A short article on Thermowells & their Installation

Importance of Thermowells:

 Thermowells play a crucial role in the successful measurement of temperature in industrial

processes.
 They protect the sensor.
 Ensure that process temperature is passed to the sensor (proper heat transfer).
 Improved heat transfer, results in better accuracy.

Thermowells can be of following types:

 Pipe Fabricated.
 Bar stock thermowells.

Shape: Straight, Stepped, Tapered etc.

Material:

 ▲ SS 316 / SS 304
 ▲ SS316 with Teflon / Zirconium Coated OR Tantalum / Titanium etc. sheathing.
 ▲ GRAPHITE

Construction: Fabricated, Bar-stock etc.

Types: Screwed, Flanged etc.

Lagging is used when the thermowell is installed through an insulation media on pipeline or
equipment.

Fig. 1: Examples of Thermowells

An improperly specified thermowells, will result in:

 Failure due to poor welding practices.

 Poor compatibility with the temperature and media.
 Inadequate temperature transfer.
 Incompatibility with the process velocity leading to failure due to vibration.
 The gap between the OD of the thermocouple sheath and ID of thermowell must be very
close.
 The bore of the thermowell must be uniform and linear.

Design of Thermowells:

 Design should cater for process media, pressures, temperatures, velocity, specific gravity etc.
 Proper MOC (Material of construction).
 Wall thickness Vs response time.
 Bore diameter, Insertion length, Taper requirements, Overall length etc.
 Calculate the Vibration using Wake Frequency methods.

Fig. 2: Details of Thermowell

Fig. 3: Various dimensions of Thermowells.

Installation Requirements (Fig 4 and 5):

Fig. 4: Requirements during installation

Fig. 5: Installation requirements