Angle sensor apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12460949-B2
Application number	US-202318156646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2023
Priority date	Feb 1, 2022
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

According to one example implementation, an angle sensor apparatus is provided, including: a sensor arrangement that is configured to respond to a rotational movement of a rotatable object by providing at least two phase-shifted measurement signals, an angle determination device that is configured to take the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals as a basis for determining an angular position, and a difference calculation device that is configured to determine a difference between the angular position determined by the angle determination device and an output from a counter, the counter being configured to be controlled based on the difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An angle sensor apparatus, comprising:
a sensor device that is configured to respond to a rotational movement of a rotatable object by providing at least two phase-shifted measurement signals, an angle determination device that is configured to take the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals as a basis for determining an angular position of the rotatable object, and a difference calculation device that is configured to determine a difference between the angular position determined by the angle determination device and an output from a counter, the counter being configured to be controlled based on the difference between the angular position determined by the angle determination device and the output from the counter.

2 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a delay device between the counter and the difference calculation device, a delay of the delay device being chosen in such a manner that delay levels out at least one or more of delays of the sensor device, the angle determination device, or the difference calculation device.

3 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
an analog-to-digital converter arrangement that is configured to digitize the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals and to provide the angle determination device with digitized measurement signals.

4 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter arrangement has a lower bit resolution relative to a bit resolution of the counter.

5 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising:
feedback from the counter to the analog-to-digital converter arrangement in such a manner that the analog-to-digital converter arrangement essentially quantifies an acceleration of the rotatable object.

6 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the feedback is applied to a feedback digital-to-analog converter of the analog-to-digital converter arrangement.

7 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the feedback is configured to overlay a digital feedback signal on an output from the analog-to-digital converter arrangement.

8 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the feedback comprises a lookup table that generates a reconstructed measurement signal from the output from the counter.

9 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sensor device comprises:
two sensors that are configured to output measurement signals phase-shifted through 90° with respect to one another, or three sensors that are configured to output measurement signals progressively phase-shifted through 120° with respect to one another.

10 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a velocity determination device that is configured to take the difference as a basis for determining an angular velocity of the rotatable object, the counter being configured to be incremented or decremented based on the angular velocity.

11 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the velocity determination device comprises one or more integrators.

12 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the velocity determination device comprises a proportional component in parallel with the one or more integrators.

13 . The angle sensor apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the velocity determination device comprises a filter for determining an angular acceleration.

14 . A method, comprising:
detecting a rotational movement of a rotatable object and generating at least two phase-shifted measurement signals in response to the rotational movement, determining an angular position based on the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals, calculating a difference between the determined angular position and an output from a counter, and controlling the counter based on the difference between the determined angular position and the output from the counter.

15 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein before the difference between the angular position and the output from the counter is calculated, the output from the counter is delayed in such a manner that at least one or more of delays of detecting the rotational movement, the determining the angular position, or the calculating the difference are leveled out.

16 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising:
converting the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals into digital signals, the determining the angular position being based on the digital signals.

17 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein converting the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals into the digital signals is performed using a lower bit resolution relative to a bit resolution of the counter.

18 . The method as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the converting the at least two phase-shifted measurement signals into the digital signals is performed based on feedback from the counter in such a manner that a conversion essentially quantifies an acceleration of the rotatable object.

19 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , further comprising:
determining an angular velocity of the rotatable object based on the difference, the controlling the counter comprising incrementing or decrementing the counter based on the angular velocity.

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Motz Edwin Mario

Classifications

• G01P3/4805

  by using circuits for the electrical integration of the generated pulses (measuring impulse frequency by integration G01R23/09) · CPC title

• G01P3/489

  Digital circuits therefor · CPC title

• G01P3/487

  delivered by rotating magnets · CPC title

• G01P3/488

  delivered by variable reluctance detectors · CPC title

• G01D3/02

  with provision for altering or correcting the law of variation · CPC title