Patent ID: 7049808

Claim:
An apparatus for sensing a position of an object, the apparatus comprising: a magnet having a set of magnetic flux properties, the magnet mounted for movement about an axis relative to the object; and a magnetic field-sensing device mounted in fixed relation to and spaced radially outward from the axis of rotation of the magnet, the magnetic field-sensing device calibrated to sense a change in at least one magnetic flux property in response to movement of the magnet relative to the object and generate a data signal indicative of a position of the object, wherein the magnetic field-sensing device is spaced from the magnet to define an air gap there between that changes at a predetermined rate in response to movement of the magnet relative to the object, and wherein the magnet is configured to have a substantially diamond shaped cross section having a longer diagonal dimension and a shorter diagonal dimension and having a north pole centered at a vertex of the longer diagonal dimension of the diamond shape and a south pole centered at an opposite vertex, and the magnetic field-sensing device is calibrated to sense a change in flux density distribution in response to a change in the air gap.