Patent · US Expired

Magnetic field sensor with double wheatstone bridge having magneto-resistive elements

US6100686A · kind A · utility

38Cited by
1References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 11, 1998
Grant dateAug 8, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 11, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11B2005/3996
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A magnetic field sensor has a substrate on which a plurality of resistive elements form a double Wheatstone bridge circuit, at least one of the resistive elements in each bridge having a magneto-resistive characteristic. The two bridges are identical except in that, if a given magneto-resistive element in a given branch in one bridge has a positive output polarity, then the corresponding magneto-resistive element in the same branch in the other bridge will have a negative output polarity. By adding the output signals of the two Wheatstone bridges a zero-point offset of the sensor can be determined and eliminated. There is no need to employ the so-called flipping technique employed for that purpose in conventional sensors, which requires increased power consumption.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.