• State Resolved
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 6 replies
  • Subscribers 30 subscribers
  • Views 630 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

LDC1041: Precision metal defect sensing

Steve Jarvis
Intellectual 600 points
Part Number: LDC1041
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: LDC0851, LDC1000EVM

Hi,

we currently design & manufacture metal defect sensors that detect cracks in metal sheets anywhere from 0.1mm deep to 1mm or more.

At the moment we have a 2-coil (bridge) arrangement so that their planes are at 90 degrees to each other and then both are 90 degrees from the surface being scanned. We excite both coils and then measure the difference across each of them which increases when they are above/near a defect in a metal sheet. 

That is basic bridge eddy current sensing metal defect detection.

Each instrument has 50 to 100 of such coil arrangements with its own dedicated electronics (quite complex hence expensive) and we want to reduce the electronic side for each sensor considerably for cost and reliability reasons (less parts) as well as to make the system more compact and increase the number of coils per unit.

Do you have any reference design or any resources to use the LDC1041 or any other ICs you make to design a metal defect sensor system?

Many thanks

Rick

  • 0
    TI__Genius 17440 points

    Hi Rick,

    We don't have any reference designs or resources specific to this application, but we do have general overviews of our devices and other resources that may be helpful. I'd suggest starting with the LDC FAQ (see the link in my signature below).

    Offhand, the LDC0851 might be a good option for you. It is a differential inductive switch. If you would like a raw code output instead of a switch output, the LDC131x or LDC161x could be good options.

    Please note that if you need the drive the two coils simultaneously none of our devices are capable of this. They all use a round-robin approach to driving their different channels.

    Best Regards,

  • 0 in reply to Kristin Jones93
    Intellectual 600 points

    Hi Kristin,

    we bought the LDC1000 EVM and are trying the first tests with that one first. 

    We installed the "Sensing Solutions EVM GUI Tool v1.10.0 (Rev. F)" software (latest 2019 release from here: http://www.ti.com/tool/LDC1000EVM) and connected the board.

    Then we move the board close to a metal object the green led on the PCB turns on showing that it does sense the metal/threshold.

    The issue is that the software shows connected but there does not seem to be any data streaming in the graph page. Also when clicking on the register page of the PC software the Auto Read drop down menu is set to off. If I set it to anything else initially it shows "register updated" at the bottom of the page but then as soon as I click on another page and then click back on the settings page it shows again "off".

    The manual only refers to an older version of the software.

    Two questions:

    1) How can we get to see real-time data streaming?

    2) can you please let me know all settings we need to configure to detect any metal just to see it is working. The board is just out of the box and we have not changed any settings. So can you please provide step by step instructions to get it to work with any general metal detection.

    Many thanks 

    Rick

  • 0 in reply to Steve Jarvis
    Intellectual 600 points

    Can someone please reply to the above post, we are on a tight timescale working around the clock and this is holding things up.

    Much appreciated.

    Thanks

    Rick

  • 0 in reply to Steve Jarvis
    TI__Genius 17440 points

    Hi Rick,

    My apologies for the delayed reply. I was on vacation all of last week. 

    Please try updating the LDC1000 firmware using this method: https://e2e.ti.com/support/sensors/f/1023/t/550744

    Let me know if this helps. The firmware will preset all of the optimal register settings for the default LDC1000EVM, so you should be able to immediately use it for metal detection.

    Best Regards,

  • 0 in reply to Kristin Jones93
    TI__Genius 17440 points

    Hello Rick,

    I haven't heard from you in a while, so I'm assuming you were able to resolve your issue. If this is not the case please feel free to reply to this thread or post a new question.

    Best Regards,

  • 0 in reply to Kristin Jones93
    Intellectual 600 points

    Thank you Kristin,

    it is all working now.

    thank you for your help :)

    Rick