White Paper: Data Acquisition
LVIT Linear Position Sensors for Demanding Applications
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Explore how Alliance Sensors Group’s LVIT linear position sensors deliver long life, high reliability, and cost efficiency in demanding environments. Learn how they reduce maintenance while ensuring precise, repeatable performance across subsea systems, hydraulics, civil engineering, hazardous locations, power generation, factory automation, process control, and OEM applications.
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Overview
This document from Alliance Sensors Group details the Linear Variable Inductance Transducer (LVIT) technology, a robust, contactless linear position sensing solution with over 40 years of industry use. LVITs operate via eddy currents generated by an inductive coil interacting magnetically with a conductive target element, resulting in a resonant frequency shift that is translated into an absolute position output. This contactless mechanism minimizes wear and ensures long-term reliability, outperforming resistive potentiometers and many other sensor types in durability and cost-effectiveness.
LVIT sensors come in a variety of compact sizes, from miniature diameters as small as 0.375 inches to heavy-duty versions over 1.7 inches wide, mostly rated to industrial IP-67 standards and compliant with EMI, RoHS, and CE regulations. The sensors offer excellent linearity (≤ ±0.1% FSO), temperature stability (≤ 0.015% FSO/°C), and multiple output choices, including analog DC and high-resolution digital signals. They feature absolute output, eliminating position loss during power interruptions, and include a proprietary SenSet™ programmable scaling feature, allowing simple in-field calibration and mechanical tolerance adjustments.
Compared to alternative linear sensors such as potentiometers, DC-LVDTs, half-bridge sensors, magnetostrictive devices, and pencil probes, LVITs offer superior or comparable accuracy, repeatability, resolution, and lifespan, often at a lower or moderate cost. Their excellent stroke-to-length ratio enables shorter sensor bodies for the same stroke length, reducing installation space and cost.
LVIT technology excels in demanding applications across multiple industries, including mobile hydraulics (measuring hydraulic cylinder ram position), subsea systems (pressure-sealed sensors for deep ocean environments), civil engineering (monitoring bridge movement and railway buckling), power generation (valve and generator position feedback), and factory automation (robotic arms, packaging, dimensional gaging). Many LVITs are UL-listed for hazardous locations (NEC Class 1, Div 2), making them suitable for oil and gas exploration.
User testimonials highlight benefits such as enhanced reliability, reduced maintenance, flexible output options, and custom OEM packaging capabilities. The document’s bibliography cites comprehensive references on position sensors and measurement technologies, reinforcing LVITs as a well-established, versatile, and cost-effective solution for precision linear position sensing across diverse industrial sectors.