To Integrate or Not to Integrate, That Is the Question in Your Next Thermocouple System Design

Enhance Thermocouple Systems with Microchip’s Single-Chip Solution

You are a thermocouple system designer and you have dreamed about simplifying your next thermocouple design and want to save money and board space with a simple-to-use, high-accuracy single chip solution. But you don’t think a single-chip solution can fully tackle all of the analog signal chain complexity to precisely condition, convert and process your thermocouple’s very small (microvolt) signal to a high temperature accurate and readable digital value. 

Therefore, we recommend that you take a look at the total value of what Microchip’s MCP9600/01 single-chip solutions can do to replace up to 15 analog discrete components that your current thermocouple system is likely using today because we know how to make almost any thermocouple type work simply and beautifully in a plug-and-play single chip solution.

The MCP9600/01 Thermocouple Conditioning Integrated Circuits (ICs) are fully integrated thermocouple converters that convert Electromotive Force (EMF) to degrees Celsius with open-circuit and short-circuit detection and cold-junction compensation. These devices integrate a precision high-resolution Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), a precision high-accuracy temperature sensor (for cold junction compensation) and precision instrumentation that corrects the thermocouple non-linear error characteristics of eight of the most popular thermocouple types used today. In addition, an on-board, preprogrammed math engine enables these ICs to accurately measure temperature and post process and correct the non-linearity thermocouple errors up to a ninth order equation in real time.

The MCP9600/01 products reduce the required expertise in analog, mixed-signal, thermal management and microcontroller design. Our innovative portfolio of highly integrated thermocouple conditioning IC solutions simplifies your development and speeds up your product’s time to market.

The benefits of using the MCP9600/01 products are:

• A complete plug-and-play thermocouple conditioning solution
  • Simplifies design, reduces development time and lowers overall system cost
• Integrated thermocouple open-circuit and short-circuit detection
• Temperature data digital filter
  • Minimizes effects of system noise and EMI
• Shutdown modes
  • Reduces overall system power consumption
• Four user-programmable temperature alert outputs
• Reduction of microcontroller overhead, reduction in code space, simplification of design and enhanced product performance
• Small package: 20-lead QFN (5mm × 5mm)
  • Reduces board space and lowers manufacturing costs

In summary, the MCP9600/01 products solve the performance, integration, power and cost challenges for today’s high-precision analog design engineers.

To learn more, please visit our thermocouple ICs web page.