meal, repast(noun) the food served and eaten at one time. meal(noun) any of the occasions for eating food that occur by custom or habit at more or less fixed times. meal(noun) coarsely ground foodstuff; especially seeds of various cereal grasses or pulse.
Encoders turn mechanical motion into an electrical signal that is used by the control system to monitor specific parameters of the application and make adjustments if necessary to maintain the machine operating as desired.
For example: 1  In a cut-to-length application, an encoder with a measuring wheel tells the control device how much material has been fed, so the control device knows when to cut. 2  In an observatory, the encoders tell actuators what position a moveable mirror is in by providing positioning feedback.