Contactless potentiometer and device for contactlessly sensing a position of an object

摘要

A position sensing device (2) has a magnetic field generating device (3) with at least one magnetic pole (4.sub.j) and a sensor device (5) with at least one sensor (6) with an enhanced, specifically a giant magnetoresistive, effect. The magnetic field generating device (3) is arranged with respect to the sensor device (5) in such a way that the direction of a normal (H.sub.1) to the plane of the sensor (6) runs at an angle different from zero with respect to an imaginary reference line (L. sub.1) on which the at least one magnetic pole (4.sub.j) is located, and the magnetic field generating device (3) is to be moved with respect to the sensor device (5) so that the magnetic field (h) of the at least one magnetic pole (4.sub.j) is detected by the sensor (6), causing a sweep through at least part of the sensor characteristic, with the number of sweeps determined by the number of magnetic poles detected.