Inductive position sensor having multiple receiving geometries

US6384598B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. · DE

Inventors

• Dirk Hobein · Ann Arbor, US
• Henning Irle · Lippstadt, DE
• Norbert Kost · Geseke, DE
• Franz Schmidt · Mannheim, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 1, 2000
• Grant date: May 7, 2002
• Expiry date: Sep 1, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01D5/2046
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

Described is an inductive position sensor, in particular for a motor vehicle, which has an oscillator circuit that generates a periodic alternating voltage signal and couples into an exciting coil, several receiving coils each of which forms a periodically repeating lap winding structure and whose overall arrangement forms a receiving geometry, an evaluation circuit for evaluating the signals induced in the receiving coils, and a movable inductive coupling element which influences the strength of the inductive coupling between the excitation coil and the receiving coils. The position sensor exhibits two receiving geometries and two coupling elements, the periodicity of the loop structures of the receiving coils is different in the two receiving coils, and over the total measuring range of the position sensor the numbers of periodic repetitions in the lap winding structures of the receiving coils of the two receiving geometries exhibit a non-integer ratio in relation to one another.