Piher Sensing Systems Potentiometers

Potentiometers are a key component of many electronic circuits. They are often used as trimmers for precise calibration and adjustment of circuits before the device is delivered to the final customer. Furthermore, they also find use as control potentiometers for manual parameter setting such as volume controls or program selection during a products lifetime. They are often used in operational amplifiers, but are also found in digital circuits, especially in combination with D/A and A/D converters.

The service life of many devices depends on the quality of the potentiometer and its resistance to wear under the influence of external factors (vibration, oxidation, corrosion). The same applies to the thermal coefficient, that is, the change in resistance under the influence of temperature. Ideally, the resistance adjusted by the installer should remain constant  – in this way, long-term and correct operation of industrial automation equipment, white and brown goods, as well as – perhaps most importantly – measuring equipment, will be guaranteed. In other words: when choosing a potentiometer, designers and manufacturers should always keep quality in mind. As TME often supplies electronic components for design, prototyping, individual applications, and mass production, we are well aware of the importance of passive components. That is why we recommend products from well-known and proven brands. Piher Sensing Systems is certainly one of them.

Piher Sensing Systems is a Spanish company specialized in the development and production of contactless and contacting position sensors, the latter including potentiometers. Today the brand belongs to the American group Amphenol  – well-known to professional electronics engineers both for the breadth of its range and the quality of its solutions. It is no different for the products under the Piher Sensing Systems logo; these are solutions dedicated to the production of durable and accurate devices.

Find the right potentiometer

Piher Sensing Systems’ range of potentiometers consists of over a hundred products. All parameters of the articles are described in detail in our catalogue, so the range can be filtered by customers looking for a specific item. The products are available at the link below.

PIHER elements are also characterised by their symbols. They are built up from smaller codes.

piher

1. The first part of the symbol denotes the series of potentiometers. Their division and properties are discussed below.
2. This part of the symbol denotes the type of rotor or adjustment grooves. For products available in our catalogue this will be: rotor “L” (arrow shape); rotor “K” (cross shape); rotor “M” (hexagonal allen socket) with a height of 2.05 mm. Such potentiometers can also be adjusted using PIHER knobs.
3. The third part of the symbol denotes the mounting method. The H01 products are designed for THT mounting, they are mounted perpendicularly to the PCB surface, and their terminal pitch is 2.5×5 mm. The same is true of H02, but here the pins have been bent, making it easier to fix the component before soldering. The V10 elements are connected in parallel, with terminal pitch of 5×10 mm (the V11 variant has bent pins). For SMD components, the pitches of 5×9.4 mm (V50) and 5×4.35 mm (V55) are available. The V60 and V65 variants have the same dimensions, but are additionally equipped with THT pins.
4. Component’s resistance The value is encoded in the form of three characters, with the last digit specifying the number of zeros. For example: 503 should be read as 50000, i.e., a potentiometer with this marking will have a resistance of 50kΩ. The resistance is also written on all PIHER potentiometers in the traditional form (1K, 10K etc.).
5. The single letter denotes the characteristics of the potentiometer. “A” denotes linear potentiometers, “B” – logarithmic.
6. The last part denotes the nominal resistance tolerance. Currently, four tolerances, namely 0505 = 5%, 1010 = 10%, 2020 = 20%, and 3030 = 30%, are available at TME.

Piher Sensing Systems potentiometer series

In the further part of the text, we describe the main series of Piher potentiometers. We also offer other items from this manufacturer (e.g., axial components). You can see the supplier’s full range in our catalogue.

PT10 & PTC10

10mm THT potentiometers from Piher Sensing Systems come in the PT10 and PTC10 series. The distinguishing feature of this second group is the path material (cermet) and the associated higher power rating, 330 mW and temperature, 90°C (150mW and 70°C for carbon elements). It should be noted here that the components made of sintered metal are thermally stable. The temperature coefficient may be as low as 100 ppm/°C (max. 0.01% for a 1-degree Celsius change in ambient temperature). For all products, the mechanical rotation angle is approximately 235°; the knob diameter is 10.3mm. The PT  series potentiometers with resistance from 100Ω to 5MΩ, which can be mounted both in horizontal or vertical method, are available at TME. For THT potentiometers, only linear models are available at TME.

PTC10LV10-501A20

 PTC10 series cermet paths allowed obtaining a maximum power of 330 mW.

SMD potentiometers

For surface mounting Piher Sensing Systems offers components from the PS-6, PS-10, PS-15, PSC-10 and PSC-15 series. The main distinguishing features of these series, are their size and the maximum power of the potentiometer. For the PS series, this value is (respectively): 100 mW, 150 mW, 250 mW, 330mW and 500 mW. Thus, the choice of the series will depend primarily on the application, which may require e.g., greater current tolerance (adjustment of audio circuits). The resistance of SMD potentiometers ranges from 10Ω to 1MΩ, they are hollow-shaft, single-turn trimmers.

PS10KV60-503A30-PM

SMD potentiometer with through-hole pins.