Pyrometer: A temperature-measuring device, originally an instrument that measures temperatures

beyond the range of thermometers, but now in addition a device that measures thermal radiation in any temperature range. This article discusses radiation pyrometers; for other temperature-measuring devices See Bolometer, Thermistor, Thermocouple The illustration shows a very simple type of radiation pyrometer. Part of the thermal radiation emitted by a hot object is intercepted by a lens and focused onto a thermopile. The resultant heating of the thermopile causes it to generate an electrical signal (proportional to the thermal radiation) which can be displayed on a recorder.

Elementary radiation pyrometer

Unfortunately, the thermal radiation emitted by the object depends not only on its temperature but also on its surface characteristics. The radiation existing inside hot, opaque objects is so-called blackbody radiation, which is a unique function of temperature and wavelength and is the same for all opaque materials. However, such radiation, when it attempts to escape from the object, is partly reflected at the surface. In order to use the output of the pyrometer as a measure of target temperature, the effect of the surface characteristics must be eliminated. A cavity can be formed in an opaque material and the pyrometer sighted on a small opening extending from the cavity to the surface. The opening has no surface reflection, since the surface has been eliminated. Such a source is called a blackbody source, and is said to have an emittance of 1.00. By attaching thermocouples to the blackbody source, a curve of pyrometer output voltage versus blackbody temperature can be constructed. See Blackbody, Heat radiation Pyrometers can be classified generally into types requiring that the field of view be filled, such as narrow-band and total-radiation pyrometers; and types not requiring that the field of view be filled, such as optical and ratio pyrometers. The latter depend upon making some sort of comparison between two or more signals. The optical pyrometer should more strictly be called the disappearing-filament pyrometer. In operation, an image of the target is focused in the plane of a wire that can be heated electrically. A rheostat is used to adjust the current through the wire until the wire blends into the image of the target (equal brightness condition), and the temperature is then read from a calibrated dial on the rheostat. The ratio, or two-color, pyrometer makes measurements in two wavelength regions and electronically takes the ratio of these measurements. If the emittance is the same for both wavelengths, the emittance cancels out of the result, and the true temperature of the target is obtained. This so-called graybody assumption is sufficiently valid in some cases so that the color temperature measured by a ratio pyrometer is close to the true temperature.