Highly integrated CMOS-based differential air pressure sensors for building automation applications

RS Components has announced availability of the SPD800 series of CMOS technology digital and analogue differential pressure sensors from Sensirion. Targeting high-volume applications, the sensors have been designed to measure the pressure of air and non-aggressive gases and deliver accurate and stable results covering a range of up to +/–500Pa (+/– 5millibars or +/– 2inches of water), even at very low differential pressures. The new sensor products are based on their innovative CMOSens technology, which integrates a sensor element and all the necessary signal conditioning electronics – including analogue and digital signal processing – on a single tiny CMOS chip. The technology is well proven and is perfectly suited for high-quality and cost-sensitive volume production. The sensor element, which uses flow-through technology to measure differential pressure, together with the on-chip signal processing and digital calibration, delivers high accuracy with no offset drift, right down to the lower end of the measurement range. These new CMOSens-based sensors largely overcome the limitations in offset drift and accuracy of traditional static or dynamic differential pressure sensors commonly used in HVAC applications. In conjunction with low-cost advantages, this makes them an attractive alternative for measuring differential pressure and airflow volumes in modern HVAC systems. Available in the series are the 4-pin +/–500Pa SDP800-500PA, and the 4-pin +/– 125Pa SDP800-125PA. As well as offering characteristics including high reliability, long-term stability and an excellent signal-to-noise ratio, the sensors also feature a two-wire digital interface for easy connection to microcontrollers. In addition, the Sensirion EK-P5 evaluation kit enables easy and fast sensor evaluation via PC test software, connected via USB cable.