Charlotte Stonestreet
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Resistant to pressure failure & ingress
22 April 2013
Non-contact position sensing offers many advantages over contacting technologies in harsh environments. Gill Sensors looks at two technologies: Hall-Effect and Induction.
Hall-Effect Sensors use semiconductor Hall chips and a magnet mounted to a shaft or push rod. Though a non-contact solution, the inherent internal cavity requires a shaft seal and bearing, liable to degrade with age, wear, pressure and vibration comparable to any contacting sensor. Output can be temperamental as Hall chips and magnets are temperature sensitive, and susceptible to interference from magnetised metalwork and electronics.
Utilising a series of coils alternately generating magnetic fields to induce response magnetic fields from a metallic target activator, Induction technology is truly non-contact and unaffected by static magnetic fields or Earth’s magnetic field. Fully sealed and solid-state, induction sensors are resistant to pressure failure and ingress from particulates and fluids.