Patent ID: 7746067

Claim:
An excavator, comprising: an undercarriage; a superstructure; a pivot system operable to pivot the superstructure around an axis relative to the undercarriage, the pivot system including a gear extending around the axis, the gear including a plurality of gear teeth; and a position-sensing system, including a plurality of sensor elements that each generate a signal related to proximity of the sensor element to at least one of the gear teeth by generating the signal based at least in part on the magnetic permeability of the space adjacent the sensor element and a time-varying magnetic field generated by an electric circuit of the position-sensing system, and one or more information-processing devices that determine a positional relationship between the superstructure and the undercarriage at least in part by determining a positional relationship between the gear and the plurality of sensor elements based on a plurality of the signals generated by the sensor elements: and wherein the gear is mounted to one of the undercarriage and the superstructure, and the plurality of the sensor elements are mounted to the other of the undercarriage and the superstructure.