Overview of Temperature

Measurement
NEIL VIJAY PUNIA
 Temperature Measurement Method
Mechanical or Non-Electric method
 Liquid-in-glass thermometer-Change in pressure
 Constant-volume gas thermometer
 Bimetallic Thermometer
Electric method
 Resistance-Temperature Detectors
 Thermistors
 Thermocouples
Radiation Method
 Total radiation Pyrometer
 Selective Radiation Pyrometer
 Infrared(IR) Pyrometer
What Is Thermometer
 A device to measure temperature.
 A thermometer has two important elements:
• The temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb on a mercury
thermometer) in which some physical change occurs
with temperature
• Some means of converting this physical change into a
value.
Glass Thermometer
 Mercury filled in a glass tube
and a glass bulb at the
bottom.
 As the temperature
increases, the mercury rises
in the glass tube.
 The glass tube is calibrated in
Celsius, Fahrenheit or both.
RTD
How it works:
 Utilizes the fact that
resistance of a metal
changes with temperature.
Make up:
 Traditionally made up of
platinum, nickel, iron or
copper wound around an
insulator.
Temperature range:
 From about -196°C to
660°C.

Thin Film RTD

RTD geometry

 Sheathing: stainless steel or iconel, glass, alumina, quartz.

 Metal sheath can cause contamination at high temperatures and
are best below 250ºC.
 At very high temperatures, quartz and high-purity alumina are
best to prevent contamination.
Resistance Measurement
Several different bridge circuits are used to determine
the resistance. Bridge circuits help improve the
accuracy of the measurements significantly. Bridge
output voltage is a function of the RTD resistance.
Types of RTD

Film thermometers Wire-wound thermometers

Coil elements
RTD Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages: Disadvantages:
Stable Expensive
Very accurate Current source required
Change in resistance is Small change in
linear resistance
Wide temperature Self heating
operating range(-196°C Less rugged than
to 660OC) thermocouples.
Good stability at high Affected by shock and
temperature vibration
Applications
Applications of RTD's include
Air conditioning and refrigeration servicing
Food Processing
Stoves and grills
Textile production
Plastics processing
Petrochemical processing
Micro electronics
Air, gas and liquid temperature measurement
Exhaust gas temperature measurement
Thermistor
How it works:
 Like the RTD a thermistor
uses the fact that
resistance of a metal
changes with temperature.
Make up:
 Generally made up of
semiconductor materials
Temperature Range:
 About -60°C to 200°C

Thermistor
Thermistor Non-Linearity
Thermistor Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages: Disadvantages:
Very sensitive (has the Output is a non-linear
largest output change function
from input Limited temperature
temperature) range.
Quick response Require a current source
More accurate than RTD Self heating
and Thermocouples Fragile
No 4-wire bridge is
required as with an
RTD.
 Thermocouple
How it works:
 Made up of two different
metals joined at one end to
produce a small voltage at a
given temperature.
Make up:
 Made of up two different
metals.
Temperature Range
 0°C to 750°C

A few Thermocouples
Circuit Diagram
+ 1 2
- 1K 50K
7417

49K Relay
+ +
-
1K
- Vout
Vin + -
+ 4.7μF
Thermocouple 5V 15V
-

+
- 1K 50K

Fan
50K

1K
Thermocouple Advantages and Disadvantages
 Advantages:  Disadvantages:
Self Powered (does not Extremely Low Voltage
require a current or output (mV)
voltage source) Not very stable
Rugged Needs a reference point
Inexpensive
Simple
Choice Between RTDs, Thermocouples,
Thermistors
 Cost – thermocouples are cheapest by far, followed by RTDs
 Accuracy – RTDs or thermistor
 Sensitivity – thermistor
 Speed - thermistor
 Stability at high temperatures – not thermistor
 Size – thermocouples and thermistor can be made quite small
 Temperature range – thermocouples have the highest range, followed
by RTDs
 Ruggedness – thermocouples are best if your system will be taking a lot
of abuse
Pyrometer
 Pyrometer derived from the Greek root pyro, meaning
fire.
 A Pyrometer, is a non-contact instrument that
detects an object's surface temperature by measuring
the temperature of the electromagnetic radiation
(infrared or visible) emitted from the object.
 Idea : Every object whose temperature is above
absolute zero emits radiation.
Disappearing-filament pyrometer
Advantages of Pyrometers
 High temperatures measuremens
 Fast response
 No adverse effects on temperatures and materials
 Measuring moving objects
 Measuring objects which are difficult to access
Infrared Thermometer
 They work by focusing infrared heat onto a sensor that
can convert infrared energy into temperature units
 Detect IR radiation
(λ=0.7 –1000 µm)
 Non-contact
 Wide range (30-4500 °C)
 Accuracy: 1% of reading
Infrared Thermometry
 Infrared thermometers measure the amount of
radiation emitted by an object.
 Peak magnitude is often in the infrared region.
 Surface emissivity must be known. This can add a lot
of error.
 Reflection from other objects can introduce error as
well.
 Surface whose temp you’re measuring must fill the
field of view of your camera.
Benefits of Infrared Thermometer
Can be used for
 Moving objects
 Non-contact
applications where
sensors would affect
results or be difficult to
insert or conditions are
hazardous
 Large distances
 Very high temperatures