Patent ID: 11946815
Assignee: EUROTHERM LIMITED
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  H | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. An input module, comprising:
a terminal block for receiving at least one pair of first and second electrical wires of an external thermocouple, the terminal block including first and second connector assemblies for electrically coupling the first and second electrical wires of the external thermocouple to a printed circuit board, wherein the first connector assembly comprises a first internal thermocouple, the first internal thermocouple having two first conductive legs which are formed of different materials and are separated at an end to form a first jaw connector for physically and electrically connecting or disconnecting an edge of the printed circuit board to or from the terminal block; and
the printed circuit board including:
a sensor for measuring a temperature on the printed circuit board, and
a processing circuit configured to perform cold junction compensation for a hot junction temperature of the external thermocouple, the cold junction compensation using a cold junction temperature determined based on a temperature measurement from the sensor and a temperature or voltage measurement from the first internal thermocouple,

wherein the second connector assembly comprises a second internal thermocouple having two second conductive legs which are formed of different materials and are separated at an end to form a second jaw connector for physically and electrically connecting or disconnecting the edge of the printed circuit board to or from the terminal block,
wherein the processing circuit determines a temperature differential between the terminal block and the printed circuit board based on a voltage difference between the two legs for each of the internal thermocouples, and calculates the cold junction temperature based on the temperature measured by the sensor and the determined temperature differentials for each of the internal thermocouples, and
wherein the processing circuit is configured to calculate the cold junction temperature based on an average of the temperature differentials for each of the internal thermocouples of the first and second connector assemblies.