Temperature

Measuremennt

Definition
Temperature is the degree of hotness and coldness of a body.

UNITS OF TEMPERATURE
With SI units a thermodynamic scale known as Kelvin(K) is

used. The lowest point is

K.

0K and the fixed point is at 273.15

The temperature scale in everyday use is the Celsius (C)

which has C for the temperature of melting ice and 100C

for boiling point of water.
To relationship between the two scales is xC= (x+273)K
The third scale is the F ( Fahrenheit)
a. 90.188 K = boiling point of oxygen
b. 1235.08 K= freezing point of silver

Measurement of
Temperature
Non electrical

- Depends on the thermal expansion properties of solids, liquid or gases

when they are exposed to temperature changes and they have no electrical
connections and commonly used in areas there is risk of explosion.
A. Expansion of liquids
-It indicates temperature due to the different expansion rates of liquid
commonly mercury or alcohol and the glass container. Since the
coefficient of expansion of fluids is greater than that of glass a
temperature changes causes the fluid to expand along capillary tube.
Example of these is the liquid in glass thermometer which are accurate
since they have no moving mechanism to develop faults. However the
thermal lag considerably increases the response time of the thermometer.
Signal Conditioning
It is achieved by the capillary tube which converts liquid expansion into a fluid
movement against a scale.

Industrial Liquid Expansion

Thermometers

Example Problem

A bourdon tube temperature indicator has a range of

0C to 200C and produces a corresponding pointer

rotation of 0C to 270C if the mechanical lever and
gears have an amplification of 25. Determine the
sensitivity of the Bourdon tube in rad/C

B. Expansion of vapours and gases

-Vapour thermometers use exactly as liquid in metal
thermometer however it used a bulb party filled with a
volatile liquid such as methyl chloride, sulphur dioxide the
rest is being filled with vapour. A temperature increase
cause more liquid to evaporate and the resultant increase
in pressure is sensed by the Bourdon tube
-Gas thermometers operate on the same principle but an
inert gas such as nitrogen is used as the operating medium
Since the gas has a lower thermal capacity than fluids,
shorter response times can be achieved.
-Both of these types of thermometer have non-linear scales.
C. Expansion of solids
- Thermometers employing the expansion of solids use the
different expansion rates of two dissimilar metals which are
welded together in the form of a bimetallic strip.

Electrical Method

Two main electrical methods use for measuring temperature:

A. Self-generating transducers namely thermocouples
B. Variable control parameters namely variable-resistance transducer.

-Thermoelectric pyrometers
- The most versatile type of temperature measuring device available
and most widely used. They all employ thermocouples as the
temperature-sensitive element. There are 2 important consideration
in using thermoelectric pyrometers.
1. Maintaining a constant cold junction reference temperature and
2. Remote indication requiring the use of extension leads.
Thermocouple can be divided into three broad types:
3. Base Metal
4. Rare Metal and
5. Non- mettalic

Base Metal
Thermocouples
It uses combination of pure metal and alloys
of iron, copper and nickel are used in the
lower range of temperatures up to 1450K.
They have the ff. advantages
1. The material of construction is cheaper.
2. Higher ouput voltages obtained
However they are more prone to oxidation
and corrosion and their allowable
temperature range is lower.

Rare-Metal Thermocouple
It uses combinations of pure metal and alloys of

platinum and rhodium for temperatures up to 2000K

and tungsten,rhenium and molybdenum for
temperature up to 2900K.

NonMettalic
Thermocouple
The use of non-mettalic thermocouples is not very
widespread. However one novel use of them is in the
power packs of the Viking 1 and 2 space explorer.
Larger output voltages can be generated by using a
series of thermocouple knowns as Thermopile.

Thermocouple Ranges

Cold-junction Reference
The cold-junction temperature must be maintained at a constant value or

inaacuracies will result.

A.
Provision of a fixed reference temperature such as an icebath which
maintain the cold junction at 0C
B.
Provision of stable temperature by using a thermostatically controlled
cold junction held just above the maximum ambient temperature.
C.
By automatic cold-junction compensation using a thermistor to sense any
ambient temperature changes

o.

Extension Leads

To overcome necessity for using lond expensive lengths of

thermocouple wire to connect the hot junction to a remote
measuring instrument ,extension leads are used.

Signal Conditioning of Extension

Leads
Output voltages generated by thermocouples

are low, especially especially for the rare

metal type, typically 10mV d.c. at 10000C,
necessitating the use of either very sensitive
galvanometers or high gain, high stability d.c.
amplifiers.

Resistance Thermometer
Resistance temperature sensing elements can be classified into two groups: Metals

and Semiconductor.
A.
Metallic Resistance Thermometer
- Measurement of lower temperature up to 600 C . Advantages of this
1.
High degree of accuracy
2.
Long-term Stability
In general, the resistance of most metals is given by a quadratic relationship
R=R(1+aT+bT)
Where R= resistance at absolute temperature
R= resistance at 0K
a and b= constant obtained experimentally
However , over a limited temperature range around 273K linear relationship can be
applied
R=R(1+)
Where = temperature coefficient of the resistance of the material (ohms/ohm)/C
R= resistance at 0C
= temperature relative to 0C

If a change in temperature from to c is considered,

R=R+R(- )
Rearranging gives.
= +(R- R)/R
Example: A platinum resistance thermometer has a resistance of
138.5 at 100C. If its increases to 281 when it is in contact with
hot gas. Determine the temperature of gas. The resistance can be
taken as 100 at 0 C. for platinum is 0.00039 C1.
= +(R- R)/R
=100+(281 -138.5 )/(0.00039 C1. X 100 )
= 100C + 365.4 C
= 465.4 C
The 2 most common metals used are platinum and nickel. Resistance
thermometer has the ff. advantages
1. High resistance to chemical attack and contamination
2. A very stable relationship over a wide temperature range and
3. It forms the most easily reproducible type of temperature
transducer.

Semiconductor Resistance
Thermometer

Semiconductor resistance elements are available with positive temperature

coefficients however they are generally used for temperature compensation

and overheating protection rather than temperature measurement. The
common semiconductor used is the thermistor which is manufactured from
oxides of copper, manganese , nickel, cobalt and lithium.
Thermistor has the ff. advantages.
1. Small size, enabling spot and surface temperature measurements
2. A large temperature coefficient ex. Higher sensitivity than other
temperature sensors, enabling very small temperature changes can be
measured.
3. An ability to withstand electrical and mechanical stresses.
4. A wide operating-temperature changes and
5. A wide range of resistance values.
Disadvantages are a non-linear resistance temperature characteristics and
problem of self heating effects which is necessitate the use of much lower
current levels than with mettalic sensors.

Signal Conditioning
The output from the sensing element in al

resistance thermometers is a change in

resistance which can therefore be sensed
using a bridge network. However, since the
resistance change is much larger than with
resistance strain gauges, special precautions
must be taken in the bridge design to
minimuse non-linearities.

Radiation Methods
All of the temperature measuring methods discussed all require contact

between sensing element and the hot body. With radiation pyrometers however
no physical contact is required. They rely on the fact that all bodies above
absolute zero emit electromagnetic radiation. This can be used for..
1.
A measurement of very high temperature and
2.
A measurement of the temperature of inaccessible hot bodies.
.
All radiation pyrometers are calibrated to read correctly when viewing a black
body(thermodynamic concept of a body) which not only absorbs all energy
incident upon it but also the best possible of emitter of energy.
.
Errors can rise when pyrometers are used to measure temperatures but in the
open.
P= T
Where: P=total radiated power (W)
T= body temperature (K)
=Stefans Constant = 5.67 X 10- Wm- K-
= emissivity

Example Problem
The power radiated from a molten metal is

measured and the temperature is determined to

be 1500C, assuming a surface emissivity of 0.82.
If it is later found that a more accurate estimation
of this emissivity is 0.75. Calculate the actual
temperature of the metal.

Optical Pyrometers
Optical pyrometers use the intensity of visible

radiation with wavelengths in the range of 4 x

10-7 m to 8 x 10-7 m approximately , to
measure the temperature of the body. Hence
they are suitable only for temperature above
650C which is the minimum temperature for
the radiation to become visible. Most common
type of this is the disappearing filament type.
Optical pyrometers are useful for measuring
the temperatures of very small objects.

Infra-red pyrometers
The infra-red pyrometer operates by focusing the infra-red radiation of

the hot body on to a temperature-sensing element such as a

resistance thermometer or thermopile. It uses electrical sensors,
continous according or indicating is possible.

Signal Conditioning
A common design used for optical pyrometers uses a bridge circuit in
which the filament lamp is connected in one of the arms and the
balancing galvanometer is calibrated in terms of temperature.
Calibration Methods
. Calibration requires the accurate use of specifieds devices over a
certain ranges as follows based on International Practical Temperature
Scale
. 131.81K to 903.89K platinum resistance thermometer
. 903.89K to 1337.58K platinum-platinum/10% rhodium thermocouple
. Over 1337.58K optical pyrometer

Data-logging system for

temperature measurement
The inputs from several thermocouples may be displayed

and recorded sequentially by using the data-logging

sytem. The scanning unit scans each input in turn and the
lineariser compensates for the non-linearity in the
thermocouple characteristics before applying the resulting
outpult voltage to a digital voltmeter (D.V.M). D.V.M has
three functions.
1. To display, in digital form , the temperatures of the
thermocouples.
2. To provide an output to a pre-set alarm unit.
3. To provide an output voltage to drive a typewriter or
printer which provides a permanent record of the
temperatures.