Many applications require the use of multiple thermocouples. The wiring in such environments can become complex, difficult, and costly. Additionally, the signal conditioning described earlier would have to be repeated for each thermocouple. To address this challenge, Analog Devices introduces the MAX31850 and MAX31851, which offer the feature set of the MAX31855 in a device with a 1-wire interface. With this interface, designers can multi-drop an almost unlimited number of these ICs on a single one-wire bus with a cable which is several meters long. Each IC contains a unique 64-bit serial code, allowing temperature data to be read from any location on the bus. In addition, four dedicated address pins enable automatic discovery of the locations of up to 16 thermocouples. The one-wire interface also provides power, so no separate supply is needed. For more information on the Analog Devices 1-wire interface, refer to the 1-Wire® Communications PTM, also on DigiKey’s website.