Intersil named a finalist in medical advances category of e-Legacy awards

Many medical applications, such as O2 sensors, need highly accurate calibration. Introduced by Intersil in June 2009, Intersil's ISL22317 is a true low-voltage, precision DCP with typical ± one percent tolerance. Previously, DCPs have had ±20% of Rtotal accuracy, and the technological leap to ± one percent represents a major breakthrough. The ultra-low tolerance allows the ISL22317 to be used as a true variable resistor, enabling users to set standard and non-standard resistor values for open-loop applications.

The ISL22317 is particularly applicable to medical equipment such as pulse oximeters, which are regarded as one of the greatest advances in patient monitoring in recent years. Pulse oximeters (O2 sensors) are used in a variety of hospital situations and are of particular value for monitoring oxygenation and pulse rates throughout anaesthesia. They are also widely used during post-operative recovery. The oxygen saturation should always be above 95 percent.

Designed around a new, patent-pending architecture, the ISL22317 allows for modularity and consistency of measurements. Once the ideal start up value is determined for one O2 distribution system that also has a sensor feedback mechanism, this value can be programmed across other modules.

For example, a child's dose will most likely be less than an adult's, you can determine settings for both adult and child and program each unit to the initial value in the production line. At start-up, each unit will now be within one percent of the ideal value, and can then be further tuned by the end user.

By using the ISL22317, the customer has the ability to save test time, money--and greatly increase accuracy--by knowing the initial value within one percent.