Systems 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
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described are systems 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.
Claims20
A piston rod position sensing system, comprising:
- a cylinder;
- a piston rod arranged in the cylinder for movement with respect thereto;
- a magnetically hard layer formed on the piston rod to provide a recording medium, a magnetic pattern being recorded in the magnetically hard layer;
- and
- a magnetic field sensor located in the cylinder to sense the recorded magnetic pattern while the piston rod is moving with respect to the cylinder and to generate signals in response to the sensed magnetic pattern that are used to determine an instantaneous position of the piston rod.
A cylinder, comprising:
- a piston;
- a rod extending axially from the piston;
- and
- a magnetically hard layer formed on the piston rod to provide a recording medium for magnetically storing bits of information along a length of the rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.