Operating Principle - THORLABS MTDEVAL1 User Manual

3 Operating Principle

3 Operating Principle
The MTDEVAL1 - in combination with MTD software - is a convenient developer tool for optim-
izing the settings of the MTD Series TEC controllers, such as the the target temperature and al-
lowed temperature deviation, to the operation environment.
The MTD software offers an intuitive GUI that allows the operating parameters to be optimized.
These parameters can then be saved to a file and/or written to the MTD Series Miniature TEC
Driver module. The MTDEVAL1 connects the MTD module (UART interface) with the PC by an
USB2.0 interface.
It is important to understand the memory structure of the MTD module. It has both, a volatile
and a non-volatile (flash) memory.
Data in flash memory persists even when no power is supplied. Flash memory has a limited
number of write-erase cycles. To extend the lifetime of this memory, parameters are not saved
automatically to flash memory. Instead, they are saved to the temporary volatile memory, and
the settings in this temporary memory are those used to control the MTD Series Drivers. To
overwrite the contents of the flash memory, the user sends a specific command. Upon receipt
of the command, the entire contents of the temporary memory is saved to the flash memory.
The parameters in the volatile memory are only used during a single operating session. This
memory is cleared upon power-down.
When the MTDEVAL1 is powered up, the data from the flash memory are read out to the volat-
ile memory.
The MTD software writes parameters only to the volatile memory. At any time, the actual con-
figuration stored in the volatile memory can be transferred to the non-volatile flash memory or
can be saved to an XML file on the PC.
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