June 22, 2015 – American Sensor Technologies AST4300, AST4400, AST4510, AST4600 and AST46DS pressure sensors have an analog voltage output signal to be used with battery powered systems that consumes less than 3mA of current during operation.
In remote applications, the common choice for powering sensors and other instrumentation is battery power. Changing batteries is a costly operation in remote areas, so low power consumption is a key feature when selecting a pressure sensor.
AST’s analog voltage output signal is 0.5V to 2.5V full scale, powered with 3-5V of unregulated power, including 3.3V lithium batteries.
This excitation range allows the use of these batteries without adding a DC-to-DC converter, which increases power budget efficiency.
In addition to low current consumption, AST’s sensors can be “pulsed” on when a reading is needed so there is no need to constantly power the sensor. In approximately 80msec, the pressure sensor can be powered, provide an output signal for data capture, and be de-energized, further enhancing battery life.
The output signal is now available on hazardous and non-hazardous location products, including submersible pressure-based level sensors.