TDK adds redundancy to the TMR Angle sensor family

     TDK has announced the expansion of its tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) Angle sensor portfolio with the launch of the TAD4140, a new product with digital output. Compared to TDK's existing digital Angle sensor TAD2141, the new TAD4140 meets the high requirements of automotive and industrial applications.

     The TAD4140 features two signal processors in a single TSSOP16 package, providing full redundancy. Both Angle sensors are capable of measuring angles from up to 360 degrees contactless in an ambient temperature range of -40 °C up to +150 °C and are suitable for motor control applications in brushless motor communications in electronic power steering systems (EPAS).

     TDK digital Angle sensor products have a variety of internal diagnostic features that make the TAD2141 and TAD4140 suitable for automotive applications with functional safety requirements. TAD4140 meets the Automotive Functional Safety Integrity Level D (ASIL D) at the system level, and because of its electrical isolation signal, high signal availability, and high diagnostic coverage. The TAD4140 can also support failure mode.

     Digital output supports Hall emulation (UVW), 12-bit ENC, Incremental encoder (ABZ), Pulse Width modulation (PWM), and serial peripheral interface (SPI). Because of its redundancy, the TAD4140 can give two different outputs simultaneously, such as ABZ and ENC, to calculate speed, direction, and motor position. This shows that the sensor can work with two ECUs in a master/slave configuration, such as for steering motor position detection.

     TDK's Art class TMR technology can be used with application-specific integrated circuits (ASics) containing embedded signal processors (DSPS). Both TAD2141 and TAD4140 have static and dynamic calibration capabilities that compensate for amplitude gain, bias, and orthogonal deviation. The product guarantees ±0.35 Angle accuracy and achieves the industry's smallest Angle error of ±0.05 degrees at room temperature. It can also compensate for mounting errors, including magnet tilt and magnet displacement, so that the installation of mechanical parts has a greater tolerance.

     Both sensors come in a TSSOP16 package with identical pins on one side of the package, giving customers greater design flexibility and the ability to switch to a redundant version of the product (TAD4140) if needed.