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ALEA
8DICEMBRE201513DICEMBRE2015 ENRICOS.

NTCMeasurements
Whendealingwithlowcost,homemadetermometers,thechoiceoftenfallontheNTCs.These
sensorsareresistorswhicharevaryingtheirresistanceinfunctionofthetemperature,witha
negativetrend:NegativeTemperatureCoefficientistheirname,alsoknownasThermistor.That
meanshigherthetemperature,lowertheresistance:

AtypicalNTCcurve(www.arroyinstruments.com)
Weobservethatthischeapsensorhavethepricetobenonlinearatall.Therearevariousmethods
toderiveamethodtointerpretthecorrecttemperature.HereIwillgothroughtheonesthatare
usedtoachievequitereasonableprecisionwithouthaving/payingacalibrationlaboratory.

LookUpTableapproach
Usuallythedatasheetprovidesasetofvalueswhicharesampledfromasensorandcorrespondto
ourbeinginsidetheirstatedtolerance:
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Inthispictureyoucanseethestatedresistanceatacertaintemperature,anditstolerance.An
immediatedrawback,ifnoothertablesareavailable,isthatthistablecanbringaprecisionofup
to5Conly.TheparameterBiscallednormally .
Moreover,asensorwithatoleranceof5%,refersto25Conly.Thiserroroftheresistancemustbe
addedwiththe duetotoll.factorinthetableabove,fromnowoncalled/.Associated
withit,thereisthetemperaturecoefficient,TCR(alsoknownas ),whichdescribeshowsteepis
thecurve.Youmayunderstandthatwithaverysteepcurve,soanhighTCR,thereisalittle
deviationofthetemperatureintheXaxis,associatedwithahighvariationofresistanceontheY
axisthereforewehaveanhighsensitivity.Thesituationistheoppositewhenreadinghigh
temperatureswithalowTCR,thesensitivitydropsrapidly.
Thethermistorerrorofapunctualreadisthendevisedasfollow:
(eq.1)
where
istheresistancetoleranceatthereferencetemperature(specifiedinthedatasheet,
hereis25C),and isacoefficientwhichcharacterizetheNTCmaterial,devisedbymeasuring
twodifferenttemperature(andisspecifiedinthedatasheet).Ifweneedtokeeptherighttolerance
afterchangingthesensorwithanotherofthesamemodelwithoutcalibration,weneedtoobserve
thesetolerances.CombineingthemwiththeTCR,weobtainthetemperaturespunctualerror:
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(eq.2)

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(eq.2)

Equationapproach
Therearealotofmethodswhichareusedtolinearizethebehaviour,bylinearizingthemodel.
ThemostfamousistheSteinhartHartequation,whichusesasetofcoefficientswhichare
providedintwoways:frommanufacturer,orcanbedevisedbymeasuring3different
temperaturesandsolving3equationsfor3unknowns.Ifthesecoeffientsarenotprovidedfrom
manufacturer,onecanuseamoreprecisetermometer,measure3temperaturesanditsresistance
temperature,solvingthisequationfortheSHof3rdorder:

Thesensorsmanufactureradoptedtoexperimentprovidesthecoefficientsupto4thorder,both
forreversedanddirectmeasurement:

Withasensorstatedtohave5%oftolerance,onecanactuallyusethecoefficientwithoutthefull
decimalprecisioninsteadused(ideally)fromthemanufacturer,becausetheerrorprovidedby
suchformulaisintheorderofmK,whilethefinalreading,duetovariouserrors,ishigherthan
1.5K.IneglectthisSHerror.

Errorestimation

AssuminganegligibleerrorfromtheSHcalculusthatusestheparametersgivenby

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AssuminganegligibleerrorfromtheSHcalculusthatusestheparametersgivenby
manufacturer,usuallyweuseamicrocontrollerwithanADCandavoltagedivider.Theerror
fromacommonADCishalfLSB,sothat
(eq.3)
Theerrorofthevoltagedividertendstobedoubleofthetworesistorsusedifaretoomuch
different,otherwisetendstobethemeanofthetworelativeerrorsofthetworesistors,like
.Seethegraph,where100%isthemeanvaluebetweenerrorsofthe2resistors,and200%
representthesumofthe2errors:

(electronicproducts.com)
Thesetworesistorsareusedinthisway,inwhichoneistheThermistor:

whereatthereferencetemperature(providedbymanufacturerandusually25C)theRrefand
Rthermhavethesamevalue(soweboughtamatchedthermistorwithacertainresistanceto
reduceerrors).Dependingonyourtemperaturerange,youcansehowvariesthetheratioandsee
howgreatercanbeconsideredthetotalerror.
Howgreateristheerrorinmytemperaturerange?Thepreviousvalueof
leadtoatemperatureerrorlikethis:
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anditsTCRwill

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inwhichtheADCandconditioncircuitryerrorsareNOTconsidered.Butanideaofperformance
canbemadeifnocalibrationisperformed(seelater).Iftheresistanceattheextremesofmyrange
isnotsodifferentfromthereferenceresistor(anormalfixedresistorintheschematicabove),then
itisnotamandatorytosumitupbotherrorsofthetworesistors,butcanbealittleless.
IfIneedtomeasurebetween0Cand100C,thedatasheetprovidestheadditionalerrorofthe
resistanceduetothetoleranceofparameter,called/.Wewillfindthatat100Cthereislow
TCRandhighrelativeerror.ONLYNOWwecanapplytheworstcasetotalerror
with
,where
isthe(eq.1)attemperatureof100Cusingthe
tablefrommanufacturer,whileRrefisthethefixedresistorintheschematicaboveand

its

relativeerror.
TCRwillbechosentoachievethehigherrelativeerror,sowillbetheTCRat100C(assaidbefore,
thehighertemperatureoftherange),alongwiththeestimatedresistancevalueatthat
temperature(ofcourse..).Youmayseehowtheerrorcanbegreatlyreducedifreadingvalues
withhigherTCRatlowertemperatures,andhowsmallisitat25C.Buttheboundariesmust
containsthegreatererrortolerance,allowingtheusertochangethesensorinthefieldwithout
recalibration.
Withthecalibrationusingthesetof3equationsabove,alltheseerrorsarecompensated,voltage
dividerincluded.TheremainingonewillbetruncationerroroftheSHcoefficientsduetothe
finitemachineprecision(whetherisaPCoranMCUusedtomakethecalibration),theerrorsof
thereferencetermometerandtheintrinsicerrorsoftheSHmodel,thequantizationerrorofthe
ADC(halfLSB)andforsureothersthatIhavemissed.Itisnottrivialtoquantifyeverything.And
quantification,whentalkingaboutmeasures,isalmosteverything.

WhereistheADC?
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Wehavefoundhowgreateristheerroroftheanalogquantities.Nowwhereistheleastsensible
partoftheNTCcurve?Theoneatthehighertemperature,assaidbefore(lowerTCR).UntilnowI
haveestimatedacertainerrorofthetotalvoltagedividersresistance.
NowisneededtofindhowanADCerrorcanmismatchtheresistance.Letsgoat100C,usingan
SHestimationortheLookUptable,thencalculateasortofmanualderivative,letssaythevalue
,whereRistheimmediateavailablesteptoachieveatemperaturelower
ofastepequaltotherequiredprecision(ifIwantaprecisionof1C,thenistheresistanceat99C
ifIhavetheSHequation,oritistheresistanceat95CifIhavearoughLookUptablelikethe
oneinthisarticle).
Fromthecircuitofthevoltagedivider,wehave

and

.The
ishowmanydiscretestepscanbesampledinside
aRvariation.E.g.,if1LSB=3mV(ADCprovides3mV/bit)andfrom100Cto99Cthevariation
readfromADCis6mV,Icanthaveanaccuracyhigherthan2LSB,meaning0.5C(2LSBto
represent1C).IfIamlowerthan1LSB,Icantdiscernmyprefixedsteplowerthan1C.
Sayingthesamemoremathematically:considerthereferencevoltageappliedtovoltagedividerto
be3V.AndthedatasheetprovidesacertainTCRat100C.Thentheresistanceat99Cwillbe:

sothat:

Finally,theadditionaltemperatureerrorfromtheADCis,intheworstcase:
(eq.4)

Conclusions
Thefinalprecision,from(eq.2)and(eq.4),is:

OnecantryandfindoutthatwithanADCofN=10bit,andcomponentsat5%,includedthe
NTC,inrangebetween0C100C,hardlycanbeachievedaprecisionlowerthan3C/4C,despite
theaccuracycanbearound0.5C/1C,withoutcalibration.Butnotethatthislowprecisionisdue
totheconsiderationoftherangeuptoitsmostimpreciseextreme:reducingtherangeto,letssay,
60Ctheprecisioncanbeimprovedalot.Justkeepthatinmindwhenyouread25C,or150C
usinganNTC.
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