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US 2026/0153362 A1Published application
Hybrid displacement sensor
AssigneeTemposonics, Incorporated
InventorsPaul Francis Williams, Frank Kraehe
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hybrid displacement sensor includes a waveguide, a target magnet and a pickup. The waveguide includes a longitudinal axis, an input end and a return end. The target magnet is configured to move along the longitudinal axis relative to the waveguide. The pickup includes a magnetostrictive sensing element located adjacent to the input end, and a plurality of Hall-effect sensing elements distributed along the longitudinal axis.
Claims20
A hybrid displacement sensor including a sensor assembly comprising:
- a waveguide having a longitudinal axis, an input end and a return end;
- a target magnet configured to move along the longitudinal axis relative to the waveguide;
- and
- a pickup comprising:
- a magnetostrictive sensing element located adjacent to the input end;
- and
- a plurality of Hall-effect sensing elements distributed along the longitudinal axis.
4 more elements
A hybrid displacement sensor comprising:
- a sensor assembly comprising:
- a waveguide having a longitudinal axis, an input end and a return end;
- a target magnet configured to move along the longitudinal axis relative to the waveguide;
- and
- a pickup comprising:
- a magnetostrictive sensing element located adjacent to the input end;
- and
- a plurality of Hall-effect sensing elements distributed along the longitudinal axis;
- and
- sensor electronics comprising a controller configured to output an estimated position of the target magnet based on at least one of a first sensor signal generated by the magnetostrictive sensing element and one or more second sensor signals generated by one or more of the Hall-effect sensing elements.
7 more elements
A method of operating a hybrid displacement sensor, which includes:
- a sensor assembly comprising:
- a waveguide having a longitudinal axis, an input end and a return end;
- a target magnet configured to move along the longitudinal axis relative to the waveguide;
- and
- a pickup comprising:
- a magnetostrictive sensing element located adjacent to the input end;
- and
- a plurality of Hall-effect sensing elements distributed along the longitudinal axis;
- and
- sensor electronics comprising:
- an excitation generator circuit;
- and
- a controller,
- the method comprising:
- performing at least one of:
- delivering a current pulse to the input end of the waveguide using the excitation generator, and generating a first sensor signal based on the current pulse using the magnetostrictive sensing element;
- and
- generating one or more second sensor signals using the Hall-effect sensing elements;
- and
- outputting an estimated position of the target magnet based on at least one of the first sensor signal and the one or more second sensor signals using the controller.
17 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.