We received an enquiry from a customer working on a CNC axis retrofit who needed an absolute encoder that could handle both fine positioning and full multi-turn tracking, without a battery backup to maintain over the machine’s lifetime. The Hengstler ACURO AD58 is Hengstler’s general-purpose encoder for exactly this kind of demanding, always-on industrial application.
This looks simple, but the AD58 is built as a true geared multi-turn encoder – the multi-turn count comes from an internal optical gear train, not a battery, so there’s nothing to replace or lose position over if power is cut. The mechanical design uses a shaft assembly on dual ball-bearings with a flexible torque support, and it’s rated for industrial-duty applications like CNC, precision positioning and high-resolution printing.
In actual application, the standard AD58 gives up to 22-bit single-turn plus 12-bit multi-turn resolution, on SSI or BiSS digital interface, with an optional 1 Vpp sinewave output (under 1% harmonic distortion) if your drive still needs an analogue signal. Bandwidth goes up to 500 kHz and it’s rated to +120°C operating temperature. Note there are also AD58S and AD58E safety-rated variants with DRIVE-CLiQ or ACURO-link interfaces (SIL2/PLd and SIL3/PLe respectively, up to 24-bit resolution) – those are separate part numbers for functional-safety applications, not this standard AD58.
From our experience, before we quote this, we would normally check whether your drive expects SSI, BiSS or the ACUROlink interface, whether you need the sinewave output as well, and the shaft/flange configuration for your mounting. Hope this helps.
