High accuracy/ultra-low noise and hysteresis/low power consumption Hall-effect switch for smart home applications

Hall effect sensors work by measuring the changing voltage when the device is placed in a magnetic field. In other words, once a Hall effect sensor detects that it is now in a magnetic field, it is able to sense the position of objects which can generate the magnetic field. Hall effect switch outputs high or low voltage based on the position of objects, in which there are magnets.

Hall-effect switches are widely used in appliances, which need position sensing, in our daily lives, such as detecting if smart refrigerator doors are opened or closed.

For smart refrigerator door application, the high accuracy of the Hall-effect switch with the characteristics of ultra-low noise and narrow hysteresis window helps detect the smart refrigerator doors’ accurate status of opening or closing.

How does the Hall-effect switch realize the detection of the refrigerator doors' status?

When the smart refrigerator door is opened, the position of magnet in pairing is changed, then Hall-effect switch measures the changing of the voltage caused by the changing of the magnetic field, and outputs the voltage from high level to low level to signal the changing status of the smart refrigerator doors. Since MEMSIC Hall-effect switch has the characteristic of narrow hysteresis window down to 5 Gauss, that will make sure the error of the position of the smart refrigerator doors is within 2° when the Hall-effect switch is triggered.

Since most Hall-effect switch in market has higher noise, it needs to have wider hysteresis window to avoid unstable output. But wider hysteresis window of Hall-effect switch cannot be triggered at an accurate position, that will cause misjudging the status of the refrigerator doors. So low noise and narrow hysteresis window are critical for such applications.

MEMSIC Hall-effect switch has characteristics of ultra-low noise and narrow hysteresis window down to 5 Gauss, so it can sense high accurate position compared to what competitors’ Hall-effect switches and traditional mechanical switches can do. Since Hall effect switch does not need complicated mechanical structures that traditional mechanical switches do, it is much more reliable. Besides above characteristics, MEMSIC Hall-effect switch has power consumption as low as 2.5uA, that complies to the standard of energy efficiency appliances. It also has different popular packages and pin-outs, that makes drop-in replacement easier. The smallest package is DFN1014(1.0x1.4x0.37mm), that can make appliance designs easy to do. It also has variety of output polarities, including unipolar, bi-polar and omni-polar, that make circuits design much easier, especially for compatible circuits design.

In additional to be used on smart refrigerator doors sensing, MEMSIC Hall-effect switch can also be used on microwave ovens, air fryers, smart kettles, dish washers and other home appliances to provide a better user experience.

About MEMSIC

MEMSIC Semiconductor is a world’s leading MEMS technology solution provider. MEMSIC provides customers with one-stop solutions from MEMS sensor chips, software algorithms to application solutions. MEMSIC’s stable and mass-produced products include the globally unique thermal accelerometers, capacitive accelerometers, AMR magnetometers, low-power consumption Hall switches, 6-Axis IMU and more, which are widely used in automotive, industrial, medical, wearable, smart home, and consumer electronics applications, providing people with a more intelligent, reliable and safe technological experience by sensing the displacement and motion changes of the physical world.

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