What’s new in sensing for robotic control?

At Sensors Expo 2018, Tatsuya Yuhara, from TDK Corporation demonstrates how to control a remote robotic arm with the company’s TAD2140 tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) sensor. Following the arm and hand motion, the TMR sensor allows Yuhura to easily pick and place an object remotely. This kind of operation is common in hazardous operations where the operator must be isolated from the process or in clean room situations where the operator is outside of the room.

A system-in-package solution, the TAD2140 is available in a TO-6 package. The sensor can be welded or soldered directly onto a package lead, a connector or a terminal, eliminating the need for a printed circuit board (PCB) to reduce total system size and cost.

In addition to two full TMR bridges, the sensor contains a dedicated ASIC (an embedded DSP) for signal conditioning and integrated passive components. Designed by ICsense, an ASIC design specialist that TDK acquired in 2017, the embedded DSP has integrated static and dynamic compensation functions to considerably reduce the user’s design-in effort. In addition to several digital outputs, the ASIC provides various internal diagnostic features that make the sensor suitable for automotive applications where functional safety is required (ASIL B rating).

The TMR sensor features an angle accuracy of ±0.2°, achieving, according to the company, the world’s smallest angle error of only ±0.05 ° at room temperature. With contactless sensing capability from 0° to 360° over a temperature range of −40 °C to +150 °C, the sensor is ideal for the optimization of motor control applications such as brushless DC (BLDC) motor commutation.

For more information about TDK’s TMR angle sensors, click here.