Patent ID: 6995573

Claim:
Process for determining the position of an influencing element, with an inductive position sensor having a plurality of coils which are arranged linearly or circularly in succession, a capacitor or a defined tuned circuit, an amplifier element, at least one changeover switch and an evaluation unit, a coil and the capacitor or the defined tuned circuit forming a tuned circuit and the tuned circuit and the amplifier element forming an oscillator, with the following steps: connecting the individual coils in time succession to the capacitor or to the defined tuned circuit with the changeover switch, measuring the impedance of the coil connected by the changeover switch and of the tuned circuit with the evaluation unit as a function of the position of the influencing element relative to the coil, the aforementioned steps being repeated until all coils have been connected in succession by the changeover switch to the capacitor or to the defined tuned circuit and the impedance of all coils has been measured once by the evaluation unit, and determining which coil or tuned circuit is able to determine the position of the influencing element; wherein, in further operation: first measuring the impedance of only the coil or of the tuned circuit which has been determined beforehand as that coil or tuned circuit with which the position of the influencing element can be determined and only then is the impedance of at least one other coil or one other tuned circuit measured if the measured value of the impedance of the determined coil or tuned circuit has changed beyond a threshold amount.