US Patent 7290395 High power thermoelectric controller

A high power thermoelectric controller system is disclosed, capable of operating multiple thermoelectric cooler (TEC) devices, each with a maximum power demand greater than 200 watts. The controller system utilizes interleaved triggering of multiple pulse width modulated power conversion circuits in order to minimize switching transient currents. In another aspect, the system incorporates a novel combination of a PWM controller circuit and H-bridge switching network into a single circuit that reduces the number of components needed to provide closed-loop proportional control of multiple TEC devices in a temperature control system.