Thermocouples are very sensitive, requiring a good amplifier with a cold-compensation reference. The HS5345 provides all these requirements on a small PCB.
The AD8495 K-type thermocouple amplifier from Analog Devices is easy to use, The board requires a supply voltage of 3 to18VDC and the measured output voltage is on the OUT pin. The voltage reading can be converted back to temperature using the following equation: Temperature = (Vout - 1.25) / 0.005 V. For Example if the voltage is 1.5VDC, the temperature is (1.5 - 1.25) / 0.005 = 50°C
Each unit comes with a 2-pin terminal block (for connecting to the thermocouple), a fully assembled PCB with the AD8495 + TLVH431 1.25V precision voltage reference, and a pin header (to plug into any breadboard or perfboard). The unit is suitable only for K-type thermocouples.
