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Version 1.0
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Aug 2022
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Copyright © Sensirion AG 2022.
1.
How to choose your Mass Flow Controller (Mass Flow Meter)
Sensirion offers several families of Mass Flow Controllers and Meters.
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SFC5500 (SFM5500) is ideal for first testing and projects with yearly volumes up to 50 pieces. It is available in fixed
configurations with pre-configured multiple gas calibrations, different flow ranges, exchangeable fittings and
available via distribution.
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SFC54xx (SFM54xx) family is a make-to-order product and offers the highest configurability (flow rates, fluidic
connectors, and communication interfaces), and suitable for projects of various sizes.
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SFC53xx (SFM53xx)
product family are Sensirion’s
OEM Mass Flow Controllers (Mass Flow Meters) best suited for
projects with yearly volumes above 50 pieces.
To help you choose the right Mass Flow Controller, a
“S
election guide
”
is available on the Sensirion website. Please see
“Useful resources” section below.
2.
How to operate your Mass Flow Controller
The evaluation method depends on whether your Mass Flow Controller has a digital or an analog interface.
2.1.
Digital interface
Several different ways to operate Sensirion digital Mass Flow Controllers exist. They vary in complexity and implementation
flexibilities.
The EK-F5x evaluation kit is the fastest way to start working with your Mass Flow Controller. It combines a power supply
(adapters for most sockets worldwide are included) and a USB-A plug for your PC. It is a simple plug-and-play system to
evaluate all digital Mass Flow Controllers with a DB9 plug (an adapter is available for other plugs
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please contact Sensirion).
EK-F5x is available from distribution. Please note, Mass Flow Controller is not included and has to be purchased separately.
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The quickest way to start working with your device is using the EK-F5x evaluation kit together with Sensirion
Viewer Software. It is a plug-and-play solution, which will enable you to control and configure your device (e.g.
choose the gas calibration). The Viewer Software can be used to control multiple Mass Flow Controllers by opening
several instances of the program on a single PC.
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Another simple way to control your device is to use the evaluation kit together with the available LabVIEW drivers.
This allows for more flexibility at an expense of some implementation effort. A LabVIEW implementation is suitable
to most laboratory and prototyping applications. It is possible to control multiple Mass Flow Controllers with a
single LabVIEW program, by giving the devices different addresses.
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Most OEM projects will require designing custom cabling (including a power supply) together with an
implementation in the desired programming language. Sensirion provides ready-to-use libraries in C, C# and
Python (see Section
in Useful Resources). These libraries can be used to control multiple devices at the same
time (please make sure the devices have unique RS485 addresses) or to add the Mass Flow Controllers to a
measurement sequence. However, this also involves the highest implementation effort out of the options
mentioned here.
It is also possible to use LabVIEW library with custom cabling, or to use C, C# and Python libraries with EK-F5x evaluation
kit.