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Procedia Engineering 32 (2012) 614 – 620

I-SEEC2011

Design and Implementation of a Low Cost DAQ System for

Thermoelectric Property Measurements
T. Sumphaoa , C. Thanachayanontb, T. Seetawana*
a
Thermoelectrics Research Center Faculty of Science and Technology Sakhon Nakhon Rajabhat University
680 Nittayo Rd., Sakhon Nakhon, 47000 Thailand
b
National Metal and Materials Technology Center,144 Thailand Science Park,Phaholyothin Rd.,Klong 1,Klong
Luang,Pathumthani,12120,Thailand

Elsevier use only: Received 30 September 2011; Revised 10 November 2011; Accepted 25 November 2011.

Abstract

The research proposed the design and implementation USB data acquisition system (DAQ) for measurement Seebeck
coefficient. This system consists of microcontroller PIC18F4550 and high- resolution analog to digital converter
(A/D) MCP3553, voltage reference LM4140 and the “Microchip USB Device Firmware Framework”. The PC
software develops in Delphi visual programming. The system was used to measure bulk Ca3Co4O9 thermoelectric
material and the performance was satisfied.

© 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of I-SEEC2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Keywords: Thermoelectrics measureme; Thermoelectrics properties; USB DAQ; PIC18F4550;MCP3553

1. Introduction

Data acquisition (DAQ) is the process by which physical phenomena from the real world are
transformed into electrical signals that are measured and converted into a digital format for processing,
analysis, and storage by a computer [1], normally consist of three element; acquisition hardware and input
storage. The advancement in electronic and Integrated Circuits (IC) technology has spawned a new
platform in the DAQ system, microcontroller based DAQ is vary popular previous and still being used
because of it low-cost. Investigation on thermoelectricity of solid are needed accuracy precision DAQ
instrument. Commercially instrument is high cost and maintenance so we propose this system for low-

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +664-297-0295; fax: +664-297-0295.

E-mail address: t_seetawan@snru.ac.th.

1877-7058 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.01.1317
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cost and easy measuring. In this work the system is tested by bulk thermoelectric Ca3Co4O9 material and
the result is compared with literature data.

2. System overview

The system contains three main part, Part (I) sample setup , part (II) DAQ board, part (III) computer
PC as shown in Fig. 1 The voltage obtained form both thermocouple Chromel-Chromel materials and the
Alumel-Alumel materials wires are used to calculated Seebeck coefficient [2] by equation,
U1
Ss ( SChromel  S Alumel )  SChromel (3)
U 2  U1

where U 1 , U 2 , S s , SChromel , S Alumel are voltage of Chromel, voltage of Alumel, Seebeck coefficient
of the sample, Seebeck coefficient of Chromel and Alumel material [3], respectively.

Top Heater

Sample

USB
PC Computer

Sample setup DAQ board

Fig. 1. System overview

Fig. 2. A/D Circuits

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Fig. 3. Microcontroller circuits

4. DAQ Circuits

The MCP3553 is a low power integrating device which provides the user with high accuracy,low
noise, SPI interface and economical ,the Delta-sigma integrating 22 bit A/D converter which can make 60
conversions per second [4]. It is used to convert the voltage of thermocouple into digital values.
PIC18F4550 is USB microcontroller from Microchip Company. It has SPI serial interface and example
software for USB emulation. LM4140 provides high precision low noise voltage reference. Fig. 2 shows
analog to digital converter circuits diagram and Fig. 3 shows USB microcontroller circuits diagram.

5. Software “Microchip USB Device Firmware Framework” and PC driver “mpusb.dll”

Two type of software needed in this system, one for the microcontroller and another for PC.
Microcontroller used “Microchip USB Device Firmware Framework” supported by Microchip Company,
it is a set of modular firmware(C language) interfaces that handle most of the work for implementing
USB communications, also provides dynamic link library “mpusbapi.dll” to access USB device by any
programming languages. User can adding or modifying program in the “ProcessIO” subroutine of
modular firmware. The “UserInit” subroutine used for initialize “TIMERCOUNTER1” working in
interrupt Mode and the other initializations parameter. Fig. 4 shows Listing of “User.c”. The operation,
line 26 for checking conversion and then if the conversion is complete the six byte of data has sent to
transmit buffer (line 44).
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Fig. 4. program listing “ProcessIO” subroutine

Fig. 5. PC Flow chart

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PC software develops in Delphi visual programming to collects data form DAQ board by pooling
every 100 mS. with multi-threaded applications.It contains a few componet, “Memo” and three “Button”
To communication with MPUSBAPI.DLL interface “UsbAPI.Pas” is needed.In Line 7-10 loop read 20
time for A/D(1) and then it was average by Line 16 and recorded to “Memo2”.

Fig.6. Program listing Procedure “mainloopClick” and “TTstrd.Execute”

Fig. 7. Program listing Procedure “read3551Click”

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The procedure “TMainForm.read3551Click” contains Line 35-42 for checking communication, Line
44-49 receive and convert nibble byte to integer data, Line 50-62 checking and convert negative number
An example screen shot for software can be seen in Fig.8.The operation is started by pressing “Run”
button then the 20 sequence data of the left “Memo” are average to one data of the right “Memo”.

Fig. 8. GUI PC software

6. Results

Bulk thermoelectric Ca3Co4O9 are cut in dimension in 5×5×15 mm3 and mount on sample holder. The
experiment started by recording voltage of the two thermocouple probes and heat up top heater of the
sample until differential temperature was around 5 K.
.
-1.2

-1.1
Thermocouple Voltage U1,U2(mV)

-1.0
U2
-0.9
U1
-0.8

-0.7

-0.6

-0.5

-0.4

-0.3

-0.2

-0.1

0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Time(sec)
Fig. 9. Thermocouple voltage
620 T. Sumphao et al. / Procedia Engineering 32 (2012) 614 – 620

Fig. 10. Seebeck coefficient of Ca3Co4O9 at room temperature

Characteristic of voltage U1 and U2 are presented in Fig. 9. These characteristics show measured
voltages as a function of heating time for two different temperatures . In Fig.10 shows The Seebeck
coefficient is calculated by equation (1). For calibration of the designed and realized system, the voltage
before start-up heater is adjusted to zero.

7. Conclusion
A DAQ system for measurement Seebeck coefficient was implemented using cost-effective resource.
Commercially integrate circuit(IC) MCP3353 P18F4550 LM4140 was employed for the hardware. For
the software “Microchip device Framework” was used for USB Device emulation. The two A/D work on
continuous conversion mode and use the same time conversion. The two A/D work on continuous
conversion mode and simultaneously made conversions. Average value reading of 20 times is reliable
data. Offset voltage error was eliminated before the evaluated the Seebeck coefficient result of
140.20ȝV/K was obtained; the coefficient is corresponding well with literature data of 120 ȝV/K [5] at
300 K.

Reference
[1] John Park, Steve Mackay. Practical Data Acquisition for Instrumentation and Control Systems. British: Newnes An imprint
of Elsevier; 2003, p.1.
[2] D. Platzek, G. Karpinski, C.Stiewe, P. Ziolkowski, C. Drasar and E. Muller, Potential-Seebeck- Microprob (PSM):
Measuring the Spatial Resolution of the Seebeck Coefficient and Electric Potential, International Conference on
Thermoelectric; 2005.
[3] Robin E. Bentley, Theory and practice of thermoelectric Handbook of Temperature Measurement. Vol. 3, Singapore:
Springer; 1998, p.31.
[4] Craig L. King, Designed with the MCP3551 Delta-Sigma ADC, Application Note AN1007 DS01007A Microchip
Technology Inc. 2005.
[5] Wang Y, Sui Y, Cheng J, Wang X, Su W. Comparison of the high temperature thermoelectric properties for Ag-doped and
Ag-added Ca3Co4O9. J. Alloys Compd. 2009;477:817–821.