A high-resolution position sensor utilizes a detector having at least one flat magnetic-field-dependent resistor, in stripe form, whose ends are connectable to an output voltage, and a magnetizable device which is moveable relative to the magnetic-field-dependent resistor and has portions transverse to the direction of movement which exhibit alternately different space permeabilities, with the magnetic-field-dependent resistor extending parallel to and at a distance from said portions by the mag...

A position transducer in which an external full-load stop of a pedal and a stop inside a housing for a transducer shaft is adapted to one another in such a way as to assure that a maximum allowable adjusting torque acting upon the transducer shaft will not be exceeded. According to the invention, in the transmission chain between a pedal, the actuating member, a transmission member embodied for instance as a Bowden cable, the driver member and the transducer shaft, a prestressed elastic element ...

Position control for pneumatic positioning devices and the like, comprising a sensing lever linked to the drive rod of the positioning device and comprising a measuring lever acting on a measuring system, whereby the one lever is seated on a position control axle with positive lock or form-fit and the other lever is seated on said position control axle with non-positive lock, and comprising at least one detent acting on the measuring lever with which the sensing lever and the measuring lever are...

A detector for checking the symmetry of a helicopter rotor while it is rotating has a scanner (11) which scans vertically a field of view (15) and the view is interrupted by a vertical strip on the blade tip (16). A slot (18) in the strip gives a characteristic signal as at (L.sub.2). The position of the signal (L.sub.2) in a scanning cycle gives an indication of the height of the blade tip and also the circumferential spacing between blades.

The present invention relates to a position sensor which can be utilized as a height sensor in an automatic vehicle suspension system. The sensor comprises a telescoping assembly including an elongate shaft having one end which is axially slidable within an outer housing. The telescoping assembly is connected between sprung and unsprung vehicle frame members. The outer ends of the shaft and the housing are each provided with a unique bifurcated socket unit and an associated retaining clip for at...

A method and apparatus for determining the relative positions of a first object (1) and a second object (3). The method comprises illuminating the first object (1) so as to produce a shadow (17) of the first object on a surface (15) lying at a known position with respect to the second object (3) and forming a two dimensional image of a scene including the surface (15). The distance between the position of the shadow (17) and a reference position (19) in the two dimensional image is monitored, an...

A position sensor comprises n tracks (Sp.sub.1, Sp.sub.2, Sp.sub.3) on a carrier (T) which are provided with magnetizations of a length L and of alternate polarity. The tracks are phase-shifted with respect to each other by .DELTA.L=L.sub./n. A sensor head (S) comprises Permalloy-resistors (R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3) above each track (Sp.sub.1, Sp.sub.2, Sp.sub.3) whereat the maximum distance d of the Permalloy-resistors (R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3) from the tracks does not exceed essentially the...

A stepping motor is employed as a rotary position sensor by applying a bias current to one pair of its windings and sensing the signals produced by another pair of windings. The bias current produces a magnetic detent which defines the increments of rotation and the phase relationship of the signals produced by the other two windings indicates direction of rotation.

An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle includes a tractor, a towed implement, an absolute tractor position sensor, a relative implement position sensor, and an electronic control system. The operator inputs the implement geometry and field information into the control system. The control system combines this data with the absolute vehicle position and relative implement position to accurately guide the towed implement through a field.

An encoder for detecting the angular position of a shaft of an electric motor comprises an encoder disc (101) having tracks (515) sensed by detectors in reading heads (106a, 106b). Analog position signals from the detectors are sampled in sampling circuits (1701-1704) at times given by sampling pulses issued by a device such as a counter (506). The sampled analog values are converted to digital values by a converter (1706) and provided to a local processor (1707) calculating position values. The...