Hall effect sensor

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Hall effect sensor

A Hall effect sensor is a transducer

Transducer

Voltage

Electrical tension is the potential difference between two points of an electrical or electronic circuit, expressed in volts. It is the measurement of the potential for an electric field to cause an electric current in an electrical conductor....
in response to changes in magnetic field

Magnetic field

A magnetism field is a vector field which can exert a magnetic force on moving electric charges and on magnetic dipoles . When placed in a magnetic field, magnetic dipoles tend to align their axes parallel to the magnetic field....
. Hall sensors are used for proximity switching, positioning, speed detection, and current sensing applications.

In its simplest form, the sensor operates as an analogue transducer

Transducer

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Encyclopedia

A Hall effect sensor is a transducer

Transducer

Voltage

Magnetic field

Transducer

A transducer is a device, usually electricity, electronics, electro-mechanical, electromagnetic, photonic, or photovoltaic that converts one type of energy or physical attribute to another for various purposes including measurement or information transfer ....
, directly returning a voltage. With a known magnetic field, its distance from the Hall plate can be determined. Using groups of sensors, the relative position of the magnet can be deduced.

Electricity

Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
carried through a conductor will produce a magnetic field that varies with current, and a Hall sensor can be used to measure the current without interrupting the circuit. Typically, the sensor is integrated with a wound core or permanent magnet that surrounds the conductor to be measured.

Frequently, a Hall sensor is combined with circuitry that allows the device to act in a digital (on/off) mode, and may be called a switch

Switch

In electronics, a switch is an electrical component which can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the Electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another....
in this configuration. Commonly seen in industrial applications such as the pictured pneumatic cylinder, they are also used in consumer equipment; for example some computer printer

Computer printer

File:Lexmark X5100 Series.jpgIn computing, a printer is a peripheral which produces a hard copy of documents stored in computer file form, usually on physical print media such as paper or Transparency ....
s use them to detect missing paper and open covers. When high reliability is required, they are used in keyboards

Keyboard technology

There are many types of Computer keyboard, usually differentiated by the switch technology employed in their operation. Since there are so many switches needed and because they have to be highly reliable, this usually defines the keyboard....
.

Hall sensors are commonly used to time the speed of wheels and shafts, such as for internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs in a combustion chamber inside and integral to the engine. In an internal combustion engine it is always the expansion of the high temperature and pressure gases that are produced by the combustion which apply force to the movable component of the engine, such as...
ignition

Ignition system

An ignition system is a system for igniting a fuel-air mixture. It is best known in the field of internal combustion engines but also has other applications, e.g....
timing

Ignition timing

Ignition timing, in a spark ignition internal combustion engine, is the process of setting the time that a spark will occur in the combustion chamber relative to piston position and crankshaft angular velocity....
or tachometer

Tachometer

A tachometer is an instrument that measures the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute on a calibrated analog dial, but digital displays are increasingly common....
s. They are used in brushless DC electric motor

Brushless DC electric motor

A brushless DC motor is a synchronous electric motor which is powered by direct-current electricity and which has an electronically controlled commutation system, instead of a mechanical commutation system based on Brush es....
s to detect the position of the permanent magnet. In the pictured wheel carrying two equally spaced magnets, the voltage from the sensor will peak twice for each revolution. This arrangement is commonly used to regulate the speed of disc

Disk storage

Disk storage is a general category of a computer storage mechanisms, in which data is recorded on planar, round and rotating surfaces . A disk drive is a peripheral device used to record and retrieve information....
drives.

Hall effect sensor

See also