Digital magnetic switch delivers low power consumption

The innovative CT83X meets these demands by offering System Designers greater efficiencies by providing both a digital and analogue output that serves multiple applications from a single switch with lower power consumption; when configured solely with a digital output it becomes the industry’s lowest power consuming switch with only 200nA.

“Our customers and partners have been waiting for a magnetic switch that combines the lowest power consumption with multiple functionalities to bring intelligence sensing to wide a variety of applications and systems,” stated Zak Deiri, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Crocus Technologies. “With the CT83X, we deliver on their needs to improve performance across consumer goods, industrial applications, and IoT applications.”

Approximately the size of a typical shunt resistor, the CT83X not only replaces it but provides added intelligence with enhanced switching and current monitoring capability. The CT83X either detects the magnetic field as generated by a permanent magnet or induced by a current-carrying conductor. As a contactless current switch, the CT83X monitors the current on a wire or the PCB trace used with many IoT applications, appliances, and industrial automation environments.

The contactless nature of the CT832X enables safe, non-invasive current monitoring. When used as a proximity switch, it will detect window or door movement in intrusion alarm systems and appliances, while the additional analogue output adds another dimension of intelligence by sensing if the window or door is ajar with its proximity detection capability. Unlike typical Hull sensors, the CT83X offers high sensitivity for large air gap environment to provide System Designers greater flexibility.

The CT83X digital switch adds intelligent sensing to a wide range of industry sectors and applications, including consumer electronics, white goods, industrial and IoT. In smart flow meters, for example, the CT83X acts as a safeguard against tampering by allowing the analogue output to detect specific magnetic field signatures of the application. The digital output provides the common switching signal to microcontrollers and application specific circuits, while the analogue output provides proximity measurement. Tampering of smart meters’ costs billions of dollars of loss annually.

Additional applications include activating wake-up and sleep modes in mobile devices such as laptops with open/closed lid detection, white goods, electric vehicles where up to 35 switches may be employed, industrial applications and the growing number of IoT environments that require high sensitivity, multi-functional performance with low power consumption.