Rotating components are used in many areas of technology. It is often necessary to monitor the rotation or the rotary position of said components, for example in the case of actuators or in machine tools, in particular the number of rotations carried out must be determined regularly. Besides a mechanical detection, detection by means of sensors is also known, which is based on the giant magneto resistance of thin films. For example, a system is distributed by Novotechnik Messwertaufnehmer OHG under the name “Novoturn”, which can measure angles greater than 360° and which is based on magnetoresistive sensors.
Also in such systems—and also as in other rotation sensors—it is desirable to reference the current position, i.e. the already effected rotation angle.
Thus there is a long-felt need to at least partly overcome the disadvantages known from the prior art and in particular to specify a method for operating a magnetoresistive rotation sensor and a corresponding rotation sensor, with which a suitable readout of the data is possible in a simple manner.