Wiegand Sensor
Staff
POSITAL sensorsPOSITAL's Wiegand assemblies consist of a 15 mm length of Wiegand wire surrounded by a copper coil, all contained in a SMD-mountable plastic structure.
POSITAL’s Wiegand assemblies offer a compact and efficient way of harvesting power for electronic circuits in electromechanical devices, eliminating the need for backup batteries. A “Wiegand wire” is a short length of specially prepared Vicalloy (vanadium-iron-cobalt) wire. When exposed to a changing external magnetic field (e.g. a nearby permanent magnet mounted on a rotating shaft) the Wiegand wire will initially retain its magnetic polarity, and then abruptly ‘flip’ this polarity when the change to the external magnetic field reaches a certain threshold. This sudden change in the magnetic state of the core induces a current pulse in a copper coil wound around the Vicalloy core. This current pulse is very short-lived, but the energy harvested from the mechanical motion of the magnet can be captured and used to activate a low-power electronic circuit. An important feature of the Wiegand effect is that the amount of electric power generated with each reversal of the magnetic polarization is constant and completely independent of the rate of change of the external magnetic field. POSITAL’s assemblies consist of a 15 mm length of Wiegand wire surrounded by a copper coil, all contained in a SMD-mountable plastic structure. Wiegand wire production is carried out at locations in the U.S. and Europe, ensuring a stable, reliable supply chain. These assemblies can be used wherever low-cost, zero-maintenance, battery-free energy harvesting systems are needed to energize electronic counters and other low-power electronic devices.
