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Angle sensor technology provides accuracy boost

A Variohm Eurosensor product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 26, 2008

Thin film deposits of sandwiched magnetic and nonmagnetic layers can be combined with sensors on 'spiral arms' to return an absolute position value over a single rotation.

Variohm EuroSensor has released noncontact multiturn angle sensors that offer improved resolution, better repeatability and longer life than contact-based potentiometer devices, with significantly lower costs than absolute optical encoders.

The RSM 2800 from Novotechnik is a 28mm diameter sensor providing a 12bit absolute position resolution over a selectable range of up to 15 turns (5400).

With a choice of voltage or current output as standard, a digital version with 0.1 resolution is also available.

The RSM 2800 uses the GMR effect (giant magneto resistance), a technology used in hard disk drives, where thin film deposits of sandwiched magnetic and nonmagnetic layers can be combined with sensors on 'spiral arms' to return an absolute position value over a single rotation.

To provide an absolute position value over a multiturn range, a 360 Hall Effect sensor is included with multiple spiral arms that correspond to each rotation.

The position is available with true power-on sensing for first time operation on start up, with no calibration required.

Peter Grundberg and Albert Fert were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2007 for their discovery of the GMR Effect almost twenty years earlier and for subsequent major work on all aspects of the technology.

The robust and durable RSM2800 has a rated temperature range of -40 to +85C (+125C on request) and features a thermally stable plastic housing and a stainless steel input shaft with a choice of an indexing flat or push-on coupling.

Supply voltage is 24 and 5V DC.

The contact-free technology used in the RSM2800 suits long-life applications for steering angle detection in cars and trucks or mobile machinery, for valve and flap positioning in industrial processing and as a low-cost absolute feedback system for servo controls.

The sensor can also be combined with the winding drum of a cable extension transducer to provide an extremely compact solution for long-travel linear position measurement.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

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