Patent ID: 8587294

Claim:
An angular or linear magnetic position sensor that comprises a mobile member including at least one magnet having a magnetization direction that varies linearly along the movement direction of the magnet in a surface defined by the movement direction and a normal direction, at least four magneto-sensitive elements, and at least one processing circuit providing a signal based on the absolute position of the mobile member, the magnetic position sensor comprising: a first set of magneto-sensitive elements comprising a first couple of magneto-sensitive elements located at the same point, and being spatially offset from a second set of magneto-sensitive elements comprising a second couple of magneto-sensitive elements located at the same point, along the movement direction of the magnet, wherein one magneto-sensitive element of each of the first and second sets of magneto-sensitive elements measures the tangential component of a magnetic field and a remaining magneto-sensitive element of each of the first and second sets of magneto-sensitive elements measures the normal component of the magnetic field, and the at least one processing circuit is configured to carry out at least two algebraic combinations, each algebraic combination including a component of the first set of magneto-sensitive elements and a component of the second set of magneto-sensitive elements, so as to define two sinusoidal signals substantially having an electrical phase shift of 90°.