LESSON 7
Magnetic Flux Leakage Sensing
Elements
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Copyright © 2018 by The American Society
for Nondestructive Testing, Inc.
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PICKUP COILS PICKUP COILS
1. One of the simplest and most popular means for
detecting leakage fields is to use a pickup coil.
2. Ferrites are useful in pickup coils because they:
provide support for the wire turns,
concentrate the flux density through the coil
windings by a value equal to the effective
permeability of the ferrite.
Ferrite-cored magnetic flux leakage
detector coil systems.
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PICKUP COILS FLUX LEAKAGE SIGNALS
3. Ferrites have very low electrical conductivities, 1. Leakage fields tend to be local and concentrated
minimizing detrimental eddy current effects. near discontinuities. The leakage field can be
4. In the inductive sensor approach the flux density divided into three orthogonal components:
must be changing through the coil in order to normal (vertical),
produce a signal. tangential (horizontal), and
5. It is essential that pickup coils be used to generate axial directions.
voltages and not currents.
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FLUX LEAKAGE SIGNALS FLUX LEAKAGE SIGNALS
2. The voltage induced in the coil is given by the rate
of change of flux. The output of the pickup coil is
proportional to the spatial gradient of the flux along
the direction of the coil movement as well as the
velocity of the coil.
Output signal of a magnetic
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flux leakage pickup coil.
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HALL EFFECT SENSORS HALL EFFECT SENSORS
1. Hall elements are crystals of semiconductor
material.
2. Bulk hall elements: bismuth-doped
semiconductors such as indium antimonide (InSb).
3. Vapor-deposited hall elements: used in the
testing of ball bearings using MFL.
4. Since hall effect sensors do not depend on motion
for their sensitivity, they can be scanned at any
rate that is mechanically convenient, which may
present an advantage over inductive coil sensors.
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Typical hall element probes (top to bottom): flat;
high linearity; miniature; subminiature; and axial.
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HALL EFFECT SENSORS HALL EFFECT SENSORS
5. Disadvantages of hall effect sensors:
difficult to fabricate,
somewhat delicate, and
require more complex auxiliary electronic
apparatus than inductive coil sensors.
Specifications of typical hall effect probes.
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FLUX GATE MAGNETOMETER MAGNETODIODE
1. The flux gate magnetometer, also referred to as a A solid-state device, the resistance of which changes
ferroprobe or foerster probe, is a device that with magnetic field intensity.
measures magnetic fields by utilizing the nonlinear It consists of p zones and n zones of a
magnetic characteristic of ferromagnetic core semiconductor, separated by a region of material
materials as its sensing element. that has been modified to create a recombination
2. In the absence of a signal field the voltage induced zone.
in the sense winding is symmetrical.
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MAGNETODIODE MAGNETODIODE
Schematic of a magnetodiode. Response of magnetodiode; linear up to
approximately 40 kA/m at ambient temperature of
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77 °F (25 °C) and potential of 1.6 V.
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APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETODIODES APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETODIODES
Using magnetodiodes to detect magnetic flux leakage
from discontinuities in tubes, the magnetic flux
leakage is excited by AC electromagnets arranged to
detect either internal or external surface-breaking
discontinuities.
A magnetodiode testing system for tubes: (left) alternating
current magnetizing technique; (right) electrical block diagram.
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OTHER MAGNETIC FLUX LEAKAGE
FIELD DETECTION METHODS
Magnetic tape system: for the testing of flat plates
and billets, it is possible to scan the surface with wide
strips of magnetic recording tape.
Magnetic resonance sensors: resonance
magnetometers include a large family of devices that
can measure magnetic fields of any strength and are
subject to a wide variety of applications in the
engineering field.
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