Inductive position sensor designed to measure the angular position of a shaft or the like

A method for noncontact measurement of the angular position of a shaft, comprising:

• providing the outer surface of the shaft with two helices of opposite directions, the helices being distant from one another, along the angular measurement range, by a predetermined distance which is a function of the estimated axial displacement of the shaft,
• furnishing an inductive position sensor with one primary winding and at least two secondary windings, one secondary winding being defined by a set of at least two loops in phase with each other,
• arranging the loops of each secondary winding facing the helices so that when the angular position of the shaft varies by a value, then on the one hand for one secondary winding the variation in flux induced in the loops facing one helix is identical to that of the flux induced in the loops facing the other helix, and on the other hand the variation in flux induced in the loops of one secondary winding facing one helix is identical but opposite the variation in flux induced in the loops of the other secondary winding, the loops facing one helix being separated from the loops facing the other helix by a distance corresponding to the distance separating the helices along the angular measurement range,
• exciting the primary winding and measuring the signal on the secondary windings, and
• determining the angular position of the shaft, the measured signal corresponding to an angular value of the position of the shaft independent of an axial displacement of the latter.