A magnetic sensor includes a magnetic sensor chip that includes a magnetoresistive effect element and a sealed part. The magnetoresistive effect element includes a free layer and a pinned layer. The sealed part has a first surface and a second surface, which is opposite the first surface. The shape of the sealed part in the plan view from the first surface side is substantially quadrilateral. The substantially quadrilateral shape has a first side and a second side, which are substantially parallel to each other. In the plan view, from the first surface side of the sealed part, the magnetization direction of the pinned layer, in a state in which the external magnetic field is not applied on the magnetoresistive effect element, is inclined with respect to an approximately straight line found through the least squares method using a plurality of points arbitrarily set on the first side.

Provided is a pseudo force sensation providing device that can accurately measure an external magnetic field despite a small size thereof. Provided is a pseudo force sensation providing device including: an electrical actuator that performs physical movement based on a control signal supplied thereto; a contact mechanism that performs periodic asymmetric movement that causes a user to perceive pseudo force sensation, based on physical movement of the actuator; a magnetic sensor that measures an external magnetic field; and a shielding member that is provided between the actuator and the magnetic sensor, and surrounds a portion of the actuator on the side of the magnetic sensor, to block a magnetic field on the side of the magnetic sensor generated by the actuator.

A sensor housing has a receiving recess at one end portion of the sensor housing located at one end of the sensor housing. The one end portion of the sensor housing faces first and second magnetic circuit portions. A circuit board is received in the receiving recess and has an opening, a front-side region and a rear-side region. The front-side region is located on a side of the opening where the one end of the sensor housing is placed. The rear-side region is located on an opposite side of the opening. A main body of a magnetic sensing device overlaps the opening such that terminals projecting from one of a pair of side walls of the main body are located at the front-side region, and terminals projecting from another one of the pair of side walls is located at the rear-side region.

A magnetic sensor includes a magnetic field conversion unit that outputs an output magnetic field, a magnetic field detection unit that the output magnetic field can be applied, and a magnetic shield that shields external magnetic fields. The length of the magnetic field conversion unit in the third direction is greater than the length in the second direction. The magnetic shield overlaps the magnetic field conversion unit and the magnetic field detection unit. The magnetic field detection unit includes a Wheatstone bridge circuit in which a first bridge circuit including first and second magnetic field detection units and a second bridge circuit including third and fourth magnetic field detection units are connected in parallel. The first through fourth magnetic field detection units include two magnetoresistive units, and two of the magnetoresistive units have magnetoresistive effect elements that include magnetization fixed layers whose magnetization directions differ from each other.

The present invention provides an electric current sensor comprising a substrate and MR sensing circuit. The substrate has a first surface along a first axis and a second axis. The MR sensing circuit is utilized to detect a magnetic filed about a third axis. The MR sensing circuit is formed onto the first surface and has a plurality of MR sensor pairs. Each MR sensor in each MR sensor pair has a plurality of conductive structures, wherein the conductive structures of one MR sensor are symmetrically arranged. Alternatively, the present invention provides an electric current sensing device using a pair of electric sensors symmetrically arranged at two lateral sides of a conductive wire having an electric current flowing therethrough for eliminating the magnetic field along Z axis generated by external environment.

A method for monitoring the operating state of a set of circuit breakers includes the steps of arranging on the wall of each circuit breaker a synchronous triaxial digital magnetometer on a semiconductor chip, cyclically and synchronously reading temperatures measured by the magnetometers and from the temperatures measured by the magnetometers and a value of the ambient temperature, determining, for each circuit breaker, whether an internal heating temperature of the circuit breaker reaches a first temperature threshold which may be representative of an anomaly of the operating state of the circuit breaker.

A sensor device includes a silicon substrate having an active surface; a first sensing area disposed near a first edge of the active surface of the silicon substrate such that the first sensing area has at least one first magnetic sensing element is made of a first compound semiconductor material and contact pads; and a second sensing area disposed near a second edge of the active surface of the silicon substrate, such that the second edge is substantially opposite to the first edge, such that the second sensing area has at least one second magnetic sensing element made of a second compound semiconductor material and contact pads. A processing circuit is disposed of in the silicon substrate and is electrically connected via wire bonds and/or a redistribution layer with the contact pads of the first and second sensing areas.

The present invention relates to apparatuses and methods for measuring electrical currents. A measurement circuit is electrically separated from a primary conductor through which the current to be measured flows. An indirect coupling between the primary conductor and the measurement circuit is achieved by magnetic coupling. The magnetic field created by the current is detected by a magnetic field sensor, which forms part of the measurement circuit. To avoid unwanted capacitive coupling, according to at least some embodiments, an electrical shield is placed between the primary conductor and the measurement circuit. In some embodiments, a differential magnetic field sensor is placed in proximity to two opposite segments of the primary conductors to achieve differential sensing. The disclosed circuits are particularly useful in the design and manufacturing of highly integrated sensors, such as a sensors integrated into a single chip package, and can be used for PWM controlled currents.

A circuit for sensing the driving current of a motor, the circuit comprising: a driver configured to generate a driving current for each phase of a multiple-phase motor, the instantaneous sum of all the driving currents being zero; a current sensor for each phase of the multiple-phase motor, each current sensor configured to measure the driving current of that phase and comprising a plurality of current sensor elements arranged with respect to each other such that each current sensor element has the same magnitude of driving current systematic error due to magnetic fields external to the driving current to be measured; and a controller configured to, for each phase of the multiple-phase motor, generate an estimate of the driving current of that phase to be the measured driving current of that phase minus 1/n of the total of the measured driving currents for all phases, n being the number of phases of the multiple-phase motor.

A magnetic detection module is provided so as to be selectively mountable in any of housings having a plurality of specifications having different shapes or sizes of mounting portions, and detects magnetic flux generated in the housing. The magnetic detection module includes one or more magnetic sensors that detect magnetic flux, a case in which the magnetic sensors are housed, and a cap that can be attached to an end of the case and is provided with a sealing member. The magnetic detection module can be attached to the housing of the first specification with the cap not attached to the case, and can be attached to the housing of the second specification through a sealing member with the cap attached to the case.