Temperature

Measurement

Prepared by:
Dr Nupur Aggarwal
(Physics)
INTRODUCTION
• Temperature is an important parameter in many control
systems
• Several distinctly different transduction mechanisms
are employed
• These include non electrical as well as electrical
methods
• A thermometer is the most common non electrical
sensor
•Common electrical sensors include thermocouples,
thermistors and resistance thermometers
 Types of Temperature Sensors

 Thermocouples

 Thermistors

 Resistance - Temperature Detectors (RTD)

 What is a thermocouple ?
• A thermocouple is a temperature-measuring device consisting
of two dissimilar conductors that contact each other at one or
more spots.

• A thermocouple comprises of at least two metals joined

together to form two junctions. One is connected to the body
whose temperature is to be measured-this is the hot or
measuring junction.

• The other junction is connected to a body of known

temperature; this is the cold or reference junction. Therefore
the thermocouple measures unknown temperature of the body
with reference to the known temperature of the other body.
 Where are they used ?
• Thermocouples are a widely used as temperature sensors for
measurement, control and can also convert a temperature
into electricity.
• Thermocouples are widely used in research and industry;
applications include temperature measurement for furnaces,
gas turbine exhaust, diesel engines, and other industrial
processes.
• Thermocouples are also used in homes & offices as
temperature sensors in thermostats and also in flame
sensors for fire detection.
 Working principle.
• The working principle of thermocouple is based on three
effects discovered by Seebeck, Peltier and Thomson. They are
as follows:
• 1) Seebeck effect: The Seebeck effect states that when two
different or unlike metals are joined together at two junctions,
an electromotive force (emf) is generated at the two junctions.
The amount of emf generated is different for different
combinations of the metals.
• 2) Peltier effect: when two dissimilar metals are joined
together to form two junctions, emf is generated within the
circuit due to the different temperatures of the two junctions
of the circuit.
• 3) Thomson effect: when two unlike metals are joined
together forming two junctions, the potential exists within
the circuit due to temperature gradient along the entire
length of the conductors within the circuit.

• In most of the cases the emf suggested by the Thomson

effect is very small and it can be neglected by making
proper selection of the metals. The Peltier effect plays a
prominent role in the working principle of the
thermocouple.
 How does it work ?
• when any conductor is subjected to change in temperature, it
will generate a voltage. This is now known as the
thermoelectric effect or Seebeck effect.
• Any attempt to measure this voltage necessarily involves
connecting another conductor to the "hot" end. This additional
conductor experiences the same temperature gradient and
also develops a voltage.
• The magnitude of the effect depends on the metal in use, and so
a nonzero voltage will be measured if two dissimilar metals are
used. After carefully calibrating the temperature-voltage
dependence for a given pair of metals, these metals can be used
as a thermometer.
APPLICATIONS OF
THERMOCOUPLES

• Thermocouples are most suitable for measuring over a

large temperature range, up to 1800 °C
• These are widely used in the steel industry, heating
appliances, manufacturing of electrical equipments like
switch gears etc.
Advantages of Thermocouple
1. The thermocouple type of instruments accurately indicates the root

mean square value of current and voltages irrespective of the waveform.

There is a wide varieties of range of thermocouple instruments are
available in the market.
2. Thermocouple type of instruments give very accurate reading even at
high frequency, thus these types of instruments are completely free from
frequency errors.
3. The measurement of quantity under these instruments is not affected
by stray magnetic fields.
4. These instruments are known for their high sensitivity.
Disadvantages
Instead of many advantages these type of instruments posses one
disadvantage, The over load capacity of thermocouple type of
instrument is small, even fuse is not able to the heater wire
because heater wire may burn out before the fuse blows out.
THERMISTOR
 Thermistor is the short form for ‘Thermal Resistor’. The device
consists of a bulk semiconductor device that acts as a resistor
with a high and negative temperature co-efficient of resistance,
sometimes as high as -6% per degree Celsius rise in
temperature.

 Due to this property of high sensitivity (that is, huge resistance

change for a small change in temperature), the thermistor is
mainly applicable in precision temperature measurement,
temperature control, and temperature compensation, especially
in a lower temperature range of -100 degree Celsius to +300
degree Celsius.
THERMISTOR
SYMBOL
 THERMISTOR TYPES
 Themistors are broadly divide into two categories
according to the temperature coefficient.

 Posistor or Positive Temperature Coefficient

Thermistor (PTC).

 Negative Temperature Coefficient Thermistor

(NTC).
 For studying about the different types of
thermistors, it is important to understand the
formula which shows the linear relationship
between resistance and temperature.

 As a 1st order approximation, the change in resistance is

equal to the 1st order temperature co- efficient of
resistance times the change in temperature.

 dR = k.dT

where, dR – Change in Resistance.

k – 1st Order Temperature Coefficient of

Resistance.
 If the value of temperature coefficient of resistance
(k) is positive, an increase in temperature increases the
resistance. Such a device can be called a Posistor or
Positive Temperature Coefficient Thermistor (PTC)

 If the value of k is negative, an increase in

temperature will decrease the resistance value. Such a
device is called a Negative Temperature Coefficient
Thermistor (NTC).
RESISTANCE VS TEMPERATURE
CHARACTERISTIC CURVE
CONSTRUCTION OF
THERMISTORS
 Thermistor are composed of sintered mixture of
metallic oxides such as manganese, nickel cobalt,
copper, iron and uranium.

 They are available in variety of sizes and shapes.

 Thermistors may be in the form of beads, probes, rods

and discs.
 ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES OF THERMISTORS

• Thermistors, since they can be very small, are used

inside many other devices as temperature sensing and
correction devices
• Thermistors typically work over a relatively small
temperature range, compared to other temperature
sensors, and can be very accurate and precise within
that range
APPLICATIONS OF THERMISTORS

• PTC thermistors can be used as current-limiting

devices for circuit protection, as replacements for
fuses.
• PTC thermistors can be used as heating elements in
small temperature-controlled ovens.
• NTC thermistors are used as resistance thermometers
in low-temperature measurements of the order of 10 K.
• NTC thermistors are regularly used in automotive
applications.
RESISTANCE TEMPERATURE
DETECTOR (RTD)
 A resistance temperature detector (RTD) can also be
called a resistance thermometer as the temperature
measurement will be a measure of the output
resistance.

 The main principle of operation of an RTD is that

when the temperature of an object increases or
decreases, the resistance also increases or decreases
proportionally.
 The main difference between a RTD and a Thermistors
is that the sensing element used in a RTD is a metal and
a thermistor uses ceramic or polymer material.

 As platinum is the most commonly used metal for

making RTD’s, the device can also be called Platinum
Resistance Thermometers (PRT’s).
 TEMPERATURE COEFFICIENT OF
RESISTANCE.
 Resistive Temperature Detectors (RTDs) relate resistance
to temperature by the following formula:

RT = Rref[1 + α(T − Tref)]

Where, RT = Resistance of RTD at given temperature T
(ohms)
Rref = Resistance of RTD at the reference temperature Tref
(ohms)
α = Temperature coefficient of resistance (ohms per
ohm/degree)
 RTD TYPES
 RTD types are broadly classified according to the
different sensing elements used. Platinum, Nickel and
Copper are the most commonly used sensing elements.

 Platinum is considered the best as it has the widest

temperature range.

 In industrial applications, a PRT is known to measure

temperatures as high as 1500 degree Fahrenheit while
copper and Nickel can measure only to a maximum of
400 degree Fahrenheit.
RTD-RESISTANCE VERSUS
TEMPERATURE GRAPH
RTD WIRING ARRANGEMENTS
 RTD’s are available with either two, three, or four
output wires for connection to the secondary
instrument.

 The various wiring arrangements are designed to reduce

and/or eliminate any errors introduced due to
resistance changes of the lead wires when they also
undergo temperature changes.

 RTDs used for electrical equipment generally use either

a three-wire system or a four-wire system having paired
lead wires.
TWO-WIRE RTD CIRCUITS
 The following schematic diagrams show the
relative effects of 2 ohms total wire resistance on
a thermistor circuit and on an RTD circuit:
 Clearly, wire resistance is more problematic for low-
resistance RTDs than for high-resistance thermistors.

 In the RTD circuit, wire resistance counts for 1.96% of

the total circuit resistance.

 In the thermistor circuit, the same 2 ohms of wire

resistance counts for only 0.004% of the total circuit
resistance.

 2-wire construction is the least accurate since there is

no way of eliminating the lead wire resistance from the
sensor measurement. 2-wire RTD’s are mostly used with
short lead wires or where close accuracy is not required.
 FOUR-WIRE RTD CIRCUITS
 Commonly employed to make precise resistance
measurements for scientific experiments in laboratory
conditions, the four-wire technique uses four wires to
connect the resistance under test (in this case, the RTD)
to the measuring instrument:
 Current is supplied to the RTD from a current source,
whose job it is to precisely regulate current regardless of
circuit resistance.

 A voltmeter measures the voltage dropped across the RTD, and

Ohm’s Law is used to calculate the resistance of the RTD (R
=V/I).

 None of the wire resistances are significant in this circuit.

 The two wires carrying current to the RTD will drop some
voltage along their length, but this is of no concern because
the voltmeter only “sees” the voltage dropped across the RTD
rather than the voltage drop across the current source.
 While the two wires connecting the voltmeter to the RTD do have
resistance, they drop negligible voltage because the voltmeter
draws so little current through them.
 Thus, the resistances of the current-carrying wires are of no
effect because the voltmeter never senses their voltage drops,
and the resistances of the voltmeter’s sensing wires are of no
effect because they carry practically zero current.

 4-wire construction is used primarily in the laboratory where close

accuracy is required. In a 4 wire RTD the actual resistance of the
lead wires can be determined and removed from the sensor
measurement.
DISADVANTAGE OF THE FOUR-
WIRE.
 The only disadvantage of the four-wire method is the
sheer number of wires necessary.

 Four wires per RTD can add up to a sizeable wire count

when many different RTDs are installed in a process
area.

 Wires cost money, and occupy expensive outlet, so

there are situations where the four-wire method is a
burden.
THREE-WIRE RTD CIRCUITS.
 A compromise between two-wire and four-wire RTD
connections is the three-wire connection, which looks
like this:
 In a three-wire RTD circuit, voltmeter “A” measures the voltage
dropped across the RTD (plus the voltage dropped across the
bottom current-carrying wire).

 Voltmeter “B” measures just the voltage dropped across the

top current-carrying wire.

 Assuming both current-carrying wires will have (very nearly) the

same resistance, subtracting the indication of voltmeter “B”
from the indication given by voltmeter “A” yields the voltage

 3-wire construction is most commonly used in industrial

applications where the third wire provides a method for removing
the average lead wire resistance from the sensor measurement.
 If the resistances of the two current-carrying wires are precisely
identical (and this includes the electrical resistance of any
connections within those current-carrying paths, such as terminal
blocks),the calculated RTD voltage will be the same as the true
RTD voltage, and no wire-resistance error will appear.
 If, however, one of those current-carrying wires happens to exhibit
more resistance than the other, the calculated RTD voltage will not
be the same as the actual RTD voltage, and a measurement error
will result.

 Thus, we see that the three-wire RTD circuit saves us wire cost
over a four-wire circuit, but at the “expense” of a potential
measurement error.
ADVANTAGES
. Very high accuracy.
 Excellent stability and reproducibility.

 Interchangeability.

 Ability to be matched to close tolerances for

temperature difference measurements.

 Ability to measure narrow spans.

 Suitability for remote measurement.

DISADVANTAGES.
 Susceptibility to mechanical damage.

 Need for lead wire resistance compensation.

 Sometimes expensive.

 Susceptibility to self-heating error.

 Susceptibility to signal noise.

 Unsuitability for bare use in electrically

conducting substance.

 Generally not repairable

 Need for power supply

 Platinum Resistance
Thermometer
The platinum thermal resistance (PTR) uses platinum for
determining the temperature. It works on the principle
that the resistance of platinum changes with the change
of temperature. The thermometer measures the
temperature over the range of 200°C to1200°C.

The platinum is an unreactive metal and can easily be

drawn into fine wires. Because of these properties of
platinum, it is used as a sensing element in thermometer.
Why Platinum?
Platinum has been chosen as the standard material for resistance
thermometers as it gives an extremely linear resistance change in
relation to temperature and is very stable. It is therefore much easier to
control accuracy over a wide temperature range. It also has the
advantage of having a very wide operating temperature range.
What are the different types?
Most users of temperature probes will be familiar with the terminology
Pt100, Pt500 or Pt1000.
Pt is the chemical symbol for Platinum and denotes its use in the sensor.
Other sensors may use Cu (copper) or Ni (Nickel) accordingly.
The number relates to the resistance value at 0°C. So a Pt100 will have
a resistance of 100Ω at 0°C, and it follows that a Pt1000 will be 1000Ω
at 0°C.
 Construction of Platinum
Resistance Thermometer
The platinum sensing coil is enclosed
inside a bulb which is either made of
glass or Pyrex. The insulator deposit
on the surface of the glass tube is also
used for sensing the temperature. In
this PTR, the double wire of the
platinum is wound on the strip of the
mica. Here the double wires are used
for reducing the inductive effect. The
mica is used as an insulator, and it is
placed at the ends of the tube.
Advantages of Platinum
Resistance Thermometer

• The temperature measurement through platinum

resistance thermometer is easier as compared to the gas
thermometer.
• The meter gives the precise reading of temperature.
• The thermometer has a wide range from 200 to 1200°
Celsius.
• The thermometer is quite sensitive.
• The platinum has same resistance at the same
temperature.
Disadvantages of Platinum
Resistance Thermometer

• The thermometer gives the slow response.

• The melting point of the thermometer is 1800° Celsius.
But when platinum measures the temperature higher
than 1200°C they start evaporating.
• When the thermometer constructed carefully, it provides
the excellent sensitivity and high range of measurement.