The PT-RF series of pressure transmitters presented by Stauff at this year's Hannover Messe are an in-house development that has a patent pending and is ready for production. This new product in the field of universal pressure measurements for fluid technology applications will provide benefits for system operators, maintenance personnel and repair technicians as well as for original equipment manufacturers.
The use of these transmitters in a hydraulic system allows for the wireless collection of pressure data without having to connect any measuring devices to the user's equipment, thus eliminating the possibility of introducing contamination into the system and significantly speeding up the process.
The operating principle of the pressure transmitters is based on the RFID (radio frequency identification) technology which has already become established in other areas of work and everyday life. The energy required for a measurement is transferred to the pressure transmitter via the antenna of the associated reading and display device so that the transmitter requires no internal or external power supply in the traditional sense (e.g. in the form of a battery) and no external wiring as it is common for conventional sensors. All that is required is a maximum distance of 1.5 centimetres from the antenna to the tip of the pressure transmitter for the duration of the measurement.
When the pressure transmitter is activated by the press of a button, the current pressure is determined in less than 0.5 seconds and then immediately transmitted back to the hand-held reader, displayed and stored for further evaluation. In addition to the pressure value itself, other relevant information is also transmitted as a standard, including media temperature, date and time of the measurement and the unique serial number of the pressure transmitter. When a continuous measurement is triggered, the MIN and MAX values as well as the average values for the respective time period are displayed in addition to the most recent pressure and temperature values. Over 15,000 of these measurement sets can be stored in the integrated memory of the reading device. The software included with the unit allows subsequent evaluation and further processing of the measurement results previously transmitted to the PC or notebook via the USB interface.
The pressure transmitters are available in five different versions and cover the usual measuring ranges for hydraulics between 0 ... 16 bar and 0 ... 600 bar (absolute), depending on requirements, with a precision of max ±1 per cent full scale.