The HDC2080 includes an integrated heating element that can be switched on briefly to prevent or remove any condensation that may build up in high humidity environments. Additionally, the heater can be used to verify functionally of the integrated temperature sensor.

If the dew point of an application is continuously calculated and tracked, and the application firmware is written such that it can detect a potential condensing situation (or a period of it), a software subroutine can be run, as a precautionary measure, to activate the onboard heater as an attempt to remove the condensate. The device shall continue to measure and track the %RH level after the heater is activated. Once the %RH reading goes to zero % (or near it), the heater can be subsequently turned off, allowing the device to cool down. Cooling of the device can takes minutes and temperature measurement shall continue to be performed to ensure the device goes back to normal operating condition before restarting the device for normal service.

Note once the heater activates, the operating temperature of the device shall be limited to below 85°C. The heater has a typical current draw of 90 mA at 3.3-V operation and 55 mA at 1.8-V operation.

It is important to recognize that the integrated heater evaporates condensate that forms on top of the humidity sensor, but does not remove any dissolved contaminants. Any contaminant residue, if present, may impact the accuracy of the humidity sensor.