US 4,638,250 AGranted

Contactless position sensor with coreless coil coupling component

AssigneeFiscint, Inc.

InventorsChaim D. Shen-Orr, Eitan Berg

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Abstract

A position sensor device is provided which inductively measures the change in position of a shorted conductive loop coil that is oriented to move in conjunction with the machine part to be measured relative to a stationary assembly. The stationary assembly is made up of a magnetic field generator and a sensor, which are oriented to respectively create and receive the magnetic field which is coupled to the loop. As a result, displacement of the coupling coil varies the degree of coupling between the generator and sensor such that the magnitude of the induced electrical current is representative of the location of the loop relative to the stationary assembly. The device can be used for measuring angular rotation, linear position and the angle of rotation, and linear movement with respect to displacement from a predetermined null position.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A magnetic position sensor for monitoring the change of position of an element in a contactless manner, said sensor comprising:

(a) a magnetic field generator component through which a varying current flows for inducing a first varying magnetic field;
(b) a magnetic field coupling component including an untuned coreless coil mounted to be magnetically coupled to the magnetic field generator component and to have current induced therein by said first varying magnetic field, said induced current generating a second varying magnetic field;
(c) a magnetic field sensor component magnetically coupled to said magnetic field coupling component through said second varying magnetic field;
(d) means for mounting the magnetic field coupling component to said element to move with said element relative to said other two components, the degree of magnetic coupling between said coupling component and the magnetic field generator component being substantially independent of the movement of said element while the degree of magnetic coupling between said coupling component and the magnetic field sensor component being a function of the movement of said element;
and
(e) means for measuring the signal induced in said magnetic field sensor component by the said second varying magnetic field for indicating the position of the element whose change in position is being monitored.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.