Healthcare equipment makes up quarter of optical encoder demand

Increasing implementation of advanced absolute optical encoders by manufacturers of surface mount technology (SMT) placement equipment will also remain a major booster to market growth through 2029.

Optical encoder market study revealed that:

• Players in the automation sector are switching from incremental optical encoders to absolute optical encoders that are well suited for high-precision instrument, as they produce parallel digit outputs.
• Shafted optical encoder is estimated to continue to hold a leading market share, based on configuration, during the forecast period.
• Healthcare equipment currently account for over a fourth of total demand. It will remain a significantly lucrative application area for optical encoder manufacturers and is most likely to overtake the consumer electronics industry in terms of market value share, in the latter half of projection period.
• Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) is witnessing a high growth rate in optical encoder market as manufacturers of automotive, consumer electronic, and industry automation are adopting optical encoders to improve product quality

Manufacturers in the optical encoder market are targeting profits in the absolute optical encoder category, as adoption of these encoders by robotic equipment manufacturers has been on a constant rise with an aim to achieve enhanced functional safety and efficiency.

Requirement for high performance optical encoders is expected to increase, owing to commercialisation of quantum dots (QDs). These QoDs are used in a variety of thin film devices such as photo detectors, solar cells and LEDs. In flat panel display (FPD) applications, QDs offer improved efficiency, display life, power consumption, brightness and colour saturation, along with reduced cost. 

Experts at FMI expects manufacturers to shift from liquid crystal display (LCD) towards the development of QD-enabled devices such as cost-effective thin film transistor (TFT) products in the foreseeable future.

Improvement in performance will be crucial to meet demand for motion control in these QD devices. Advanced optical encoders are expected to emerge as the best solutions for servo feedback in applications that require highest precision, in turn creating potential business opportunities for manufacturers in the optical encoders market.