ScioSense, a leading developer and manufacturer of semiconductor-based environmental and flow sensors, launched the UFC23 – the 4th generation ultrasonic flow converter for measurement in water, heat and gas meters.
How can meter manufacturers improve measurement accuracy, extend battery life, and retain control of their preferred system architecture? In modern applications, flow calculation is increasingly handled by a central host microcontroller – requiring a converter that can deliver accurate measurement at very low flow rates and long battery life, two demands that are often difficult to achieve together. The UFC23 is designed for meter manufacturers that want very high measurement precision and extremely low power consumption, while keeping flow calculation on their own central microcontroller.
The UFC23 extends the ScioSense ultrasonic flow portfolio with a pure front-end architecture that omits the on-chip Central Processing Unit (CPU) used in previous flow converters. This gives Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) the flexibility to fit the system architecture now preferred by many meter designers, while also delivering improved analogue front-end performance.
In a typical DN15 water meter setup, the UFC23 provides single-shot standard deviation of 35ps and offset stability of ±7ps with 128-sample averaging and a drift of less than 10ps over the range from 0 to 50°C. This level of precision and stability supports the signal quality needed in high-end water meter designs, including R1000-class measurement requirements. At the same time, the UFC23 is optimized for battery-powered systems, with standby current of typically 0.8µA and an operating current as low as 6.6µA at an 8Hz sample rate.
The UFC23 integrates the functions required to drive ultrasonic transducers, captures received signals, and extracts high-precision time-of-flight data. It supports both 3.3V single-ended drive for water applications and full-bridge drive for gas applications. A programmable gain amplifier with increased gain and bandwidth helps the UFC23 handle weak receive signals, while a programmable ultrasonic burst generator operating up to 4.4MHz and based on an external reference of up to 20MHz allows designers to tune operation to the transducer and application.
The UFC23 also includes features that help improve system-level efficiency and measurement robustness. Designers can monitor the amplitude of up to three received waves and use extended pulse-width measurement to improve first-hit detection. A batch mode allows the sensor to collect up to 12 measurement bundles before waking the host controller, helping to reduce total system power consumption. The UFC23 also supports temperature measurement with external platinum sensors for heat meters and hot-water systems.
Since the UFC23 supports multiple designs, manufacturers can reuse the same sensor across different product families. Typical applications include smart water and heat meters, smart gas meters, water heaters, pump control systems, and smart faucets.
“UFC23 addresses a clear requirement in the metering market for a high-precision, ultra-low-power ultrasonic flow converter that fits modern system architectures. It enables manufacturers to pair ScioSense analogue and timing performance with their chosen host microcontroller and software environment.”
