Design and experimental study of a mutual inductance displacement sensor for active magnetic bearings

A type of mutual inductance displacement sensor based on probe circuit board (PCB) technology is discussed in this paper. Firstly, the basic structure and principle of the sensor are introduced and an objective function of calculation is proposed for the optimisation of sensitivity. Then, the influence of design parameters on sensor performance is explored and some design experience is summarised. At the same time, a typical method of circuit implementation for the sensor is introduced and the static experiments are carried out with this method. Compared with the sensors reported in the literature, it is concluded that the index of the experimental sensor has reached a good level.