TEC-controller qbrick

Description

The TEC-controller_qbrick is a board level controller for Thermoelectric Coolers (TEC) also known as Peltier elements. The board is designed to accompany laser diode drivers to serve the case where the laser diode module has a build in TEC and a 10k ohm NTC temperature sensor.

The design is an adaptation of the Texas Instruments TEC Driver Reference Design.

There are different types of TEC controllers. PWM drivers that offer high efficiency at the cost of switching noise. Then in the other extreme there are low noise analog drivers, e.g. base on power OPAMPS.

The design of the TEC-controller_qbrick is in-between in terms of switching noise. It sets one terminal of the TEC (TEC+) at a constant supply (+3.3V) and use a buck-boost converter to regulate the voltage at the TEC- terminal between +1.8 V and +5 V to give the cooling or heating requested by the PID loop on a microcontroller. The temperature set point is factory set to 25°C and can be changed via serial interface.