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MAX31855
Cold-Junction Compensated
Thermocouple-to-Digital Converter
8
Maxim Integrated
Table 1. Thermocouple Wire Connections and Nominal Sensitivities
Detailed Description
The MAX31855 is a sophisticated thermocouple-to-
digital converter with a built-in 14-bit analog-to-digital
converter (ADC). The device also contains cold-junction
compensation sensing and correction, a digital control-
ler, an SPI-compatible interface, and associated control
logic. The device is designed to work in conjunction
with an external microcontroller (
F
C) in thermostatic,
process-control, or monitoring applications. The device
is available in several versions, each optimized and
trimmed for a specific thermocouple type (K, J, N, T, S,
R, or E.). The thermocouple type is indicated in the suffix
of the part number (e.g., MAX31855K). See the
Ordering
Information
table for all options.
Temperature Conversion
The device includes signal-conditioning hardware to
convert the thermocouple’s signal into a voltage com-
patible with the input channels of the ADC. The T+ and
T- inputs connect to internal circuitry that reduces the
introduction of noise errors from the thermocouple wires.
Before converting the thermoelectric voltages into equiv-
alent temperature values, it is necessary to compensate
for the difference between the thermocouple cold-
junction side (device ambient temperature) and a 0
N
C
virtual reference. For a K-type thermocouple, the volt-
age changes by about 41
F
V/
N
C, which approximates
the thermocouple characteristic with the following linear
equation:
V
OUT
= (41.276
F
V/
N
C) x (T
R
- T
AMB
)
where V
OUT
is the thermocouple output voltage (
F
V), T
R
is the temperature of the remote thermocouple junction
(
N
C), and T
AMB
is the temperature of the device (
N
C).
Other thermocouple types use a similar straight-line
approximation but with different gain terms. Note that the
MAX31855 assumes a linear relationship between tem-
perature and voltage. Because all thermocouples exhibit
some level of nonlinearity, apply appropriate correction
to the device’s output data.
Cold-Junction Compensation
The function of the thermocouple is to sense a difference
in temperature between two ends of the thermocouple
wires. The thermocouple’s “hot” junction can be read
across the operating temperature range (
Table 1
). The
reference junction, or “cold” end (which should be at
TYPE
T- WIRE
T+ WIRE
TEMP RANGE (
°
C)
SENSITIVITY (μV/
°
C)
COLD-JUNCTION
SENSITIVITY (μV/
°
C)
(0
N
C TO +70
N
C)
K
Alumel
Chromel
-270 to +1372
41.276
(0
N
C to +1000
N
C)
40.73
J
Constantan
Iron
-210 to +1200
57.953
(0
N
C to +750
N
C)
52.136
N
Nisil
Nicrosil
-270 to + 1300
36.256
(0
N
C to +1000
N
C)
27.171
S
Platinum
Platinum/Rhodium
-50 to +1768
9.587
(0
N
C to +1000
N
C)
6.181
T
Constantan
Copper
-270 to +400
52.18
(0
N
C to +400
N
C)
41.56
E
Constantan
Chromel
-270 to +1000
76.373
(0
N
C to +1000
N
C)
44.123
R
Platinum
Platinum/Rhodium
-50 to +1768
10.506
(0
N
C to +1000
N
C)
6.158