US 11,719,525 B2
Adaptive position detection for inductive linear position sensing
Damla S. Acar, La Mesa, CA (US); Pooja Agrawal, Milpitas, CA (US); Ashley M. De Wolfe, San Diego, CA (US); Gustavo James Mehas, Mercer Island, WA (US); and Nicholaus W. Smith, La Mesa, CA (US)
Assigned to Renesas Electronics America Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Renesas Electronics America Inc., Milpitas, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 20, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/505,750.
Prior Publication US 2023/0120972 A1, Apr. 20, 2023
Int. Cl. G01B 7/14 (2006.01); G06F 1/16 (2006.01); G06F 3/04845 (2022.01); G01D 5/20 (2006.01)
CPC G01B 7/14 (2013.01) [G01D 5/20 (2013.01); G06F 1/1615 (2013.01); G06F 3/04845 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for determining a position of a structure using inductive position sensing, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of data points sampled from an analog to digital converter (ADC) and representing a plurality of voltages, the plurality of voltages being generated by a plurality of sensor coils based on a magnetic flux field, the magnetic flux field being generated by a plurality of driver coils, and the plurality of voltages varies with changes in the magnetic flux field;
calibrating the plurality of data points to generate a plurality of calibrated data points, wherein the plurality of calibrated data points are normalized at a common base voltage in response to the calibrating;
discarding a portion of the plurality of calibrated data points that are below a specified noise floor;
identifying a subset of the calibrated data points that remained after the discarding, wherein the identified subset of calibrated data points correspond to consecutive sensor coils with a highest combined signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); and
estimating a position of the structure based on the identified subset of calibrated data points, wherein the position of the structure indicates a size of a size changing device.