TYPICAL PERFORMANCE CURVES (CONT)
TA = +25°C, VS = 24V, VBRIDGE = 2V, ILOAD = 300mA unless otherwise specified.
SUPPLY CURRENT vs EXCITATION LOAD CURRENT
Bridge Voltage (VEX) = 2.0V
BRIDGE EXCITATION VOLTAGE TC (ppm/°C)
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
100
200
300
400
500
0
30
60
90
120
150
I
LOAD (mA)
Bridge Excitation Voltage Temperature Drift (ppm/°C)
Average = 70ppm/°C
3σ = 70ppm/°C
METHOD OF OPERATION
APPLICATIONS
The XTR501 consists of a high efficiency DC/DC converter
with current and voltage mode control and a current loop
transmitter.
The XTR501 is designed to be used with a wide range of
pellistor catalytic gas detectors. The pellistor gas detector
consists of a matched pair of elements; an active bead which
is the sensing element, and an inactive bead which is the
compensating element. These elements form one side of a
Wheatstone bridge arrangement. The bridge serves a dual
purpose: to raise the temperature of the elements to about
500°C, which is their working temperature, and to allow
detectionofthepresenceofcombustiblegasesthroughimbal-
ance of the bridge. This happens as the pellistor increases
temperature due to oxidation of the flammable gas and thus
increases its resistance.
The pulse-width modulation controller monitors the current
and voltage control signals and varies the conduction period
to regulate the bridge excitation voltage, VB.
A soft-start feature is provided to negate problems caused by
high in-rush currents and lead resistances, thus allowing the
XTR501 to be driven through cables of up to 100Ω of supply
line resistance with no reduction in performance.
A single resistor, RSET, determines the regulated bridge
excitation voltage which may be in the range 1.5V to 5.0V.
In general, pellistor catalytic gas detectors are limited in use
to monitoring up to 100% of the LEL (lower explosive
limit). Beyond this point ambiguous results can occur due to
the inability of the pellistor to oxidize the gas as the avail-
able oxygen decreases (see Figure 3).
The gain of the transconductance amplifier, which forms the
current loop transmitter, is again determined by a single
resistor RSPAN and allows input voltages from 25mV to drive
the 4-20mA current loop.
LEL Methane
Bridge Voltage VEX
=
=
=
=
=
5% = VIN = 50mV
2.0V
21.858kΩ
4-20mA
470µH
RSET
IO
RSPAN
+24V
12
VS
+
XTR501
10µF
510Ω
Tantalum
24
16
15
+VB
+VBSENSE
SET
GA
23
RT
SENSE
GA
100Ω
Compensator
10kΩ
RSPAN
VBB
18
1
V
OUT = IO RLOAD
SENSE
SET
(1)
GB
100Ω
2
IO = 4 to 20mA
GB
VOUT
Detector
10
14
IO
17
11
SET
1V to 5V
– VB
VB
+
5µF
Tantalum
RLOAD
250Ω
RSET
COM
–VIN
+VIN
22
3
NOTE: (1) VQ 21 Gas Sensor - EEV Gas Sensors.
FIGURE 1. Basic Connection
®
XTR501
6