How Do Pressure Sensors Work?
This article provides answers for the question on how do pressure sensors work and presents some of their uses, such as the monitoring of tire pressure. The primary function of the pressure transducer or sensor is to detect the amount of pressure exerted by a liquid or gas. Oftentimes, the device is provided with a diaphragm that moves depending on the intensity of the pressure. Meanwhile, pressure indicators, such as the Keller pressure sensors, can be any of a number of types, such as absolute pressure sensors, vacuum pressure sensors, digital pressure sensors, piezoresistive pressure sensors, gauge pressure sensors, differential pressure sensors, and air pressure sensors. The question on how do pressure sensors work is sometimes asked by ordinary people, who are curious about non-industrial applications, such as the systems for monitoring tire pressure.
There are countless uses of the pressure sensor in everyday life. For example, you may find that your company utilizes a differential pressure sensor as a way to monitor the flow of a liquid or gas between two points. A common design of a pressure transducer is one that makes use of piezoresistive materials. These are materials that have a unique property such that their resistance changes accordingly, based on the amount of pressure that is being exerted on the diaphragm. The material that is often applied here is the semiconductor silicon. When pressure is exerted on this material, its electrical resistance increases in direct proportion to the amount of pressure that is being applied. A piezoresistive pressure sensor is usually made up of a number of thin silicon wafers that are implanted in between protective surfaces.
When asking the question “how do pressure sensors work” people may also be curious as to how the tire pressure sensor works. The tire pressure monitoring system is required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for all cars that are sold after 2008. The primary role of this system is to issue a low tire pressure warning to the driver. The system for checking the tire pressure can either be direct or indirect. The direct tire pressure monitoring system explicitly checks the pressure found in every tire while the indirect system will infer the tire pressure from other variables, such as rotation speed, to compute the air pressure.
How do pressure sensors work, particularly in watching over tire pressure? There are two parts for the direct sensor system and these are the pressure transducer that is installed in the insides of the tire rim and the radio transmitter. An antenna in the car detects the radio signals and sends it to the central monitoring unit. In turn, this central monitoring unit will display the pressure for the benefit of the driver. Meanwhile, in the indirect tire pressure monitoring system, pressure sensors are not required. The inflation level is calculated by measuring the diameters of the tires. The size of the tire is indirectly determined by obtaining the tire’s relative rotational speed. If the system notes that one tire is rotating at a slightly faster speed than the others, this means that it is smaller in diameter and therefore has a lower pressure.
