Motor control system developers are rapidly adopting inductive alternatives to Hall-effect position sensors and older magnetic resolver solutions because these inductive alternatives eliminate the need for expensive magnets and other heavy transformer-based structures and can be integrated into simple, compact printed circuit boards (PCBs). (Microchip Technology Inc.) announced the LX34070 IC designed for motor control applications, extending the world's broadest line of inductive position sensors to the electric vehicle motor control market. With features such as differential outputs and fast sampling rates, the newly introduced devices are functionally safe and comply with ISO 26262 standards in the Automotive Safety Integrity Level C (ASIL-C) classification. 

The LX34070 inductive position sensor enables a lighter, smaller and more reliable motor control solution that meets stringent safety requirements, reduces overall system cost and operates seamlessly and accurately in the noisy automotive DC motor, high current and solenoid environments with seamless and precise operation. Designers can use the LX34070 to further simplify electric vehicle motor control designs by pairing it with other functionally safe Microchip devices. Related devices include 8-bit AVR® and PIC® microcontrollers, 32-bit microcontrollers, and dsPIC® digital signal controllers." 

The LX34070 inductive position sensor solution offers many advantages over magnetic resolvers and linear voltage differential sensors (LVDTs) at a fraction of the cost. Using PCB traces rather than a transformer-based magnetic winding and coil structure, the LX34070 device is negligible in size and weight compared to comparable products weighing up to a pound. the LX34070 is not dependent on the strength of the magnetic field for improved accuracy, and also offers increased reliability and stability by actively rejecting stray magnetic fields. These features give designers more flexibility in adopting the slim, PCB-based LX34070 solution in electric vehicle motor control designs. 

The PCB-based inductive position sensor uses a primary coil to generate an AC magnetic field that is coupled to two secondary coils. A small metallic target object disturbs the magnetic field, causing each secondary coil to receive a different voltage, the ratio of which is used to calculate absolute position. Microchip used these technologies to introduce the first high-capacity inductive sensors for automotive and industrial applications more than a decade ago, and there have been many mass-production projects. For electric vehicle motor control and other applications requiring high speed and low latency benefits, the LX34070 brings the same proven PCB materials, methodology, and simplified low cost packaging. 

Availability 

Microchip's LX34070 inductive position sensor IC is available now.