High Speed Peltier Calorimeter for the Calibration of High Bandwidth Power Measurement Equipment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-speed calorimeter utilizing Peltier coolers and neural network calibration to accurately measure high-frequency power with a quick steady-state achievement, suitable for electronic component testing.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel high-speed calorimeter design with neural network calibration for precise high-frequency power measurements within 10 minutes.

Findings

Achieves steady state in less than 10 minutes

Calibration accuracy of +/-8 mW for 0.1 to 5 W power range

Uses Peltier thermoelectric coolers and dead zone controller

Abstract

Accurate power measurements of electronic components operating at high frequencies are vital in determining where power losses occur in a system such as a power converter. Such power measurements must be carried out with equipment that can accurately measure real power at high frequency. We present the design of a high speed calorimeter to address this requirement, capable of reaching a steady state in less than 10 minutes. The system uses Peltier thermoelectric coolers to remove heat generated in a load resistance, and was calibrated against known real power measurements using an artificial neural network. A dead zone controller was used to achieve stable power measurements. The calibration was validated and shown to have an absolute accuracy of +/-8 mW (95% confidence interval) for measurements of real power from 0.1 to 5 W.