The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 26, 1980
Filed:
Jan. 12, 1979
William R Little, Seattle, WA (US);
Eldec Corporation, Lynnwood, WA (US);
Abstract
A proximity sensing system including an improved variable inductance measuring technique to provide an indication of the proximity of a target object to a remote sensor unit 10 which includes a sensor inductor. A variable inductance measuring apparatus measures the inductance of the sensor inductor, which inductance corresponds to the proximity of a target object. The variable inductance measuring network includes a sensor current pulse generator 20 which, in each of successive system periods, establishes a time-varying current through the sensor unit 10. A sensor control loop stage 30 senses when the resulting sensor voltage reaches a predetermined level and then captures the sensor current so as to clamp the sensor voltage at this level. A retrieval stage 40 then determines the rate of change of the sensor current at the time the sensor current is zero, establishing a calibrated analog voltage of the inductance of the sensor inductor which is substantially temperature independent. The inductance analog voltage is applied to a proximity detection and switching stage 50 which provides a quantized target-near detection pulse if the inductance analog voltage corresponds to a threshold proximity of the target object. Integration over successive system periods then provides a time-average proximity voltage which is applied to a Schmitt trigger and proximity switching network 58, the output of which indicates the proximity of the target object to the sensor inductor with respect to a threshold actuation gap.