Even though we publish new blogs daily from your intrepid editor and from a number of well known writers, sometimes it's good to have a look back at some of our articles from the recent past that got good responses.
The article was written by Matthew William Hann of Texas Instruments. Hann discusses the use of Spice to evaluate the performance of the control loop used to regulate the temperature of a thermo-electric cooler.
10 comments on “Using Spice to Design the PID Control for a TEC Temperature Loop”
amrutah
June 29, 2013
Spice is a accurate tool for simulation of electronic circuits. Â When it comes to simulating the PID controlled circuits, one has to be very good at macromodelling. Â The breaking of the inner and outer loop and the accuracy of the models are challenging.
 Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy.
@amrutah you're right, SPICE is awesome it s give us the ability to simulate components ranging from the most basic passive elements to a much sophisticated semiconductor devices such as MESFETs and MOSFETs. its really a great tool, able us to simulate the behavior of an actual electronic devices- enable us to design effectively and make some right decision.
The Advancement of simulators, gives us greater assurance in development allowing the project contains no errors, or that they are very close to the desired.
What type of simulator, our followers are accustomed to using? What level of reliability of them?
 sometimes it's good to have a look back at some of our articles from the recent past that got good responses.
@Brad, thanks for the post. I agree with you that its good to review the past blogs which got good responses. I think we can learn a lot from those discussions and may be we can add new perspective to that discussion.Â
Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy.
@amrutah, I dont think we need such high accuracy when we are dealing with automotive design. I think such accuracy is only needed in space and some military applications.
I expect that's used in the higher-end (i.e., more expensive trim-line) cars. Tho' even then, I wonder if a full PID controller (meaning all 3 terms) is used.
@amrutah >>Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy. Exactly so. Don't need it that good in the passenger car cabin, tho' for a TEC, entirely likely.
The purpose of PID control is not only to increases the steady-state accuracy, but also to improve the speed of response and damping, regarding how fast it gets there.
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Spice is a accurate tool for simulation of electronic circuits. Â When it comes to simulating the PID controlled circuits, one has to be very good at macromodelling. Â The breaking of the inner and outer loop and the accuracy of the models are challenging.
 Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy.
Now a days lot of cars are coming with zone wise temperature control. That type of application might use the accurate control. Or I think so.
@amrutah you're right, SPICE is awesome it s give us the ability to simulate components ranging from the most basic passive elements to a much sophisticated semiconductor devices such as MESFETs and MOSFETs. its really a great tool, able us to simulate the behavior of an actual electronic devices- enable us to design effectively and make some right decision.
The Advancement of simulators, gives us greater assurance in development allowing the project contains no errors, or that they are very close to the desired.
What type of simulator, our followers are accustomed to using? What level of reliability of them?
 sometimes it's good to have a look back at some of our articles from the recent past that got good responses.
@Brad, thanks for the post. I agree with you that its good to review the past blogs which got good responses. I think we can learn a lot from those discussions and may be we can add new perspective to that discussion.Â
Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy.
@amrutah, I dont think we need such high accuracy when we are dealing with automotive design. I think such accuracy is only needed in space and some military applications.
I expect that's used in the higher-end (i.e., more expensive trim-line) cars. Tho' even then, I wonder if a full PID controller (meaning all 3 terms) is used.
@amrutah >>Also when it comes to automotive, do we really care for accurate temperature control, say 0.1 deg accuracy. Exactly so. Don't need it that good in the passenger car cabin, tho' for a TEC, entirely likely.
Probably it is not practical to use PID for A/C control. So…
The purpose of PID control is not only to increases the steady-state accuracy, but also to improve the speed of response and damping, regarding how fast it gets there.