Rotational Position Sensor Research Articles

High-Sensitivity Encoder-Like Micro Area-Changed Capacitive Transducer for a Nano-g Micro Accelerometer.

Encoder-like micro area-changed capacitive transducers are advantageous in terms of their better linearity and larger dynamic range compared to gap-changed capacitive transducers. Such transducers have been widely applied in rectilinear and rotational position sensors, lab-on-a-chip applications and bio-sensors. However, a complete model accounting for both the parasitic capacitance and fringe effect in area-changed capacitive transducers has not yet been developed. This paper presents a complete model for this type of transducer applied to a high-resolution micro accelerometer that was verified by both simulations and experiments. A novel optimization method involving the insertion of photosensitive polyimide was used to reduce the parasitic capacitance, and the capacitor spacing was decreased to overcome the fringe effect. The sensitivity of the optimized transducer was approximately 46 pF/mm, which was nearly 40 times higher than that of our previous transducer. The displacement detection resolution was measured as 50 pm/√Hz at 0.1 Hz using a precise capacitance detection circuit. Then, the transducer was applied to a sandwich in-plane micro accelerometer, and the measured level of the accelerometer was approximately 30 ng/√Hz at 1Hz. The earthquake that occurred in Taiwan was also detected during a continuous gravity measurement.

Thin Film of Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) Material Prepared by Sputtering Method

In recent decades, a new magnetic sensor based on magnetoresistance effect is highly researched and developed intensively. GMR material has great potential as next generation magnetic field sensing devices. It has also good magnetic and electric properties, and high potential to be developed into various applications of electronic devices such as: magnetic field sensor, current measurements, linear and rotational position sensor, data storage, head recording, and non-volatile magnetic random access memory. GMR material can be developed to be solid state magnetic sensors that are widely used in low field magnetic sensing applications. A solid state magnetic sensor can directly convert magnetic field into resistance, which can be easily detected by applying a sense current or voltage. Generally, there are many sensors for measuring the low magnetic field, such as: fluxgate sensor, Hall sensor, induction coil, GMR sensor, and SQUID sensor. Compared to other low magnetic field sensing techniques, solid state sensors have demonstrated many advantages, such as: small size (<0.1mm2), low power, high sensitivity (~0.1Oe) and good compatibility with CMOS technology. The thin film of GMR is usually prepared using: sputtering, electro deposition or molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) techniques. But so far, not many researchers reported the manufacture of thin film of GMR by dc-Opposed Target Magnetron Sputtering (dc-OTMS). In this paper, we inform the development of GMR thin film with sandwich and spin valve structures using dc-OTMS method. We have also developed organic GMR with Alq3 as a spacer layer.

The Study of Movement Encoder with Low Cost and High Performance

The paper proposes a design scheme of movement encoder with low cost and high performance. The scheme can provide higher precise rotor position signal for motor by a hall-effect latch and a linear hall-effect sensor, and it can also provide rotational speed and direction of motor by a winding with full pole distance, at last we deduce a torque balance equation based on speed and acceleration of motor. The study shows that the scheme with low cost have much higher position precision than traditional rotational transformer and hall-effect position sensor, and it does not exist amplitude error and phase error, function error is small. It is very worthy to the wide application of motor of electric bicycle, wind-driven generator, electric car, and servomotor, etc.

Development of Sensors Based on Giant Magnetoresistance Material

In this review we discuss development of sensors based on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) material.The GMR material has high magnetic and electrical properties, therefore it has great potential as next generation magnetic field sensing devices. During the last decade, intensive research efforts have been expended to develop sensors based on giant magnetoresistance (GMR) material, both based on inorganic materials and organic materials. Many application of GMR sensor, such as: current sensor, linear and rotational position sensor, head recording, and biosensor, are reviewed.

Nanoprecision MEMS Capacitive Sensor for Linear and Rotational Positioning

This paper presents a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive position sensor for nanopositioning applications in Probe storage systems. The objective of the sensor system design is to develop a high-precision <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> - <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Y</i> linear and rotational position sensor with a minimum sensor area and a large range of movements at high speed. To achieve this, first, a simple sensor noise model scalable with a sensor area was developed, in which all the parasitic capacitances are taken into account. Furthermore, a signal-processing solution was developed to compensate for the nonlinearities caused by rotational disturbances and, at the same time, to generate a rotational position signal for active rotation-control purposes. A MEMS capacitive sensor prototype was constructed with the design of a 13-mum pitch, a 300-mum peak-to-peak linear stroke, and a 3.46-mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> sensor area at a 3-mum gap. The measured sensor noise was 0.2 nm 1sigma, which corresponds to 12 mudeg 1sigma for the fabricated prototype sensor, at 25-kHz bandwidth. Furthermore, the signal linearity was significantly enhanced by the proposed sensor signal processing, with a measured sensor signal nonlinearity of 0.78% for an 80-mum peak-to-peak stroke at 200 Hz. Finally, the capacitive sensor-based dynamic closed-loop <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">X</i> - <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Y</i> linear and rotational position control of an electromagnetic scanner was successfully demonstrated.

Nano-Positioning of a Electromagnetic Scanner with a MEMS Capacitive Sensor

This paper presents the control design and experimentation of a prototype electromagnetic scanner with an integrated capacitive linear and rotational position sensor for small form factor probe storage. An array of probe heads is to be precisely positioned in X/Y linear and rotation directions so that high areal density (>1 terabit/in2) and high data throughput can be achieved. The scanner has X/Y motion capabilities with a linear stroke of about 300 µm. It can also generate rotational motion with offset actuators to compensate for disturbances, mechanical tolerance and nonlinearities. System characterization, modeling, MIMO control design and simulation, and preliminary experimental results are presented. The feasibility of rotation control with the developed capacitive sensor and offset actuators is experimentally confirmed.

A temperature-compensated rotational position sensor based on fibre Bragg gratings

In this work a low-cost optomechanical rotational position sensor is presented. The sensing principle relies on monitoring the tangential strain of an elastic element by means of a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) glued on its surface. A second Bragg grating is used to provide compensation to temperature induced effects. The sensor prototype, calibrated in laboratory with both static and dynamic reference inputs, has shown excellent linear response, negligible hysteresis and good long term stability. An expanded uncertainty (at 95% confidence level) of 8.6 × 10 −4 rad in the ±10° measurement range has been estimated according to ISO GUM. Key features of the proposed sensor are immunity with respect to electromagnetic noise and intrinsic wavelength encoded output signal, which can made it competitive for critical applications under severe environmental conditions.

High performance IPMSM drives without rotational position sensors using reduced-order EKF

An extended Kalman filter (EKF) based approach for position sensor elimination in interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drives is presented in this paper. The EKF is capable of estimating system parameters and state variables for the IPMSM by eliminating virtually all influences of structural noises in the vector control scheme. This paper presents a design method of a reduced-order EKF. Position and angular speed of the rotor are obtained through the reduced-order EKF only by measuring stator currents. Also, due to an angle modification scheme with error tracking, the sensorless drive system is robust to parameter variations. Simulation and experimental results are provided to verify the proposed approach based on the reduced-order EKF.

New approach for high-performance PMSM drives without rotational position sensors

A new approach to the position sensor elimination of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drives is presented in this paper. With the help of the modern drive technique, the actual rotor position as well as the machine speed can be estimated accurately even in the transient state using the electrical steady-state operation concepts. Due to the angle-modification scheme with error-tracking function, the sensorless drive system has robustness to parameter variations. As well as giving a detailed explanation of the new algorithm, the paper presents a wide range of experimental results, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed method under full operating conditions in the /spl plusmn/50/spl sim//spl plusmn/2000 [RPM] speed range and 0/spl sim/1 per unit (p.u.) load conditions.

New approach for the low-speed operation of PMSM drives without rotational position sensors

A new approach to the position sensor elimination of permanent magnet synchronous machine (PMSM) drives for low-speed operation is presented in this paper. Using the position sensing characteristics of the PMSM itself, the actual rotor position, as well as the machine speed, can be obtained even in the transient state. Since the essential back-EMF information is obtained from direct measurement during a special test cycle called MCDI, the operating speed range of the sensorless drives can be extended to 10 RPM. Moreover, the chronic starting problem of PMSM drives can be simply settled by the proposed algorithm. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed scheme, experimental results in the low-speed range of about 10/spl sim/100 RPM are also presented.