Patent ID: 9574905
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: G01D,G01R

Claim:
1. A rotating field sensor for detecting an angle that a direction of a rotating magnetic field in a reference position forms with respect to a reference direction, the rotating field sensor comprising: n detection circuits, each of the n detection circuits including at least one magnetic detection element and generating an output signal responsive to the direction of the rotating magnetic field; and an angle calculation unit configured to calculate g angle values in correspondence to g groups each consisting of m detection circuits selected from the n detection circuits, each of the g angle values having a correspondence relationship with the angle that the direction of the rotating magnetic field in the reference position forms with respect to the reference direction, where m is an integer not less than two, n is an integer greater than m by two or more, and g is an integer not less than three and not more than the angle calculation unit is configured to calculate each of the g angle values on the basis of m output signals of the m detection circuits constituting a corresponding one of the g groups, and each of the n detection circuits is used to constitute at least one and not more than (g−2) of the g groups.