Concerns about rare earth magnet costs and systems that depend on them have been discussed for several years. The sensor area is not immune to these problems.
“Due to the significant price increases for rare earth magnets, design engineers using Hall-effect sensors have been looking for ways to decrease the total cost of design by using less magnetic material, or moving to a more common magnet in their applications,” says Josh Edberg, senior product marketing manager for Honeywell Sensing and Control.
To address these concerns, Honeywell has developed a Nanopower Anisotropic Magnetoresistive (AMR) Sensor. Unlike other AMR sensor products that utilize as much as ten times or more power (3 µA or more), the Nanopower sensor consumes only 310 nA. At this power level, the AMR sensor offers an alternative to reed switches and Hall-effect sensors in applications such as battery-powered portable devices in medical equipment, laptops, tablets, phones, window/door open/close sensors and more.
For more information about Honeywell Sensing and Control’s Nanopower AMR sensor, click here.