Patent ID: 6956367

Claim:
A bearing assembly equipped with a rotation sensor capable of detecting a home position, said bearing assembly comprising: a rotatable member and a non-rotatable member; a plurality of rolling elements interposed between the rotatable and non-rotatable members to facilitate rotation of the rotatable member relative to the non-rotatable member; a magnetic encoder secured to the rotatable member for rotation together therewith, said magnetic encoder including a to-be-detected element magnetized to have a plurality of circumferentially equally spaced, opposite magnetic poles defined therein so as to alternate with each other in a direction circumferentially thereof, said to-be-detected element also having a disturbing element provided at a predetermined site on a circumference of the magnetic encoder and given a magnetic characteristic for agitating a periodicity of the opposite magnetic poles; and a rotation sensor assembly secured to the non-rotatable member and cooperable with the magnetic encoder and including first and second magnetic sensors for detecting the first to-be-detected element, said first and second magnetic sensors being spaced in a circumferential direction a distance greater than a circumferentially extending width of the disturbing element in which the periodicity of the opposite magnetic poles in the first to-be-detected element is agitated, said first and second magnetic sensors being so positioned as to be held in substantially phase-matched relation with a cycle of repetition of the opposite magnetic poles.