How can you get 5 different pressure sensor ranges from a single sensor?

Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) applications can use a wide range of full-scale, low-pressure sensors to address the variety of measurements involved in controlling and monitoring for maximum efficiency and performance. In a multilevel building, these measurements could include the use of differential pressure transmitters, a variable airflow volume (VAV) unit, a positive pressure module and airflow system monitor as well as a handheld test system.

The measurements typically range from up to 10” H₂O (2500 Pa) down to 1” H₂O (250 Pa) and even as low as 0.1” H₂O (25 Pa).  To deliver the required and “as specified on the data sheet” performance, traditional sensor products for these HVAC applications support only a single calibrated full-scale range. This necessitates the use of 3 to 5 or more separate sensors/transducers to cover the required range of pressures.

Using proprietary NimbleSense™ technology built into its HV series product families, Superior Sensor Technology provides the industry’s first Multi-Range™ pressure sensor products. This capability enables a single system to cover the full range required while maintaining optimized, calibrated performance at each desired pressure range. A single user command optimizes products for operation in any range from 20” H₂O (5000 Pa) down to 0.1” H₂O (25 Pa) while delivering 0.1% max accuracy for the selected range and a total error band (including offset, span and thermal effect errors) as low as 0.15 % FSS.

The solution provides programmable bandwidth control as well as flexible filtering options to optimize sensing for a variety of selectable pressure ranges.  These HVAC application-specific pressure sensors allow the manufacturer to cut the number of inventoried products by factors of 3 to 5 or more, saving substantially on inventory cost and simplifying manufacturing efforts.