DISPLACEMENT SENSOR FOR CONTACTLESSLY MEASURING A RELATIVE POSITION BY MEANS OF A MAGNETIC FIELD SENSOR ARRAY ON THE BASIS OF THE HALL EFFECT

摘要

The present invention relates to a displacement sensor for contactlessly measuring a relative position of a magnetic field source (102) which produces a magnetic field and a magnetic field sensor (100) in relation to each other, wherein the magnetic field source (102) and the magnetic field sensor (100) are movable relative to each other. A plurality of magnetic field probes (106-1, 106-2, 106-3,... 106-N) produce a plurality of position signals, each magnetic field probe detecting at least two spatial components (By, Bz) of a magnetic flux density of the magnetic field. A control and calculation unit (108) calculates an output signal of the displacement sensor on the basis of the plurality of position signals, and a storage unit (110) stores the individual position signals, the control and calculation unit calculating a magnitude of the magnetic flux density and comparing it with a predetermined threshold value in order to output the current calculated position signal for each magnetic field probe (106-1, 106-2, 106-3,... 106-N) if the magnitude of the magnetic flux density is higher than the threshold value and in order to output a preceding stored position signal if the magnitude of the magnetic flux density is smaller than or equal to the threshold value.