Patent ID: 6346812
Filing Date: 2002-02-12
Classification: G01L

Abstract:
A circuit arrangement for measuring a magnetic field including:a saturable inductor for sensing a magnetic field to be measured; an oscillator circuit connected to said inductor for driving said inductor with a voltage waveform that causes current flow in the inductor to saturate the inductor in opposite directions in successive half cycles; means including a current-to-voltage converter connected to said inductor to generate an output signal representing the imbalance of saturation in successive half-cycles due to the magnetic field to be measured, wherein the improvement comprises: said oscillator circuit is operable to drive said inductor to produce an average current in the inductor per oscillator cycle which is a measure of said imbalance, and said current-to-voltage converter is connected in a circuit path through which inductor current flows and is responsive to said average current in the inductor to generate a voltage representing said average current.