Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series
Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume with Sensirions
CMOSens technology
Summary
The increasing customer requirements for comfort and
safety and the optimal utilization of energy ask for high
quality yet cost effective transducers in automatic building
control systems. Besides measuring relative humidity,
temperature and mass flow, Sensirion AG is providing a
new generation of differential pressure sensors for air
handling in building automation. These transducers
provide a revolutionary step as far as accuracy,
reproducibility and resolution is concerned. Since they are
based on the cost effective CMOSens technology they
can be offered at a very attractive price. The goal of this
report is to compare conventional differential pressure
sensors with the product line of Sensirion and to give a
short introduction to Sensirions proprietary CMOSens
technology.
Traditional static differential pressure sensors for air are
based on stress sensitive membrane structures. These
devices however, are limited by a large offset drift, a
restricted measurement range and a low accuracy and
reproducibility at small pressure ranges. These
disadvantages either have to be tolerated at the sacrifice
of system performance or have to be overcome by an
expensive system complexity (i.e. periodical offset
adjustment using valves).
As a cost effective alternative, dynamic sensors are
commonly used in HVAC applications. These devices are
based on a thermal principle (e.g. hot wires). However,
since an air flow is required to detect a pressure difference
they sometimes suffer from a bad reputation concerning
long term stability and staining. In addition, the pressure
drop in the connecting tube when applying such a dynamic
sensor affects the measurement accuracy substantially.
Differential pressure sensors based on CMOSens
technology largely overcome above limitations. Combined
with the very attractive price they are a favorable
alternative to measure differential pressure and air
volumes in HVAC applications.
1. CMOSens Technology Unifies Sensor
with Readout Circuitry
CMOSens denotes the fusion of the sensing element with
the readout circuitry on a single CMOS chip. CMOS
(Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) is the
prevalent technology for integrated circuits applied for e.g.
Intel microprocessors and solid state memories (Flash,
DRAM). By combining the sensor element and the readout
electronics the weak sensor signals are seamlessly
amplified, digitized and conditioned. This leads to an
substantial advantage with respect to technical
performance. CMOS technology is perfectly suited for low
cost production at large quantities.
CMOSens sensors from Sensirion also contain a
temperature sensor which is used for precise temperature
compensation. In conjunction with a built-in self test and
the digital linearization the chip represents a powerful
microsystem (shown in Figure 1). This system matches
the requirements for differential pressure measurements.
[Link]
Figure 1: Photograph of the CMOSens differential pressure
sensor chip. Besides the sensing element (right) the chip
contains integrated circuits for amplification, analog-to-digital
conversion, digital signal conditioning and an EEPROM memory
cell.
Besides the optimized readout electronics the sensor
element is of major importance. Similar to conventional
dynamic sensors the sensor principle is based on a heater.
There are two approaches to integrate this thermal
principle on a silicon chip: old sensor generations use a
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Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series: Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume
silicon bridge which is etched from the front. This bridge
contains a heater and the temperature sensor. Although
simple in production this approach has the disadvantage
that dust tends to accumulate at the bridge and pressure
peaks can destroy the tiny microstructure. In order to
overcome these problems Sensirion has chosen a more
robust approach:
A glass passivated membrane structure is etched from the
back of the chip (see Figure 2). The flat surface prevents
particles from being trapped at the sensor site. In addition
and due to the low-noise on-chip interface circuit, the
required amount of air to detect the applied pressure
difference can substantially be reduced. This leads to a
quasi static measurement. Extensive field test in harsh
environments (e.g. air with dust, chlorine, smoke, humid
air, ammonia) confirm the great robustness of the
CMOSens based differential pressure sensors against
any kind of contamination and staining.
sensor chip provides a highly accurate and temperature
compensated output. A block diagram of the CMOSens
chip is shown in Figure 3.
CMOSens Chip
Temperature
Sensor
Fast ultra low
noise
amplification
Amplifier
Amplifier
Fast ultra low
noise
amplification
sampling of
amplified signal
ADC
ADC
sampling of
amplified signal
Signal
integration
Integrator
Integrator
Thermal
Sensor
Signal
integration
Digital linearisation &
temperature
compensation
EEPROM
Figure 2: Thermal measurement principle: a heater generates a
temperature profile on a membrane. The applied pressure
difference P enforces an air flow. This air flow destroys the
symmetry of the temperature profile which is detected by the two
temperature sensors. The temperature difference is a direct
function of the applied pressure difference.
Calibration data
storage
raw data
linearised &
from the
temperature
thermal sensor compensated signal
Digital I2C or
analog output
2. CMOSens Leads to Unsurpassed
Technical Performance
Figure 3: Block diagram of the CMOSens differential pressure
sensor chip. The on-chip signal conditioning includes low-noise
amplification, temperature compensation and linearization.
A heater is placed in the middle of the membrane and two
temperature sensors are placed on either side (see
Figure 2). The heater generates a temperature profile.
Due to the symmetry of the structure and foremost thanks
to the highly precise CMOS fabrication with nanometer
tolerances the offset of such a differential sensor becomes
negligible.
Even the lightest air movement leads to an asymmetry of
the temperature distribution on the membrane. This is
measured by the two temperature sensors and amplified
by the subsequent low-noise amplifier. The following
analog-to-digital conversion and a digital signal processing
unit corrects for the sensor non-linearity and compensates
for the temperature effects by taking into account the data
from the on-chip temperature sensor. In this way the
[Link]
3. CMOSens Sensors Compared to
Conventional Differential Pressure
Sensors
Compared to traditional static and dynamic sensors for
differential pressure measurement in HVAC applications,
CMOSens based sensors offer great advantages with
respect to offset stability, accuracy and resolution. In
addition, with CMOSens sensors the measurement
range is three to ten times larger compared to
conventional sensors. Hence, without sacrificing
performance a 0500 Pa full scale CMOSens sensor
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Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series: Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume
replaces three traditional differential pressure sensors
each of which covering only a fraction of this range (e.g.
0100 Pa, 0300 Pa, 0500 Pa). A reproducibility of
0.1 Pa is typical for CMOSens sensors even in the range
below 10 Pa. No sensitivity to the mounting orientation is
observed.
Table 1: Comparison of differential pressure sensors for HVAC
applications:
Static Sensors
CMOSens Sensors
(Membranes)
(thermal)
Large intrinsic offset. Smaller than 0.5 Pa,
Large offset drift for low drift below resolution
cost silicon based
sensors. A periodical
compensation is often
required.
Measurement
range
1:10 of full scale
1:50 up to 1:500 of
full scale
Air flow and
staining
No flow. Minimal
staining effects.
The very small air
flow leads to a quasistatic measurement
and reduces staining
effects drastically.
Figure 4: Specified error tolerances of a traditional transmitter
and the guaranteed specifications of the SDP differential
pressure transmitter of Sensirion. The given error tolerances
include a temperature variation of 10C around room
temperature.
Resolution
Max. 0.1 Pa if large
membranes are used.
Up to 0.008 Pa
possible
Reproducibility
Limited to a couple of
Pa due to offset drift
and low sensitivity.
Typically better than
0.1 Pa
The disadvantage of conventional dynamic sensors
caused by the required air flow (such as parasitic pressure
drop in the connecting tubes or the degradation due to
staining) are eliminated since the air flow is reduced by a
factor of 10 to 50 compared to traditional dynamic
differential pressure sensors.
Sensitivity to the Mounting orientation
Can be mounted
mounting
has influence on offset anywhere without
orientation
and sensitivity. Needs restrictions.
often to be trimmed
manually after
installation.
Error or reading (in %)
Offset
40
30
Conventional
(diaphragm)
20
10
0
20
40
60
80
100
Differential Pressure (% of full scale)
The subsequent table provides a comprehensive overview
of static and dynamic sensors and compares their
performance with CMOSens based differential pressure
sensors.
Temperature
dependence
Influence of
No influence
connecting tube.
Reproducibility
below 10 Pa
[Link]
Has to be compensated Temperature
for.
compensated
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(influence smaller
than 0.04% of
measurement range)
Strongly limited by
offset drift, mounting
orientation and limited
resolution.
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Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series: Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume
4. CMOSens Sensor Components and Transducers from Sensirion
Sensirion offers an increasing number of CMOSens based sensor components (for OEM applications) and transducers. Most
air handling tasks in HVAC can be covered. The heart of all these products is the sensor chip, shown in Figure 1. The
difference between the products is solely the adaptation and calibration for the pressure range, the external power supply and
the interface for the measurement data.
Below, the current product line of Sensirion is briefly introduced. Additional, detailed information such as data sheets and
application notes can be found on Sensirions web page [Link].
Table 2: Summary of CMOSens products for differential pressure measurement provided by Sensirion AG.
Product
SDP500 / SDP510
Interface
(digital)
Range
0 500 Pa
Accuracy
0.2 Pa + 4.5 % m.v.
Notes
3.3 V power supply
SDP600 / SDP610
I2C (digital)
-500 500 Pa
0.2 Pa + 3 % m.v.
3.3 V power supply
Bi-directional
SDP1000-L /
SDP2000-L
0.25 ... 4 V (1)
0.2 Pa +1.5 % m.v.
5 V power supply
Linear output
SDP1000-R
0.25 ... 4 V (1)
-62 62 Pa
-5 125 Pa
0 ... 500 Pa
0 3500 Pa
0 ... 500 Pa
1 Pa +1.5 % m.v.
5 V power supply
Square root output
SDP1108-R
0.25 ... 4 V (1)
0 ... 500 Pa
0.06 Pa +0.4 % m.v.
5 V power supply
Square root output
8 ms response time
ASP1400
RS232 (digital)
0 ... 100 Pa
0.4 Pa +1.5 % m.v.
0.001 Pa maximal
resolution
0.05 % full scale
accuracy.
[Link]
Picture
I2C
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Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series: Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume
5. HVAC-Applications of CMOSens Differential Pressure Sensors
Thanks to the excellent technical performance of CMOSens differential pressures sensors the application range is broad. The
following table summarizes some major HVAC-applications and denotes the corresponding customer benefit.
Table 3: Major applications and customer benefits.
Application
OEM applications
e.g.:
Compact VAV controller
Frequency Converter
Fan and Burner control
Example
Control of fans and ventilators
e.g. in air handling units
Differential
pressure
pick-up
device
Filter control
e.g. in air handling units
Customer Benefit
Cost effective solution for high volume
OEM applications.
Neither calibration nor offset trimming nor
temperature compensation are required.
Simplest system integration,
exchangeable.
Self heating of surrounding has no
influence on accuracy due to temperature
compensation on chip.
Highly accurate control of the air volume
over a large range with just one sensor.
Unique reproducibility and accuracy.
No restrictions concerning the mounting
orientation (transducer can be exposed
to an air flow).
Accurate and reliable filter monitoring.
By using the SDP6x0 product, the
temperature of the air can be measured
optionally.
Pressure control
Precise and reliable pressure control in
air ducts and rooms even below 10 Pa.
By using the SDP6x0 product, the
temperature of the air can be measured
optionally.
VAV control
Control of dampers
Measurement of the air volume and air
velocity
Extremely accurate and cost effective air
volume control even at pressure ranges
below 10 Pa.
[Link]
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Application Note for SDP600 and SDP1000 Series: Measuring Differential Pressure and Air Volume
6. Summary
Compared to traditional static differential pressure sensors CMOSens based differential pressures sensors provide an
unsurpassed reproducibility, a larger measurement range, no offset drift, and no sensitivity to the mounting orientation.
Thanks to a much smaller air flow than in conventional dynamic pressure sensors the danger for contamination and the
parasitic effects caused by the connecting tube are widely eliminated.
The technical advantages lead to a revolutionary precision for measuring and controlling pressure differences and air volumes
in HVAC applications. Since also very attractive positioned with respect to their price, the CMOSens based differential
pressure sensor are a favorable alternative to traditional sensors used for air handling in building automation systems.
7. Revision history
Date
Version
Author
23.06.03
V1.0
AHA
26.08.09
V1.1
Update
January 2010
V1.2
Layout update
April 2010
V1.3
DAT
Changes
Initial release
Minor changes
Headquarter and Sales Offices
SENSIRION AG
Laubisruetistr. 50
CH-8712 Staefa ZH
Switzerland
Phone: + 41 (0)44 306 40 00
Fax:
+ 41 (0)44 306 40 30
info@[Link]
[Link]
SENSIRION Korea Co. Ltd.
#1414, Anyang Construction Tower B/D,
1112-1, Bisan-dong, Anyang-city,
Gyeonggi-Province, South Korea
Phone: +82-31-440-9925~27
Fax:
+82-31-440-9927
info@[Link]
[Link]
SENSIRION Inc
Westlake Pl. Ctr. I, suite 204
2801 Townsgate Road
Westlake Village, CA 91361
USA
Phone: +1 805-409 4900
Fax:
+1 805-435 0467
[Link]@[Link]
[Link]
SENSIRION China Co. Ltd.
Room 2411, Main Tower
Jin Zhong Huan Business Building,
Postal Code 518048
Futian District, Shenzhen, PR China
Phone: +86 755 8252 1501
Fax:
+86 755 8252 1580
info@[Link]/
[Link]
SENSIRION Japan
Sensirion Japan Co. Ltd.
Shinagawa Station Bldg. 7F
4-23-5 Takanawa
Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
phone: +81 3-3444-4940
fax:
+81 3-3444-4939
info@[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
Find your local representative at: [Link]
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