Old Melag autoclave with tecsis pressure sensor, where to get replacement part?

[tolland]

Hi all,

we have a fairly old (2001 model) Melag Autoclave, and today it caused the breaker to pop when it was powered up. I was actually in the process of investigating errors on its vacuum test when it completely malfunctioned. It was consistently tripping the breaker, or the RCD plug that I was using.

I isolated each of the parts and identified that it was actually the pressure sensor that was causing a residual current between its 24 V DC line and ground and tripping out. However its a sealed unit, and it doesn't look like I can get inside it, other than for post mortem purposes.

The pressure sensor appears to be a tecsis 3296.073.149 which uses a 24 VDC line as power, and providing a DC 0-10 V over 0..4 bar for its signal.
http://www.yuden-tech.com.cn/catalog/tecsis/3296.pdf
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/320169.pdf

Unfortunately I can't find anywhere that stocks that part. The nearest thing I can find is this;
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pressure-sensors/0178695/

however that is quite pricey, and is going to be about 140 GBP including shipping. I was wondering if I have any other options... to get a  10 V DC signal for 0..4 bar

Cheers,
Tom

[N2IXK]

24VDC powered pressure transducers with a 0-10V output are pretty standard industrial fare.   But industrial instrumentation doesn't come cheap, and safety critical parts on an autoclave are no place to pinch pennies.

Omega Engineering in the US is a good source for this kind of stuff, but this isn't the kind of component you are going to get "cheap" outside of a lucky score from a surplus supplier or eBay.