New PVC4000 Series MEMS Pirani Vacuum Transducer
The News
Posifa Technologies announces its new PVC4000 series MEMS Pirani vacuum transducer. Designed for cost-effective OEM integration, the device consists of a surface-mount MEMS Pirani sensor and microcontroller-based measuring electronics — all packaged in an ultra-compact PCB assembly featuring a connector-terminated wire harness.
Target Applications:
- Digital vacuum gauges
Key Specifications and Benefits:
- Wide effective range from 1 millitorr (0.13 Pa) to 1 atm (760 torr, or 101 kPa)
- Extremely fast response times of <1.2 s
- Low power consumption
- Temperature compensation
- Pulsed excitation scheme prevents signal drift due to self-heating
- I2C interface allows storing of calibration data
- Piecewise linearization algorithm supports calibrated output
The Context:
The sensor element of the PVC4000 series MEMS Pirani vacuum transducer is based on Posifa’s second-generation MEMS thermal conduction chip, which operates under the principle that the thermal conductivity of gas is proportional to its vacuum pressure. The transducer’s microcontroller-based measuring electronics amplify and digitize the sensor’s signal, providing output via an I2C interface. The interface also allows users to store calibration data in the microcontroller, which is utilized by a built-in piecewise linearization algorithm to provide calibrated output.
To compensate for variations in thermal conductivity due to changes in ambient temperature, the PVC4000 features a temperature compensation algorithm, which takes its input from a built-in temperature sensor. In addition, a pulsed excitation scheme, in which the sensor chip is heated for about 100 ms and then turned off for one second, prevents signal drift due to self-heating, and also reduces the power consumption of the transducer.
Availability:
Samples and production quantities of the PVC4000 are available now.
Download PVC4000 I2C Application Note
Download PVC400EVK Evaluation Kit Datasheet
Contact us to request a PVC4000 sample.