Systems and methods of recording piston rod position information in a magnetic layer on a piston rod
AssigneeSRI International
InventorsThomas P. Low, C. Bruce Clark, Ronald E. Pelrine, Joseph S. Eckerle, Chris Smith
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Abstract
Described are a system and method of recording piston rod position information in a magnetic layer on the piston rod. A piston rod moving with respect to a cylinder has a magnetically hard layer formed thereon to provide a recording medium. A magnetic pattern is recorded in the magnetically hard layer. A magnetic field sensor senses the recorded magnetic pattern while the piston rod is moving with respect to the cylinder and generates signals in response to the magnetic pattern that are used to determine an instantaneous position of the piston rod.
Claims10
A method for sensing a position of a piston rod moving within a cylinder, the method comprising:
- forming a magnetically hard layer on the piston rod to provide a recording medium for storing information;
- magnetically recording a magnetic pattern in the magnetically hard layer;
- reading the magnetic pattern recorded in the magnetically hard layer while the piston rod is moving;
- and
- determining from the read magnetic pattern an instantaneous position of the piston rod with respect to the cylinder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.