It is easy to measure parameters like electricity, voltage, temperature, and pressure; but do you know how to measure magnetism or the strength of a magnetic field?
Hall Sensors are widely used for measuring magnetic fields and have a broad range of applications in many day applications. Right from the wheel speed sensors and camshaft position sensors used in cars to the proximity sensors found in assembly lines to the current sensors installed in current transformers, hall sensors have been used ever since the American physicist Edwin H. Hall discovered the Hall Sensor Effect in 1879.
Hall effect sensors provide a varying magnetic field measurement on an interface by converting the observations into electronic data. Sensors use the Hall effect to detect magnetic fields, where the Hall voltage resulting from a magnet can determine the strength, presence, or absence of a magnetic field. Hall sensors can measure temperature, position, current, and pressure, as well as a variety of other parameters through the detection of magnetic fields.
RS Components has an assortment of Hall sensors that are used in the industrial, manufacturing and domestic sectors, the most common application for these instruments is to measure objects’ presence, position, and proximity.
Types of Hall sensors
There are two categories of Hall sensors – digital and analogue sensors. The output of an analogue sensor is a continuous voltage that increases in a strong magnetic field while decreasing in a weaker field. When linear output Hall effect sensors are brought into contact with a magnet, the output signal increases parallel with the increasing external magnetic field strength up until it reaches the limits imposed by the power supply. On the other hand, the digital output device has a ‘Schmitt trigger’, a bistable circuit that ramps up and down the output depending on the voltage.
Digital Hall sensors include Hall effect switches and Hall effect latches. The former detects the presence or absence of a magnetic field. For example, proximity sensors are a form of Hall effect switches that turns on in the presence of a magnetic flux and turns off when the field is removed.
A Hall effect latch detects the presence of a predefined threshold for magnetic flux. The latch turns on when a positive magnetic field is applied and remains on even when the field is removed. The latch turns off when a negative magnetic field is applied and remains off even when the field is removed. Hall effect latches are used to detect rotor position in BLDC motors.
Applications of Hall sensors
- Hall effect sensors are found in printers and are used to detect open covers or when the paper needs to be replenished.
- Hall effect sensors can be used as rotating speed sensors as a result of the sideways detection movement, such as with speedometers in automobiles, bicycle wheels, gear teeth, and other electronic ignition systems.
- Furthermore, there are other applications in which Hall effect sensors can be used, including electric air guns, speed controls on go-karts, and paintball guns with electro-pneumatic triggers.
- The Hall effect sensor has various uses in the automotive industry, such as indicating the fuel level in vehicles.
- Hall effect sensors are also used in mobile phones and devices to detect flip motion.
To take a look at some of the many options of hall effect sensors, visit our website.