Chapter 6

Temperature Measurements
 What is Temperature?
• A measure, proportional to the thermal energy
of a given body at equilibrium, or
• The property of a body or region of space that
determines whether or not there will be a net
flow of heat into it or out of it from a
neighboring body or region and in which
direction (if any) the heat will flow.
 Temperature Scales
• Relative Scales
– Fahrenheit (°F)
– Celsius (°C)
• Absolute Scales
– Rankine (°R)
– Kelvin (K)

Temperature Relationships
(°F) = 9/5*(°C) +32
(°C) = 5/9*[(°F) –32]
(°F) = (°R) – 459.67
(°C) = (K) – 273.15
Melting Temperatures
of Some Important
Metals
Measurement of Temperature
Principle of Operation Temperature Devices
• Expansion Thermometers
– Liquid in glass / metal
– Bimetallic
• Pyrometers
– Thermocouple
– Resistance
– Radiation and optical pyrometers
 Temperature Measuring Instruments
Non- electrical methods
1- Liquid in Glass & in metal Thermometers.
Expansion
2- Vapour Pressure & gas Thermometers. Thermometers
3- Bimetal Strip Thermometers .

Electrical methods
5- Resistance Pyrometer
6- Thermocouples
7- Radiation Pyrometers
8- Photoelectric Pyrometers
9- Optical Pyrometers
 Expansion Thermometer
• Liquid in Glass

Liquid Range ( ْ◌C) Range ( ْ◌K)

Mercury -25 to +510 338 to 683

Alcohol -80 to +70 293 to 343
Toluene -80 to +100 293 to 373
Pentane -200 to +30 73 to 303
Creosote -5 to +200 268 to 573
 Essential Characteristics:
 Inexpensive.
 Simple.
 Easily portable.
 Additional indication instruments are not required.
 Fragile.
 Can be used only when stem readings are visible.
 Relatively high heat capacity causing serious time lag
between change of temperature and thermometer
response.
 Not suitable for distant reading.
 Not suitable for surface temperature measurement.
 Expansion Thermometer
• Liquid in Metal
Liquid Range ( ْ◌C) Range ( ْ◌K)

Mercury -39 to +650 234 to 923

Xylene -40 to +400 233 to 673
Alcohol -46 to +150 227 to 423
Ether +20 to +90 293 to 363

• An approximately linear
scale.
• Wide temperature range.
• Remote indication of
temperature.
 Expansion Thermometer
Bimetallic
 Essential characteristics:
• Inexpensive.
• Compact.
• Robust.
• Close linearity throughout the temperature
range.
• Range of application: low temperatures -30 ْ◌C to
200 ْ◌C ; high temperature, 0 ْ◌C to 550 ْ◌C.
• Accuracy: low temperature 1% of scale range;
high temperature 2% of scale range.
 Measuring Temperature:
Resistance Type Devices (RTDs),
Based on the change of the conductor resistance with
temperature change.
Two types of electrical resistance thermometers are used:
1- Using high purity metals, copper nickel or platinum and having positive
temperature coefficient of resistance, i.e. resistance increases with
temperature.
2- Manufactured from semiconductor materials (mixtures of sintered metallic
oxides, carbon, germanium alloys, etc.) , which have negative coefficients of
resistance, i.e. resistance decrease with increase in temperature.
(Thermistors)
 Resistance Thermometers (RTDs)
• The most accurate devices in practical use
• Need for Lead Resistance Compensation
• Response time relatively slow (1-40 seconds)
• Usual materials: Platinum, nickel, copper…
What is inside the package?
 How does resistance change with
temperature?

R = R0 (1 + α∆T + β∆T 2 + ... ) where ∆T = T − T0

R R0 (1 + α∆T )
Linear approximation (good for platinum): =
 How do we measure RTD
resistance?
• Most sensitive method is by using the
Wheatstone bridge
After balancing the bridge,
the unknown resistance is
is determined from:
R3
RRTD = R1
R2
 Common Errors
• Lead-wire Effects.
• Stability.
• Self-heating.
• Sensitivity to strain. (Bonded RTD sensors
resemble strain gauges). (neglected in
most applications)
Lead wire resistance compensation
The problem:
Lead resistance can be 10%
to 50% (or more) of the total
resistance!
Solutions:
Shunt method for improving the linearity of RTD sensors
50 Ω Nickel
sensor
Resistance (Ω)

50 Ω Nickel sensor
with 150 Ω shunt
resistor
Temperature

Constant current Shunt

power supply resistor
Ro
Rs=3Ro
 Stability
• Is assured by aging the elements during
the manufacturing process.
• Can be a source of error when the upper
limit of the sensor is exceeded.
• Whenever the upper limit of a sensor is
exceeded, new temperature
measurements should be repeated until
stable and reproducible readings are
obtained.
 Self Heating
Care must be taken to avoid excessive current in the sensor, which may
cause errors due to self heating of the sensor. This problem can be
avoided by maintaining excitation voltage 0.25 V or less.

pT = i .RT
2
i=
Vs
2 2 RT
Vs
pT =
4 RT
∆Tsh = Fsh . pT
Where: Fsh is the self heating factor (provided by the manufacturer)

∆Tsh increase in temperature due to self heating

 Thermistors
Temperature Coefficient

R = a.e b/K
where:
R=Resistance (Ω).
K=absolute temperature.
a and b are constants over
a small temperature range.
Thermocouples
 The Thermocouple principles
Thermocouples are the most common sensors in industrial
use. They have a long history, the original paper on
thermoelectricity by Seebeck being published in 1822. They
consist of two dissimilar metallic conductors joined at the
point of measurement. When the conductors are heated a
voltage is generated in the circuit, and this can be used to
determine the temperature .

Operation based on
Seebeck effect
• Which results in the thermoelectric emf if
the circuit is cut in half
Any two wires of different materials can be used as a thermocouple if
connected together as in Figure. The AB connection is called the
"junction". When the junction temperature, TJct, is different from the
reference temperature, TRef, a low-level DC voltage, E , will be available at
the +/- terminals. The value of E depends on the materials A and B, on the
reference temperature, and on the junction temperature.

The simplest thermocouple

 Thermocouple Materials
The three most common thermocouple alloys for moderate
temperatures are Iron-Constantan (Type J), Copper-
Constantan (Type T), and Chromel-Alumel (Type K).
1.The first named element of the pair is the positive element.
2.The negative wire is color coded red (current U.S.
standards).

Three grades of wire are available in each type, based on calibration

accuracy: Precision, Standard, and Lead-Wire .
Ther mocouple Mater ials
Thermocouple material properties
Polynomial Form, Suitable For
Digital Data Processing
Tabular Form, Suitable For
Manual Use
Example: E type (Chromel Constantan) Thermocouple
Temperature Table
 How do we measure thermoelectric emf?
• Any DVM that we might use has copper
(possibly tin-plated or nickel-plated) terminals!

Additional Junctions
A problem arises when measuring the voltage across a dissimilar metal junction
- two additional thermocouple junctions form where the wires connect to the
voltmeter. If the wire leads which connect to the voltmeter are made "Cu", then
there exist thermal emf's at the A-C and B-C junctions. There are two
approaches to solve this problem: use a reference junction at a known
temperature, or make corrections for the thermocouples formed by the
connection to the voltmeter .
 Reference Junction Compensation

The Figure shows the use of

a "reference" or
"compensating" junction.
With this arrangement, there
are still two additional
thermocouple junctions
formed where the
compensated thermocouple
is connected to the
voltmeter.

However, the junctions are identical (they are both junctions between alloys
A and C). If the junctions are at the same temperature, then the voltages
across each junction will be equal and opposite, and will not affect the
measurement. Typically, the reference junction is held at 0 °C (by an ice
bath, for example) so that the voltmeter readings may be used to look up
the temperature .
 Pyrometers
• Radiation and Optical
Radiation pyrometer:
 Optical Pyrometers
The disappearing filament principle:
An operator sights onto a hot target, adjusts the range until its image is seen
in red. The lamp filament is initially cooler than the target and its image
appears as a darker red or black superimposed on the target’s image.
The lamp current is raised until the image of the filament becomes
hotter than the target and it appears as brighter red than the target.

The lamp current is

adjusted until the lamp
filament’s brightness*
temperature equals that of
the target. The filament’s
image blends into the
image of the target. The
filament “disappears”.
 IC Temperature Sensor
• IC temperature sensors are simple three-terminal
devices. Connect one pin to +5 to +20 volts, and
another to ground. The voltage at the output terminal
will be proportional to the temperature (10 millivolts
per degree).