What is potentiometer ?Can we use it to measure the angular movement ?

Potentiometers are a device used to measure/gauge the angular position of a shaft using a variable resistor. The potentiometer is actually a resistor. It consists of resistive material using a thin film   Sliding contact is used to rotate along the entire surface of a resistive film. The principle of a measuring resistance using potentiometer can be described as: As soon as the sliding contact is moved along the surface of a resistive material there will be a change in resistance proportional to the distance moved. Now if we apply voltage across the resistor, the voltage at the sliding contact interprets the voltages relevant to the end of the resister. The working principle of potentiometer is shown in Fig-1 In this case the potentiometer use as a voltage divider is clearly explain . As the arrow shaped sliding contact moves along the resistive material film  the voltage at the output will be proportional to the angle it rotates while travelling along the film.

There can be various uses of potentiometer .One very specific use of potentiometer is use of potentiometer for the measurement of spin direction and rate .One particular IC which embeds this basic principle of potentiometer is  IC we can used for our purpose is PR65 (Rotative Position transducer).

Use of potentiometer for the measurement of spin direction and rate is best for the case when we have rotating shaft available which can cause sliding contact of potentiometer to move. Potentiometer can be used for various other purposes i.e. it can be used to measure the resistance and voltage converted to displacement at any particular point. These can also be used to measure the linear displacement .Any potentiometer required for our particular usage can be chosen depending on our requirement and usage.