ATI TEC18V10A

A thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is a solid-state semiconductor device capable of cooling or heating a thermal load. By adjusting the magnitude and polarity of the current flowing through the TEC, the device can either absorb heat from the load (cooling) or release heat to the load (heating). Our TEC controllers are designed to accomplish this by supplying precisely regulated current to the TEC, ensuring stable, accurate, and responsive temperature control of the target thermal load. The TEC18V10AD controller is specifically designed to manage TEC operation, maintaining the temperature of a target object within a precise range around a set point. This high level of temperature control is achieved by regulating the direction and magnitude of the current supplied to the TEC. The controller accepts a DC input voltage between 5.5V and 18V and is capable of delivering up to 10A of current without requiring an additional heatsink. Using this controller is straightforward. Figure 3 shows a simplified schematic using this TEC controller. It consists of a power supply, a temperature set-point potentiometer, a TEC assembly, some passive components if an external compensation network is used, and the controller itself. Figure 4 illustrates the steps for using this controller. The core of the controller consists of three control loops: a thermal loop, a current loop, and a voltage loop. Before any limit is reached, the TEC is governed by the temperature loop, in which the actual temperature of the target object tracks a preset value or a time-varying value representing the set-point temperature. The TEC18V10AD allows independent configuration of the set-point temperature, maximum output current for cooling and heating, and maximum output voltage for the target object. These three settings serve as the input parameters for the three control loops (constant temperature, constant current, and constant voltage). The temperature loop remains in control until the output voltage or current limit is reached. When either limit is reached, the controller outputs a constant voltage or constant current to the TEC respectively, overriding the constant-temperature loop. In addition to the preset limits, the maximum output voltage magnitude is also constrained by the supply voltage, and the maximum allowable output current magnitude is 10A. The controller is compatible with three commonly used types of temperature sensors for sensing the target object's temperature: thermistors, RTDs, or temperature sensor ICs. Thermistors are the most widely used due to their high sensitivity, small size, and low cost. When a thermistor is used, the set-point temperature range is determined by an external temperature network consisting of three resistors. An advanced feature of this TEC controller is its intelligent auto-PID controller implemented via a microprocessor, which automatically senses and compensates for thermal load characteristics in real time. No external components are required to form a compensation network, and there is no need for tedious load-specific network tuning. The DIP package model of the TEC controller with auto-PID is TEC18V10ADAPID. Conservative users may still opt for a traditional analog compensation network. As before, it requires a one-time pre-tuning of the network to match the thermal load, but delivers reliable and high-accuracy control. For fixed thermal load applications, traditional analog compensation may be a good choice, whereas auto-PID control is more suitable for applications with variable or multiple types of thermal loads. The controller has 32 pins with a 2mm pitch. All pins on the left side are used for control inputs or indicator output signals; all pins on the right side are used for power inputs or outputs. At the thermistor input, a linearization circuit is provided for the thermistor to make the temperature output voltage more linearly proportional to the actual thermistor temperature. A voltage inversion circuit is also included which, due to the negative temperature coefficient of the thermistor, makes the temperature output voltage directly proportional to temperature.

• World's first TEC controller module with automatic PID compensation network
• Supply voltage: 5.5V ± 18V
• Maximum drive current: ±10A @ VPS = 5.5V ~ 18V
• Rail-to-rail output voltage: 0 ~ ±VPS
• High efficiency: > 90% @ VPS = 18V & VTEC = 9V & ITEC = 10A
• High temperature stability: < ±0.001°C
• Thermal pad on bottom for improved heat dissipation
• Programmable output current and voltage limits
• PWM smooth continuous output current
• Compatible with multiple temperature sensor types: thermistor, RTD, and temperature sensor IC
• High reliability with no EMI
• Compact size: 1.42×1.42×0.32 inches (36×36×8.2mm)
• Lead-free and RoHS compliant

Control high-power TEC modules to achieve high temperature stability with high efficiency.