Posted to News on 15th Mar 2008, 16:52
Developments improve fluxgate sensor performance
Fluxgate World introduced its industrial sensing and measurement sub-systems just three years ago at MTEC 2005. The 'first-generation' products shown then - a rotary encoder and inclinometer - were derived directly from the marine navigation compass components in which its parent company Autonnic is a world leader. As well as seeking new applications and new classes of product, Fluxgate World's research and development effort has been aimed at increasing sensitivity while maintaining the reliability and robustness that give fluxgates their appeal in industrial, automotive, environmental and many other market sectors.
The company's Force Vector Module, which is the basis for its wind speed and direction indicator unit and the building airflow monitor on show at MTEC 2008, uses a fundamental development of fluxgate magnetometry (the third axis addition - patented by Fluxgate World's parent company Autonnic). Yet translating this innovative extension of the technology into a reliable, practical device has demanded intensive design and development. Managing director, Chris Shelton, explains that this development programme called for further ingenuity that has also opened up new areas of application: "In developing our force vector sensing to give reliable performance for marine wind speed and direction, we felt that the resolution we could achieve was not quite good enough. The innovative solution we adopted then gave us several orders of magnitude of resolution better than we needed in that application."
A new approach to the analogue, front-end signal processing circuitry achieves a substantial improvement in signal-to-noise. Not only has this made the force vector sensing of wind, tidal and river flows and small air currents both reliable and accurate, but it has also enabled the development of both the low-cost, sensitive magnetometer and the high-resolution inclinometer launched at MTEC 2008. Coupled with Fluxgate World's continuing development programme, it will also open the way for further innovative products from the company.
