Pressure Sensors

•Absolute – A Sensor That Measures Input

Pressure in Relation to a Zero Pressure. We
Will Use the Absolute Pressure Sensor to
Calculate Altitude.
•Differential – A Sensor That Is Designed to
Accept Simultaneously Two Independent
Pressure Sources. The Output Is Proportional
to the Difference Between the Two Sources.
We Will Use the Differential Pressure Sensor
to Calculate Indicated Airspeed.
 Determining Altitude From
Absolute Pressure
• The equation for converting pressure to altitude is:
 Pr essure 
Altitude  26,216  ln  
 Zero Pr essureLevel 

• Where pressure is in KPa

• Altitude is in feet above the zero pressure reference level
• The zero pressure level in Lexington, KY as of last night
was 99.7 Kpa
 Determining Indicated Airspeed
From Differential Pressure
• The equation for converting the pressure difference to
airspeed is:
2  Dynamic Pr essure
Velocity  2.237 
Density

• Velocity in mph
• Dynamic pressure in Newton / meters ^2 or Pascal's
• Density in kg / meter ^3
• Standard density of 1.225 kg / M ^3 (*note* -- the air
density can change with weather, and altitude)
 Pressure Sensor Basics

http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/AN1318.pdf
 Classes of Motorola Pressure
Sensors
•Uncompensated Pressure Sensors – These standard, low cost, sensors permit
manufacturers to design and add their own external temperature compensation
and signal conditioning networks.
•Compensated Pressure Sensors – These sensors have built in temperature
compensation and signal conditioning.
•Integrated Pressure Sensors – These integrated sensors have built in
temperature compensation and signal conditioning just like the Compensated
Pressure Sensors. The Integrated Pressure Sensors are designed specifically
to use with microcontroller applications and have an easy one wire interface to
hook to the A/D port on a microcontroller.
•For each three classes there are a variety of (A)bsolute and (D)ifferential
pressure sensors.
http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/SG1010.pdf
 Maximum & Minimum Pressure
Parameters
•For the Absolute Pressure Sensor it is obvious that the pressure range needs to
be greater than 115 kPa in order to exceed the Zero Pressure Level of anywhere
in the U.S. and smaller than 1kPa in order to exceed 120,000ft. In order to keep
the maximum sensitivity an Absolute Pressure Sensor should have a pressure
range of 0-115 kPa which makes the Motorola MPX4115A an obvious first choice.
•For the Differential Pressure Sensor the three Motorola Differential Pressure
Sensors with the highest sensitivity have Maximum Pressure Ratings of 10, 50,
and 100 kPa which would have the ability to measure Maximum Indicated
Airspeeds of 280, 640, and 900 MPH respectively. Assuming the Indicated
Airspeed will not exceed 600 MPH this makes the 50 kPa sensor the obvious
choice because it can measure Indicated Airspeeds in excess of 600 MPH and
has twice the sensitivity of the 100kPa sensor. This sensor is the Motorola
MPX5050D.
 The Motorola MPX4115 Absolute
Pressure Sensor
Features
•Pressure Range From 0 to 115 kPa
•1.5% Maximum Error over 0 to 85 C
•Ideally suited for Microprocessor or Microcontroller-Based
Systems
•Temperature Compensated Over – 40 to +125 C
•Maximum Power Rating of 50 mW with a Typical Power
Rating of 35 mW
•High Sensitivity of 46 mv/kPa

http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/MPX4115A.pdf
 The Motorola MPX5050D
Differential Pressure Sensor

Features
•Pressure Range From 0 to 50 kPa
•2.5% Maximum Error over 0 to 85 C
•Ideally suited for Microprocessor or Microcontroller-Based
Systems
•Temperature Compensated Over – 40 to +125 C
•Maximum Power Rating of 50 mW with a Typical Power
Rating of 35 mW
•High Sensitivity of 90 mv/kPa that would be able to
measure velocity from 0-640 MPH

http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/MPX5050.pdf
Additional Reference Sites for
Motorola Pressure Sensors

http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/AN1100.pdf

http://e-www.motorola.com/brdata/PDFDB/docs/AN1318.pdf
Other Pressure Sensor Manufacturers

http://www.ucapps.de/midibox_ext/breath/sdx01g2.pdf