DUAL RANGE HIGH PRECISION PRESSURE SENSOR

摘要

A high-precision pressure sensor with two or more pressure ranges is formed from multiple micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) pressure transducers mounted inside a housing and coupled to sense a pressurized fluid. The non-linear outputs of the MEMS pressure transducers are linearized by a corresponding number of processors, preferably DSPs, each processor being coupled to a corresponding MEMS pressure transducer and receiving the MEMS pressure transducer output signal there from. Each processor generates an applied pressure output signal, which is representative of a pressure applied to the MEMS pressure transducer, which is a linearized and digitized version of output signal from the MEMS pressure transducers. The data that is output from multiple processors, each of which outputs pressure data pertaining to a different range of pressures, is transmitted serially on a serial data bus.

主权项

1. A pressure sensor comprising:
a housing comprising a fluid port, configured to receive a pressurized fluid; a plurality of micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) pressure transducers mounted inside the housing and coupled to the fluid port, each MEMS pressure transducer configured to generate a MEMS pressure transducer output signal responsive to a pressure applied to a MEMS pressure transducer through the fluid port; a single silicon die comprising a plurality of processors, each processor being coupled to a corresponding MEMS pressure transducer and receiving the MEMS pressure transducer output signal there from, each processor configured to generate an applied pressure output signal, which is representative of a pressure applied to the MEMS pressure transducer that is coupled to a processor, the applied pressure output signal having a value, which is determined by a processor evaluating a polynomial having a plurality of coefficients, the coefficients of the polynomial operating on a value, the value being representative of a MEMS pressure transducer output signal.