Exergen Global announces Sensoranics Methodology, its unique approach for customized, infrared noncontact temperature sensor solutions, powered by Exergen

Exergen Global introduced its Sensoranics Methodology, a unique, proprietary, integrated approach to developing best-in-class infrared temperature sensor solutions for complex production processes across all industries. The company’s innovative sensor technology provides the foundation for the Sensoranics Methodology, and its mechanical engineering knowledge, combined with that of its customers, supports the methodology. Exergen’s unmatched thermal management expertise, backed by more than 70 thermal management patents, is the “special sauce” that allows the company to provide award-winning solutions for even the toughest thermal challenges.

“Exergen Global likens the development of a thermal management solution to building a house,” said Dr. Frank Pompei, CEO and Founder of Exergen. “You need a strong foundation to start – that’s our innovative sensor technology. Your walls must stand united together –those are made up of our mechanical IR sensor engineering team in collaboration with our customers’ mechanical teams. And the roof covers everything – just like we cover every aspect of a machine as it relates to thermal management. Combined, these steps allow us to build sensor solutions that are as sound and reliable as a solid house.”

The underpinning of the Sensoranics Methodology is its unique sensor and application technology, which is based on a solution to a general equation for non-contact monitoring of the internal temperature of moving materials, derived and field tested by Dr. Frank Pompei. The equation incorporates French mathematician and physicist Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier’s Equation of Heat Conduction to address the thermal physics of products as they relate to temperature monitoring. It also includes concepts from French scholar Pierre Simon Marquis de LaPlace’s Transform Method of Solution as a basis for addressing the mathematical aspects of thermal management. When Dr. Pompei’s solution for non-contact temperature monitoring of internal temperatures of moving materials is combined with surface temperature, it leads to uniform material temperature, and, when controlled via a speed boost equation, forces the control system to apply heat at an optimally balanced rate.

Equation Eliminates Drift, Delivers MTBF of over 1000 Years

The equation provides Exergen sensors with a number of singular attributes that make them especially well-suited for applications that require precise measures under harsh conditions. The sensors’ unique self-powered design eliminates any drift, delivering consistent, repeatable accuracy of 0.01°C. By contrast, competitive temperature sensors have repeatability measures of >1°C, more than 100 times that provided by Exergen. Exergen sensors also offer resolution of approximately 0.0001°C and an MTBF of 1000 years – a measure that no other sensor manufacturer can come close to.

Mechanical Engineering Overcomes Challenges

Exergen adds mechanical features to its sensor technology, another key ingredient in Sensoranics. While its sensors are capable of reaching very high performance levels, they may be limited in doing so because of environmental constraints. The mechanical add-ons to Exergen’s sensors are designed to remove those constraints. This is not a trivial task: the added mechanics can influence the trajectory of the IR waves, the surface properties of the materials, and the thermal properties of the assembly. These factors must all be understood and accounted for to help increase the sensors’ performance. It is an approach that requires multidisciplinary knowledge.

“Customers need sensor solutions that offer better performance under more challenging circumstances,” said Bart van Liempd, General Manager, Exergen Global BV. “By combining smart mechanics with our knowledge of thermal management and our best-in-class sensors, we can augment sensor performance and meet the demands of increasingly high-performance applications. Sensoranics is the hallmark of Exergen Global’s competitive difference.”

Customization for All Applications

Exergen’s mechanical engineering and thermal management knowledge, combined with its sensor technology, provides the framework needed for its engineers to envision and develop custom sensor solutions for virtually any application and challenge. Exergen’s in-house engineering team, in concert with its customer’s mechanical engineering staff, review and discuss every aspect of an application as it relates to thermal management to pinpoint where improvements can be made. Exergen commits to this process with every current and prospective OEM customer, confident that the time and knowledge it has invested in the process will be realized when the ideal solution is discovered.

Over the years, Exergen has developed literally hundreds of customized temperature sensor solutions across a wide range of applications and industries. Among them are the Exergen Double Shrouded Reflective Cone (DSRC) Infrared Sensor Solution and the Clean Micro Air-Purge Jacket.
Exergen Global’s DSRC works with its IRt/c infrared sensors and was developed in conjunction with HP for use in applications in which high ambient radiation and reflection can prevent accurate surface temperature measurement. Many industrial applications require very accurate control of the production surface (e.g. the drum, blanket, silicon wafer or other) temperature to ensure high-quality processing. However, during production, the emissivity of the surface – its power to emit heat relative to the (ambient) radiation it reflects – can vary considerably due to substrate properties, surrounding radiation, and ambient condition changes.
While most conventional IR thermometry devices do not account for surface emissivity changes, Exergen’s DSRC does so because its custom-fitted conical design prevents ambient radiation from entering the surface being measured, and reflects emitted radiation. The DSRC reduces temperature measurement errors by decreasing ambient reflections, ambient radiation and emissivity variations, producing an emissivity reading of 1.
While originally developed with HP, the DSRC is also ideally suited for semiconductor, printing, plastics and other production processes.

Exergen’s Clean Micro Air-Purge Jacket works with Exergen’s Micro IRt/c and Micro IRt/c.4, the world’s smallest sensors (3/8” dia. x 3” long), and offer an ideal solution to fit into very tight areas and allow up-close process temperature monitoring. The sensors’ miniature-sized lenses and efficient jacket designs make it possible to clean the surface with as little as 0.06 CFM of air, and to use instrument air, eliminating the need for additional hardware. In the absence of instrument air, the Clean Micro Air-Purge Jacket can also be powered by a small, inexpensive air pump. Installation is fast and simple, requiring only a standard 3/8” tube fitting or 3/8” ID tubing, and an inexpensive, easy-to-use mounting bracket.
Hewlett Packard, a long-time Exergen customer/partner, uses the Clean Micro Air-Purge Jacket in its HP Digital Press commercial printers.

For more information about the Sensoranics methodology or Exergen Global’s non-contact infrared temperature sensors, please visit www.sensoranics.com or call Bart van Liempd at +1 31-413-376599.

About Exergen Corporation and Exergen Global

Exergen Corporation, the global leader in industrial and medical non-invasive temperature technology, provides non-invasive temperature measurement devices providing lower cost, higher accuracy, less invasiveness, and greater reliability than ever previously possible. Exergen is well known for its award winning temporal artery thermometer in the healthcare and consumer market. The company was founded by Harvard-research scientist Dr. Francesco Pompei who holds over 70 patents. Exergen Corporation is based in Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S. Exergen Global is the worldwide solutions provider of Exergen Corporation industrial non-contact infrared temperature sensor solutions.