Magnetoresistive current detector
US4464625A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 18, 1981 |
| Grant date | Aug 7, 1984 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 18, 2001 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R33/09
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
In a magnetoresistive current detector, which includes a conductor carrying a current to be measured, which in turn generates an external magnetic field, four bridge elements are connected to one another so as to constitute a Wheatstone bridge. The Wheatstone bridge is adapted to be fed by a supply current from a current- or voltage-source and includes two pairs of ferromagnetic and magnetoresistive thin films which have hard and easy axes, respectively, and each thin film constitutes a respective bridge element. The thin films of each pair are magnetostatically coupled to one another, so that the portion of the supply current flowing in each thin film of each pair generates an auxiliary magnetic field, which has a direction along the hard magnetic axis of the other thin film of the same pair. The thin films of each pair form bridge portions connected to one another at respective bridge output terminals and all these films have substantially equal respective thicknesses; the external magnetic field has a direction along the direction of the hard magnetic axes of each of the thin films.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.