Product category:
Probes and sensors
News Release from: Allegro MicroSystems Europe | Subject: European Sensor Applications Centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 13 January 2005
European sensor applications centre
Allegro MicroSystems Europe has opened a European sensor applications centre in Annecy, France that will provide state-of-the-art technical support.
Allegro MicroSystems Europe has opened a European sensor applications centre in Annecy, France, to provide technical support for the company's European customers for Hall-effect sensors in the automotive and industrial sectors The new centre has been created as a result of Allegro's strong growth in the European market, which has made it necessary to provide local technical support
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 6 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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In addition, Allegro's aggressive European growth plans, particularly for automotive and industrial sensor applications, mean that the European applications centre is a natural progression in Allegro's strategy to remain a world leader in magnetic sensor technology.
As well as supporting existing customers for Hall-effect sensors, the new centre will be the technical focus for applications support for new customers.
In addition, it will provide local support for Allegro's new portfolio of current sensors.
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The new centre is headed up by Dr Andreas Friedrich, a leading European expert in magnetic sensor technology, and is equipped with state-of-the-art test and measurement systems tailored to testing and calibrating the latest generation of Hall-effect sensors and automotive gear-tooth modules.
'The European automotive market has been very proactive in adopting leading-edge sensing and electronic technology, with the result that a significant portion of our worldwide sensor business is in Europe', comments Lance Fowler, European Vice-President for Allegro MicroSystems.
'It therefore makes sense for us to have local technical support for both existing customers and new products such as our current sensor line.' In addition to carrying out characterisation testing, evaluating customer application configurations and undertaking complex failure-mode analysis, engineers at the centre have also developed simulation software which, for the first time, provides a full behavioural model of how Hall-effect sensors work under a variety of conditions.
Equipment in the centre, much of it developed in-house by Allegro engineers, includes an experimental spin stand for testing gear-tooth sensors with different target speeds (up to 4500 rev/min), air gaps and temperatures (-50ºC to +185ºC).
The use of a precision rotary encoder and signal-processing circuitry allows the action of individual teeth to be investigated.
Another advanced piece of equipment is a mapping station for investigating the magnetic properties of individual targets (typically toothed gear wheels in automotive transmission or cam/crank systems) to ensure that the sensor and target are optimally positioned in a customer's applications.
The station incorporates controllable X, Y, Z and rotary motion with a positional repeatability of +/-0.01 mm and rotational repeatability of +/-0.01º.
A fully automated test sequence provides a complete series of characteristic curves illustrating the effects of different air gaps.
Other new equipment includes an air-core setup incorporating a Helmholtz coil to generate a homogeneous magnetic field of up to 700 Gs for carrying out calibration and linearity tests.
The building incorporates full protection against electrostatic discharge, and includes a dedicated line for supplying the high currents (up to 300 A) needed for current-sensor testing.
'The European sensor applications centre replicates, to a large extent, the capability of the applications laboratory at our US headquarters,' says Robert Fortin, Director of Strategic Marketing for Allegro's Sensor Business Unit.
'This state-of-the-art facility will enable us to provide our European customers with the highest level of technical support in close proximity to their own design centres.
In addition, our investment in highly skilled technical staff will enable us to provide the type of applications engineering assistance that our customers have come to expect from Allegro.' Andreas Friedrich, European sensor applications centre Manger, said, 'Over the same period, we have recruited and trained a highly skilled, multi-lingual laboratory team.' A close tie to the US development activities is a key factor in the success of the laboratory.
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