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Locator device for continuously locating a dipole magnetic field transmitter and its method of operation

DC
  • US 5,337,002 A
  • Filed: 10/09/1992
  • Issued: 08/09/1994
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/01/1991
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A locator for continuously locating a magnetic field transmitter disposed beneath a surface, comprising:

  • first and second range sensors capable of measuring the field strength of the signal transmitted by the transmitter and oriented orthogonally to each other,processor means for generating a vector sum of the field strengths measured by the first and second sensors,display means for indicating the distance between the locator and the transmitter, andcalibration means includingmeans for measuring the distance between the locator and a reference surface,means for storing a measurement of the field strengths sensed by the range sensors at least two distances from the reference surface and for storing the distances from the reference surface at which the field strengths were measured,means for calculating the proportionality constant of field strength of the signal generated by the transmitter from the stored measurements of field strength and distance, andwherein the processor means generates a monotonic function indicative of the distance between the locator and the transmitter on the basis of the calculated proportionality constant.

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