Pigtails get ESCC qualification

“One of the many advantages of the products are the sensor’s small form factor and the easier assembly to PCBs thanks to the extended Copper wires”, says David Preiss, Metrology Engineer and product manager for space sensors, and elaborates: “Engineers appreciate the greater flexibility sensor with cable extension offer. The wires can be ordered in 2-wire or 4-wireconfigurations, shielded and unshielded.”

Temperature sensors of IST AG have been in (outer) space over twenty years. One of the most famous Space missions their sensors have been part of was the Rosetta-Mission of the European Space Agency. In 2014 ESA managed to successfully land their landing robot Philae on comet Tschurjumow-Gerassimenko after a decade-long journey.

IST AG received their first ESCC qualification for HiRel Pt RTDs in 2018, and they have been recertified bi-annually ever since. With the rapidly growing demand for sensors with extension leads, IST AG began the ESCC certification process for the pigtails.

“We are very pleased to have reached another milestone for our space portfolio. With the qualification of the leads and welding joints, we are now able to meet a great demand for qualified HiRel temperature sensors which now include the wire extensions. Our customers have been asking for them for years,” says a thrilled Omar Sacchet, Area Sales Manager at IST AG and adds: “With this off-the-shelf-product engineers now have an easy-to-implement and reliable product, saving them costs and time, as they are spared many rounds of testing to meet the high demands and numerous standards of (Aero-) Space regulations.”

The HiRel Pt temperature sensors are available with a resistance of 100 Ω to 2000 Ω, within temperature ranges of -50 °C to +150 °C or -200 °C to +200 °C, with platinum leads only, or with twisted 2-core or 4-core extension cables up to 10,000 mm, with or without shield and jacket.

All sensors are available both as flight models (FM) and engineering models (EM). The general ESCC specification No. 4006/015 applies. Details about the different sensor variants can be found in the ESCC Qualified Parts List (QPL).

For more information on IST AG’s space sensors go to https://www.ist-ag.com/space-aerospace