Foucault's currents based position sensor

Abstract

In this paper the design, implementation and assessment of a position sensor based on Foucault currents is described. The proposed sensor aims to replace traditional Hall effect sensors in the competitive automotive industry. Results, for an angular position sensor, demonstrate high immunity to external magnetic fields, non-linearity of 0.186° up to 3000 rpm. Furthermore, the exciter and sensing coils can be produced using a standard multilayer Printed Circuit Board (PCB) process leading to very low production costs and the analog readout circuitry used requires standard low cost automotive electronic components, relying on the firmware developed in an embedded automotive microcontroller to achieve the automotive angular position sensor's requirements.