SENSIRION SFC5400 Mass Flow Controllers

This selection guide will help you find the right Sensirion mass flow controller (MFC), depending on your requirements.

The heart of Sensirion mass flow controllers (MFCs) is a high-precision sensor element with state-of-the-art signal processing on a single chip. Thanks to this technology, Sensirion MFCs achieve unmatched ratings for speed, accuracy and dynamic range. Sensirion technology reaches superior accuracy and repeatability, especially at low flow rates. The devices show no drift and hence never require recalibration. All MFCs are also available in flow meter configurations (SFM series).

Performance line

Best performance and reconfigurability

• Highest accuracy
• Choice of interfaces and fittings
• Samples available via online distribution

OEM line

OEM applications

• Optimized OEM performance
• Digital and downmount (manifold)
• From 50 pcs/year

Full-scale flows available

Comparison Table

Evaluation kit EK-F5x for the SFX5xxx series

• Fastest and most convenient way to evaluate the SFC5XXX and SFM5XXX families
• Ideal for evaluation starting with SFC5500
• Available via distributors
• Kit contains a power supply and connection cable + plug-and-play SFC Viewer software
• RS485 USB interface

Additional information

	SFC5500	SFC5400	SFC5460	SFC5300	SFC5330
Size 1 W H L	29 91 115 mm	25 91 126 mm	29 51 105 mm	25 80 70 mm	25 66 48 mm
Weight	270 g	280 g	255 g	170 g	95 g
Electrical connector	DB9	DB9	JST 4-pin	DB9	JST 4-pin
Communication interface	RS485 IO-Link DeviceNet	RS485 Analog voltage Analog current IO-Link DeviceNet	RS485
Calibration gas 4	He, H2, Ar, O2, N2, air, CO2, N2O, CH4	non-aggressive gases 2 3
Dynamic range	1000:1 (100% to 0.1% of full-scale flow)
Pressure resistance	up to 10 bar

1. Size depends on the fittings. See datasheet for exact dimensions.
2. Configured with different gasses/flow ranges: see MOQ in datasheet.
3. The gases used should be compatible with the wetted parts of the sensor. Typically, it should not be used with gases that attack silicon, or sealing materials. A detailed overview of wetted materials is available as a table in the datasheet.
4. A software tool is provided to manually calibrate the MFC for non-standard gases.

Definitions

Pressure drop is generated when a gas passes through a mass flow controller. It is important to verify that at the maximum required flow rate for a given gas, the inlet pressure is higher than the pressure drop; otherwise the desired maximum flow rate cannot be reached. Increasing the valve size lowers the pressure drop, trading off against the low flow accuracy/resolution. See the definition for valve size.
Valve size is selected by Sensirion based on the desired gas and flow range. However, Sensirion can take into account specific customer wishes, e.g. if a certain pressure drop has to be achieved. Valve size selection is a trade-off between low-flow control, pressure resistance and pressure drop across the MFC. A smaller valve allows for better flow control at low flow rates, but induces a higher pressure drop across the MFC. On the other hand, a large valve induces a lower pressure drop across the MFC, but has worse flow control at low flow rates. In addition, smaller valves are more robust against differential pressure across the MFC (inlet vs outlet pressure).
Calibration gases can have different accuracies. For example, the SFC5500 sensor is factory-calibrated with air/N2, He and CO2, while the calibration of the remaining gases is derived from a gas property simulation (model). The accuracy for the calibrated gases is higher than for those derived from a model. More information can be found in the datasheet of each product or by contacting your sensor expert. A software tool is also provided to manually calibrate the MFC for gases that are not included in the library.

www.sensirion.com

Documents / Resources

SENSIRION SFC5400 Mass Flow Controllers [pdf] User Guide SFC5400, Mass Flow Controllers, SFC5400 Mass Flow Controllers, Flow Controllers, Controllers

References

• User Manual