non-contact switch. 4. The detection device for the east-west direction of the lens barrel in an equatorial mount according to claim 1, wherein the detection means is a reflective detection switch using light or ultrasonic waves as a medium.