A Low Cost Noncontact Linear Transducer For

Measuring Small Displacement of a Ferrofluid

Magnetic Actuator
Alexandru Arcire

Dinu Patelli

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi
Iasi, Romania
arcire_alexandru@yahoo.com

Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and

Information Technology
Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi
Iasi, Romania
dpatelli@etti.tuiasi.ro

Abstract In this paper we investigate the use of a linear

ratiometric Hall sensor as a non-contact position transducer to
measure small displacement of a ferrofluid magnetic actuator.
The experimental setup requires a small permanent magnetic
disc attached to the actuators rod and a fixed mounted Hall
Effect sensor in the proximity of the magnet. Analog data from
the sensor is acquired through an Arduino board, which is an
open source electronics platform, converted to distance after a
calibration method through a lookup table and plotted through
dedicated graphics software. The setup allows to measure with a
precision to 0.1 mm the position of the actuators rod and to plot
the static characteristic of the displacement for a range up to
5mm.
Keywords :ferrofluid; actuator; displacement; noncontact

I.

INTRODUCTION

A ferrofluid-based magnetic actuator with permanent

magnets (FMAPM), with double effect, described in [1] and
[2] that use a nonmagnetic body immersed in a ferrofluid
differentially pre-magnetized by two magnets is illustrated in
Fig. 1.

Figure 1.

Sketch of the FMAPM.

A ferrofluid or magnetic fluid is a colloidal suspension of

small (10 nm, typically) magnetite particles in a carrier liquid.
In a non-uniform field the whole fluid responds as a
homogeneous magnetic liquid which moves to the region of the
highest flux.
In [3]and [4] investigations was carried out to enhance and
optimize the force and maximum stroke generated by the
actuator, and the studies reveal that this actuator can generate
forces up to 0.5 N and maximum stroke of 5 mm.
Being a linear magnetic actuator with restoring magnetic
forces, it has an equilibrium position, from which the rod can
move in both directions, so the cumulated stroke is 10 mm.
Due to the small forces developed by the actuator at this
scale, a low cost reliable system to measure position without
contact and without influencing the displacement allows a
detailed analysis of the discrete displacement that offers a
deeper understanding of the physical phenomena acting inside
the actuator for further investigation on how to improve the
displacement.
The measurement system proposed here uses a Hall Effect
sensor and a small cylinder permanent magnet to measure and
determine the position of the actuators rod. Our target is to
measure a displacement of 10 mm range with 0.1 mm accuracy
readings.
A Hall Effect sensor is a transducer that modifies its output
voltage as a response of a magnetic field variation. Hall voltage
depends on both magnitude and directions of magnetic field
and electric current (power supply). The magnetic field is
sensed by the Hall plate and a Hall voltage is developed
across the biased Hall plate proportional to the induced
magnetic flux. The sensor operates as an analog transducer,
directly returning a voltage. With a known magnetic field, its
distance from the Hall plate can be determined. Using groups
of sensors, the relative position of the magnet can be deduced.
Hall Effect sensors are used for proximity switching,
positioning, speed detection, and current sensing applications
[5].

The Hall Effect is named after Edwin Hall, who in 1879

discovered that a voltage potential develops across a currentcarrying conductive plate when a magnetic field passes through
the plate in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the plate.
Hall-effect (magnetic field) sensing applications have become
practical recently through advancements in supporting
technologies [6].
Generally, for a Hall transducer the output voltage VH is

I B
VH =
q0 N d

II.
(1)

where I is the intensity of the dc electric current, B is the

flux density of the magnetic field which is desired to be
measured, N is the volumetric carrier density, q0 is the electric
charge of the electron, q0=1.6 10-19C, d is the thickness of the
conductive path.
For a Hall transducer based on N-type silicon doped to a
concentration of N=3 1021 carriers/m3, thickness of the silicon
layer being d=25m, at current I=1mA and B=1T, the output
voltage is VH=0.083V. The electrical resistance of such a
sensor is noted RH and is RH=1360 [7].
Linear or analogue sensors give a continuous voltage output
that increase, in its absolute value, with a strong magnetic field
and decreases with a weak magnetic field. In linear output Hall
Effect sensors, as the strength of the magnetic field increases
the output signal from the amplifier will also increase until it
begins to saturate by the limits imposed on it by the power
supply.
Most standard linear Hall-effect sensor ICs have ratiometric
outputs (0.5 VDD) that respond proportionately to magnetic
field strength. These devices generally require a regulated 5.0
V supply and the QVO (quiescent voltage output, VOUT(Q)) is
2.5V when there is no significant magnetic field present. The
output voltage increases when sensing an increasing magnetic
field from the North Pole of a magnet, approaching 5.0 V.
Conversely, the output voltage will decrease when sensing an
increasing magnetic field from the South Pole of magnet,
approaching 0 V [8].
Essentially, the DC offset of a ratiometric, linear Hall IC
relates to its deviation from the nominal quiescent output
voltage (i.e., 12 supply) (Fig. 2).

Figure 2.

Miniature ratiometric linear Hall Effect sensor

In the experiments we use sensors with bipolar switching

mode that shows distinct switching behavior for both the poles
of the induced magnetic flux. With the South Pole directed
towards the sensing side of the IC, its output is switched low
and with the North Pole applied to the sensing side forces the
ICs output to go high. These sensors have three pins, VDD
(connects power supply to the chip), a GND (Ground) and
VOUT (output from the circuit).
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The linear ICs Hall Effect bipolar sensors chosen for study
are from two manufacturers, the Allegro A1321LUA-T,
A1302KUA-T and A1301EUA-T and the SS490A from
Honeywell.
According to the manufacturer, the A132X family of linear
Hall-effect sensor ICs (monolithic integrated circuits) from
Allegro is optimized, sensitive, and temperature-stable. These
ratiometric Hall-effect sensor ICs provide a voltage output that
is proportional to the applied magnetic field. The A132X
family has a quiescent output voltage that is 50% of the supply
voltage and output sensitivity options of 2.5 mV/G,
3.125 mV/G, and 5 mV/G, the A1321LUA-T model used in the
experiments having a sensitivity of 2.5 mV/G. The features of
this family of devices are ideal for use in the harsh
environments found in automotive and industrial linear and
rotary position sensing systems [9].
Each device has a BiCMOS monolithic circuit which
integrates a Hall element, improved temperature-compensating
circuitry to reduce the intrinsic sensitivity drift of the Hall
element, a small-signal high-gain amplifier, and a rail-to-rail
low-impedance output stage.
A proprietary dynamic offset cancellation technique, with
an internal high-frequency clock, reduces the residual offset
voltage normally caused by device overmolding, temperature
dependencies, and thermal stress. The high frequency clock
allows for a greater sampling rate, which results in higher
accuracy and faster signal processing capability. This technique
produces devices that have an extremely stable quiescent
output voltage, are immune to mechanical stress, and have
precise recoverability after temperature cycling. Having the
Hall element and an amplifier on a single chip minimizes many
problems normally associated with low-level analog signals.
Output precision is obtained by internal gain and offset trim
adjustments made at end-of-line during the manufacturing
process.
The A1301 and A1302 are continuous-time, ratiometric,
linear Hall-effect sensor ICs. They are optimized to accurately
provide a voltage output that is proportional to an applied
magnetic field. These devices have a quiescent output voltage
that is 50% of the supply voltage. Two output sensitivity
options are provided: 2.5 mV/G for the A1301, and 1.3 mV/G
for the A1302. The Hall-effect integrated circuit included in
each device includes a Hall circuit, a linear amplifier, and a
CMOS Class A output structure. Integrating the Hall circuit
and the amplifier on a single chip minimizes many of the
problems normally associated with low voltage level analog
signals. High precision in output levels is obtained by internal
gain and offset trim adjustments made at end-of-line during the

manufacturing process. These features make the A1301 and

A1302 ideal for use in position sensing systems, for both linear
target motion and rotational target motion. They are well-suited
for industrial applications over extended temperature ranges,
from 40C to 125C [10].
The SS40A Series Low-Cost Bipolar Hall Effect sensors
from Honeywell have a thermally balanced integrated circuit
over full temperature range. The bipolar magnetics respond to
alternating North and South poles. A built-in regulator provides
very stable operation over 4.5 Vdc to 24 Vdc supply voltage
range, and internal circuitry prevents sensor damage in case the
supply voltage polarity is accidentally reversed. The SS40A
Series Low-Cost Bipolar Hall-effect sensors are small, versatile
digital Hall-effect devices that are operated by the magnetic
field from a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. The opencollector sinking output voltage is easily interfaced with a wide
variety of electronic circuits. The integrated circuitry provides
excellent temperature stability and accuracy in a robust design.
These digital Hall sensors have an operating temperature range
of -40 C to 125 C, appropriate for commercial, consumer,
and industrial environments having sensitivity of 3.125 mV/G
[11].
The signals delivered by these transducers are acquired and
processed through the aid of an Arduino board, which is a
single-board microcontroller, intended to make the application
of interactive objects or environments more accessible. The
hardware consists of an open-source hardware board designed
around an 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontroller, or a 32-bit Atmel
ARM. Preprogrammed into the onboard microcontroller chip is
a boot loader that allows uploading programs into the
microcontroller memory without needing a chip (device)
programmer. The Arduino Mega ADK is a microcontroller
board based on the ATmega2560, it has 54 digital input/output
pins (of which 15 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog
inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal
oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header,
and a reset button [12].
The Arduino integrated development environment (IDE) is
an open-source electronics prototyping platform software that
includes a code editor with features such as syntax
highlighting, brace matching, and automatic indentation, and is
also capable of compiling and uploading programs to the board
in a very simple manner [13].
The sensor uses Arduino as a power supply (+5V) through
the allocated pins and reads the data from the sensor on the
analog pin A0 on the Arduino board. The code uploaded into
the controller reads the analog data generated from the Hall
ICs on pin A0, converts it to voltage with the conversion
formula eq. (2), and prints the result to the serial monitor:

Output Measured Voltage = Analog Input (5V/1023) (2)

It takes about 100 s to read an analog input, the maximum
reading rate is about 10,000 times a second, so any discrete
changes in the magnetic field sensed by the Hall IC is captured.

III.

CALIBRATION

During testing, the environment temperature was measured

with a temperature sensing probe. The measured temperature
was approx. 25C.
The calibration was accomplished by constructing a system
with micrometric screw adjusting mechanism that allowed us
to measure with precision of 0.1 mm the variation of the
magnetic field generated by the magnets. Measurements were
taken from the saturation point of the Hall sensor with the
magnet touching the sensor and changing position axially away
from the sensor with 0.1 mm steps. This allowed also
measuring the effective air gap necessary to determine the
distance between the sensors in order to cover the proposed
displacement stroke of the actuator and the thickness of the
magnet.
For discrete position sensing, it is always a good practice to
determine the effective air gap, from the face of the sensor to
the magnet.
Magnetic field strength decreases exponentially over
distance. The formula for estimating field degradation by
effective air gap is

Field x =

Br
L+ X
2 R 2 + L + X 2 2

(
)

2
2 2
R + X

(3)

where Br = Residual Magnetic Inductance of the material,

in G, L = Length of the magnet, in mm, X = Distance between
the surface of the magnet and the device, in mm, and R =
Radius of the magnet, in mm [14].
A system calibration or individual look-up table is
required for each configuration sensor-magnet type. Obviously,
the data-storage demands nonvolatile memory for the
parametric measurements, and an individual, initial calibration
program. A look-up table compensates for the variations in
quiescent voltage, sensitivity, and temperature effects. The
latent errors associated with these constituents to system
accuracy can be minimized by a software calibration and
compensation technique.
Using in the first experiment the same magnet, a cylinder
with 8.4x5 mm, determined that the use of Allegro A1302
with a sensitivity of 1.3mV/G covers the longest range while
maintaining the smallest effective air gap (Fig. 3). So in the
next experiments it was decided to work with the A1302 model
from Allegro because this sensor type allows accurate readings
for a variation of the rod displacement in steps of 0.1 mm.
Because the actuator delivers only small forces it is
necessary to choose very lightweight permanent magnets,
approximately 2-3 grams in order to consider negligible the
weight of the magnet in relation to the force of the actuator. For
easily mounting of the magnets and the symmetry of the
magnetic field, the chosen magnets have a cylindrically
geometry, being discs or rods. Symmetry of the magnet is
necessary in order to maintain a reliable calibration table.

In order to obtain an acceptable linearity of the static

characteristic (sensor output voltage vs. magnet displacement)
it is used an arrangement of two sensors of the same type with
same sensitivity mounted with the sensing plate face to face in
order to cover together a longer range.

Figure 3.

Influece of Hall sensitivity over displacement characteristic

Careful selection of the magnet is of the utmost importance,

including shape and placement. Based on the specification of
the Hall Effect sensors from datasheet that manufacturer
provided regarding the sensitivity output and range (approx.
600 G), and since the geometry of the magnet influences the
magnetic lines weve chosen for testing five cylindrical small
neodymium magnets axially magnetized with the following
dimensions: 8.4x5, 5x5, 10x4, 12.4x5, 5x10 mm.

In Fig. 4 are plotted the characteristics of the five

permanent magnets using the same Hall sensor Allegro A1302
[15]. From analyzing the figure it is deduced that the disc type
magnet has a reduced curved characteristic in comparison to
the rod type magnets, so, for the next displacement
investigations it was chosen the 5x10 mm disc type magnet.

Figure 5.

Measurements of displacement with single sensor on both

polarities of flux density B of the same magnet

Due to the design of the actuator (the use of ring magnets

allows freedom of spinning of the axis) the rod has a tendency
to rotate chaotically when it changes position. So, in order to
correct this, a guiding rod was added to maintain the magnet on
its axis so the displacement of the magnet doesnt change the
premade calibration measurements (Fig. 6).

Figure 6.

Principle of the differential arangement of the Hall sensors for

sensing the displacement

The code uploaded to Arduino was based on the equation:

Figure 4.
Influence of the magnetic flux density generated by different
magnets over the static characterisitic (sensor type A1302KUA-T)

For comparison reasons, static characteristic is measured

for both polarities of the permanent magnet (noted with B- and
B+) with the same Hall sensor A1302, which has been used in
the experiments (Fig. 5).

U0[V]=U1[V]+ U2[V]-5[V]

(4)

where U1 is the output voltage of the Hall sensor 1, which is

faced to the North Pole of the magnet and the U2 is the output
voltage of the Hall sensor 2, which is faced to the South Pole of

the magnet. This calculus is required to obtain a bipolar output

voltage around a neutral position, according to Fig. 7.
When the magnet is near the HALL SENSOR A1, with the
North Pole oriented towards its measuring surface, therefore far
from HALL SENSOR A2, the delivered output voltage is high,
approximately the supply voltage VDD and while the magnet
is moving away (axially) from the HALL SENSOR A1, the
delivered output voltage decreases until it reaches the approx.
VDD/2 value.
When the magnet is near the HALL SENSOR A2, with the
South Pole oriented towards the measuring surface, therefore
far from HALL SENSOR A1, the delivered output voltage is
low, approx. to the potential of the GND and while the magnet
is moving away from the HALL SENSOR A2, the delivered
output voltage increases to approx. VDD/2.

Figure 7.

Displacement of the magnet in differential Hall arangement

As a reference to determine the accuracy of the readings

weve used a Bosch contactless LASER meter model GLM
100 C with precision readings of 0.1 mm (Fig. 9). According to
the manufacturer it has a LASER diode class II 630 - 670 nm,
it has Bluetooth wireless technology for remote control
functionality, a built in tilt sensor that displays 360 angle
measurement in 2 axis allowing for accurate measure and a
backlit display with tilt screen technology that offer easy
viewing in all directions [16]. A special aluminum cylinder was
manufactured to enhance the precision of the LASER meter
readings (Fig. 10).

Figure 9.

Experimental setup arrangement snapshot

Figure 10.

Detail view of the measurement arangement

In Fig. 8 Rcalc represents the voltage U0 calculated

according to eq. (4) from measured values by the Arduino
Mega board for U1 and U2, while the Rmeas represents U0
calculated by Arduino from measured U1 and U2 by the
controller itself.

Figure 8.

Measured output voltage Rmeas and calculated output voltage

Rcalc for differential Hall sensors vs. displacement

To test the accuracy of the innovative measurement system

it was plotted the displacement characteristic vs. current I=02A generated by the actuator, values obtained with the LASER
meter and the Hall arrangement. The output voltage from
differential Hall sensors was converted in displacement using a

look-up table method. The graphic shown in Fig. 11 indicates

that the system is reliable for making measurement with
precision of 0.1 mm for displacements range of up to 10 mm.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

Figure 11. Readings comparison between laser meter and diferential Hall
arrangement

IV.

CONCLUSIONS

[6]

[7]
[8]

In this paper it is investigated a contactless method for

determining the displacement characteristic of a ferrofluid
magnetic actuator. The method consists in using an analog flux
density transducer based on Hall Effect and a microcontroller
board for acquiring and processing the analog voltage delivered
by the transducer.
Although the static characteristic, sensor output voltage vs.
displacement, for an individual Hall Effect sensor is nonlinear,
by using a differential arrangement of two sensors it is possible
to obtain a very good linearity for this characteristic.
It is observed that the proposed differential arrangement of
two Hall Effect sensors offers a very good linearity of the static
characteristic for 2.5 mm displacement range and a quasilinear behavior for 5 mm displacement range.
Also it can be observed that the signal processing according
the proposed method offers a bipolar behavior of the static
characteristic. Therefore, it is very easy to determine the sense
of the displacement around a neutral position.
The experimental results indicate that this method is very
reliable and also indicates that it can be used for future
dynamic studies of the actuator behavior.

[9]

[10]
[11]

[12]
[13]
[14]

[15]
[16]

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