The most comprehensive inductive position sensor series in the microchip industry

     Motor control system developers are rapidly adopting inductive alternatives to replace Hall effect position sensors and old-fashioned magnetic resolver solutions, because these inductive alternatives do not require expensive magnets and other transformer based heavy-duty structures, and can be integrated into simple and compact printed circuit boards (PCBs). Microchip Technology Inc announced the launch of LX34070 IC designed for motor control applications, extending the world's most extensive inductive position sensor product line to the electric vehicle motor control market. The newly introduced device has the functions of differential output and fast sampling rate, and meets the ISO 26262 standard in the classification of automobile safety integrity level C (ASIL-C) in terms of functional safety.

     Fanie Duvenhage, Vice President of Microchip's Mixed Signal and Linear Analog Business Unit, said: "The LX34070 inductive position sensor can achieve a lighter, smaller and more reliable motor control solution, meet strict safety requirements, reduce the overall system cost, and operate seamlessly and accurately in the noisy environment of automobile DC motor, high current and solenoid. Designers can use the LX34070 to pair with other functional and safe microchip devices to further simplify the motor control design of electric vehicles. Related devices include 8-bit AVR ® And PIC ® Single chip microcomputer, 32-bit single chip microcomputer and dsPIC  Digital signal controller. "

     Compared with magnetic resolver and linear voltage differential sensor (LVDT), LX34070 inductive position sensor solution has many advantages, but its cost is very low. The size and weight of the LX34070 device can be ignored when compared with similar products weighing up to one pound by using PCB circuits instead of transformer based magnetic windings and coil structures. The LX34070 does not depend on the strength of the magnetic field, and its accuracy is improved. It also improves its reliability and stability by actively rejecting stray magnetic fields. These characteristics enable designers to more flexibly adopt the thin and light LX34070 solution based on PCB in the motor control design of electric vehicles.

     The inductive position sensor based on PCB uses a primary coil to generate an AC magnetic field, which is coupled with two secondary coils. A small metal object disturbs the magnetic field, so that each secondary coil receives a different voltage, and its ratio is used to calculate the absolute position. More than ten years ago, Microchip used these technologies to launch the first high-capacity inductive sensor for automotive and industrial applications, and has many mass production projects. For electric vehicle motor control and other applications requiring high-speed and low delay advantages, LX34070 brings the same mature PCB materials, methods and simplified low-cost packaging.