Products / mASTRO - Conditioning System

Alfa Centauri

The charge amplifier module

This charge amplifier is designed for piezoelectric sensors (pressure, accelerometer, ecc) and for on-board application.
The mASTRO system can host up to 10 Alfa Centauri modules, to optimize the space utilization based on the application. Modules can be added at any time.
Alfa Centauri is designed for a wide variety of sensors with different sensitivities.. Thanks to internal active electronics, Alfa Centauri supports an input range from 100pC to 28000pC. The typical application is for monitoring in-cylinder pressure of engines, especially in those applications where compactness is required (i.e. on-board vehicle and racing use).
A dedicated software is provided to configure sensor sensitivity and output amplitude for each channel. It’s also possible to configure output offset, filter, time constant and output type. The time constant is configurable, including auto drift compensation to reduce signal error and saturation problems.
The amplifier circuit is designed to minimize distortion and non-linearity while having a high signal bandwidth (filter programmable) and low noise.
The amplifier accuracy is ±0.1% guaranteed from calibration.
The amplifier housing is IP65 rated, made of anodized 7075-T6 aluminium, designed to guarantee a reliable operation over time.
The sensor connectors and signal outputs are BNC type, simplifying wiring and availability of mating connectors. Please refer to mASTRO datasheet to power supply, cable and other specifications.
The device is CE marked, in compliance with the EC directive 2004/108/CE.

Features

• Modular with mASTRO platform
• Galvanic isolation channel by channel
• Pre-calibrated to 0.1% accuracy
• Input range up to 28000pC
• Auto drift compensation for in-cylinder engine pressure
• 16 bit output gain resolution
• < 1mVRMS Noise (1Hz-400kHz)
• Group delay up to 8μs (fully analog conditioning line)
• -25 to 105°C operating temperature
• Programmable output offset
• IP65, 7075-T6 aluminium
• Very compact channel height: 18mm