Tilt sensor knows left from right

Omron has extended its range of tilt sensors with a new subminiature model that’s able to tell the direction of tilt – offering new opportunities for design engineers to enhance the user interface of mobile phones and other portable consumer electronics.

Aimed at volume consumer electronics including mobile phones, the sensor is also very low profile, with a height of just 2mm.

The new Omron D6BN-1 is a PCB mounting tilt sensor that provides a different output depending on the direction of movement, allowing the system to provide a discriminated response to left or right tilt. The sensor has an activation angle of between 40° and 80° in either direction, and resets at between 50° and 10°.

The D6BN-1 is based on a solid state construction using a Hall effect IC, and operates with a low power consumption of just 10µA. In common with all Omron components, the D6BN-1 is fully RoHS compliant. The device is protected to IP40, and is rated for operation at -10°C to 60°C.