A new vacuum transducer packaged in an ultra-compact PCB assembly—featuring a connector-terminated wire harness—has been designed for cost-effective OEM integration. The PVC4100 transducer from Posifa Technologies comprises a surface-mount MEMS Pirani sensor and microcontroller-based measuring electronics.

The transducer’s sensor element is based on Posifa’s MEMS thermal conduction chip that operates under the principle that the thermal conductivity of gas is proportional to its vacuum pressure. Next, the microcontroller-based measuring electronics amplify and digitize the senor’s signal, providing output via an I²C interface.

Source: Posifa Technologies

The device features a temperature-compensation algorithm that takes its input from a built-in temperature sensor and compensates for thermal conductivity variations due to changes in ambient temperature. It’s targeting digital vacuum gauges and leak detection in closed systems maintained under primary vacuum pumps. Here, the device combines low power consumption with extremely fast response times of 250 ms and a wide effective range from 0.1 millitorr (0.013 Pa) to 1 atm (760 torr, or 101 kPa), with the accuracy of 15% from 1 millitorr to 200,000 millitorr.

Samples and production quantities of the transducer are available now.

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