THERMOMETRY BASED ON

THERMAL EXPANSION
 Most materials exhibit a change in size with changes in temperature.
Since this physical phenomenon is well defined and repeatable, it is
useful for temperature measurement
The liquid-in-glass thermometer and the bimetallic thermometer are
based on this phenomenon
Liquid-in-Glass Thermometers
A liquid-in-glass thermometer measures temperature by virtue of the
thermal expansion of a liquid
The liquid is contained in a glass structure that consists of a bulb and
a stem
The bulb serves as a reservoir and provides sufficient fluid for the
total volume change of the fluid to cause a detectable rise of the
liquid in the stem of the thermometer
The stem contains a capillary tube, and the difference in thermal
expansion between the liquid and the glass produces a detectable
change in the level of the liquid in the glass capillary
 Temperature measurements using liquid-in-glass thermometers can
provide uncertainties as low as 0.01oC under very carefully controlled
conditions
However, extraneous variables such as pressure and changes in bulb
volume over time can introduce significant errors in scale calibration
Mercury-in-glass thermometers have limited engineering
applications, but do provide reliable, temperature measurement. As
such, they are often used in household applications
Bimetallic Thermometers
The physical phenomenon employed in a bimetallic temperature
sensor is the differential thermal expansion of two metals
The sensor is constructed by bonding two strips of different metals, A
and B. The resulting bimetallic strip may be in a variety of shapes,
depending on the particular application
Consider the simple linear construction shown in Figure. At the
assembly temperature, T1 , the bimetallic strip is straight; however,
for temperatures other than T1 the strip has a curvature
 The physical basis for the
relationship between the radius
of curvature and temperature is
given as
 Bimetallic strips employ one metal having a high coefficient of
thermal expansion with another having a low coefficient, providing
increased sensitivity
Invar is often used as one of the metals, since for this material
= 1.7108 / as compared to steel, which range from
approximately 2105 to20105 /
ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE
THERMOMETRY
 As a result of the physical nature of the conduction of electricity,
electrical resistance of a conductor or semiconductor varies with
temperature
Using this behavior as the basis for temperature measurement is
extremely simple in principle, and leads to two basic classes of
resistance thermometers: resistance temperature detectors
(conductors) and thermistors (semiconductors)
Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) may be formed from a solid
metal wire that exhibits an increase in electrical resistance with
temperature
Depending on the materials selected, the resistance may increase or
decrease with temperature
 A thermistor may have a
positive temperature
coefficient (PTC) or a negative
temperature coefficient (NTC)
The PTC materials are metals
or alloys and the NTC materials
are semiconductors
Cryogenic temperatures are
included in this figure, and
germanium is clearly an
excellent choice for low
temperature measurement
because of its large sensitivity
Resistance Temperature Detectors
In the case of a resistance
temperature detector (RTD), the
sensor is generally constructed by
mounting a metal wire on an
insulating support structure to
eliminate mechanical strains, and
by encasing the wire to prevent
changes in resistance due to
influences from the sensors
environment, such as corrosion
 Mechanical strain changes a conductors resistance and must be
eliminated if accurate temperature measurements are to be made
This factor is essential because the resistance changes with
mechanical strain are significant, as evidenced by the use of metal
wire as sensors for the direct measurement of strain
Such mechanical stresses and resulting strains can be created by
thermal expansion. Thus, provision for strain-free expansion of the
conductor as its temperature changes is essential in the construction
of an RTD
The support structure also expands as the temperature of the RTD
increases, and the construction allows for strain-free differential
expansion.
Physical Principle of RTD
The relationship between the resistance of a metal conductor and its
temperature may be expressed as the polynomial expansion:

where Ro is a reference resistance measured at temperature To . The

coefficients ,, . . . are material constants
 Figure shows the relative
relation between resistance
and temperature for three
common metals
This figure provides evidence
that the relationship between
temperature and resistance
over specific small
temperature ranges is linear
This approximation can be
expressed as

where is the temperature

coefficient of resistivity
 For example, for platinum conductors the linear approximation is
accurate to within an uncertainty of +0.3% over the range 0200oC
and +1.2% over the range 200800oC
Table provided lists a number of temperature coefficients of resistivity
a for materials at 20oC
Platinum Resistance Temperature Device
Platinum is the most common material chosen for the construction of
RTDs
The principle of operation is quite simple: platinum exhibits a
predictable and reproducible change in electrical resistance with
temperature, which can be calibrated and interpolated to a high
degree of accuracy
The linear approximation for the relationship between temperature
and resistance is valid over a wide temperature range, and platinum is
highly stable.
THERMISTORS
Introduction
Thermistors (thermally sensitive resistors) are ceramic-like
semiconductor devices
The most common thermistors are NTC, and the resistance of these
thermistors decreases rapidly with temperature, which is in contrast
to the small increases of resistance with temperature for RTDs
Functional relationship between resistance and temperature for a
thermistor is generally assumed to be of the form
 Figure shows the variation
of resistance with
temperature for two
thermistor materials;
The ordinate is the ratio of
the resistance to the
resistance at 25oC
Thermistors exhibit large
resistance changes with
temperature in comparison
to typical RTD
 Equation is not accurate over a wide range of temperature, unless is
taken to be a function of temperature; typically the value of
specified by a manufacturer for a sensor is assumed to be constant
over a limited temperature range
Thermistors are generally used when high sensitivity, ruggedness, or
fast response times are required
Thermistors are often encapsulated in glass, and thus can be used in
corrosive or abrasive environments
 The resistance characteristics of the semiconductor material may
change at elevated temperatures, and some aging of a thermistor
occurs at temperatures above200oC
The high resistance of a thermistor, compared to that of an RTD,
eliminates the problems of lead wire resistance compensation
 THERMOELECTRIC
TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
Introduction
The most common method of measuring and controlling temperature uses
an electrical circuit called a thermocouple
A thermocouple consists of two electrical conductors that are made of
dissimilar metals and have at least one electrical connection
This electrical connection is referred to as a junction. A thermocouple
junction may be created by welding, soldering, or by any method that
provides good electrical contact between the two conductors, such as
twisting the wires around one another
The output of a thermocouple circuit is a voltage, and there is a definite
relationship between this voltage and the temperatures of the junctions
that make up the thermocouple circuit
Basic Thermocouple Circuit
Consider the
thermocouple circuit
shown in Figure
The junction labeled
1 is at a temperature
T1 and the junction
labeled 2 is at a
temperature T2
This thermocouple circuit measures the difference between T1 and T2
If T1 and T2 are not equal, a finite open-circuit electric potential, emf1 , is
measured
The magnitude of the potential depends on the difference in the
temperatures and the particular metals used in the thermocouple circuit
Origin of Thermoelectric phenomena
In an electrical conductor that is subject to a temperature gradient, there
will be both a flow of thermal energy and a flow of electricity
These phenomena are closely tied to the behavior of the free electrons in a
metal; it is no coincidence that good electrical conductors are, in general,
good thermal conductors
The characteristic behavior of these free electrons in an electrical circuit
composed of dissimilar metals results in a useful relationship between
temperature and emf
There are three basic phenomena that can occur in a thermocouple circuit
a) Seebeck effect
b) Peltier effect
c) Thomson effect
Seebeck Effect
Under measurement conditions with no loading errors, the emf
generated by a thermocouple circuit would be the result of the
Seebeck effect only
The Seebeck effect, named for Thomas Johann Seebeck (17701831),
refers to the generation of a voltage potential, or emf, in an open
thermocouple circuit due to a difference in temperature between
junctions in the circuit
There is a fixed, reproducible relationship between the emf and the
junction temperatures T1 and T2
 This relationship is expressed by the Seebeck coefficient, a AB ,
defined as

where A and B refer to the two materials that comprise the

thermocouple
Since the Seebeck coefficient specifies the rate of change of voltage
with temperature for the materials A and B, it is equal to the static
sensitivity of the open-circuit thermocouple
Peltier Effect
A familiar concept is that of I2R or joule
heating in a conductor through which
an electrical current flows
Consider the two conductors having a
common junction through which an
electrical current I flows due to an
externally applied emf
For any portion of either of the
conductors, the energy removal rate
required to maintain a constant
temperature is I2R
 However, at the junction of the two dissimilar metals the removal of a
quantity of energy different than I2R is required to maintain a
constant temperature
The difference in I2R and the amount of energy generated by the
current flowing through the junction is due to the Peltier effect
The Peltier effect is due to the thermodynamically reversible
conversion of energy as a current flows across the junction, in
contrast to the irreversible dissipation of energy associated with I2R
losses
This amount of energy is proportional to the current flowing through
the junction; the proportionality constant is the Peltier coefficient
, and the heat transfer required to maintain a constant
temperature is
 This behavior was discovered by Jean Charles Athanase Peltier (1785
1845) during experiments with Seebecks thermocouple
He observed that passing a current through a thermocouple circuit
having two junctions raised the temperature at one junction, while
lowering the temperature at the other junction
This effect forms the basis of a device known as a Peltier refrigerator,
which provides cooling without moving parts
Thomson Effect
In addition to the Seebeck effect and
the Peltier effect, there is a third
phenomenon that occurs in
thermoelectric circuits
Consider the conductor shown in
Figure, which is subject to a
longitudinal temperature gradient
and also to a potential difference,
such that there is a flow of current
and heat in the conductor
 Again, to maintain a constant temperature in the conductor it is found
that a quantity of energy different than the joule heat, I2R, must be
removed from the conductor
First noted by William Thomson (18241907, Lord Kelvin from 1892)
in 1851, this energy is expressed in terms of the Thomson coefficient,
, as
Basic Temperature Measurement with
Thermocouples
Figure shows basic thermocouple circuit, using a chromelconstantan
thermocouple and an ice bath to create a reference temperature
Reference Junction
The provisions for a reference junction should provide a temperature that
is accurately known, stable, and reproducible. A very common reference
junction temperature is provided by the ice point, 0oC, because of the ease
with which it can be obtained
This was prior to the development of an electronic means of creating a
reference point in the electric circuit
Electronic reference junctions provide a convenient means of the
measurement of temperature without the necessity to construct an ice
bath
The electronics generally rely on a thermistor, a temperature-sensitive
integrated circuit, or an RTD to determine the reference junction
temperature
RADIATIVE TEMPERATURE
MEASUREMENTS