Digi-Key at electronica 2022 with onsemi

Exhibiting a range of solutions at electronica 2022, among which is intelligent sensing solution, the NCS32100.

Using a new approach called Dual Inductive Technology, which means they use two coils instead of one, makes the technology more accurate, and because they are independent they are able to obtain absolute position information.

Another important feature of the NCS32100 is that it embeds a process, whereas most encoder products for position sensing output incremental information or analogue information, the embedded processor of the NCS32100 can output the actual position.

Some advantages of using inductive based sensors over optical or magnetic are that can withstand dirt, grime and water without losing its accuracy. It also has virtually no tempo.

“Inductive sensing has virtually no tempo. It's based on the principle of mutual inductance, which means that a current and one inductor can induce a current in another inductor that's nearby through magnetic fields that virtually has no tempo.”

The sensor itself is comprised of a stator and rotor. The top is the stator which has coils printed onto a PC board, and the bottom is the rotor which is the circuitry. A third pick-up coil senses the current and the rotor. The information is then sent to the chip to do the processing.

A benefit of the NCS32100 is that there is no longer a trade-off between accuracy and speed. The sensor can achieve a 50 arc second accuracy with a 38mm sensor at 6,000rpms.

The sensor has a low BoM and because the processor and the flash are on the chip, it has a lot of flexibility as well as a range of optical features such as latency correction and secondary correction.

“We have a lot of flexibility because we have the processor and flash on the chip … We've got a 28, 34, 38, 60 and 70mm reference sensors. Customers can use them ‘as is’. But, if more customisation needs to be made, the sky's the limit.”