Introduction
What an exciting plan
In the last newsletter, I shared some of my excitement about Flusso having been acquired and what that really meant for our customers, our suppliers and all of us within the company. Now, I want to confirm and reiterate all of that by saying we’ve just spent a few months planning for the future, and I am really looking forward to it! Here are three major highlights.
The first is related to our new owners, who are being fully supportive in everything we’re planning to do. They are helping us target new markets and customers, as well as providing access to new technical knowledge and additional capabilities in the design and development of semiconductor-based devices and systems that would have taken us years to develop. All of which is fantastic news for our existing and future customers.
The second highlight concerns our product roadmap. At SENSOR + TEST last May we launched our FLS122 air velocity sensor, which is advancing into production to satisfy customer demand. We’re also working on a new addition to our flow sensor product line. But this is just a heads up, you’ll hear more about it in the first half of 2023.
And the most exciting product update for me is the addition of a gas sensor product line for environmental applications. But again, you’ll have to wait for more details except to say the development is advancing at a good pace. We’re also due to start further research activities next year to prove the potential of our CMOS MEMS thermal sensing platform for further gas and environmental sensing products.
Finally, to support all the activities above, we’re planning to substantially increase the size of the Flusso team. It’s not easy to attract talented engineers with the right skill sets in the current climate. Demand is high and the talent pool is small but we have some real plus points against our competitors.
We are a friendly, dynamic and ambitious company with a flat organisational structure that values honest and transparent collaboration. And we believe in innovation as a tool to solve the toughest problems our society is facing today. We want to use our technologies to help people and the environment. And if you want to help us on our journey then have a look at our current vacancies.
See you at Electronica!
Andrea De Luca | CEO and co-founder
Product news
Flusso launches FLS122 evaluation kit
We’ve just launched our new FLS122 evaluation kit that includes everything you’ll need to start assessing the FLS122’s performance and capabilities within your own applications.
The new kit comes complete with an extended FLS122 velocity sensing module, plug and play hardware and a PC GUI so you can quickly connect everything together with your laptop. You can start recording real-time air speed and temperature measurements within minutes. And the module is configured via an I2C cable to allow further integration for more in-depth analysis as required.
The FLS122 was launched in May 2022 as the world’s smallest thermal air velocity sensor and we’re now accepting our first customer orders for volume shipments of the new device.
The FLS122 has been designed to provide an accurate measurement with near-zero pressure drop and to integrate easily into a product’s existing flow path. It has an air speed range of up to 20 metres per second, a span accuracy of +/- 3%, and a repeatability of 0.1 metres per second with + 0.5% of measured value.
Chris Rosser | Head of Systems and Applications
Applications
FLS110 helps boost gas detector safety performance
Flusso’s FLS110 mass flow sensor is being used to add accurate flow measurement into a new range of portable gas detectors and analysers that will set new industry benchmarks for safety and performance.
Pumped gas detectors and analysers are typically used to check high-risk areas and confined spaces for potentially toxic or flammable gases or combustible dusts before someone enters the area. For example in water treatment plants to verify tanks are free of gases, or to check for leaks in hard-to-access areas within a refinery.
Filters are used within these devices to help protect their pumps and sensors from potential damage caused by dust or liquid ingress. And it’s also important to know the flow precisely after the filtration stage: firstly to ensure the sampling gas is always reaching the sensors; and secondly for analysers with a PM2.5 sensor the flow is a critical parameter for calculating the concentration of fine inhalable particles or dust.
But most of today’s detectors rely on using either a DP sensor or the pump’s drive current as a proxy for flow measurement which can be misleading if the pump gets contaminated or the filter is clogged.
The FLS110 is being used within the new gas detectors and analysers to more accurately measure flow and to predict when filters need to be replaced to avoid unplanned equipment downtime. Flusso’s robust, solid-state FLS110 sensor is enabling additional predictive maintenance and safety features too, such as alerting users to abnormal changes in flow caused by leaks in the sampling system that would otherwise affect measurement accuracies.
The FLS110 was specifically selected for this new product range on account of its size, cost and performance. It is small enough to fit easily into a handheld, battery-powered device and with its ultra-low power it doesn’t compromise device run times. The FLS110 also offers higher accuracy compared with competitive approaches, and it measures mass flow which is essential in safety-critical applications such as this. Making it a winner for Flusso’s customer on all three fronts!
Thomas Negre | VP Sales and Marketing
Events
Free tickets to Electronica still available
We’re giving away free day tickets to Electronica worth €30 each to celebrate our first visit as an exhibitor at this major international event (Munich, Tuesday 15 to Friday 18 November).
Electronica is the world’s leading trade fair and conference for the electronics industry and this year’s event is being promoted with the tagline ‘Driving sustainable progress’; to highlight the central role the industry is now taking in helping combat the challenges of our times.
Flusso will be on booth 537 in hall B3 where we’ll be demonstrating our breakthrough performance FLS122 air velocity sensor and new evaluation kit, alongside our other sensor innovations. Some of our MEMS sensor experts, device development and application engineers will also be available at the booth to answer any questions you have.
Amazing facts about HVAC
How cold air is heating the world
We’ve just published a white paper on how recent advances in flow sensor technology can help with the development of more robust and accurate HVAC test instrumentation. And here are some interesting facts and statistics about HVAC and climate change that we’ve uncovered as part of our research for it:
- The IEA predicts the energy demand for space cooling will more than triple by 2050 – consuming as much energy as all of China and India today.
- HVAC systems for heating and cooling buildings currently account for around 70% of a building’s energy consumption.
- The EU predicts the energy used to cool buildings across Europe is likely to increase by 72% by 2030, while the energy needed to heat buildings will fall by 30%.
- Energy-efficiency improvements coupled with more environmentally-friendly refrigerants could help the world avoid 210 to 460 gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 over the next forty years. In other words, up to 11 years of total worldwide emissions at today’s current level of around 40 Gt per year.
- HVAC professionals have calculated an undetected leaking duct in an HVAC system can reduce energy efficiency by as much as 40%.
Our white paper discusses the benefits of routine maintenance of HVAC systems to help ensure systems are fully optimised to operate at peak performance and energy efficiency. We also highlight the challenges maintenance engineers currently face with their existing test equipment, and how a new generation of smarter test instruments could help deliver new cost savings and energy efficiencies.
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