초록 ▼

A multi-directional contactless controller senses the displacement of a manipulator with respect to a reference frame along two orthogonal directions and also indicates rotation of the manipulator with respect to the reference frame. The manipulator is journaled to a carrier and means are provided f

A multi-directional contactless controller senses the displacement of a manipulator with respect to a reference frame along two orthogonal directions and also indicates rotation of the manipulator with respect to the reference frame. The manipulator is journaled to a carrier and means are provided for preventing rotation of the carrier with respect to the reference frame. A rotary-type sensor indicates the rotation of the manipulator with respect to the carrier. Contactless linear sensors indicate the displacement of the carrier with respect to the reference frame. In one preferred embodiment, the carrier is planar and carries a square flat magnet which differentially saturates two pairs of saturable cores secured to the reference frame. In a second embodiment, the carrier is cylindrical and telescopes within a cylindrical frame. In a third embodiment, the carrier is spherical and is received in a ball-and-socket type joint fashioned in the reference frame. A contactless controller is also disclosed having the polarity of the indication for a first direction of control selected by a second direction of control, the first direction of control providing a linear response and the second direction of control providing a nonlinear response.

대표청구항 ▼

A contactless, multi-directional controller of the kind having a reference frame and a carrier, means for guiding the carrier with respect to the reference frame in first and second generally orthogonal directions while restraining motion of the carrier with respect to the reference frame in a third

A contactless, multi-directional controller of the kind having a reference frame and a carrier, means for guiding the carrier with respect to the reference frame in first and second generally orthogonal directions while restraining motion of the carrier with respect to the reference frame in a third generally orthogonal direction, manipulator means attached to the carrier for manually positioning the carrier with respect to the reference frame in the first and second directions, and contactless sensing means comprising carrier-based means fixed to the carrier and reference-based means fixed to the reference frame, the carrier-based means being adjacent the reference-based means along the third direction, wherein the sensing means comprise first sensing means for sensing the displacement of the carrier with respect to the reference frame in the first direction, and second sensing means for sensing the displacement of the carrier with resect to the reference frame in the second direction, wherein the improvement comprises, said carrier and frame are generally cylindrical, said carrier is telescopingly received in said frame, the first and second directions are the axial and circumferential directions of the cylinder of the carrier, and the third direction is the radial direction of the cylinder of the carrier; and said sensing means comprise at least one magnet and at least two pairs of magnetically saturable cores overlapped by said magnet, each pair of said cores being associated with a respective one of the two directions, the proportional part of each core that is saturated sensing the displacement of the carrier along the associated direction.