MPC TEC 24-50 User manual

MESSTEC Power Converter GmbH
Operating Manual
TEC Controller
Document: 10100920OM
Revision: 1.1
Date: 10.10.2019
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Revision
1.1
Created
Approved
Released
Form
10.10.2019
OWa
17.10.2019
KS
17.10.2019
KS
Distribution:
File:
TEC 24-50
TEC 03-50
Warning!
Risk of exposure of hazardous laser radiation
in combination with laser light emitting devices!

MESSTEC Power Converter GmbH
Operating Manual
TEC Controller
Document: 10100920OM
Revision: 1.1
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Table of Content
1. Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 5
2. First steps –Getting started................................................................................................ 7
3. TEC-Controller......................................................................................................................... 8
4. The Setup –General Instructions .................................................................................... 11
4.1. Mechanical Setup............................................................................................................. 11
4.2. Electrical Setup for Control and Monitoring ............................................................. 13
5. Temperature sensor............................................................................................................. 20
5.1. Platinum Sensor ............................................................................................................... 20
5.2. Nickel Sensor..................................................................................................................... 21
5.3. NTC....................................................................................................................................... 22
5.4. Silicon Sensor (KTY11-5) ............................................................................................... 23
5.5. Arbitrary Sensor ............................................................................................................... 24
5.6. Sensor Current.................................................................................................................. 26
6. Indicator elements................................................................................................................ 27
6.1. Indication of operating states ....................................................................................... 27
6.1.1. Indicator LEDs............................................................................................................... 27
6.1.2. Booting sequence........................................................................................................ 28
6.1.3. Safe-State during configuration of digital Inputs/Outputs................................ 29
6.2. Indication of serial data transfer .................................................................................. 29
6.3. Monitoring of supply voltages...................................................................................... 30
7. Wiring and connectors........................................................................................................ 31
7.1. Hookup groups ................................................................................................................. 31
7.2. Connectors and signals.................................................................................................. 32
7.2.1. Supply Voltage X5........................................................................................................ 32
7.2.2. Peltier element X6......................................................................................................... 33
7.2.3. Control Signals Digital X2.......................................................................................... 34
7.2.4. Control Signals Analog X1......................................................................................... 37
7.2.5. Wiring examples for the analog input CA-SETPOINT......................................... 39
7.2.5.1. Internal Potentiometer............................................................................................. 39
7.2.5.2. External Potentiometer with reference voltage................................................ 39

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7.2.5.3. Voltage Controller .................................................................................................... 40
7.2.6. Temperature Sensor X4.............................................................................................. 41
7.2.7. USB/RS232..................................................................................................................... 43
8. Configuration in Detail........................................................................................................ 45
8.1. HW Setpoint....................................................................................................................... 45
8.1.1. HW-Setpoint Boundary Mode: Clipping ................................................................. 46
8.1.2. HW-Setpoint Boundary Mode: Slope Transformation........................................ 47
8.2. Digital Inputs and Outputs............................................................................................. 49
8.2.1. Inputs............................................................................................................................... 49
8.2.2. Outputs............................................................................................................................ 50
9. Error states ............................................................................................................................ 51
9.1. SENSOR Error................................................................................................................... 51
9.2. OVERTEMPERATURE Error .......................................................................................... 52
9.3. SHORTCIRCUIT Error...................................................................................................... 52
10. PC Software: TEC Control.................................................................................................. 53
10.1. Main menu...................................................................................................................... 53
10.2. Configuration................................................................................................................. 57
10.2.1. Temperature limits............................................................................................... 58
10.2.2. Current limit........................................................................................................... 59
10.2.3. Voltage limit........................................................................................................... 59
10.2.4. Boundary Mode..................................................................................................... 60
10.2.5. Sensor selection................................................................................................... 60
10.2.6. Control parameter ................................................................................................ 61
10.2.7. Enable Mode.......................................................................................................... 62
10.2.8. Setpoint Mode ....................................................................................................... 62
10.2.9. Colours.................................................................................................................... 62
10.2.10. Language................................................................................................................ 63
10.2.11. IO Configuration ................................................................................................... 63
10.3. USB Driver...................................................................................................................... 66
11. Drawings................................................................................................................................. 67
11.1. Version 12 A and 24 A................................................................................................. 67
11.2. Version 6 A..................................................................................................................... 68

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11.3. Version 3 A..................................................................................................................... 69
12. TEC-Controller family.......................................................................................................... 70

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1. Introduction
The TEC-Controller (Thermo Electric Cooler) is a temperature controller with high
accuracy. This controller is combined with appropriate power electronics of high efficien-
cy to feed Peltier Elements.
TEC-Controllers up to 50V from MPC are available in 4 output current ranges:
up to 3A output current
up to 6A output current
up to 12A output current
up to 24A output current
TEC-Controllers from MPC can be operated in various modes:
Hardware only
Software only
combination of hardware and software control
TEC-Controllers from MPC are standalone. Figure 1 shows a minimal system.
Fig. 1: Minimal TEC-Controller System
For a straightforward minimal system, beyond the mechanical setup a power supply, the
Peltier Element(s), the temperature sensor and an enable switch are needed.

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There is a PC-Software available which provides access to comprehensive configuration,
control and live monitoring menus.
Fig. 2: PC-Software

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2. First steps –Getting started
Take care of correct supply voltage wiring (X5). The TEC-Controller has no in-
verse polarity protection. Wrong polarity may damage the unit and will void the
warranty.
Take care of short supply voltage wiring (X5). Long cables or routing along
electromagnetic interference sources will lead to instability and unreliable
operating behavior.
Do not operate a Peltier element in the range of its maximum power limit or
cooling capacity. This will fail due to high power loss and bad efficiency.
It is recommended to select a Peltier element whose cooling capacity is
sufficient at an operating voltage (current) of half of the maximum operating
voltage (current).
Orientation of the Peltier Element in the mechanical setup:
COLD side towards diode or heatspreader and temperature sensor
HOT side towards heatsink
Never use any of the gold plated contact pads as mounting holes
for mechanical fixture (see red arrows). These contact pads are connected
to internal power supplies and control signals and it is mandatory to
keep them strictly unconnected in any case.
Not following this warning results in damage of internal electronics
and loss of any warranty claims.
Fig. 3: Mounting holes (green arrows) - Contact pads (red arrows)
Appropriate mounting holes are located in the corners of the TEC-Controller
board (see green arrows in figure 3). The mounting holes include the attached
base plate.
The base plate is not left electrically floating. It is connected to internal GND
(corresponds to power supply minus) via resistor of 10 kΩ.

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3. TEC-Controller
In the following, main functions are explained on the basis of the block diagram figure 4.
Fig. 4: Block diagram
All connections to the TEC-Controller, except the serial interface, are realized by similar
and easy to use screw terminals. For the easy cabling no special connectors are
necessary, special tools are not required.
The power input terminal accepts voltages between 15 VDC and 50 VDC. The power
supply should have stabilized voltage outputs. Make sure, the wiring is short and has
correct polarity.
With high efficiency, the input voltage is processed by the power stage, according to the
digital temperature controller. After extensive filtering in two stages the resulting voltage
is applied to the terminal for the Peltier element. The Peltier element is driven by a DC
signal. The current ripple is below 1%. The power stage is protected by a short circuit
detector, which is implemented in hardware (no software latency).
Supplementary detailed information:
Based on the physical characteristics, every Peltier element has fundamental limitations on the
maximum temperature difference it can create between its cold and hot side. The ability to create
this maximum temperature difference is quite substantially affected by the amount of ripple current
that flows through the Peltier element, relative to the DC current.

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This is the reason, MPC TEC-Controllers are designed for uncompromising low output current
ripple, even though this is associated with higher complexity. The result is clear: Full performance
of the Peltier element due to unconstrained maximum temperature difference operation. The
resulting cooling system setup has therefore high efficiency and is cost effective.
PWM based TEC-Controllers are small and on its own, may have slightly higher efficiency.
However the performance of the Peltier element operated in this way is really bad. In the best
case, the Peltier element can create a maximum temperature difference of 50% compared to DC
operation. Usually it is even less. Therefore it is required to provide larger Peltier elements, a
larger power supply and larger heatsink and blower equipment. The resulting cooling system
setup has therefore low efficiency and on the whole is not really cost effective.
Signal processing for the temperature sensor is optimized for RTD (Resistance Tempera-
ture Detector) sensors. RTDs are passive devices as, Platinum, Nickel, NTC or Silicone
sensors. In any case, active or integrated circuit sensors are not appropriate. Two and
four wire connection is possible. Use four wire cabling with shield for high precision
demands. The type of sensor can be selected conveniently by PC-Software. It is also
possible to define an application specific RTD sensor.
The design of the sensor signal processing circuit ensures very high precision and virtu-
ally no drift errors. There is no need for calibration. Signal processing for the temperature
sensor has open-sensor and short-circuit detection. In either case, the TEC-Controller
goes into error mode and will be disabled.
For TEC-Controller operation, there are 3 sorts of control signals and corresponding sig-
nal processing available:
analog input, with associated reference voltage output (5 V)
digital input
digital output
The TEC-Controller has no analog outputs.
There are two analog inputs available, one to give the HW-setpoint, second input is for
future use. Dependent on the actual configuration (PC-software), the temperature set-
point can be determined by an analog control voltage (0 V to 5 V) feed to the HW-set-
point input. With default settings, the analog control voltage results in a temperature set-
point of 0 °C to 50 °C, i.e. 1,5 V input voltage creates a temperature setpoint of 15 °C.
The analog control voltage can be externally generated and made available in various
ways. For easy operation with minimal wiring effort, there is also an internal potentio-
meter available. The analog input for the HW-setpoint can be configured extensively
(see: Configuration in Detail).
Depending on the actual configuration, the temperature setpoint can also be adjusted
directly in the GUI of the PC-software. Then no wiring of the analog HW-setpoint input is
necessary at all.
Note: Highest control accuracy will be achieved in the SW SETPOINT MODE.
There are two digital inputs available: HW-ENABLE and HW-RESET. Both digital inputs
can be independently configured (PC-software) as low- or high-active. Default setting is
low-active. With the input HW-ENABLE activated, the TEC-Controller's power stage and

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closed loop temperature regulation is activated. With the input HW-RESET, internal error
states of the TEC-Controller can be cleared. This is not a reset line of the built in MCU
(Micro Controller Unit).
There are two digital outputs available: READY and STATUS. Both digital outputs can be
independently configured (PC-software) as low- or high-active, furthermore as totem-pole
or open-collector outputs (default settings: high-active and totem-pole). The digital output
READY indicates operational readiness (after power on). When internal errors are occu-
ring, the READY output will be deactivated. The digital output STATUS will be activated,
when the TEC-Controller is enabled and if the sensor temperature is within +/- 1 °C of the
setpoint value.
The serial interface is carried out by standard USB 2.0 Mini-B connector. TEC-Controllers
are available in two different hardware versions: with USB-Interface or with RS232 Inter-
face. Both interface types are operating with the Mini-B connector.
PCs with USB interface are connected via standard USB cable. PCs or arbitrary control-
lers with RS232 interface are connected through an adapter cable Mini-B / SubD9F. This
adapter cable has standard pinning on the SubD9F connector and is available on request
(see chapter 7.3.7).
The RS232 version has galvanically isolated interface hardware.
In any case, the serial protocol is identical. The protocol specification is available on re-
quest as a separate document.

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4. The Setup –General Instructions
4.1. Mechanical Setup
Figure 5 shows a general setup of a laser diode system and its appropriate cooling
equipment. Here, just the mere schematic mechanical setup is drafted.
Fig. 5: General Setup
The general setup consists of:
laser diode
Heatspreader with integrated temperature sensor
Peltier Element
Heatsink
The laser diode as the heat source in this setup has to be mounted on an appropri-
ate heatspreader. The heatspreader (also called cooling plate) is a solid block, made
of copper or aluminum.
Usually the base area of the heatspreader is larger than that of the Peltier Element
because of the required mounting holes. The temperature sensor is positioned inside
the heatspreader. For this purpose an appropriate hole or notch has to be machined
into the heatspreader directly below the laser diode. Make sure, the temperature
sensor is properly fixed and has best thermal contact (use gap-filler or thermally
conductive glue). Use a temperature sensor with small thermal mass.
Note: Design and workmanship of the heatspreader and the location of the
temperature sensor in the heatspreader has great impact on the final quality
and stability of the closed loop control of the temperature.

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The Peltier Element is located in between the heatspreader and the heatsink.
Note: It is absolutely essential, the cold side of the Peltier Element is aligned
towards the heatspreader and the hot side is aligned towards the heatsink.
Wrong assembly will yield in total malfunction and instability of the system,
and may further damage your setup.
Finally, with its hot side, the Peltier Element is mounted to the heatsink. Make sure
the heatsink is designed large enough to well dissipate all the heat produced in the
system setup.
Pay attention that all joints within the heat flow feature lowest possible heat resis-
tance. Use adequate thermal interface materials like gap-filler, thermal compounds
or thermal conductive foil.

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4.2. Electrical Setup for Control and Monitoring
In the following some generic wiring examples are shown.
The power supply, Peltier element and temperature sensor are wired in the same
way in all examples.
An Enable switch is wired to the HW ENABLE input in all examples. This is due to
the fact, that even if the ENABLE Mode is set to SW (PC-Software), it is still neces-
sary to activate the HW ENABLE input for safety reasons (see "Control Signals Digi-
tal X2"). It is not recommended, to replace the switch by a wire bridge.
A Reset switch is wired to the RESET input in all examples. In normal operation this
switch is namely not necessary. But in case of failure, the Reset switch is essential
to be able to clear errors and subsequently continue operation. Alternatively, if the
TEC-Controller is operated by PC-Software, there is also a Reset button available in
the GUI.
In the following, some sample applications are shown:
Figure 6
The internal setpoint potentiometer is applied. Therefore a simple wire bridge must
be installed.
Figure 7
An external setpoint potentiometer is installed. Please also note chapter "Wiring
examples for the analog input CA-SETPOINT".
Figure 8
The HW ENABLE input is set to High-active in the IO-configuration (PC-Software).
Therefore, the Enable switch is wired to +5V REFERENCE. In any case, a pullup or
rather pulldown resistor is not necessary.
Figure 9
The SETPOINT MODE is set to SW (software). Now, the temperature setpoint is
adjusted in the GUI of the PC-Software. Wiring of the HW SETPOINT input can be
omitted completely.
Figure 10
The output signals READY and STATUS are wired to external LEDs.
Figure 11
The output signals READY and STATUS are wired to external relays. They are po-
wered by a separate power supply. Make sure, the outputs are configured to OC
(open collector) in this case. Output sink current is max. 500 mA in OC mode.

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Fig. 6: Wiring example with internal setpoint potentiometer

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Fig. 7: Wiring example with external setpoint potentiometer

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Fig. 8: Wiring example: HW ENABLE input is high active

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Fig. 9: Wiring example: setpoint mode via Control Software

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Fig. 10: Wiring example: external READY and STATUS LEDs

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Fig. 11: Wiring example: external READY and STATUS relays

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5. Temperature sensor
The TEC-Controller has a very accurate and progressive sensor signal processing unit
onboard. This signal processing unit is able to accept RTD temperature sensors of al-
most any technology. Sensor interface wiring can be realized in a 2-wire or 4-wire sys-
tem.
Note: For highest demands in temperature accuracy it is recommended to consider
an appropriate Pt1000 sensor in a 4-wire system.
For wiring details please see chapter "Wiring and connectors / Temperature Sensor X4".
The type of sensor applied in the setup can be configured by means of PC-Software.
Note: The default sensor type is Pt1000.
5.1. Platinum Sensor
In the PC-Software Pt1000 and Pt100 Sensors are available. It is not necessary to
enter any coefficients, just press the button for the sensor in your application (see fi-
gure 12 below).
Fig. 12: Platinum sensor selection
Supplementary detailed information:
Platinum Sensors have a characteristic curve according to:
󰇛󰇜󰇛󰇛󰇜󰇛󰇜󰇜
a = 3,9083 * 10-3 *°C-1
b = -5,775 * 10-7 *°C-2
ϑ: Temperature in °C
ϑ0: Reference temperature in °C (ϑ0= 0 °C for Platinum)
Rϑ0: Reference resistor value in Ω (Pt1000: Rϑ0= 1000 Ω)