Microchip — LX34070 Inductive Position Sensor

Microchip has announced the release of the LX34070 IC, an inductive position sensor which is purpose-built for motor control applications in electric vehicles (EVs).

The position sensor enables manufacturers to realize lighter, smaller, more reliable motor-control designs which meet stringent safety requirements, reduce system costs, and can operate seamlessly and precisely in electrically noisy automotive environments.

The LX34070 features differential outputs and fast sample rates. It is suitable for use in systems which need to comply with the ISO 26262 functional safety standard to the ASIL C grade.

AEC-Q100 Grade 0 qualified, the LX34070 offers numerous advantages over magnetic resolvers and linear voltage differential transducers (LVDTs) in EV motors, at a fraction of the cost. Using PCB traces rather than transformer-based magnetic windings and coil structures, the LX34070 is much smaller and lighter, and the alternatives can weigh as much as 1lb. More accurate, the inductive sensor system is also more robust, as it actively rejects stray magnetic fields.

The robustness and performance of the LX34070 give designers great flexibility in the placement of the thin, lightweight PCB-based LX34070 solution in their EV motor control designs.

PCB-based inductive position sensors use a primary coil to generate an AC magnetic field which couples with two secondary coils. A small metal target object disturbs the magnetic field so that each secondary coil receives a different voltage; the ratio between them is used to calculate absolute position.