A downhole transducer goes through extreme environmental stress when it is deployed into an underground environment. This means that it needs to be specially designed to withstand the rigors placed on it. Here are a few examples of the environmental factors that require specialized transducers:

Pressure: The purpose of a downhole pressure transducer is to take readings of gas and liquid pressures below the Earth’s surface. Depending on what is being measured and how deep it is underground, these pressures can be quite substantial. There will likely also be a maximum operating pressure that a sensor can take before it is unable to function.

Temperature extremes: Depending on its usage, a downhole temperature probe can be exposed to a range of temperatures from 40 degrees below or lower to well over 400 degrees for extended periods of time. In fact, the temperatures that a probe goes through in one locate can fluctuate wildly as well. Some applications such as measuring well bore fluid temperature in oil tools, engine in-line fluid or air/gas temperature sensing can require the ability to measure temperatures more than 300 degrees below zero or over 500 degrees.