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:
Jun. 30, 1998
Filed:
Aug. 08, 1996
Russell E Tavernetti, San Carlos, CA (US);
Zircon Corporation, Campbell, CA (US);
Abstract
A sensor device and method for finding the location of a conductor such as a wire, having an alternating voltage and which is not readily visible, i.e. hidden in the wall of a structure or buried. The detector device has four plates in two balanced pairs and arranged in a quadrilateral with a central reference plate. This reference plate provides a common mode rejection of the background electric field typically present for instance on the wall, which is induced by the alternating voltage in the wire. A sharp signal peak is detectable immediately over the wire from a differential signal of a pair of the balanced plates, when the plates of the pair are located on either side of the wire. Also a determination based on the sum and difference of the signals from the two plates allows one to determine the relative phase induced in the two plates of each pair, which indicates the direction in which the sensor device should be moved in order for the plates to be immediately over the target wire.