. aon . Hotire anemometes commonly ae made in two base forms the consan-curent ype and the constant-temperature type. Both utilize the same physical principle but indifferent ways. current type, a fine resistance wire carrying a fixed current is exposed to the flow velocity. The wire attains an equilibrium temperature when the R heat generated in it is just balanced by the convective heat loss from its surface. The circuit is designed so that the AR heat is essentially constant; thus the Wire temperature must adjust itself to change the convective loss until equilibrium is reached. Since the convection film coefficient is a function of flow velocity, the equilibrium wire temperature is a measure of velocity. The wire temperature can be measured in terms of its electrical resistance. In the constant. temperature form, the current through the wire is adjusted to keep the wire temperature (as measured by its resistance) constant. The current required to do this then becomes a measure of flow velocity. For equilibrium conditions we can write an energy balance for a hot wire as (7.9) wire resistance wire temperature TA temperature of flowing fluid ‘A film coefficient of heat transfer eat-transfer area Now / is mainly a function of flow velocit function (sometimes called King’s law) has ity for a given fluid density, For a range of velocities, this the general form h=O,+CNV (7.10)Tungsten wire {rs Lm dia 1mm long ra Resistance 1 ohm Wire support Ri >> Rj, Ro, R3, Ry I, —» Ry Rw Measure / 0) Ww Hot-wire anemometer. Balance-detecting galvanometerIn calibration, V is set at some known value V,. Then R, is adjusted to set hot-wire current / at a value low enough to prevent wire bumout, but high enough to give adequate sensitivity to velocity. The resistance R,, will come to a definite temperature and resistance. Then the resistor R, is adjusted to balance the bridge. This adjustment is essentially a measurement of wire temperature, which is held fixed at all velocities. The first point on the calibration curve is thus plotted as /?, VY . Now Vis changed to a new value, causing wire temperature and R, to change and thus unbalancing the bridge. Then R,, and thus wire temperature, is restored to its original value by adjusting / (by means of R,) until the bridge balance is restored (R, is not changed). The new current /and the corresponding V may be plotted on the calibration curve, and this procedure is repeated for as many velocities as desired. ‘Once calibrated, the probe can be employed to measure unknown velocities by adjusting R, until bridge balance is achieved, reading /, and obtaining the corresponding V from the calibration curve. This assumes that the measured fluid is at the same temperature and pressure as for the calibration. Correction methods for varying temperature and pressure are fairly simple, but are not discussed here. For the above constant-temperature mode of operation, Eqs. (7.9) and (7.10) can be combined to give AC, ~T)XCo+ GNV) Pr AC, +GN7 cay indicating that the calibration curve of Fig. 7.17 should be essentially a staight line. This is borne out by experimental tests.