Patent ID: 7911203
Filing Date: 2011-03-22
Classification: G01D

Abstract:
1. A sensor, comprising: a signal generation module including a first magnetic sensor to generate a first waveform in the form of a sine wave and a second magnetic sensor to generate a second waveform in the form of a cosine wave, the first and second waveforms containing angular position information of a magnet in relation to the first and second magnetic sensors; an analog signal processing module for providing an algebraic manipulation of the first waveform and the second waveform to generate a linear position output voltage signal; and a signal inversion module coupled to the signal generation module for inverting the first waveform to provide a first inverted waveform and for inverting the second waveform to provide a second inverted waveform, wherein the signal inversion module outputs the first and second waveforms in a first region spanning a first range of angular position of the magnet and outputs the first and second inverted waveforms in a second region spanning a second range of angular position of the magnet, wherein the first region corresponds to −sin(θ)>cos(θ) where −sin(θ) refers to the inversion of the sine wave about an offset voltage, sin(θ) and cos(θ) embody the amplitudes and offsets associated with the sinusoids, and θ indicates an angle of a rotating magnet in the magnetic sensor, and wherein the second region corresponds to a position range in which output would be non-linear without inversion of the first and second waveforms.