Integration of Hall and Giant Magnetoresistive Sensor Arrays for Real-Time 2-D Visualization of Magnetic Field Vectors

In this study, we combined an array of giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors with an array of Hall sensors to measure all three components of magnetic vectors with a high spatial resolution and visualize the magnetic field distribution on a 2-D plane. The sensors were arrayed in a matrix arrangement such that the limitation to the number of sensors could be overcome. To test the device, we generated a magnetic field using a pancake-type magnetizer and a cracked magnetized ferromagnetic specimen and imaged the vectors. We obtained a spatial resolution of 0.78 mm in the z-direction with 1024 Hall sensors and 2.34 mm in the x-direction with 100 GMR sensors. Moreover, the x and z components could be imaged at 6 fps. The proposed device is promising for application in magnetic flux leakage detection.