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Operation and Characterization of NTC Thermistors
Summary
For almost all process in industry and applications for home appliances, temperature is the variable most frequently measured. The three most common types of contact electronic temperature sensors in use today are the thermocouples, Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTD), and thermistors. Thermistors are divided in positive and negative temperature coefficient thermistors (PTC and NTC), according to their resistive behave against temperature. This application note will examine the Negative Temperature Coefficient Thermal Resistors and its applications in order to sense the temperature inside the Mod.. After a theoretical background
on NTC’s
, some linearizing networks, circuit setups and experimental results will be exposed for temperature acquisition at the HPM elements. It is important to remark that, the term NTC thermistor, NTC or just thermistor can be interchangeable along the manuscript.
The NTC Thermistor
Introduction
The term thermistor is an abbreviation of Thermal Resistors, these elements are made from different kinds of metal oxides. Common metals are magnesium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and iron. The oxides are semiconductors with resistivity that decreases with temperature, hence the name. The temperature dependence of resistance is enormous when compared to other materials. For example, an NTC
thermistor’s resistance at 100°C may be as little as 5.10% of the thermistor’s resistance at 25°C, while the
 resistance of a  platinum RTD may double over the same range. Roughly speaking, NTC thermistors are an order of magnitude more sensitive than other temperature sensors. This high temperature sensitivity is one of the main advantages of NTC thermistors. Also, high resistance values are available, which makes lead resistance negligible in many instances. Thus, there is no need for 4-terminal measurement arrangements. Another advantage is that fabrication technology is mature and thermistors are inexpensive, stable, and available in many physical configurations, and with a wide range of electrical specifications. The main disadvantage is that the relationship between resistance and temperature is nonlinear. However, the resistance-temperature curve is monotonic and can be very accurately described with a 3
rd
. order polynomial. The operating temperature is limited to 60°C ~ 300°C, which is
smaller than that of metal RTD’s.
 
Thermistor Types and Fabrication
Thermistors are available in many configurations including  beads, disks, wafers, SMTs, flakes rods, tape and washers.  Non-bead thermistors are also known as surface electrode thermistors and their manufacturing process has many similarities to the construction of ceramic capacitors.
Figure 1. Thermistor types, from left to right: Screw-type, washer-type, rod-type (3), disk-type, bead-type (4), tape-type, axial-type and SMD [1].
In fact, a disk NTC thermistor may easily be mistaken for a disk ceramic capacitor. First, powdered metal oxides are combined with a plastic binder and additives that enhance stability. The mixture is then formed into sheets that are cut to component size or formed into pellets and pressed into disks. The bodies are then sintered at temperatures in excess of 1,000°C that forms the final polycrystalline NTC thermistor  body. The sides are then silvered, leads are attached, and the thermistors are sealed, varnished, and labeled. Bead thermistors often resemble small tantalum electrolytic capacitors. Manufacturing starts with platinum or copper alloy wires and slurry of the metal oxide and suitable binder. Drops of the slurry are dabbed onto the wires. The surface tension pulls the drops into small elliptical beads. The string of beads is then allowed to dry and then sintered at high temperature. During sintering, the beads shrink and form an excellent electrical connection with the wires. Next, the wires are cut to form the individual thermistors. The next
 
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figure shows several possible cutting options. Finally, the thermistors are coated and most often hermetically sealed with glass. Glass bead are small and range from 0.25 ~ 1.5 mm in diameter. The small size means fast thermal response (low dissipation constant) and bead thermistors have high stability, but they are more costly to manufacture than surface electrode thermistors.
Uses of Thermistors
 NTC thermistors have two broad areas of applications: The first is where the thermistors are used to sense temperature in appliances such as coffee makers, refrigerators and freezers, dehumidifiers, room air conditioners, meteorological instrumentation, deep ocean temperature  probes, dialysis equipment, neonatal warmers, battery charger temperature monitoring, intravenous catheters, control of liquid crystal
displays (LCD’s are temperature
sensitive and the brightness/contrast depends on the ambient temperature; a feedback loop to sense the ambient temperature and adjust the LCD brightness/contrast appropriately). A sub-classification is temperature compensation of electronic components (e. g. fan speed control). Normally, cooling fans in electronic equipment and switch mode  power supplies (SMPS) are powered by brushless DC motors that run at constant speed. Inrush current limiting is the second application area. Unless appropriate precautions are taken, then many electronic circuits are prone to high inrush currents. An example is that of a power supply where the smoothing capacitors are initially discharged. When power is turned on, the capacitors present very low impedance, and the initial current is
limited by the capacitor’s
stray resistance, and large currents can flow, possibly damaging the diodes. Once  powered, the currents are within the design specifications. One solution is to specify components that can handle the  peak inrush currents, but this is costly and often impractical.  NTC thermistors often provide a simple and effective solution. An NTC thermistor is placed in series with a main current  path of the electronic device that needs protection. Initially, the NTC thermistor has a high resistance and limits the current that can flow. However, the dissipated power (
 I 
2
 R
THERM 
, where
 I 
 is the current through the NTC and
 R
THERM 
 
is the rated NTC’s resistance
) heats the thermistor and lowers its resistance. This decreases its resistance and increases the current, which increases the dissipated power, which leads to more heating, and so on [1]. Eventually the NTC reaches a thermal equilibrium where an increase in temperature does not lead to a significant decrease in resistance. The final resistance is a fraction of the initial resistance and is small from the circuit
’s point of
view. NTC thermistors are very useful components and not really too hard to work with. The main challenge is probably to understand the datasheets and what all those numbers mean.
Figure 2. Thermistor Resistance-Temperature characteristic.
NTC Thermistor Physical Features
Electrical Characteristics
The voltage-current characteristic of an NTC thermistor
(rated for 10kΩ@25°C),
is shown in figure 3, and its behave is typical of mostly a wide variety of thermistors. It is possible to observe that at a very small current the
 I 
2
 R
THERM 
 losses in the thermistor are very small and the thermistor is essentially linear. At higher currents
 I 
2
 R
THERM 
 losses cause self-heating and this reduces the resistance, but the thermistor still has a positive resistance (increase in
 I 
 results in an increase in
). As the current increases, the self-heating causes the resistance to decrease even more. Eventually, a point is reached when an increase in current (and dissipated power) heats the thermistor so much that the resulting decrease in resistance causes the voltage across the thermistor to drop. This is the part of the slope where the graph has a negative slope, and is the negative resistance region of the thermistor.
 
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Figure 3. Voltage vs. Current of a thermistor.
Commonly the four constants that determine the thermistor characteristics are [1]:
Rated Resistance/Rated Temperature
(or 
 Tolerance
): There are two dominant factors that that determine the resistance tolerance. The first is the manufacturing tolerance (
 F 
)
in the NTC’s
nominal resistance. The second factor is the tolerance in the
Material Constant
 β 
. Tolerance is normally referred to the nominal resistance (
 R
 NOM 
,
 R
25
 or
 R
0
) at the specification temperature (
 NOM 
 or
0
), typically at 25ºC. The approximate relationship between resistance and temperature is given as follows:
1 2
1 11 2
T
 R R e
  
 where,
 R
1
: Resistance (Ω) at absolute temperature
1
 (°K).
 R
2
: Resistance (Ω) at absolute temperature
2
 (°K).
 β 
: Material Constant (°K).  NTC thermistor resistance
 R
 at any Temperature
 is determined from previous equation, observe figure 2 and figure 4.
Figure 4. Resistance-Temperature tolerance.
Material Constant
 β 
 
(or
Sensitivity Index
 or 
 
B
): This constant expresses a change rate in resistance between two temperatures, which is derived from the equation:
1 2 1 2 21 2 11 21 21 2
ln lnln1 1log log2.30261 1
 R R TT RT T RT  R RT
  
  
 where,
 R
1
: Resistance (Ω) at absolute temperature
1
 (°K).
 R
2
: Resistance (Ω) at absolute temperature
2
 (°K).
 β 
: Material Constant (°K). Th
e term “constant” is misleading
 since
 β 
 is a function of temperature. Alternatively, different (
1
,
 R
1
) pairs in the equation above give different values for
 β 
. Some manufactures provide a table of
 β 
 as a function of temperature, while others may provide it at two points in the rated operating range. In general, the material constant value ranges are
 β 
25°C~85°C 
 = 2,000°K ~ 6,000°K. The higher the
 β 
 value, the higher the change rate in resistance per 1°C.
Thermal Dissipation Constant
δ
: Is the expression of a degree of radiation from surface and lead wires of a thermistor element when an electric current is applied to heat it up. It can be determined by the following equation as the ratio between power consumption applied to a thermistor and a degree of temperature increased by the  power:

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