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Lecture : Hall Effect Sensors
ASSISTANT PROF. MAHMOOD ALDOBALI
Dr.Mahmood Aldobali 25/03/1446 DR. ADEL RAWEA
Hall Effect Sensors
Overview
❑ The hall effect is the most common method of measuring magnetic field
and the Hall Effect sensors are very popular and have many contemporary
applications. For example, they can be found in vehicles as wheel speed
sensors as well as crankshaft or camshaft position sensors.
❑ Also they are often used as switches, Microelectromechanical system
(MEMS) compasses, proximity sensors and so on.
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What is Hall Effect?
➢ Here’s the experiment that explains the Hall Effect: If
we have thin conductive plate, as illustrated, and we
set current to flow through it, the charge carriers
would flow in a straight line from one to the other
side of the plate. Hall-Effect-Charger-Carriers-Flow
➢ Now if we bring some magnetic field near the plate
we would disturb the straight flow of the charge
carriers due to a force, called Lorentz Force. In such a
case the electrons would deflect to one side of the
plate and the positive holes to the other side of the
plate. This means if we put a meter now between
the other two sides we will get some voltage which
can be measured.
➢ So the effect of getting a measurable voltage, as we
explained above, is called the Hall Effect after Edwin
Hall who discovered it in 1879.
Hall Effect Sensors
The basic Hall Element of the Hall Effect magnetic sensors mostly provides very
small voltage of only a few micro volts per Gauss, so therefore, these devices are
usually manufactured with built-in high gain amplifiers.
There are two types of Hall Effect sensors, one providing analog and the other digital
output. The analog sensor is composed of a voltage regulator, a Hall Element and an
amplifier. From the circuit schematics we can see that the output of the sensor is analog
and proportional to the Hall Element output or the magnetic field strength.
These type of sensors are suitable and used for measuring proximity because of their
continuous linear output.
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➢ On the other hand, the digital output sensors provide just two output states,
either “ON” or “OFF”.
➢ These type of sensors have an additional element, as illustrated in the circuit
schematics. That’s the Schmitt Trigger which provides hysteresis or two
different thresholds levels so the output is either high or low.
➢ An example of this type of sensor is the Hall Effect switch.
➢ They are often used as limit switches, for example in 3D printers and CNC
Machines, as well as for detection and positioning in industrial automation
systems.
➢ Other contemporary applications of the these sensors are measuring wheel/
rotor speed or RPM as well as determining position of crankshaft or camshaft in
engine systems.
➢These sensors are composed of a Hall Element and a permanent magnet which
are placed near a toothed disk attached on the rotating shaft.
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❑ The gap between the sensor and the teeth of the disk is very small so each time
a tooth pass near the sensor it changes the surrounding magnetic field which
will cause the output of the sensor to go either high or low.
❑ So the output of the sensor is a square wave signal which can be easily used for
calculating the RPM of the rotating shaft.
