Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the first devices in a new family of humidity sensors that provide the industry’s highest reliability and accuracy and the lowest power consumption – along with built-in protection of sensing elements. The HDC3020 and HDC3020-Q1 will allow engineers to create more reliable industrial and automotive systems that withstand potential damage…
Renesas expands its outdoor air-quality, gas sensor with AI-based algorithm
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, has expanded its popular ZMOD4510 Outdoor Air-Quality (OAQ) Gas Sensor platform with an IP67-qualified waterproof package and a new AI-based algorithm, which enables ultra-low power selective ozone measurements. The enhanced ZMOD4510 is the industry’s first fully calibrated, miniature digital OAQ sensor solution with selective ozone…
Samsung offers industry’s smallest 0.64μm-pixel mobile image sensor
Samsung Electronics, a provider of advanced semiconductor technology, has introduced the industry’s first 0.64-micrometer (μm)-pixel image sensor, the 50-megapixel (Mp) Samsung ISOCELL JN1. Equipped with the latest pixel technologies — such as enhanced ISOCELL 2.0, Smart-ISO, and Double Super PDAF — the JN1 can capture more vivid images on the industry’s smallest 50Mp mobile sensor.…
What are level sensors?
On 28th March 1979, at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in USA, part of the core melted in the # 2 reactor. The TMI-2 reactor was destroyed. The cause of the accident was the little malfunction in the secondary cooling circuit which allowed temperature in the primary coolant to rise. This caused the reactor to shut down automatically. This situation developed because the level controls turned off the coolant to the reactor when they detected presence of cooling water near the top of the tank. The water at the top was not because of the tank got completely filled, it was because the water was too little in the tank that it got boiled and swelled up to the top of the tank.
The basics of ultrasonic (UV) sensors or ultrasound sensors
Bats are wonderful creatures. Blind from the eyes and yet a vision so precise that could distinguish between a moth and a broken leaf even when flying at full speed. No doubt the vision is sharper than ours and is much beyond human capabilities of seeing, but is certainly not beyond our understanding. Ultrasonic ranging is the technique used by bats and many other creatures of the animal kingdom for navigational purposes.Ultrasonic sensors are devices that use electrical–mechanical energy transformation, the mechanical energy being in the form of ultrasonic waves, to measure distance from the sensor to the target object.Ultrasonic waves are longitudinal mechanical waves which travel as a succession of compressions and rarefactions along the direction of wave propagation through the medium.
Insight – Learn the Working of Ultrasonic Sensors
Ultrasonic sensors are devices that use electrical–mechanical energy transformation to measure distance from the sensor to the target object. Ultrasonic waves are longitudinal mechanical waves which travel as a sequence of compressions and rarefactions along the direction of wave propagation through the medium. Apart from distance measurement, they are also used in ultrasonic material testing (to detect cracks, air bubbles, and other flaws in the products), Object detection, position detection, ultrasonic mouse, etc.These sensors are categorized in two types according to their working phenomenon – piezoelectric sensors and electrostatic sensors. Here we are discussing the ultrasonic sensor using the piezoelectric principle. Piezoelectric ultrasonic sensors use a piezoelectric material to generate the ultrasonic waves.
Sensing Train integrity and rectification of parting using Wireless Sensor Networks
1. INDUSTRIAL PROFILE 1.1 INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY The integral coach factory is a production unit of the Indian railways was set-up under the first five-year plan.ICF is started with the transfer of coach building technologies from m/s SWISS CARS AND ELEVATORS, Manufacturing Corporation, Switzerland. The prime minister of India inaugurated the production unit…
Insight – Learn the workings of a capacitive touch sensor
Everything in today’s digital devices world is becoming a touch away. Whether it is filling an early morning coffee mug or setting the timer for washing machine or turning ON the display of your PC.Capacitive Touch Technology is widely used in touch sensing devices. Less time response and environment adaptive features made it popular between the manufacturers. Some more applications are water purifiers, kitchen appliances, vending machines and switches.Most of us have surely come across capacitive touch sensor in our day to day life but how many of us thought about the working principle behind it.Change in capacitance is used to sense the touch in capacitive display. Amazed? How can a two metal plate component which stores charge can sense the touch? Answer to the above question will be explored in this Insight.
Piezo sensor as audio input using darlington pair
The generation of electric potential by the application of pressure, strain or any force is known as the piezoelectric effect. This effect can also be implemented to sense any audio signal. This can be achieved by using a piezoelectric diaphragm as audio sensor as shown in this project. Apart from the piezo sensor, other parts used in the circuit are as follows:1.Transistor BC5482. Resistances3. Speaker, and4. Capacitances
Piezo sensor as output using transistor
The generation of pressure variation or strain by the application of electric potential across a piezoelectric material is reverse of the piezoelectric [[wysiwyg_imageupload::]]effect. The circuit based project mentioned here uses this principle to use a piezo diaphragm as an output device. This is the concept used in commonly used piezo buzzers. As buzzers, they are also used in horns, telephone keypads, calculators etc. Shown below is an image of external features of a piezo buzzer. Read more to find out how piezo buzzer can be constructed and how it can be put to work with easy steps.
Seismic sensor using opam and piezo sensor
The project on Seismic sensor circuit described here senses pressure variation or mechanical strain and responds by sounding a speaker. It can be used at [[wysiwyg_imageupload::]]prohibited places to alert any unwanted entry. Such sensors can be placed on the floors of these places and whenever an intrusion would occur, the speaker would go off. The term “Seismic” is used majorly for all the operations and processes related to the earth, its crust and lower layers. The similar areas are there where this sensor finds its applications: 1. Decoding natural vibrations under the earth’s crust through seismograph 2. Aid in large industrial processes of oil extraction drilling process, mining, tunnel construction etc.
Light sensor using photodiode and opam
The project about light sensor circuit shows the application of photodiode to detect the presence of light. This light sensor can be used as an intermediate circuit [[wysiwyg_imageupload::]]in various applications to detect the presence or absence of light. The sensitivity of the sensor can be adjusted using the preset. This circuit is based around a LM339 comparator along with variable capacitors, photodiode, LED and a solo resistor. A photodiode, used as a photo detector, generates current in the circuit when light incidents on it. The circuit of this project uses the photodiode in reverse bias mode with resistor R1. The LED at the output will glow when light falls on the diode. In such a condition, the inverting input drops to a lower value than the reference set at the non-inverting input and so the output goes providing the necessary forwards bias to the LED.
How To Save A Sensor Value In The EEPROM Of The Arduino- (Part 19/49)
The EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. In an EEPROM the data can be written with the help of electrically programming the chip. EEPROM memory is widely used in microcontroller systems where some particular data need to be retained each time the system is turned on and to save particular data before the system is powered off.The EEPROM memory chips can be interfaced in a microcontroller chip usually with the help of serial communication protocols. In case of small applications where only a few bytes needs to be stored the extra EEPROM chips are not preferred since it add extra complexity in the hardware, coding and increase the cost of the system. Hence most of the microcontrollers are provided with small sized built-in EEPROM chip which can be used to store data in small applications.
Water Sensor Circuit
This circuit is very sensitive to trigger and activate the audio visual alarm when wetness is sensed at its probes. This project is useful at homes to detect the water [[wysiwyg_imageupload::]]supply in the situations when the timing of water supply is not fixed. This circuit uses the 555 timer along with some sensor element which can detect moisture.In this circuit based project, 555 timer works in astable mode. It is driven by the emitter current which is coming from BC548 transistor as this transistor has high gain. In astable mode IC 555 functions as an oscillator. So for 555 to work in full oscillator mode a high current is required so as to trigger it. As the probes sense the moisture on it, the transistor gets switched ON and small current starts flowing between the base and the emitter. When no moisture is detected i.e. in dry state it remains OFF.
Passive Infrared Sensor (PIR Sensor)
When a communication is to be established, that too wirelessly, with a remote device, we typically employ optical radiations or radio waves or sometimes, acoustic waves (for underwater applications). These three types of wireless communications basically differ in their frequencies. All frequencies starting from frequency bands like LF, HF, VHF, UHF and so on, extending up to microwaves and millimeter waves are referred to as radio waves. Acoustic waves use ultrasonic portion of frequency spectrum. Optical Radiations use visible and infrared portion of the spectrum. Infrared sensors have been widely utilized for remote based applications such as in televisions etc. This article will detail with a Passive Infrared Sensor.
Tilt Sensor
The Paris Air show is one of the biggest platforms for various airplane manufacturers to showcase the swiftness of their planes. Some of the valiant pilots of the world perform amazing stunts. These pilots are supported by the power of fast computing machinery in their airplanes. One of the critical parts of this computer assisted circuitry is the tilt sensor. A type of transducer, tilt sensor aids in giving information about the vertical as well as horizontal inclination of the airplane so that the pilot can understand how can he tackle the obstacles during the flight and perform the stunts
Position Sensor : Types of Position Sensor
Sensors are very important organs of any measurement system. They collect data from the surroundings/ physical parameter and provide electrical signal as the input to the systems. Amongst wide variety of sensors operating on different sensing principles and used in different applications, position sensors play an important role in different systems. Whether it is fly-by-wire aircraft systems, drive-by-wire cars, bullet trains taking round curves, injection molding machines, packaging machines, medical equipments, and so on, position sensors finds their applications, of course in different ways.
Pressure Sensors
The $2.5 Billion rover of NASA, Curiosity is all set to take the tiniest detail of the planet Mars. The rover is designed to be highly precise in observing its ambient conditions including atmospheric pressure and the gravitational force. For this purpose, it’s Instrumental Control Unit or the ICU has been equipped with pressure sensors. These sensors will help in detecting the Dust Devils that are a characteristic of the planet and will also detail with the concentration of various gases in the atmosphere at various points. Let’s have a look on what makes a pressure sensor capable enough to perform such specific tasks and where else it can be used.A pressure sensor is a device which senses pressure and converts it into an analog electric signal whose magnitude depends upon the pressure applied. Since they convert pressure into an electrical signal, they are also termed as pressure transducers.
Speed Sensor
SPEED – a buzz word in today’s scenario, is a measure of “how fast”. Everybody is in a rat race and wants to run at the fastest speed. ‘Speed’ is used in variety of contexts and is measured using variety of methods in their own contexts.According to physics, speed is related to motion. Distance travelled by a moving body in a given time is called speed. Other related terms are angular speed, velocity, and angular velocity. Angular speed is the angular distance per unit time. (Linear) Velocity and angular velocity are vector quantities and are defined as displacement (linear/angular) per unit time.Speed is measured using different kinds of sensors operating on different principles. Subsequent sections will discuss various kinds of sensors used for measurement of speed (and related vector quantity, velocity).
Current Sensors
Measuring a voltage in any system is a “passive” activity as it can be done easily at any point in the system without affecting the system performance. However, current measurement is “intrusive” as it demands insertion of some type of sensor which introduces a risk of affecting system performance. Current measurement is of vital importance in many power and instrumentation systems. Traditionally, current sensing was primarily for circuit protection and control. However, with the advancement in technology, current sensing has emerged as a method to monitor and enhance performance. Knowing the amount of current being delivered to the load can be useful for wide variety of applications. Current sensing is used in wide range of electronic systems, viz., Battery life indicators and chargers, 4-20 mA systems, over-current protection and supervising circuits, current and voltage regulators, DC/DC converters, ground fault detectors, programmable current sources, linear and switch-mode power supplies, communications devices , automotive power electronics, motor speed controls and overload protection, etc.