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:
Dec. 17, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 18, 2000
Dennis K. Briefer, Berlin, MA (US);
Setra Systems, Inc., Boxborough, MA (US);
Abstract
A temperature compensated pressure sensor network for providing an output sensing signal representative of an applied pressure includes a reference oscillator circuit for providing a reference signal having an associated reference frequency. The oscillator circuit includes a first inductor pair electrically coupled in series, wherein the reference frequency is a predetermined function of a first inductance associated with the first inductor pair. The sensor network further includes a sensor circuit for providing a sensing signal having an associated sensing frequency. The sensor circuit includes a second inductor pair and a sensing capacitor electrically coupled in series, wherein the sensing frequency is a predetermined function of a second inductance associated with the second inductor pair and the applied pressure. The sensor network also includes a processor for receiving the reference signal and the sensing signal, and producing the output sensing signal. The output sensing signal is a predetermined function of the reference signal and the sensing signal. The first inductor pair is oriented with respect to the second inductor pair so as to minimize effects of inductive coupling, and temperature variation, between the first inductor pair and the second inductor pair. The first inductor and the second inductor are preferably electrically coupled in series opposition, and the third inductor and the fourth inductor are preferably electrically coupled in series opposition. The first inductor pair is preferably oriented substantially orthogonal to the second inductor pair.