What is Hall Effect Gauging and How Is It Changing the Conventional Measurement Trends?

What is hall effect?

If we go into depth, Hall effect is quite a complex thing to understand. To put it simple, magnetic gauging is called Hall Effect gauging. In this process, a magnetic field is created and Hall effect sensors are used to convert the thickness into equivalent values.

Hall Effect – Across an electrical conductor, the magnetic field is created and electric current is applied to it which is perpendicular to the magnetic field. Any change in the magnetic field creates a voltage difference.

This voltage difference is equivalent to the thickness of the surface.

Off lately this technique of measuring the thickness of the surface is gaining popularity. Vernier calliper and traditional gauges fail to deliver accurate measurement when it comes to complex surface. This is when other types of gauges started to gain popularity, despite being expensive. Hall effect gauging is perfect for all type of measurements, provided testing material is non-ferrous in nature.

Magna-Mike 8600

Olympus is the leading manufacturer and supplier of Hall effect wall thickness gauge. Their model Magna-Mike 8600 is one of the most popular devices available. It’s a very simple to use the device. It has a magnetic probe and a target ball. Let’s say, the thickness of a PET bottle is to be measured. The target ball is dropped inside the bottle. The probe is made to scan the wall of the bottle. Due to magnetic properties of the probe, it creates a magnetic field that attracts the target ball. The ball and the probe remain in sync with each other as the probe is scanning the wall of the bottle. The hall effect sensor in the tip of the probe takes the measurements and send the signals to the processing unit and convert it into human readable form.

The biggest advantage of using Hall effect wall thickness gauge is that it performs NDT i.e. non-destructive tests. The operator doesn’t have to prepare the samples, like in many other tests. End products can be analysed easily for any unevenness.

Features of Magna-Mike 8600

• It has 2 wear tips, one is standard and other is a chiselled tip for small grooves.
• The target can be chosen as ball, disk or wire.
• Output can be observed on the device display or computer monitor or projector.
• RS 232, Mini USB port and Micro SD slot for data output.
• Equipped with foot switch for hand free data recording
• Designed with IP 67 Rating