Low-power PCB fluxgate sensor

New PCB (Printed Circuit Board) technology flat fluxgate sensor with integrated coils and amorphous alloy core was developed and its excitation parameters were optimized for low-power consumption. The power consumption achieved with 10 kHz, 300 mA p-p pulse excitation with duty cycle 12.5 % was only 3.9 mW, which is 3-times lower than that for sinewave flux density excitation. The sensor sensitivity reached 94V/T. The required bridge supply voltage was only 0.47 V. The low-cost, low-power sensor has a temperature offset stability of 120 nT in the -20..+70 degrees C temperature range and 0.17 %/degrees C open-loop sensitivity tempco due to the use of new core embedding technique. The perming error due to 10 mT field shock was suppressed below 1.2 mu T.