UFC23 Ultrasonic Flow Converter

UFC23 is a frontend for ultrasonic flow measurements in water, heat and gas meters. It uses a high-performance front-end capable of driving two transducers and processing the received signal to extract the time of flight (TOF) information with high precision and offset stability.

A highly programmable amplifier—up to 60 dB (gas) and 20 dB (water)—allows for the handling of weak receive amplitudes.

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The UFC23 is a fourth-generation ultrasonic flow converter developed by ScioSense. Designed primarily as an ultra-low-power, high-precision front-end for smart water, heat, and gas meters, it extracts Time-of-Flight (TOF) data to measure fluid flow without requiring an on-chip CPU.

The UFC23 features a pure front-end architecture without an on-chip CPU, giving manufacturers flexibility to use their preferred system architecture whilst maintaining high measurement precision. In typical DN15 water meter setups, it provides single-shot standard deviation of 35ps and offset stability of ±7ps with 128-sample averaging.

The device supports water, heat and gas meter applications, operating from 2.5V to 3.6V supply across -40°C to 85°C. It includes programmable gain amplification, ultrasonic burst generation up to 4.4MHz, and batch mode for reduced system power consumption. Samples are available now from Precision Measurement Technologies via request – test, review, and receive our technical support.

This is a highly programmable amplifier—up to 60 dB (gas) and 20 dB (water)—allows for the handling of weak receive amplitudes.

A fire burst generator generates bursts up to 4.4 MHz, based on a 20 MHz reference. A split-burst feature supports the correction of phase jumps. Besides the 3.3V single-ended drivers, the UFC23 offers full-bridge drivers for increased voltage across the transducer. The combination of a full-bridge, higher gain, higher bandwidth, and frequency adjustment makes it suitable for gas meter applications.

A 160-word RAM allows access to all time data, as well as the accumulation of data (batch mode) and reduced wake-up cycles for an external μC. With 1 μA standby current and low operating current, it is optimized for battery-operated systems.

FEATURES

3.3V Single-ended or full-bridge driver for transducers
Fire frequency generator up to 4.4 MHz, based on reference up to 20 MHz
PGA with increased gain and increased bandwidth
Low noise (E.g. 25 ps single shot with DN15) and excellent offset-stability (E.g. ±7 ps with 100 samples average at 25°C)
Combination full-bridge, higher gain, higher bandwidth and frequency adjustment make it suitable for gas meter applications
Improved current management to reduce standby current (cycle timer off) Isb ~ 0.8 μA @ 25°C
Increased RAM (160 words) for access to all time data but also for accumulation of data and reduced wake-up of external μC
No CPU, no NVRAM for cost savings
Open-source C-code platform.
QFN32 package