Infineon angle sensors use continuous calibration to track motor position
Illustrative image: Troy Winther on Unsplash
Infineon has introduced four XENSIV TLx49012 digital angle sensors for automotive and industrial motor control. Their central feature is system self calibration: the devices can perform an initial calibration and continue compensating for changes in the magnetic arrangement during operation.
Angle sensing is affected by more than the sensor IC. Magnet placement, mechanical tolerances and changes in the assembled system can all influence the position reported to a motor controller. Infineon says the new function removes the need for a customer developed calibration routine and an external reference encoder during setup, potentially reducing work during design and end of line testing.
The Hall based family supports both on axis and off axis mounting. Infineon quotes angle accuracy below 0.1 degrees and latency of 1.5 microseconds, with a supported magnetic field range of 20 mT to 120 mT. Those headline figures need to be assessed against the magnetic configuration and operating conditions of a particular motor.
Interface options across the family include SPI, ABZ, UVW and PWM. That gives designers choices for connecting the position measurement to different motor controller architectures rather than requiring every application to use the same output scheme.
Infineon positions the TLE49012 variants for automotive use and the TLI49012 variants for industrial applications. It says the automotive devices are ISO 26262 compliant and achieve ASIL B. That describes the component and its development basis; a complete motor control system still needs its own safety analysis and validation.
The useful question for a design team is how much system calibration the device can remove in its actual mechanical assembly. Continuous compensation could be valuable where magnet placement varies between units or changes over time. Engineers will still want to test accuracy over temperature, field strength, mounting tolerance and the intended speed range.
The automotive and industrial variants are available now. Infineon has also published a product brief for teams assessing the individual devices and their interface choices.
