METHOD FOR SENSING PART WHERE ELECTROMAGNETIC CHARACTERISTICS ARE CHANGED, AND DEVICE THEREOF

Abstract: A method for sensing with a high accuracy a single part, at which electromagnetic characteristics of a member to be sensed are changed, and for obtaining the output whose waveform is of a narrow peak width, and the device thereof. For this purpose, four electromagnetic sensing elements (10A-10D) are so aligned that when the two elements (10A, 10B) are simultaneously in the positions just over a protruding part (16) where electromagnetic characteristics are changed, the other two elements (10C, 10D) are in the positions just over a recessed part (18). Further, the mutually opposing two arms of a bridge circuit (30) are connected with one of the electromagnetic sensing elements (10A, 10B) and one of the elements (10C, 10D) respectively. Thereby, a single output having a waveform corresponding to the part at which the electromagnetic characteristics are changed is sensed.

Description: Field of the Invention This invention relates to a method and a device for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion formed on a member to be detected such as a position detecting device of a hydraulic cylinder, a linear scale and a rotary encoder. Background Art Conventionally, in a position sensor or the like, an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion consisting of concave and convex grooves is formed on a scale and the magnetic field is applied to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion to detect fluctuation of magnetic flux caused by the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion by using an electromagnetic sensing element such as a ferromagnetic thin-film magneto-resistive element. To detect the fluctuation of magnetic flux with a high sensibility, a bridge circuit is made up of four magneto-resistive elements. More particularly, as shown in Fig. 4 (A), four magneto-resistive elements 10a through 10d are arranged along a graduation 14 consisting of concave and convex grooves formed on a scale 12. Then, when the magneto-resistive element 10a and the next magneto-resistive element 10c but one are simultaneously located at a position corresponding to a convex region 16 of the scale 12, the remaining two magneto-resistive elements 10b and 10d are located at a position corresponding to a concave region 18. Furthermore, the magneto-resistive elements 10a through 10d constitute, as shown in Fig. 4 (B), a bridge circuit 20 that serves as a detection circuit. More particularly, the cross-hatched magneto-resistive elements 10a and 10c that arrive simultaneously to the position corresponding to the convex region 16 compose opposing two sides of the bridge circuit 20. The magneto-resistive elements 10b and 10d that arrive to the position corresponding to the concave region 18 compose the other opposing two sides of the bridge circuit 20. In this event, if Ra through Rd denote electrical resistance of the magneto-resistive elements 10a through 10d, respectively, then an output E of the bridge circuit 20 can be represented by: E ∝ Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc In the bridge circuit 20 made up of in the manner described above, the scale 12 is formed by the concave and convex grooves consisting of the convex regions 16 and the concave regions 18. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 5, the magnetic field (magnetic flux ) applied by a magnet 22 is fluctuated and deviated at the edged portions of the convex regions 16 of the scale 12. As a result, when the output of the bridge circuit 20 has a repetitious waveform as in the case of a position sensor, it is possible to carry out successfully a comparator processing for digitizing repeatedly the output of the bridge circuit 20. However, when the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion(s) is/are formed singly or at spaces relative to the member to be detected to allow generation of so-called one-pulsed waveform (1 bit) as in the case of, for example, detecting an original point or the like of the scale, small waves as a noise are frequently generated beside the fundamental wave due to the fluctuation of the magnetic field caused around the electromagnetic characteristic changing portions, which makes the comparator processing difficult. Now, each of the magneto-resistive elements 10a through 10d constituting the bridge circuit 20 is passed over the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion formed of the convex portion 16 of the scale 12 as shown in Figs. 6(A) through 6(H). By the way, for the electrical resistance Ra through Rd, the resistance values thereof are not changed when the magnetic field is applied to the element in a perpendicular direction while the resistance values thereof are reduced when the magnetic field is fluctuated at the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion of the convex region 16 to apply a transversal component to the element. Accordingly, the output E obtained in Equation 1 varies as follows: For the condition shown in Fig. 6(A), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc = 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(B), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc « 0 For the condition shown in Fig. 6(C), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc » 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(D), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc « 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(E), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc » 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(F), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc < 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(G), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc > 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(H), Rb × Rd - Ra × Rc = 0. As apparent from the above, a plurality of output signals are produced on the positive side or on the negative side of the reference voltage (zero point). Consequently, in a conventional method for detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion, detection of the one-pulsed waveform results in detection of two output waveforms having approximately equal peaks on the positive side or on the negative side, which may be a cause of detection errors. On the other hand, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-1567, there are some cases where the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion is formed by means of polarization and magneto-sensitive directions of two pairs of ferromagnetic magneto-resistive elements connected in series are orthogonally crossed each other, thereby a difference between the outputs of the two is detected. In such a case, however, the output waveform becomes larger in width and in area, which causes degraded accuracy of detection. JP-U-59-146720 discloses a magnetic pulse encoder with first and second magnetic sensors each comprising a bridge circuit. Another magnetic sensor for detecting position or speed of moving body is known from EP 0 235 750 A2. Said apparatus is used for detecting repeated signals from magnetic poles on the peripheral portion of a drum. The configuration of the bridge circuit is the same as shown in figures 4a,4b of the present application. Summary of the Invention The present invention is made to overcome the above mentioned problems inherent to conventional arts and is directed to provide a method and a device for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion that are capable of detecting a single electromagnetic characteristic changing portion with high accuracy as well as of obtaining an output waveform having narrow peak width. The output E of the bridge circuit is proportional to, as apparent from Equation (1), the difference of products of the electrical resistance values on the opposing two sides. Up to the present, the received wisdom is that the opposing two sides of the bridge circuit formed of the elements located at the positions corresponding both to the convex and concave regions make the first and the second terms of the right-hand side of Equation (1) be approximately equal to obtain no output E of the bridge circuit. However, according to the experiments conducted by the present inventors, concerning the distribution of the magnetic flux at the convex region for example, the distribution on the left side of the center of the convex region differs from, as shown in Figs. 6(A) through 6(H), that on the right side thereof due to a lateral bias. In addition, the fluctuation of the magnetic flux is not symmetrically caused at the convex region, which may be a cause of production of the above mentioned plural output signals. Further, the present inventors have found that an output signal is available even when the opposing two sides of the bridge circuit are formed of the elements located at the positions corresponding both to the convex and concave regions, i.e., when they are so connected that the detected signals are cancelled. The present invention is made on the basis of these findings, and a method for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion according to the present invention connects, in the method for detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion comprising the steps of aligning in a row in a direction of a relative movement of four electromagnetic sensing elements which more relatively to a member to be detected having the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion and aligning said four elements in such a manner that when two out of four are simultaneously located at a position corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion as a result of relative movement the remaining two are located at a position not corresponding to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; and connecting said four elements to four sides of a bridge circuit, respectively, thereby detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion. The method is characterized in that : containing said four elements in a magnetic shield base so as to generate a lateral bias in a magnetic flux on said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; forming a width of each of said four elements smaller than λ/4 and defining a pitch between said four elements larger than λ/4 in case a width of said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion is equal to λ/2; and connecting the opposing two sides of said bridge circuit to one of the two elements located at the position corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion and to one the remaining two elements located at the position not corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion. In addition, a device for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion according to the present invention connects, in the device for detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion comprising four electromagnetic sensing elements which move relatively to a member to be detected having the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion and aligned in a row in a direction of the relative movement; and a bridge circuit of which four sides being formed of the respective four electromagnetic sensing elements. Said four elements are contained in a magnetic shield case so as to generate a lateral bias in a magnetic flux on said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; a width of each of said four elements is formed smaller than λ/4 and a pitch between said four elements is defined larger than λ/4 in case a width of said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion is equal to /2; and outer two of said four elements aligned in a row are connected to the opposing two sides, respectively, of said bridge circuit and inner two are connected to the remaining opposing two sides, respectively, of said bridge circuit. According to the above mentioned structure, it is possible to remove an influence of a plurality of output waveforms due to the fluctuation of the magnetic field generated at an edge of the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion to obtain a single output waveform corresponding to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion. In addition, it is possible to obtain an output waveform having a narrow peak width, allowing easy and highly accurate detection of the single electromagnetic characteristic changing portion. Brief Description of the Drawing Fig. 1(A) is a perspective view showing each magneto-resistive element aligned on an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion according to an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1(B) is a view of a bridge circuit formed of these magneto-resistive elements; Fig. 2 is a typical view showing an output waveform of the bridge circuit according to the present embodiment; and Fig. 3 is a diagram showing exemplified output waveforms of the bridge circuit according to the present embodiment. Fig. 4(A) is a perspective view showing each magneto-resistive element aligned on a conventional electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; Fig. 4(B) is a view of a bridge circuit formed of these magneto-resistive elements; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing how the magnetic field is applied to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; Figs. 6(A) through 6(H) are views for use in describing a method for detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion; and Fig. 7 is a diagram showing exemplified output waveforms of the conventional bridge circuit. Best Mode for carrying out the Invention A preferred embodiment of a method and a device for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion according to the present invention is described with reference to the attached drawing. Corresponding parts are shown in like reference numerals to those described in conjunction with the background art and description thereof will be omitted. Fig. 1 is a view for use in describing a method and a device for detecting the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1(A) shows an alignment condition of each electromagnetic sensing element while Fig. 1(B) shows a view of a bridge circuit formed of these electromagnetic sensing elements. Four magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D that serve as the electromagnetic sensing elements are arranged in a row along the graduation 14 of the scale 12 or a member to be detected. Each of the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D is contained in a magnetic shield case not being shown and is so held as to be movable relative to the scale 12. In addition, the width of each of the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D is defined, if the width of the convex region 16 or the electromagnetic' characteristic changing portion of the scale 12 is equal to λ/2, as half it or λ/4 or slightly smaller than the latter. Accordingly, two elements 10A and 10B out of the magnetoresistive elements 10A through 10D are simultaneously located at the position corresponding to the convex region 16, the other two elements 10C and 10D are located at the position corresponding to the concave region 18. In addition, the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D constitute, as shown in Fig. 1(B), a bridge circuit 30 that serves as a detection circuit. The bridge circuit 30 differs from the bridge circuit 20 described in conjunction with the background art in that the cross-hatched two magneto-resistive elements 10A and 10D located at the position corresponding to the convex region 16 and the concave region 18, respectively, out of four magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D aligned in a row form two opposing sides, respectively, of the bridge circuit 30. In addition, the remaining two magneto-resistive elements 10B and 10C located at the position corresponding to the convex region 16 and the concave region 18, respectively, form the other two opposing sides, respectively, of the bridge circuit 30. Consequently, if R A through R D denote electrical resistance of the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D, respectively, then an output E of the bridge circuit 30 can be represented by: E ∝ R B × R C - R A × R D As apparent from the above, the first term of the right-hand side of Equation (2) is a product of the resistance value R B of the magneto-resistive element 10B located at the position corresponding to the convex region 16 and the resistance value R C of the magneto-resistive element 10C located at the position corresponding to the concave region 18, and the second term is represented as a product of the resistance value R A of the magneto-resistive element 10A located at the position corresponding to the convex region 16 and the resistance value R D of the magneto-resistive element 10D located at the position corresponding to the concave region 18. The output E is proportional to the difference between the first and the second terms. In this event, when each of the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D constituting the bridge circuit 30 passes over the convex region 16 acting as the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion as shown in Figs. 6(A) through 6(H), the output E varies as follows: For the condition shown in Fig. 6(A), R B × R C - R A × R D = 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(B), R B × R C - R A × R D » 0 For the condition shown in Fig. 6(C), R B × R C - R A × R D « 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(D), R B × R C - R A × R D < 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(E), R B × R C - R A × R D > 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(F), R B × R C - R A × R D < 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(G), R B × R C - R A × R D > 0; For the condition shown in Fig. 6(H), R B × R C - R A × R D = 0. More particularly, a typical representation of the output waveform of the bridge circuit 30 is as shown in Fig. 2, where one large peak is formed on the positive and the negative sides relative to the zero point of the reference voltage. The reference numerals A through H in Fig. 2 correspond to the cases of these conditions shown in Figs. 6(A) through 6(H), respectively. Fig. 3 is a representation of the output waveform of the bridge circuit 30 when the convex region 16 of the scale 12 is formed in 1 mm, the width of each of the magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D is formed in slightly smaller than 0.5 mm, and the pitch between the elements is formed in 0.5 mm. As shown in the figure, obtained is the waveform having one large peak on the positive side or on the negative side, so that it is possible to readily and positively detect the single electromagnetic characteristic changing portion formed for one bit such as an original point. Besides, the narrower width of the waveform results in an improved accuracy of detection. In addition, the bridge circuit 30 is made up of four magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D, which allows cancellation of an influence due to a change of the temperature. Of course, the accuracy of detection is improved even when the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion is varied cyclically and continuously as in the case of the graduation of the scale. Consequently, it becomes possible to reduce an influence of a noise or the like to reduce detection errors. Further, the peak can be increased by means of adjusting the magnetic field biased laterally. In particular, the bias in 45° direction enables to increasing the peak length. While the above mentioned embodiment has thus been described in conjunction with the case where the electromagnetic sensing elements are ferromagnetic magneto-resistive elements 10A through 10D, the electromagnetic sensing elements are not limited to the ferromagnetic magneto-resistive elements and may be semiconductor magneto-resistive elements or Hall elements, or may be coils or the like. In addition, while the above mentioned embodiment has thus been described in conjunction with the case where the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion is formed of the convex regions 16, the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion may be formed by means of polarization or the like. Furthermore, while the above mentioned embodiment has thus been described in conjunction with the case where the scale 12 is formed in straight line, it may apparently be applicable to a rotary encoder or the like. As described above, according to the present invention, the opposing two sides of the bridge circuit are formed of the electromagnetic sensing element located at the position corresponding to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion and the electromagnetic sensing element located at the position not corresponding to the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion, respectively, out of the four electromagnetic sensing elements aligned in a row. As a result, it is provided a 1-force waveform having one peak that is narrow in width on one side relative to the reference voltage and it is possible to detect a single electromagnetic characteristic changing portion such as an original point with high accuracy. Industrial Applicability The present invention is useful as a method and a device for detecting, with high accuracy, an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion formed on a member to be detected such as a position detecting device of a hydraulic cylinder, a linear scale and a rotary encoder.

Claims: A method for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion comprising the steps of aligning in a row in a direction of a relative movement of four electromagnetic sensing elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) which move relatively to a member to be detected (12) having the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16); aligning said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) in such a manner that when two out of four are simultaneously located at a position corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16) as a result of the relative movement, the remaining two are located at a position not corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16); and connecting said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) to four sides of a bridge circuit respectively; thereby detecting said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16), wherein said method is characterized in that: containing said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) in a magnetic shield case so as to generate a lateral bias in a magnetic flux on said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16); forming a width of each of said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) smaller than λ/4 and defining a pitch between said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) larger than λ/4 in case a width of said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16) is equal to λ/2; and connecting the opposing two sides of said bridge circuit to one of the two elements located at the position corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16) and to one of the remaining two elements located at the position not corresponding to said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16). A device for detecting an electromagnetic characteristic changing portion comprising four electromagnetic sensing elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) which move relatively to a member to be detected (12) having the electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16) and aligned in a row in a direction of the relative movement; and a bridge circuit of which four sides being formed of the respective four electromagnetic sensing elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D); wherein said device is characterized in that: said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) are contained in a magnetic shield case so as to generate a lateral bias in a magnetic flux on said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16); a width of each of said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) is formed smaller than λ/4 and a pitch between said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) is defined larger than λ/4 in case a width of said electromagnetic characteristic changing portion (16) is equal to λ/2; and outer two of said four elements (10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) aligned in a row are connected to the opposing two sides, respectively, of said bridge circuit and inner two are connected to the remaining opposing two sides, respectively, of said bridge circuit.

Inventors: MURAKAMI TAKU, MURAKAMI, TAKU
Applicants: KOMATSU MFG CO LTD, KABUSHIKI KAISHA KOMATSU SEISAKUSHO
Application year: 1992
Main classification: G01D5
IPC codes: G01D5, G01P3, G01B7