Limitation of Scanivalve System?

Not knowing what a "scanivalve system" is in the first place. Unfamiliar terms should be described.

Pressure scanner/switch for performing pressure measurement sequentially using a sing pressure transducer.

What is sing transducer then, also surface pressure?

sorry.. spell mistake... single pressure transducer... it could be any pressure not only in surface..

Never seen and never heard such instrument before, must be a new marvel. For Temperature there is thermal sensing/imaging(infra red), see FLIR

As for pressure, I can not figure it out how they would do it like this.

Measuring temperature is easy because temperature are transients from one source to the another or with respect to the surrounding, that is why the change are easily sensible.

But, for pressure, most of the time the analogy of pressure is often closed with its confinement. It is possible to have a 2, 3, or 4, etc confinements with different temperature but the same pressure or vice versa.

I do not know, how you would do it. If ever you can, that will surely be a Nobel Prize

The "scanivalve" was designed and used to determine the pressure profile in aerodynamics research. For instance on a airfoil. The frequency of the tests depends on the time constant of connections. The time laps a connection is open has to be high enough to allow a correct pressure measurement. If the time is too short the pressure cannot build fully up. The system was used in steady state tests so that the frequency could be low. The use of electro -valves allows a faster wear free function but the problem of reaching the full pressure level is the same.

It appears that Scanivalve at one time had a mechanically operated rotary valve that connected a central port to any of several circumferential ports. With this valve and one transducer, it would be possible to sample pressures at a number of points. This would probably be economical; and for measuring pressure differences, one transducer might be better than several. I understand this system was obsoleted around 1995, and is no longer supported. (I'm not sure about this).

I think that their current technology consists of a manifold of miniature solenoid valves that sequentially connect to a single transducer. Or they could connect to a sampling pump that would send gases to a single analyzer. As before, this would be economical. They also offer various protocols for networking to PLCs, PCs, etc.

As an interesting side note, their factory is in my former home state, in a suburb of Spokane, WA. I have an uncle living there, and chances are I have driven past the factory without ever noticing. Small world....

If there is an absolute need to monitor a pressure continuously, this type of system might be unsuitable, because it samples each point intermittently.

Ah, forgive me I was too lazy to search. You mean this scanivalve

But still, surface pressure is quite confusing terminology though.