Published June 8, 2018 © GPL3+

Magnetic Field Visualizer

Utilizing TLV493D 3D Magnetic sensor to visualize a magnet's NS pole direction, heading, magnetic field line & strength on an E-ink Display.

BeginnerFull instructions provided2 hours2,852

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Infineon 3D Magnetic Sensor 2Go

SparkFun Breadboard holder

Waveshare 1.54 E-ink Display

Infineon Boot Kit XMC1100 (Arduino shield compatible)

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

About this project

This project is about developing a simple magnetic field visualizer. Here, the XMC1100 is the system mcu with fetches magnetic field data of a nearby magnet from the TLV49 3D magnetic sensor. The mcu communicates with the sensor over I2C protocol. For visualizing the data, an E-Ink/Epaper display is added to the system. The display is 3.3 volts like rest of the system and communicates with the host mcu over SPI.

The display has 200 x 200 pixels and support for Black in White or White in Black imaging. As for the 3D magnetic sensor, it can sense up to +/- 130 mT in X, Y, Z direction of the sensor itself.

Display parameters

This visualizer can be used for :

Identifying North/South poles of a magnet

Magnet's orientation/heading on XY plane

Visualize virtual Field lines

Detect effective field area of a magnet

Compare magnets strength qualitatively

Step 1: Hardware Connection

Connecting the hardware is simple. The E-ink display is connected to the 2Go kit according to the schematic. The display operates on 3.3 volts, 4 wire SPI with few control lines.

3 SPI I/O + 3 control I/O+ Vcc and Gnd

Now, the XMC2Go kit and the display is cable tied on a breadboard base.

Step 2: Programming

To program the system in Arduino IDE, the 2Go kit's board support must be added. This is done by following these steps -

Install and run Arduino IDE 1.8.5

Go to File > Preferences > Additional Board Manager URLs and paste https://github.com/Infineon/Assets/releases/download/current/package_infineon_index.json

Adding 2Go kit support on Arduino IDE

Now go to Tools > Board Manager > type "xmc" in search box and download board support files

Install board files

Now, we need Library for TLE493D 3D magnetic sensor.

Go to: https://github.com/IRNAS/TLV493D-3D-Magnetic-Sensor-Arduino-Library

Download the zip library and add to IDE

Adding Library

Next, Install Segger Link for communication between kit and IDE from here:

https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/JLink_Windows_beta.exe

Then, go to tools and set

Board : XMC1100XMC2Go

Serial Output Selection : On Board

Port : Port 11 (select whichever new port appears after plugging kit to usb )

Setting up board, serial and program port

Step 3:Visualize Magnetic Field

Check out this video to find what happens when magnet is moved towards and away from the TLV 493 3D magnetic sensor.

Also, notice how rotating the magnet rotates the pole detector:

Visualization

Pole detector is in phase with actual magnet's NS poles

Closer/Stronger the magnet, more field lines

Heading sweeps from 0 to 360 for each full rotation of the magnet

What to expect?

Visualization is only applicable to single, symmetric magnet. Not applicable for complex magnetic field. For such application multiple sensors are required with high speed mcu and display.

The purpose of this visualizer is not quantitative measurements but qualitative ones, mostly for educational/entertainment purpose.

N-S poles of a magnet is shown with Pole Detector which is in phase with two dynamic dots connected with a line. Pole Detector rotates as the magnet rotates. It can be used to identify the north and south poles of a magnet, given that the magnet is suspended closely top of the 3D magnetic sensor.

0 to 360 heading can be observed by rotating a magnet on the xy plane of the sensor.

Number of field line represents magnet's strength for a given position. It is suitable to compare 2 magnets placed at the same distance from sensor and find out which is more strong. Field lines do not rotate with the rotation of the magnet ( I tried but couldn't figure out the mathematical jazz )

The field lines are usually elliptic shaped, but due to API limitations, circular shaped field lines are used to represent field lines.

Better understanding of physics, mathematics and programming can improve the project.

References

https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/1.54inch_e-Paper_Module

https://github.com/Infineon/XMC-for-Arduino

https://github.com/Infineon/XMC-for-Arduino/wiki/XMC-2Go

https://www.segger.com/downloads/jlink/

https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/MagParticle/Physics/MagneticFieldChar.htm

Code

#include <SPI.h>
#include "epd1in54.h"
#include "epdif.h"
#include "epdpaint.h"
#include <Tle493d_w2b6.h>
#include <RTC.h>
#include <DeviceControlXMC.h>


int COLORED  = 0; // White in Black
int UNCOLORED = 1;  // Black in White
int pos = 20;

XMCClass xmc2go;

uint32_t temperature = 0;
// TLV493 variables //
float Xm = 0.0;
float Ym = 0.0;
float Zm = 0.0;
/////////////////////

unsigned char image[8192];   // takes 8k RAM 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
// width must be multiple of 8
Paint paint(image, 0, 0);     
Epd epd;                     
Tle493d_w2b6 Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor = Tle493d_w2b6();
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

void setup() 
{

///// Init Full Display Update ///////////
  if (epd.Init(lut_full_update) != 0) 
  {return;}
/////////////////////////////////////////////
  
///// Init Partial Display Update ////////
  if (epd.Init(lut_partial_update) != 0) 
  {return;}
//////////////////////////////////////////
////////// Clears Up Full Disp ///////////
// bit set = white, bit reset = black
  epd.ClearFrameMemory(0xFF);   
  epd.DisplayFrame();
  epd.ClearFrameMemory(0xFF);   
  epd.DisplayFrame();
//////////////////////////////////////////
}



void loop() 
{
  /// Get Mag sensor running here ///
  Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.begin();
  delay(50);
  Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.enableTemp();
  delay(50);
  Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.updateData();

    Xm = Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.getX();
    Ym = Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.getY();
    Zm = Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.getZ();
  int angle = 180+(57.3*Tle493dMagnetic3DSensor.getAzimuth());
  char VAL[4];
  //  Data Optained From Mag ///// 


   SPI.begin();
   SPI.setClockDivider(SPI_CLOCK_DIV4);
   SPI.setBitOrder(MSBFIRST);
   SPI.setDataMode(SPI_MODE0);
  // Set Active Area on Disp with Orientation and Color //
  // more RAM allows more disp area to be used at once
  paint.SetWidth(200);
  paint.SetHeight(200);
  paint.SetRotate(ROTATE_270);
  paint.Clear(UNCOLORED);


    int strength = sqrt (Xm*Xm + Ym*Ym);
    int Xn = Xm; // 20*round(Xm/strength);
    int Yn = Ym; //20*round(Ym/strength);
    
    for(int c=0;c<(strength/2);c++)
    {
    paint.DrawCircle(100+(c*4),150, c*4,COLORED);
    paint.DrawCircle(100-(c*4),150, c*4,COLORED);
    
    }
   paint.DrawFilledRectangle(98,140,102,160,COLORED);
  
   paint.DrawFilledCircle(100+Xn,50-Yn, 3,COLORED);
   paint.DrawStringAt(105+Xn,35-Yn, "S", &Font20, COLORED);

   paint.DrawFilledCircle(100-Xn,50+Yn, 3,COLORED);
   paint.DrawStringAt(105-Xn,35+Yn, "N", &Font20, COLORED);
   paint.DrawStringAt(0,0, itoa(angle,VAL,10), &Font20, COLORED);
   paint.DrawLine(100+Xn, 50-Yn, 100-Xn,50+Yn, COLORED);
    

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   epd.SetFrameMemory(paint.GetImage(), 0, 0, paint.GetWidth(), paint.GetHeight());
   epd.DisplayFrame();
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //  delay(200);
} // loop ends here //

Credits

Shahariar

74 projects • 266 followers

"What Kills a 'Great life' is a 'Good Life', which is Living a Life Inside While Loop"

Magnetic Field Visualizer

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

About this project

Step 1: Hardware Connection

Step 2: Programming

Step 3:Visualize Magnetic Field

What to expect?

References

Schematics

Sch

Sch extra

Code

main.c

Full Code

Credits

Shahariar

Comments

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Magnetic Field Visualizer

Magnetic Field Visualizer

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Software apps and online services

Story

About this project

Step 1: Hardware Connection

Step 2: Programming

Step 3:Visualize Magnetic Field

What to expect?

References

Schematics

Sch

Sch extra

Code

main.c

Full Code

Credits

Shahariar

Comments

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