ifm Spotted: Inductive Sensor in the Rotating House
May 9, 2022
Innovative ideas are also implemented outside ifm, e.g. a rotating house. The IF0001 inductive sensor is installed in its basement. In the TV programme “Wohnträume” by Galileo Plus – on Sunday evenings on ProSieben – an ifm employee discovered it.
The rotating house is the invention of a master carpenter who has implemented both an individual dream home and a very resource-saving and energy-efficient house. The basic idea is that the house can rotate and, with the help of an intelligent control system, follows the course of the sun. In this way, the daylight is used optimally and the attached solar collectors can absorb a maximum of light for the energy supply – you no longer need to worry about utility costs. In the rotating house, you can live economically and in harmony with nature on a living space of 140 square metres. The sustainable timber frame construction and the sunlight contribute to a healthy living environment.
The staircase serves as the axis of rotation and carries much of the weight. A vertical pipe carries all the power supply cables to the top. The basement of the house is as round as its outer shape, and here you can see the ifm-sensor. In minute 13:42 it becomes visible between the fixed ground and the movable part of the house. It is guided on wheels and driven by an energy-saving motor. The inductive proximity sensor IF0001 is able to determine the distance to an electrically conductive object without contact. If the distance falls below a certain value and a loss of eddy current is detected, the sensor triggers a switching signal. Coil and capacitor form an LC resonant circuit, also called basic sensor. In the specific case of the rotating house, it counts off four teeth of the steel slew ring every 32 minutes so that the house moves behind the sun by exactly this distance. The aim is to follow the sun continuously throughout the day with the window front of the house.
