1. A sensor arrangement (100) for an absolute measurement position detection system based on magnetic code objects (105), characterized by a substantially linear arrangement of a plurality of magnetic field sensors (110), by means of which a bit pattern (107, 108) encoded on a single track magnetic code object having a uniform bit length can be read.

2. A sensor arrangement as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the magnetic field sensor (110) forms a high spatial resolution sensor arrangement of sensor elements which magnetically detect in at least two spatial directions.

3. A sensor arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the magnetic field sensors (110) are arranged at varying distances (125) from each other in a substantially linear manner.

4. Sensor arrangement according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the magnetic field sensor (110) is arranged on a sensor head comprising a measurement unit and digital signal processing unit 115 and a digital communication interface 120.

5. A position detection system with a sensor arrangement (100) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the values of the magnetic bits are detected over a range of detected bit sequences, and the position of each 0- >1 and 1- >0 bit transition along the longitudinal axis of the code object (105) is determined from the detected bit values.

6. The position detection system according to claim 5, characterized in that an initial longitudinal position of the magnetic potential of the code object (105) with respect to a predetermined coordinate system (130) of the sensor arrangement (100) is determined.

7. The position detection system according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the sequence of bits detected at the code object (105) is identified in an existing reference map (bitmap) and from this an approximate absolute position of the sensor arrangement (100) along the code object (105) is determined.

8. The position detection system of claim 7, wherein the substantially absolute position is calculated as a mathematical product of a magnetic bit width and a sequence number of a corresponding first bit of a sequence observed within the reference map.

9. The position detection system according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the absolute position is calculated from the sequence of magnetic bits detected at the code object as the sum of the approximate absolute position and the starting position of the first bit of the sequence of magnetic bits detected at the code object.

10. Position detection system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the magnetic bit sequence of the code object (105) is determined by phase evaluation, wherein a plateau-shaped phase progression region (410) is assigned to a longer magnetically homogeneous section, and wherein the magnetic bits detected in each case are inverted at magnetic transitions (415) between pole regions of different polarity.

11. Position detection system according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the reference map is created or continued by means of a learning method.

12. The position detection system according to claim 11, characterized in that in the learning method the learned bit sequence (515) is continuously extended or stored (510) during a further relative movement (505) between the sensor head (100) and the code object (105).

13. The position detection system according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that bit values detected in the learning method are stored on the reference map according to the sequence of magnetic bits of the code object (105).

Background

DE 19518664C 1 discloses a sensor head for determining the relative position or movement of a physically linearly decoded bit sequence and having a sensor element arrangement for detecting a corresponding physical parameter. Each bit of the bit sequence of the sensor head comprises two sensor elements.

Further, on the one hand, the applicant developed and sold a magnetic tape position detection system having an incremental position sensor for detecting the precise position of a target object (e.g., a magnetic code strip), in which two sensor elements detecting a magnetic field are arranged in a line parallel to the magnetic code strip. The distance between the sensor elements corresponds to a quarter of the pole pitch of the code strip. The SIN/COS position dependence of the components of the respective magnetic field vectors is resolved or interpolated by means of an interpolator.

On the other hand, the present applicant has also developed and sold a magnetic tape position detection system having a position sensor that absolutely measures the position of a target object (e.g., a magnetic code strip), wherein the code strip is divided into two parallel tracks. One track allows incremental measurements to be made with relatively high resolution position determination within one magnetic cycle of the code strip. On the other hand, the other track carries an absolute positioning code that is maximum length encoded as a non-repeating conventional 12-bit or 14-bit sequence.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is based on the recognition that an absolute measuring magnetic position sensor based on magnetic code strips is designed for use only in a single magnetic mode (e.g. a mode of only a specific pole width). Therefore, these systems are not easily adaptable to different magnetic code objects of consistent bit length. It is therefore an object of the present invention firstly to specify a sensor arrangement of the kind referred to here which can be used with magnetic code objects having in each case a different magnetic pattern.

The above-mentioned parallel tracks of the absolute code strip lead to magnetic interference with adjacent magnetic fields, which leads to a significant reduction in the measurement resolution and a significant limitation of the possible read-out distance between the code strip and the magnetic sensor element. It is therefore also an object of the present invention to specify a sensor arrangement of the type mentioned here which allows a greater reading distance.

The above-described inherently known absolute sensor is very sensitive to misalignment of the sensor elements with respect to the code strip. It is therefore also an object of the present invention to specify a sensor arrangement of the kind referred to herein which is as fault-tolerant as possible with respect to such misalignments.

Errors in the code strip, for example due to mechanical wear or due to changes in the magnetization, such as undesired reversal of the magnetization of individual magnetic poles, lead to a reduced measurement resolution or even to the whole position detection system being unusable. It is therefore also an object of the present invention to specify a sensor arrangement of the type mentioned here which is also suitable for such changes in a corresponding magnetically encoded measurement object.

In sensor applications with circular curved code strips, it must always be ensured that the circumference of the respective code strip is an integer multiple of the respective bit width. It is therefore also an object of the present invention to specify a sensor arrangement of the kind referred to herein which is compatible with any diameter of such a code strip.

According to a first aspect, in particular to solve the above object, the invention proposes an absolute measuring linear position sensor system having a substantially linear arrangement of a plurality of magnetic field sensors and having a single and a single track absolute measuring magnetic code strip or band having a binary pattern or bit pattern encoded on the code strip with a uniform bit length.

According to another aspect of the invention, the magnetic field sensor may form a high spatial resolution arrangement of sensor elements for magnetic detection in at least two spatial directions.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the magnetic field sensors can be arranged in a substantially linear manner with a spacing which varies in each case from one another.

In the context of the present invention, a so-called "magnetic code" denotes a sequence of magnetic bits, wherein longitudinally arranged regions of substantially equal bit length correspond to the bits of the bit sequence, and the magnetization direction of each region is determined by the value of the corresponding bit. Such regions of substantially equal bit length are referred to herein as "magnetic bits". The regions themselves are substantially magnetically uniformly polarized with the polarization direction perpendicular to the surface of the code strip, and wherein the polarizations of the regions have substantially equal strengths but are in opposite directions for binary '0' and '1' values, respectively.

In the context of the present invention, a "bitmap" is a sequence of bits stored in a memory of the sensor device to represent binary values corresponding to a respective sequence of bits of said magnetic bits of the code strip.

According to another aspect of the invention, the position detection system identifies the values of the magnetic bits over its length (i.e. in the manner of the correspondingly detected bit sequence) and determines the position of each 0- >1 and 1- >0 bit transition along the longitudinal axis of the code strip with respect to the coordinate system of the sensor arrangement. The location of the bit transitions may occur with an accuracy better than the 1/4 bit length of the magnetic bits.

According to yet another aspect, the position detection system determines an initial longitudinal position of the magnetic bits of the respective code object (e.g. a stretched or straight or curved code strip) with respect to a coordinate system of the sensor arrangement. The accuracy may thus be better than the 1/4 width of the magnetic bit.

According to yet another aspect, the position detection system locates in the bitmap a sequence of bits detected at the code object, and calculates therefrom an approximate absolute position of the sensor arrangement along the code object as a mathematical product of the width of the magnetic bits and the sequence number of the respective first bits of the sequence observed within the bitmap.

According to yet another aspect, the position detection system calculates the absolute position from the sequence of magnetic bits detected at the code object as a sum of the approximate absolute position and a starting position of the first bit of the sequence of bits observed in the coordinate system of the sensor arrangement.

According to yet another aspect, the position detection system has a learning mode and a normal mode, wherein the learning mode is activatable in the normal mode of the position detection system.

The sensor arrangement or the corresponding position detection system according to the invention has in particular the following technical effects or advantages resulting therefrom:

the sensor arrangement or position detection system may be used with a plurality of absolute and incremental magnetic code strips or bands having the advantages described herein;

the relatively low complexity of the electronic measurement or evaluation system in processing the sensor data enables significant cost savings;

the sensor arrangement and the position detection system are relatively reliable and very robust despite a small loss of measurement accuracy against external conditions or influences;

the sensor arrangement enables the development of adaptive sensors and so-called "cyber-physical" length or position measurement systems;

the position detection system can learn thanks to the measurement method proposed according to the invention;

the sensor arrangement enables a fully autonomous operation of the position detection system referred to herein.

Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates, in schematic isometric depictions, a position detection system in accordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 2a, 2b schematically show two possible designs of magnetic code strip or strip as referred to herein;

FIG. 3 shows a typical variation in the magnetic field vector when moving along the code strip shown in FIG. 2a by means of a sensor arrangement according to the invention, on the basis of which a phase estimation is performed;

fig. 4a, 4b show typical measurement curves of the phase change shown in fig. 3 obtained with a sensor arrangement according to the invention, i.e. corresponding position data (4a) and bit patterns (4b) identified from these measurement curves;

fig. 5a, 5b show a learning method according to the invention which is carried out on the basis of a typical bit sequence (5a) measured on the code strip referred to here and on the basis of a correspondingly learned bit pattern (5 b).

Detailed Description

The sensor arrangement (or sensor head) 100 shown in fig. 1 together with the magnetic target object (in the case of the present invention, a stretched magnetic code strip 105) shown here form a linear absolute measurement position detection system.

The magnetic code strip 105 has a plurality of magnetic poles with a pole direction up 107 or a pole direction down 108. The linear arrangement of these different poles in the x-direction represents the encoding of the magnetic code strip 105.

The sensor arrangement or sensor head 100 has a plurality (in an exemplary embodiment of the invention eighteen (18)) of magnetic field sensor elements 110, which magnetic field sensor elements 110 are irregularly spaced in the x-direction as indicated by arrow 125. The sensor head 100 also includes a measurement unit and digital signal processing unit (DSP unit) 115 and a digital communication interface 120.

In addition, the typical spatial arrangement of the axes of the coordinate system 130 of the sensor arrangement 100 with respect to the magnetic code strips 105 provided in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is marked.

The measurement unit/DSP unit 115, which in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is arranged on the sensor arrangement or sensor head 100, detects and processes raw signals from the magnetic field sensor element 110 and communicates with external devices (not shown here) via the digital communication interface 120, i.e. for transmitting sensor data, parameter data and diagnostic data. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, the magnetic field sensor element 110 is designed to be magnetically sensitive in two axes in order to be able to perform a phase evaluation of the measurement signal, as mentioned below and described in more detail.

The magnetic field sensor element 110 has in particular the following technical properties or characteristics:

-it is designed to be substantially equal;

it is arranged in the direction of movement of the sensor element along the magnetic code object;

-depending on the spatial configuration of the code object or the movement trajectory of the respective target object to be detected, arranged along a straight line or along a curved trajectory;

it is arranged to have a substantially constant distance between the individual sensor elements or a different or varying distance between the individual sensor elements, as shown in fig. 1;

each having at least two sensitive axes for detecting a magnetic field generated by a magnetic target object. The sensitivity axis thus spans a plane which substantially coincides with both the arrangement of the magnetic field sensor elements and a line connecting the arrangement of the magnetic field sensor elements and the center of the respective magnetic target object. Depending on the type of target object, the center is the center line of the magnetic code strip or the center of the discrete magnet.

However, the sensor arrangement proposed herein is also applicable to sensor elements that perform magnetic detection on only a single axis. The sensor arrangement may also (optionally) still have a third axis of sensitivity oriented substantially perpendicular to the first two axes.

In particular, the signal processing unit 115 has the following technical properties or characteristics:

it has programmable components (e.g. a microcontroller, FPGA or the like or a combination of such components) as well as operating memory (e.g. RAM as fast as possible) and rewritable non-volatile memory (e.g. FLASH, FRAM or the like);

it cyclically reads out the signal from the magnetic field sensor element;

it converts the sensed signal into a regular series of sensor signals in a self-adjusting manner, which can be said to eliminate small sensing differences between the magnetic field sensor elements of the sensor arrangement by means of background correction and by means of gain compensation, for example on the basis of a spatial rotation of the rectified signal relative to the coordinate system of the sensor arrangement;

it determines the relative position of the sensor arrangement or sensor head with respect to the magnetic target object based on the detected sensor signals;

it provides diagnostic information and tools for installation, maintenance and normal operation of the position detection system;

it is capable of two-way communication with external devices via a digital interface.

Fig. 2a and 2b schematically show two exemplary magnetic code strips (or bars) of the position detection system referred to herein.

The absolute code strip shown in fig. 2a has only a single track 200, said single track 200 having absolute codes of consistent bit length. The absolute code consists of a linear arrangement of poles with pole direction (see fig. 1) up 205 and pole direction down 210. Thus, the illustrated decoding includes both a single pole 207 surrounded by poles of different polarity, and multiple poles, i.e., multiple connected poles 205, 210 of the same polarity.

In contrast, the code strip shown in fig. 2b (which is also suitable for the sensor arrangement according to the invention or for the corresponding position detection system) has a corresponding code target object with both a uniform increasing bit length code 215 and a relatively short code segment 220 or with bit codes of in each case the same bit length.

According to fig. 2a and 2b, only a single absolute code track 200, 220 is required in each case according to the invention. The single absolute code track has various advantages over magnetic code strips. First, it reduces manufacturing costs and also reduces overall operating costs compared to the prior art. In addition, the mounting is simpler and the tolerance for assembly inaccuracies is greater.

Fig. 3 shows the magnetic field vectors generated when moving in the x-direction 300 along the code strip shown in fig. 2a and 2b by a sensor arrangement according to the invention. The dots 305 included in the figure indicate the relative positions of the scans. The lines 310, which are also shown here, are aligned in each case in the direction of the field vector occurring during magnetic induction, corresponding to the possible phase values 320 indicated below the figure. The length of the line has been normalized to the maximum value of the absolute field value present.

The staircase line 315 drawn in the lower part of the figure corresponds to the magnetic code generated by the scan. The angle of the magnetic induction vector is measured relative to the x-axis. Hereinafter, this angle is referred to as the phase angle or phase of the magnetic induction vector.

At any distance of the sensor element from the corresponding code strip (i.e. in the vertical z-direction as shown in fig. 1), wherein this distance should not be larger than about the longitudinal dimension of the magnetic code bit, the magnetic induction vector rotates in the negative direction when the sensor element is moved from left to right (i.e. clockwise in the representation of the invention). Above the code bit boundaries with alternating (bit) polarity, the field is substantially horizontal. However, at larger distances, some bits are difficult or impossible to detect or measure (see the bits contained in the top row) due to the broadening of the magnetic field distribution of the individual magnetic code bits.

Fig. 4a shows a typical measurement curve of the phase change at the detected code bit in each case. Here, the curved line 400 corresponds to the phase progression of the magnetic induction vector along a (horizontal) position on the code strip, and the staircase line 405 corresponds to the corresponding value of the detected magnetic code bit.

If the sensor arrangement or the sensor head is moved from left to right on a respective target object (e.g. a magnetic code strip, a dipolar magnet, etc.), the magnetic induction vector rotates in the negative direction (i.e. clockwise in the case of the present invention). The phase progression 400 now has characteristic features corresponding to the structure of the magnetic code strip. The plateau-shaped phase progression region 410 corresponds to a longer magnetically homogeneous segment. However, at the magnetic transition 415 between poles or pole regions of different polarity, the corresponding code bit is inverted. It is thus possible to determine the magnetic bit sequence present in each case by means of "back analysis".

In fig. 4b, a code strip bit pattern 420 is depicted in the upper part of the diagram, where 425 and 430 represent the respective x-and z-components of the corresponding regular (and rectified) signal detected by the sensor. The detected binary pattern 435 is depicted in the middle of the figure. Here, point 440 corresponds to the detected bit and point 445 corresponds to the actual reference position of the sensor. In the lower part of the figure, the detected bit pattern 450 and the monotonic phase 455 generated from the regular signal detected by the sensor are depicted.

FIG. 5a depicts an exemplary magnetic scan 500 of a code strip in which an identified bit sequence is used as a basis for a learning procedure. The bit sequence learned in this manner (or a correspondingly stored table of values, bit reference map, or the like) may be continually expanded or stored during further relative movement 505 between the sensor head and the code strip (see lower step line 510).

For example, teaching of the mentioned bit sequence reference map of the magnetically decoded target object may be initiated during first use of the position detection system, due to corresponding user input or in case the actual (locally) detected bit sequence cannot be assigned to the bit sequence present within the already learned reference map. In the latter case, a corrected reference map is created until a match between the current reference map and the new map is detected in a sufficiently large area when the two maps are merged into a single map.

FIG. 5b illustrates detection of an exemplary change in the magnetically encoded target object shown in FIG. 5 a. The first row of the plot depicts a previously learned bit sequence 515 stored on the reference plot. In the next three rows 520, 525, 530, the procedure when a change is identified is shown in more detail.

As long as the sensor head 100 shown in fig. 1 moves in the invariant region of the code strip 105, it operates in the normal mode and the bit patterns 535, 540 detected in the process are easily located on the reference map. If a portion of the code strip 105 is replaced with another portion having a differently encoded bit pattern 555, bit errors will often and systematically occur when the sensor head 100 is moved, i.e., when the sensor head 100 is moved into this region.

However, when the bit pattern thus detected contains only a few modified bits 550 at the end of the direction of movement of the sensor head 100, then the bits corresponding to the modified portions on the reference map can be marked as unreliable and thus the position of the sensor head 100 can still be determined with sufficient accuracy. Thus, as the sensor head 100 moves further into the altered region 555, the detected bit pattern will not correspond to any portion of the reference map or only a relatively unlikely portion.

In order to thereby increase the robustness of the sensor arrangement, it is advantageous to reactivate the above-described learning mode even during normal operation of the sensor arrangement, or to leave the sensor arrangement in a permanently active state, in order to be able to already learn the bit patterns encoded in the modified code strip, for example in order to store these bit patterns on the alternative reference map. This allows the position of the sensor head 100 to be determined based on both the normal reference map and the alternative reference map in order to identify or employ more likely position values as the correct sensor head position in the result. If the alternative reference map can be used to determine position with greater consistency, the alternative reference map can be used in place of the normal reference map.

In the following, a method for operating a position detection system as referred to herein is described in more detail.

To generate the above-mentioned bitmap ("bitmap") or reference map by means of learning, the binary values (i.e. the corresponding bit sequences) corresponding to the magnetic bit sequences of the code strip are stored on the map. The reference map is continually expanded during system operation based on bit information extracted from the magnetic field-dependent sensor quantities detected as the sensor head moves along the moving region.

The position detection system creates a reference map from the corresponding observed bit sequence according to the following processing steps:

-if the reference map is still empty, storing the currently detected bit sequence at the beginning of the map;

-the position detection system searches on the reference map for a bit sequence that has been previously detected and stored;

-if the currently detected bit sequence is found within the reference map, the reference map is kept unchanged;

-appending the bits of the truncated part of the currently detected bit sequence to the beginning or the end of the reference map if the currently acquired bit sequence truncated at the beginning or at the end is not shorter than the length of the matching bit sequence found on the reference map. If new bits are appended to the beginning of the reference picture, these bits are characterized by consecutive negative numbers.

-creating a second reference map if the truncated bit sequence is not found on the reference map.

The position detection system determines the approximate absolute position of the sensor even if the currently detected bit sequence does not exactly match any part of the reference map.

The described position detection system has a relatively high fault tolerance.

The position detection system continues to operate even if one or more bits in the scanning area of the sensor arrangement are damaged. The magnetic bits of the code strip may be mechanically damaged or damaged by other external influences, for example due to local reversion of the magnetic properties or demagnetization at high temperatures. Furthermore, the presence of another ferromagnetic or permanent magnetic object in the vicinity of the code strip may cause at least some of the magnetic bits to appear to be damaged. Such a corrupted bit may be (i) inverted or (ii) marked as faulty.

Even if one or more of the sensor elements of the sensor arrangement stops operating or provides unreliable magnetic field component values, the position detection system continues to operate. The system may (i) attempt to recalibrate the affected sensor element or (ii) exclude the sensor element altogether from the evaluation of the sensor data, in particular from the determination of the 0- >1 and 1- >0 bit transitions and their positions.

The position detection system also maintains the reference map during normal operation. Thus, the non-matching bits of the reference map are (i) marked as unreliable, (ii) characterized by the frequency (or probability) of "non-matching", or (iii) inverted in the event that the system appears "non-matching".

The position detection system independently determines the magnetic bit length. For this purpose, during the movement of the sensor head, the system analyzes the positions of the 0- >1 and 1- >0 bit transitions in its own coordinate system and either (i) calculates the corresponding magnetic bit lengths or (ii) selects the most appropriate one of the possible bit length values for a given specification of the corresponding code strip.

Considering the problematic bits near the bit transitions, the position detection system performs the corrections independently in determining the positions of the 0- >1 and 1- >0 bit transitions.

If the position detection system is unable to determine an approximate absolute position, or if the determined absolute position differs significantly from the expected next position on the system, the system again attempts to determine an approximate absolute position, e.g., based on the reverse order of the bit sequences stored on the reference map.

The position detection system also detects orientation errors of the sensor head relative to the code object (e.g. errors in its orientation in the y-direction, errors in orientation in the z-direction, rotation (roll) errors around the x-axis, rotation (tilt) errors around the y-axis, and rotation (yaw) errors around the z-axis and/or its lateral (y) position and/or distance (z) from the code object).

It should be noted that the preferred geometry of the sensor arrangement is a substantially equidistant linear arrangement of sensor elements. However, the matching distance between the respective adjacent elements is not a requirement for a reliable operation of the position detection system referred to herein, provided that the method of evaluating the signals detected by the sensors with respect to the bit sequence to be detected also allows for a non-equidistant sensor arrangement.

It should also be noted that the distance between the centers of adjacent sensor elements of the sensor head may be set as follows:

(i) is greater than the length of the magnetic bit,

(ii) is 1.5 times the length of the magnetic bit,

(iii) 1.65 times the magnetic bit length, etc., as long as the substantial monotony of the field vector rotation angle of the sensor element arrangement can be maintained.