Sensors and sensor systems
EPCOS is one of the few manufacturers to offer both temperature and pressure sensors from a single source. Its broad range of temperature sensors and sensor systems comprises standardized components as well as customer- and application-specific solutions, especially for use in automotive, industrial and consumer electronics. Their applications include measuring the temperature in refrigerators as well as of operating fluids in motor vehicles. But EPCOS also manufactures evaporator sensors that are among the key components for the temperature regulation of air-conditioning systems.
EPCOS pressure sensors and sensor systems are used in automotive and industrial electronics for monitoring pneu-matic and hydraulic systems as well as to control valves and filters. Another application area is medical engineering, for instance in equipment for measuring blood pressure as well as for artificial respiration. In the field of environmental technology, pressure sensors are used as filling-level meters as well as in waste-water control systems and to measure air pressure and soil humidity. They are also used for altitude measurement in aviation.
Protection devices
EPCOS offers a comprehensive range of products designed to provide protection against overvoltages. It includes CeraDiodes© for the ESD protection of data, audio and video lines in electronic equipment. Ceramic Transient Voltage Suppressors (CTVS) and varistors are voltage-dependent resistors used in switch-mode power supplies and systems for power generation and distribution, as well as to protect the highly sensitive electronics in vehicles, household appliances as well as PCs and notebook computers. Gas-filled arresters, in particular, protect telecommunications equipment and home terminals from damage due to voltage surges of the kind caused by thunderstorms.
EPCOS offers inrush current limiters as well as a wide range of PTC thermistors for protection against overload, current surges and excess temperatures.
Piezo actuators
These multilayer ceramic components are the core of piezo fuel injection systems in diesel and gas engines. Piezo actuators allow the fuel injection to be more finely dosed than in conventional injection systems based on solenoids. Vehicles equipped with piezo actuators consume less fuel and are characterized by lower emissions and quiet engines. Piezo actuators generate forces of up to 10,000 N and can reach linear expansions of up to 100 micrometers – enough to activate the needle in injection nozzles and inject the fuel.
Switching spark gaps
Switching spark gaps are high-performance switching elements. They are also used to ignite gas burners or high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps in automobiles.
PTC thermistors as switching and heating elements
These temperature-dependent resistors are used in energy-saving lamps or as motor-start PTCs in refrigerator compressors. PTC heating elements are used in vehicles as supplementary heaters or to heat windshield nozzles and fuel filters.
