Supply rail for power tool includes enclosed conductors and mobile current collector carriage with position detector

摘要

The supply rail (1) is shaped as a profile (3) within which there are electrically conducting tracks (4). The tracks co-operate with current brushes (11) carried by the collector carriage (2) which is guided by the rail (1). The carriage is linked to a mobile element to be supplied with current. Inside the rail (10 there is a detection and/or displacement track (17) which co-operates with a detector (18) carried by the part of the carriage which runs inside the rail. The supply rail (1) is shaped as a profile (3) within which there are electrically conducting tracks (4). The tracks co-operate with current brushes (11) carried by the collector carriage (2) which is guided by the rail (1). The carriage is linked to a mobile element to be supplied with current. Inside the rail (10 there is a detection and/or displacement track (17) which co-operates with a detector (18) carried by the part of the carriage which runs inside the rail. The detection and displacement rail has a toothed surface having a regular step size which may co-operate with a toothed wheel, or an optical detector. The detector is connected to a signal processing circuit (23) which is able to determine the position of the carriage and control its displacement in response to the processor output signals.