electronica: Sensors guide pinpoints applications

Explains Ros Kruger, Director, Supplier Marketing Europe – Sensors, E/Mech and Power TTI: “Every IoT implementation needs sensors and there are a huge number of sensors used in EVs and HEVs too, both automotive and commercial/industrial vehicles. Often it is not necessarily an electronics engineer, but an engineer from a different discipline who is in charge of the process of sensor selection, so TTI has invested in a strong support team of applications engineers. In one respect, sensors are like microprocesors or complex Ics in that they almost all come with development kits, sometimes built on platforms such as Arduino. Some of our franchises offer multi-sensor plug ’n’ play boards - for example, TE Connectivity with its MS4 four core sensor module which enables designers to integrate motion, light, temperature and humidity into their design.”

A key sensors franchise for TTI is Honeywell which offers a range of gas, air quality, dust and CO2 sensors through its City Technologies acquisition that solve modern city-dwelling challenges.

Another franchise, Amphenol Advanced Sensors, offers the Telaire and SGX Sensortech  product range which similarly addresses urban air-quality issues.

TDK and TE Connectivity add a portfolio of leaded thermistor and custom temperature probes which can work hand-in-hand with the air quality monitoring to deliver the correct environment.

Signed last year, Sensata – again offers a huge range of technologies, including ruggedised optical encoders for materials-handling vehicle that require highly-accurate control of speed and direction, which, in many cases, must comply with the highest safety standard levels.

Alps and Omron offer products that address robotics and cobots, and previously-mentioned franchises address other industrial automation sectors.

“This is just scratching the surface”, adds Kruger. “The franchise portfolio we have built in the last few years – together with our huge available stock holding, sophisticated supply chain management systems and high levels of technical support – means that we can almost certainly address any requirement.”