Angular position sensor for pivoted control devices
AssigneeJoseph Pollak Corporation
InventorsKayvan Hedayat, Gerald A. Tromblee
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Abstract
A non-contact angular position sensor for sensing the position of a pivotably mounted device, which includes a housing containing a generally spherical socket having a relatively large pivot ball mounted for rotation in the socket, the ball including a spherical magnet having its center coincident with that of the pivot ball, magnetic sensing elements cooperating with and mounted at a fixed distance from the magnet, a joystick having its axis passing through the center of the spherical magnet, and output apparatus connected to the magnetic sensing elements to provide a signal representative of the orientation of the joystick.
Claims8
In a joystick control system which comprises:
- a handle, a housing having a base and cover with an opening formed therethrough to accommodate said handle, a generally spherical socket formed in said housing, a relatively large pivot ball mounted on said handle and rotatable in said socket, a spherical magnet disposed in said pivot ball, the centers of said spherical magnet and said pivot ball being coincident, magnetic sensing elements disposed at a fixed distance from said magnet and means electrically connected to said magnetic sensing elements to provide a signal representative of the orientation of said joystick.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.