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US 5,668,331 AGranted
Position sensor
AssigneeU.S. Philips Corporation
InventorsPeter Schintag, Thomas Suwald
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to a position sensor including at least two sensor units which measure in a contactless manner a position x of an element which is movably arranged relative to the sensor units. Using limited circuitry, the invention precludes sources of errors during the processing of the sensor signals in that from the sensor signals there is formed a measuring signal from the phase position of which relative to the clock signal there can be determined the position x. The position x may be, for example an angle or a length position.
Claims18
A position sensor including:
- at least two sensor units (1, 2) which measure in a contactless manner and produce sensor signals which constitute similar, mutually phase-shifted functions of a position x to be measured relative to a movable element;
- a phase detection unit for forming a position sensor signal which is a measure of the position x;
- and,
- a combination circuit which is controlled by a clock signal and which generates from the sensor signals a measuring signal which corresponds to a cyclic order of the sensor signals with a polarity which changes after each cycle;
- said phase detection unit forming the position sensor signal by measuring the phase difference between the clock signal and the measuring signal.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.