This section provides an overview for micro relays as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 10 micro relay manufacturers and their company rankings.
Table of Contents
A relay used in electric and electronic circuits is an electrical component that uses a control signal to switch on or off between two points on a circuit.
Relays can be broadly classified into mechanical relays, which have physical contacts to control on/off, and semiconductor relays, which use semiconductor elements.
Micro relays are a type of mechanical relay. It is a small relay that can be mounted on a printed circuit board.
The major advantages of micro relays are that they do not take up much board space and can be mounted automatically, since their housing size is very compact compared to that of ordinary relays.
Micro relays can be described as a kind of switch. FETs and transistors work in a similar way.
A transistor can be operated as a switch by applying a specified potential difference between its base and emitter to induce or break conduction between the collector and emitter, and the same is true for a FET.
Micro relays have a similar function in that an on/off signal to the coil on the primary side turns on or off the terminals on the secondary side, but the major difference is that the primary and secondary sides are completely electrically separated.
This means that the secondary side is completely unaffected by the control input of the primary side.
Micro relays are used for the above applications, although their cost is higher than that of transistors and FETs.
As mentioned above, micro relays are a type of mechanical relay.
A coil is installed at the primary control input. By passing a current through this coil, electromagnetic induction occurs, causing the switch on the secondary side to either close and conduct or open and terminate.
Because of this structure, the primary and secondary sides are completely separated electrically.
Relays are generally used to drive devices when a controller controlling a system of various equipment controls peripheral devices.
Generally, system controllers operate at 3.3 V or 5 V. On the other hand, there are various types of micro relays, some of which are controlled by 5 V, but more than that by 12 V, 24 V, etc.
The inrush current due to back EMFs must be kept in mind when using micro relays.
At the moment the relay turns on and off, a large current due to back EMF will flow, which may lead to malfunction of peripheral devices. Some relays are protected from reverse EMFs by built-in protection diodes, but some products do not have such diodes. In this case, a protection circuit is required on the board side.
Therefore, depending on the application, it is necessary to carefully check the specifications of the components before making a selection.
*Including some distributors, etc.
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