UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA

SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

EKC 291/3 Chemical Engineering Laboratory I

Experiment 18: Temperature Measurement Bench

GROUP NUMBER: 10

GROUP MEMBER: 1. JOAN MARY A/P PATRICK GEORGE

2. KHAIRUNNISA' BT MOHD SANI
3. MUHAMMAD HAZIM BIN MOHD
4. MOHD ISKANDAR BIN IBRAHIM
PRE-LAB TEST:

1. Why accurate temperature measurement is important in a system?

Accurate temperature measurement is important in a system because the temperature will
determine characteristic of a system. Besides, it is to minimise any measurement
uncertainty by ensuring the accuracy of test equipment. It can also quantifie and controls
errors or uncertainties within measurement processes to an acceptable level. It is
important also because some food will have certain temperature to maintain the quality. If
the temperature is not accurately measured, the precaution for the food will not exist.
Lastly, it enables users and businesses to have confidence in the results that they monitor
record and subsequently control.

2. What are the limitations of each temperature measurement instruments? Discuss

the advantages and disadvantages?

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Glass Thermometer
Cheap, durable and easily Hard to read, mercury vapour is
calibrated poisonous
Does not work below -39C
Bimetallic Temperature Indicator
Robust and cheap but not very Not suitable for very low
accurate. temperatures because the
Can be used to 500 C expansion of metals tends to be too
Their accuracy is between 2% to similar
5% of the scale When regularly used, bimetallic
may permanently deform
Thermocouples
Very wide temperature range Recalibration is difficult
(1200 to 2300C) Requires expensive TC wire from
Fast response time sensor to recording device
Low initial cost and durable Difficult to verify
Resistance Temperature Detector
Linear over wide operating range Low sensitivity
High temperature operating range Higher cost than thermocouples
Interchangeability over wide range Affected by shock and vibration
Requires three or four-wire
operation
Thermistor
Thermistors are highly sensitive so Computer errors may cause the
can detect small changes in readings to be inaccurate.
temperature very easily. Require a form of power, such as
Provide fast responces, can be batteries.
done in seconds. Need to be sterlilized.
Low cost and easy to use.
 Can record more than one
measurement therefore allowing
you to see comparisons.

Vapor Pressure Thermometer

Very sensitive but the scale is not
linear
Its accuracy allows it to be utilised
to calibrate other thermometers.
Measurement accuracy is 1%
Typical temperature range is from
- 20 C to 280 C depending on
the nature of the gas
Not easy to handle and read.
Tends to be highly sensitive to
temperature change, and
mechanical vibrations. In fact, to
give a reading it usually entails a
lot of time.
Expensive to manufacture and
keep.

3. Describe the thermo-electric principle and the use of thermocouples to study the Peltier
and Seeback thermo-electric effects.

Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of heat into electric energy, or vice versa. A
thermoelectric device creates voltage when there is a different temperature on each side.
When a voltage is applied to it, a temperature difference is created and this effect can be
used to generate electricity, measure temperature or change the temperature of objects.
Thermoelectric devices can be used as temperature controllers due to the direction of
heating and cooling is determined by the polarity of the applied voltage. Thermoelectric
effect includes Seebeck effect, Peltier effect, and Thomson effect.

Peltier Effect
The reverse of the Seebeck effect is also possible: by passing a current through two
junctions, you can create a temperature difference. This process was discovered in 1834
by scientist named Peltier, and thus it is called the Peltier effect. This may sound similar
to Joule heating described above, but in fact it is not. In Joule heating the current is only
increasing the temperature in the material in which it flows. In Peltier effect devices, a
temperature difference is created: one junction becomes cooler and one junction becomes
hotter. Although Peltier coolers are not as efficient as some other types of cooling
devices, they are accurate, easy to control, and easy to adjust. Peltier effect devices are
used coolers for microelectronic devices such as microcontrollers and computer CPUs.
This use is very common among computer hobbyists to help them in over-clocking the
microprocessors for more speed without causing the CPU to overheat and break in the
process.
Seeback Effect
When two ends of a conductor are held at different temperatures electrons at the hot
junction at higher thermal velocities diffuse to the cold junction. Seebeck discovered that
making one end of a metal bar hotter or colder than the other produced an EMF between
the two ends. He experimented with junctions (simple mechanical connections) made
between different conducting materials. He found that if he created a temperature
difference between two electrically connected junctions (e.g., heating one of the junctions
and cooling the other) the wire connecting the two junctions would cause a compass
needle to deflect. He thought that he had discovered a way to transform thermal energy
into a magnetic field. Later, it was shown that a the electron diffusion current produced
the magnetic field in the circuit a changing emf V (Lenzs Law).
The magnitude of the emf V produced between the two junctions depends on the material
and on the temperature T12 through the linear relationship defining the Seebeck
coefficient S for the material.
 References

1. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v508/n7496/fig_tab/508327a_F1.html

2. https://thermal.ferrotec.com/technology/thermoelectric-reference-

guide/thermalref02/

3. http://corrosion-doctors.org/KTS/roberge.htm

4. McCabe, W. L., & Smith, J. C. (1967). Unit operations of chemical engineering. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
5. https://www.tempcon.co.uk/2012/11/06/what_is_calibration/