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Functional Details
Thermocouple measurements
A thermocouple consists of two dissimilar metals that are joined together at one end. When the junction of the
metals is heated or cooled, a voltage is produced that correlates to temperature.
The OM-USB-TC-AI hardware level-shifts the thermocouple's output voltage into the A/D's common mode
input range by applying +2.5 V to the thermocouple's low side at the C#L input. Always connect thermocouple
sensors to the OM-USB-TC-AI in a floating fashion. Do not attempt to connect the thermocouple low side C#L
to GND or to a ground referencing resistor.
Cold junction compensation (CJC)
When you connect the thermocouple sensor leads to the sensor input channel, the dissimilar metals at the OM-
USB-TC-AI terminal blocks produce two additional thermocouple junctions. This junction creates a small
voltage error term which must be removed from the overall sensor measurement using a cold junction
compensation technique. The measured voltage includes both the thermocouple voltage and the cold junction
voltage. To compensate for the additional cold junction voltage, the OM-USB-TC-AI subtracts the cold junction
voltage from the thermocouple voltage.
The OM-USB-TC-AI has one high-resolution temperature sensor integrated into the design. The CJC sensor
measures the average temperature at the terminal block so that the cold junction voltage can be calculated. A
software algorithm automatically corrects for the additional thermocouples created at the terminal blocks by
subtracting the calculated cold junction voltage from the analog input's thermocouple voltage measurement.
Increasing the thermocouple length
If you need to increase the length of your thermocouple, use the same type of thermocouple wires to minimize
the error introduced by thermal EMFs.
Data linearization
After the CJC correction is performed on the measurement data, an on-board microcontroller automatically
linearizes the thermocouple measurement data using National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
linearization coefficients for the selected thermocouple type.
The measurement data is then output as a 32-bit floating point value in the configured format (voltage or
temperature).
Open-thermocouple detection (OTD)
The OM-USB-TC-AI is equipped with open-thermocouple detection for each analog input channel. With OTD,
any open-circuit or short-circuit condition at the thermocouple sensor is detected by the software. An open
channel is detected by driving the input voltage to a negative value outside the range of any thermocouple
output. The software recognizes this as an invalid reading and flags the appropriate channel. The software
continues to sample all channels when OTD is detected.
USB connector
The USB connector provides +5V power and communication. No external power supply is required.
LEDs
OM-USB-TC-AI has two LEDs – Power and
The
Power
LED (top) turns on when the device is detected and installed on the computer.
The
Activity
LED (bottom) blinks when data is transferred, and is off otherwise.
Activity
.
15
Chapter 4
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