Fluxgate
Satured, unsatured, repeat!
Fluxgate magnetometers evolved during the Second World War as a means of detecting submarines. Military applications continue to be an important market, but geologists and archeologists have also become big fans of these robust and extremely sensitive instruments. Metrolab uses fluxgate sensors produced by a respected specialist to complement its Hall instruments, extending the range to very low fields.
How fluxgate magnetometers work
8 minutes
Advantages
Great sensitivity
Single- or multi-axis measurements
Robust
Low power consumption
Constraints
Range unlimited to low fields
Relatively limited bandwidth
Large sensor
Perturbs field being measured
Satured, unsatured, repeat!
A fluxgate magnetometer consists of a soft-iron core with two coils wrapped around it: a drive coil and a sense coil. An alternating voltage drives the core continuously through a complete hysteresis cycle, from saturation in one direction to saturation in the other. The sense coil measures the flux changes in the core.
Gating the flux
The magnetic permeability of the core – the slope of the B vs. H curve – is modulated as the core goes into and out of saturation: unsaturated, the core has the high permeability of soft iron, saturated, it suddenly drops to the low permeability of free space. This means that the flux density B in the core due to an external field H is also modulated; one can think of the flux due to the external field being switched off as the core saturates, and back on as the core desaturates – hence the name “fluxgate”. Clever demodulation schemes allow the magnitude of this gated field to be measured by the sense coil.
The devil is in the detail
Although the basic principle is relatively straightforward, the actual performance depends on many factors:
– Core material: To maximize the signal, the core material should be as magnetically “soft” as possible, with a very narrow hysteresis loop and sharp saturation point. Other characteristics of the core material, such as temperature coefficient, isotropy, and long-term stability, determine crucial other sensor characteristics.
– Core geometry: Clever core geometries dramatically improve the sensitivity by canceling the direct transmission of the drive to sense signal. One such geometry uses two parallel cores, with the drive coil wound in opposite directions. The sense coil is wound around the pair so that the flux generated by the two drive coils cancel out.
– Multi-axis: Another core geometry is a ring, with the drive coil wound toroidally and the sense coil around the entire ring – a straightforward extension of the parallel-rod design. The direction of the sense coil determines the sensitive direction of the sensor; two orthogonal sense coils on the same ring make an XY sensor, and with two rings, one can make an XYZ sensor. Note that in this design, the axes are centered on a single point.
– Synchronous detection: A single cycle of the drive voltage causes two saturation/desaturation signals from the sense coil: once in the forward and once in the reverse direction. Synchronous 2nd harmonic detection can, therefore, be used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
– Feedback: The dynamic range and linearity can be significantly enhanced by using the fluxgate signal as a null detector. It controls a current that is fed back into either the sense coil or a separate feedback coil, nulling out the external field.
– Frequency response: A higher drive frequency allows a higher sensor bandwidth, but needs to be traded off against the sensitivity.
– Demodulation electronics: The demodulator must be carefully designed to optimize noise, offset, bandwidth, and the temperature coefficient.
– Calibration: To achieve good accuracy, a proper calibration technique is paramount. Given the high sensitivity of fluxgate sensors, it is especially challenging to create the right zero reference field.
More technologies
Products
Related products
TFM1186 Fluxgate Magnetometer
Applications
Related applications
MRI
Pre-installation site survey
Science
Magnetic background monitoring
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