Experimental thermal characterisation of an ironless inductive position sensor

Abstract

This article reports an experimental study performed on the ironless inductive position sensor to understand the relationship between changes in the surrounding temperature and position reading of the novel linear position sensor. The measured variation of the basic electrical components with temperature is presented and shows that the position drift of the sensor varies with the state of the sensor. The states include the moving coil position, and the frequency of operation. The results also reveal that the resistance and inductance changes happen in all the coils. Furthermore, the results show that when subjected to an even temperature change, the moving coil contributes to the highest change. In addition, uneven thermal distribution along the body of the sensor leads to high sensitivity from the sense coils. The results also indicate that the inductance change is small and leads to a small position change. Keywords: Ironless inductive position sensor (I2PS), Linear position sensing, Thermal sensitivity, Position drift