Tech Blog

Linear position sensors are essential in a variety of industries. These are the applications for linear position sensors in factory automation.

Industrial automation equipment involves hardware with many moving parts. It is vital to make sure all these moving parts are working together, so measurements and data are collected from every element, and position sensors are the devices that collect the data. In factory automation equipment, linear position sensors determine the position or straight line movement of a machine component or workpiece.

Nuclear power plants use large hydraulically-operated valves to control steam flow to the power turbine. These valves require rugged and reliable electromechanical position sensors, usually LVDTs or LVRTs (inductive half-bridges), to give valve position feedback to the turbine's computer control system.

Our Linear Position Sensors (LVITs) are designed to survive in tough applications.  But they still are vulnerable. 

When it comes to destroying linear position sensors we have seen and heard a lot over the years.  Here is some practical advice based upon tales from the field.

To understand what a linear position sensor is, consider that a "sensor" is an electromechanical device that measures a physical parameter such as position, temperature, pressure, or flow and provides an output in some electronic format. This output may be a proportional analog signal such as a dc voltage or current, or a digital signal that is connected to a digital display or sent over a network to be interpreted by a computer or PLC.