Section I, Description; General - Ectron 1140A Instruction Manual

SECTION I
DESCRIPTION
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GENERAL

The Model 1140A is a third-generation thermocouple simulator-calibrator from Ectron
Corporation. It is capable of measuring and producing precise emf's to satisfy a wide variety of
thermocouple and dc-voltage calibration needs. Direct entry of voltage and temperature allow the
user to simulate twelve thermocouple types using copper and alloy material. In addition,
measurements can be made of external voltages, which can be converted and displayed as
temperature for various thermocouple types. Additionally, the Model 1140A can serve as a data
logger with the capability to capture 10,000 data points, display them, and download the data in
comma-separated value (.csv) format. Data downloading is accomplished through a remote
interface such as USB.
The bench-mount instrument is 4" high (including feet) and contains the power and remote
interface connectors on the rear panel along with the power fuse. Provisions are made for rear-
panel input-output terminals as an option. The front panel contains a graphics LCD display with
user-controllable brightness and contrast that, in addition to the emf being supplied or measured,
shows the thermocouple type in use, the units of measure, the output material, and other
annunciators. A front-panel KEYPAD and rotary ENCODER provide for data entry. Front-panel
output terminals for thermocouples enable the user to insert either a thermocouple connector or
wires, and copper terminals are for use with banana plugs or wires as well as clip leads.
Up to two remote interfaces may be installed as plug-ins to the motherboard. The interfaces are
isolated from the analog sections of the unit.
The temperature of each output terminal is independently measured, and compensation is
independently applied to cancel the emf's generated at each of the terminals. This eliminates the
need for thermally coupled terminals (such as those used in the Ectron Model 1120).
The user can set output zero to compensate for offsets in equipment or connections. This is
limited to a ±5°C range, and an annunciator on the LCD display will be on while the offset is in
effect. The offset can be disabled at any time from the front panel. The same feature is available
for each thermocouple type, which eliminates offset problems when switching from one
thermocouple type to another.
A diagnostic feature is provided such that the output of the unit is monitored to detect if the
output is out of tolerance due to output overload. An annunciator on the display indicates if the
output is out of tolerance, and an error message is sent via any installed interface.
The Model 1140A has the potential to simulate and measure a number of different thermocouple
types. This allows the unit to simulate outputs of thermocouples to various international
specifications including DIN, JIS, etc. Selection of the desired thermocouple type is by front-
panel menus.
A number of setups can be stored in nonvolatile memory. The entire set of operating conditions
can be stored for up to 31 points. These stored setups can be given alphanumeric names to
provide more user-friendly annotation for later recall.
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