Melexis Expands Triphibian® Pressure Sensor Family with New Low-Pressure Solutions for Advanced Cooling Applications

Melexis has expanded its Triphibian® pressure sensor portfolio with new low-pressure models, extending the product family's measurement capability down to 2 bar. While existing devices support pressure measurements of up to 70 bar for demanding applications such as refrigeration circuits and oil systems, the latest versions are optimized for lower-pressure media, including coolant applications. Thanks to their excellent compatibility with glycol-based fluids, the new sensors are well suited for modern thermal management systems.

As electronic and electromechanical systems become increasingly sophisticated, effective cooling has become essential for maintaining performance and long-term reliability. In applications ranging from electric vehicle battery thermal management to liquid-cooled AI data centers, pressure sensing plays a critical role in verifying coolant circulation, enabling fault detection, and protecting valuable equipment from failures that might otherwise go unnoticed. However, achieving accurate and dependable pressure measurement in low-pressure environments has remained a challenge. Conventional MEMS and ceramic sensor technologies often struggle to deliver consistent performance across gas, liquid, and refrigerant media while also requiring complex integration and end-of-line module calibration, increasing development costs and system complexity.

The new low-pressure Triphibian® devices address these challenges by extending Melexis' proprietary pressure sensing technology to operating ranges of 2 and 4 bar. Housed in a compact, factory-calibrated SOIC16 wide-body package, each device integrates a unique suspended MEMS pressure sensing element together with signal conditioning, digital processing, and output drivers. The sensor is designed for direct contact with gases, liquids, and refrigerants, allowing engineers to incorporate reliable pressure measurement into compact low-pressure systems with minimal design effort.

This package-level integration offers manufacturers greater flexibility during system development. The sensors can be deployed either as standalone pressure sensing modules or embedded directly into larger assemblies such as pumps and coolant distribution units. By enabling pressure monitoring closer to critical operating points, designers can reduce mechanical complexity, eliminate bulky standalone modules, and avoid time-consuming module-level calibration processes.

The expanded Triphibian® family offers several important advantages. The new low-pressure devices support configurable measurement ranges beginning at 2 bar, extending the overall portfolio from 2 to 70 bar while maintaining direct measurement capability across gas, liquid, and refrigerant media. The compact architecture combines the MEMS sensing element, digital signal processing (DSP), and output circuitry within a factory-calibrated SOIC16 package. Each sensor is calibrated by Melexis across multiple pressure and temperature points before shipment, removing the need for end-of-line calibration during production. Designed to automotive standards, the devices provide overvoltage protection up to +40 V and reverse-voltage protection down to -40 V. They have also been developed as Safety Element out of Context (SEooC) devices according to ISO 26262, supporting system designs up to ASIL B. To accommodate different application requirements, the sensors are available with analog, SENT, and LIN outputs, while digital versions also provide on-chip temperature information and can interface with external NTC sensors when additional temperature monitoring is required.

"Our new 2-bar pressure range enables direct implementation in compact liquid-based systems while eliminating the complexity associated with traditional module integration and calibration," said Karel Claesen, Product Line Director at Melexis. "Whether supporting next-generation automotive platforms or cooling infrastructure for AI data centers, Triphibian technology delivers the monitoring capabilities needed to keep critical hardware operating safely and efficiently."

The expanded Triphibian® lineup is now available with three new low-pressure variants: the MLX90830 for analog output, the MLX90833 with LIN communication, and the MLX90834 featuring SENT output. Additional SPI and I²C interface versions are scheduled for release in 2027.