RTD Replacement in Heat Meter and Cold Junction

Compensation Systems Using Digital Temperature

Sensors

Introduction Solid state heat meters are becoming more popular for
billing heat energy for residential and industrial users.
A resistance temperature detector (RTD) is a passive
Heat meters are essentially flow meters with an
component whose resistance changes with
integrated precise differential temperature
temperature. RTDs are made using metals—such as
measurement subsystem to record the difference in
platinum, copper, or nickel—and support a wide
temperature between the inlet and outlet flow. Figure 2
temperature range (approximately –200°C to +850°C).
shows a block diagram of a heat meter system using
The accuracy of an RTD is defined by its class. The RTDs.
IEC/EN60751 standard defines four RTD
Heat meters use the differential temperature
classes—Class C, B, A, and AA—where Class C is the
measurement subsystem to measure temperature
least accurate and Class AA is the most accurate. The
every few seconds. This measurement tells the user if
lower accuracy classes will have a larger temperature
heat is being dissipated or absorbed in the system.
range. For example, a Class C thin-film RTD covers
The system’s ability to quickly wake from power-off
the temperature range of –50°C to +600°C, while a
mode, sample the RTD temperature, and return to
Class AA thin-film RTD covers the temperature range
power-off mode extends battery life and minimizes
of 0°C to +150°C.
energy consumption.
Most RTD applications use a current source to excite
the RTD element and create a voltage difference
across the RTD, as shown in Figure 1. This voltage is
proportional to the resistance of the RTD and the
excitation current. The voltage potential is amplified,
converted to a digital output by an ADC, and is then
fed into to a MCU where a lookup table is used to
convert the digital output to temperature.

Figure 2. Heat and Cold Meter With RTD Block

Diagram

Thermocouples are temperature-sensing devices that

Figure 1. Simplified RTD Circuit
RTDs in Heat Meters and CJC Systems
RTDs are one of the most widely used temperature-
sensing components in industrial applications where
high accuracy and longevity are desired. Heat Meters
and Cold Junction Compensation (CJC) in
Thermocouples are a couple of examples where RTDs
are used; however, these systems can be optimized to
reduce complexity and cost by replacing RTDs with
temperature-sensing ICs, like the TMP117 digital
temperature sensor.
cover a large temperature range and are made by
joining wires of two different metals. The output
voltage is approximately proportional to the difference
in temperature between the hot junction and cold
junction. Remember that because the thermocouple
measures a differential temperature, the temperature
at the cold junction must be known to determine the
temperature at the hot junction—this process is known
as cold junction compensation (CJC).
PT100 RTDs are popularly used to measure the
temperature of the cold junction due to their high
accuracy. Figure 3 shows a block diagram of a cold
junction compensated thermocouple system using a
RTD reference.

SNOAA06A – July 2018 – Revised August 2018 RTD Replacement in Heat Meter and Cold Junction Compensation Systems 1
Submit Documentation Feedback Using Digital Temperature Sensors
Copyright © 2018, Texas Instruments Incorporated

Figure 3. Cold Junction Compensation With RTD
Block Diagram
Replacing RTD With TMP117 Digital Temp Sensors
The TMP117 is a digital temperature sensor designed
for low-power, high-accuracy applications. The device
provides a 16-bit temperature result with a resolution
of 0.0078°C and a factory-calibrated performance of
±0.2°C across –55°C to +150°C which exceeds the
accuracy of a Class A RTD. The TMP117 features an
offset register that automatically applies a user-defined
offset to the measurement results prior to a MCU read.
The TMP117 provides additional simplicity over an
RTD, eliminating the need for calibration, external
circuitry, matched traces, and Kelvin connections.
Figure 3 depicts the results of an oil bath experiment
conducted on the TMP116, which is pin-compatible to
the higher accuracy TMP117. The graph shows that
even TMP116 exceeds the accuracy of a Class AA
RTD from 5°C to 145°C.
Figure 4. TMP116 Target Board Meets Class AA
Limits Without Calibration
The TMP117 features a shutdown mode where the
device aborts the currently running conversion and
enters a low-power shutdown mode where it typically
consumes 250 nA of current. It can perform quick,
15.5-ms temperature conversions using the one-shot
conversion mode with active current as low as 3.5 µA
for a duty cycle of 1 Hz. After completing a one-shot
conversion, the device returns to low-power shutdown
mode.
2 RTD Replacement in Heat Meter and Cold Junction Compensation Systems
Using Digital Temperature Sensors
Copyright © 2018, Texas Instruments Incorporated
www.ti.com
The TMP117 also features a fast mode (400 kHz) I2C
communication. These specs make the TMP117
excellent for low-power consumption needs in CJC, as
well as quick power on-off cycling necessary in Heat
Meter systems.
The TMP117 is comparable in accuracy to the Class
AA thin-film RTD, used in Heat Meter applications, and
consumes a fraction of the power of a PT100 RTD,
typically used in CJC applications. Figure 5 and
Figure 6 show block diagrams of Heat Meter and CJC
systems using the TMP117 to replace the RTDs. The
systems using the TMP117 require less components,
such as sigma-delta ADCs, programmable gain
amplifiers, and RC filters, than the systems using RTD
elements.
Overall, the high-accuracy TMP117 temperature
sensor with digital interface, fast conversion, and
extremely low-power shutdown mode eliminates the
need for multiple high-tolerance discrete components
and integrated devices, which can save PCB space,
complexity, and cost in Heat Meter and CJC systems.
Figure 5. Heat and Cold Meter With TMP117 Block
Diagram
Figure 6. Cold Junction Compensation With
TMP117 Block Diagram
Table 1. Recommended Collateral
COLLATERAL DESCRIPTION
Application Report
Replacing Resistance Temperature Detectors With
the TMP116 Temp Sensor
High-Precision Temperature Measurement for Heat
TI Design
and Cold Meters Reference Design
Thermocouple Analog Front End (AFE) Using RTD
TI Design and Internal Temperature Sensor of ADS1220 for
Cold Junction Compensation (CJC)
SNOAA06A – July 2018 – Revised August 2018
Submit Documentation Feedback
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