GUTECH
Temperature Measurement
Demonstrating different temperature
measurement techniques
Mohammed Omer 000-11-0050
1/5/2014
In this experiment contact and non-contact measurement techniques were demonstrated.
Mohammed Omer 11-0050@[Link]
000-11-0050 Gutech - LTT Lab Report
Table of Contents
1 Experiment 1 - Thermocouple element ............................................................................................. 2
1.1 Aim of experiment ....................................................................................................................... 2
1.2 Physical background and theory .................................................................................................. 2
1.3 Experiment 1a - Procedure and Results ....................................................................................... 3
1.4 Discussion..................................................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Demonstration 1b-Thermoelectric Generator ............................................................................. 4
1.51 Theory .................................................................................................................................... 4
1.52 Demonstration ....................................................................................................................... 4
2 Experiment 2 - Contactless temperature measurement ................................................................... 5
2.1 Physical background and theory .................................................................................................. 5
2.2 Experiment 2a- Pyrometer .......................................................................................................... 5
2.21 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................................... 7
2.3 Experiment 2b - Infrared Thermometer ...................................................................................... 7
2.31 Physical background and theory ............................................................................................ 7
2.32 Experimental Procedure ........................................................................................................ 7
2.33 Results and discussion............................................................................................................ 7
3 References........................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Internet ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2 Journals ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.3 Books ........................................................................................................................................... 8
4 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................. 9
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MTL 4.2 - Temperature Measurements
1 Experiment 1 - Thermocouple element
1.1 Aim of experiment
The aim of the first part of this experiment was to calibrate and use a thermocouple thermometer
and in the second part the working principle of a thermoelectric generator was demonstrated.
1.2 Physical background and theory
A thermocouple thermometer works by the ‘Seebeck’ effect. This effect occurs when two dissimilar
electrical conductors or semiconductors are connected together and a temperature difference is
created at its junctions. When the two ends of the thermocouple are subjected to a temperature
difference a voltage difference is created between the two metals that can be measured by a
voltmeter. This happens because the metals react differently to the temperature difference. During a
one sided heating the velocity of the electrons in the hot end increase more than that of the cold
side. Therefore the electrons on the hot side get the tendency to move towards the cold side. This
creates a charge transfer with electrons concentrating on the cold side and making it more
electronegative, while the hot side becomes more electropositive. This uneven charge distribution
creates an electric field that produces a force that tries to repel the electrons to the hot end,
consequently creating a voltage potential or thermoelectric voltage.
To make a thermocouple thermometer and create an uneven charge distribution in response to a
change in temperature, two dissimilar metals are required. The change in voltage created by this
temperature difference can be measured by a sensitive voltmeter. A thermocouple always measures
a voltage difference due to a temperature difference, therefore two different temperatures are
required to obtain meaningful results. So a reference temperature must be set. In this case the
reference temperature was set as ice in water with a temperature of 6 . Pure nickel wire and nickel
chromium wire were used to make the thermocouple, since these both have different thermal
conductivities. If the voltage V(T) measured by the voltmeter is plotted against the temperature
measured ሻ by a thermometer, a linear relationship can be obtained for NiCr and Ni for lower
temperatures. The gradient or slope of this linear graph gives the value of k. This relationship can be
used to calibrate the thermocouple with the relationship:-
ሻ
ሻ ሻ (1)
is a function of the temperature ሻ. is the voltage reading for the first
medium and the voltage reading for the second medium. is the
temperature for the first medium and the temperature for the second
medium. is the calibration constant.
Different metal combinations can be used for different measurement ranges, like platinum and
platinum alloy combinations can be used for the largest measurement ranges, since as can be seen
in Fig.1, the slope of platinum combinations is very low. This means the measurement accuracy in
noble elements is much smaller for low temperatures. But for Ni-NiCr combination the slope on the
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graph is much higher and linear for lower temperatures and so the measurement accuracy is higher
for lower temperatures. The common temperature range for nickel materials is from 170K to 420K
whereas for platinum materials it is a much higher range from 10K to 1337K.[1]
Figure 1:- Voltage-Temperature curve for
different metals.
Once and are obtained with 2 different readings, and is calculated, the new thermocouple
voltage reading is divided by the factor to determine the temperature.
1.3 Experiment 1a - Procedure and Results
Firstly two lengths of nickel chromium (Ni-Cr) wire and 1 length of pure nickel (Ni) wire, each
measuring 30cm were cut from spools of the respective wires using a wire cutter. These wires were
connected as shown in the schematic in Figure.2 below with red denoting Ni-Cr and green denoting
Ni.
Figure 2:- Connection schematic of Ni and Ni-Cr wires.
The measurement and the reference ends were made by twisting the two ends of the wires
together. The reference head was dipped in a beaker filled with the ice water at a temperature of
6oC and the measuring head was dipped in boiling water at 100oC. The other two ends were
connected with alligator clips to the voltmeter positive and negative terminals respectively as shown
in figure.2. The temperature ሻ for the boiling water was read from the thermometer
inserted in boiling water. The voltage reading ሻ was noted from the voltmeter. This was
the first set of readings and represented the first point on the linear graph
Next the thermocouple was tested in the atmosphere. The room temperature ሻ was
read off a thermometer kept in an open space in the room. Then the voltage reading ͻሻ
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was read off the voltmeter by exposing the measuring junction of the thermocouple to the
atmosphere. This was the second set of readings and represented the second point on the linear
graph. Now the gradient of the graph i.e. the calibration constant ( ) could be calculated using
equation 1 to give:-
ሻ
ሻ
ͻሻ
ሻ
Next the thermocouple was used to measure the temperature of another beaker ( ଷሻ with water in
it along with a thermometer in it to calculate the error of the thermocouple. Again the reference
head was dipped in the ice water and the measuring head was dipped in the new beaker. The
voltmeter then read ଷ ሻ. Then along with the values of ሻ, ሻ,
ሻ were plugged into equation 1 to obtain ଷ . The actual thermometer
o
reading of the water was 60.2 C. Therefore using equation 2 below the error was found to be about
5.0%. This meant our thermometer was quite accurate.
௨ ௨ (2)
௨
௨
1.4 Discussion
The error in the results could be due to several reasons. The voltmeter was not very precise and the
readings kept fluctuating. There might have been some human error while reading the
thermometers. Also the ambient temperature might have been a bad choice as a reference, since
with people entering and leaving the room the temperature in the experiment vicinity was bound to
have been changing slightly. The most obvious instrumental error would be the ends of the
thermocouple that were inserted into the boiling water and ice water. If these ends were not
properly and completely inserted into the fluids it could lead to error. Also
1.5 Demonstration 1b-Thermoelectric Generator
1.51 Theory
When a thermocouple element is not connected to a voltmeter but connected so that a current
flows, it can be used as a safety mechanism for flame monitoring in combustion stoves or gas water
heaters. This mechanism is used to control the fuel inflow valve in combustion stoves or gas water
heaters, whereby the thermocouple element exposed to the flame is constantly heated and so has a
current flowing, but in case the flame goes out the element starts to cool and current stops. This
closes the fuel inlet valve, preventing the inflow of too much gas which could later combust
spontaneously on a spark and lead to major accidents. This is one of the important applications
where a thermoelectric generator is used in industry.
1.52 Demonstration
This phenomenon was demonstrated using a special setup that had two aluminium plates in contact
with each other, with the top plate having an ice cube in it. Between these two aluminium plates
was placed a ‘Peltier’ element. The ends of the wires were connected to a small motor having a fan
attached. When the ice cube created a temperature difference between the plates a current was
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generated and the fan spun. But when the ice was removed and no temperature difference was
detected, current flow stopped which stopped the fan from spinning. This experiment demonstrated
how a thermocouple-element (Peltier element) could be used to produce electricity and control
industrial applications.
2 Experiment 2 - Contactless temperature measurement
2.1 Physical background and theory
The Infrared thermometer and the Radiation pyrometer work on the same contactless temperature
measurement principle. This technique relies on the fact that all objects with a temperature above
absolute zero emit infrared radiation. This is called characteristic radiation depending on the
temperature. That means that the radiation associated to a small wavelength range is a function of
temperature. A black body is a special case of these radiation emitters, which is idealised in such a
way that it absorbs all radiation when light hits it. The radiation emitted from the black body
depends only on its temperature and its wave-length . This is described by Plank’s law. Since the
black body is ideal it absorbs the maximum radiation, therefore all other materials have a lower
radiation than the black body. The radiation power of real materials is less than that emitted
by a black body however their spectral curves are very similar.
2.2 Experiment 2a- Pyrometer
Among other pyrometers like colour, radiation and brightness, the brightness pyrometer gives the
highest accuracy in the range of 103 to 104K. The pyrometer used was a brightness partial radiation
pyrometer, which had two spaced out lenses and within the scope with a V-shaped filament in
between them. The temperature of this electrically heated filament could be could be varied using a
potentiometer (W) that varied the resistance and therefore the current flowing through the
filament. This was effectively the way to change the brightness of the filament as desired.
Figure 3:- Setup of the brightness pyrometer.
A short and long-pass filter was placed in the pyrometer that allowed waves only on a narrow range
(i.e about 650 nm) to pass. This range was the infrared spectrum therefore the source filament could
be seen as a red rectangle and overlapping this image was the V-filament within the pyrometer. The
pyrometer had two spindles, one for coarse adjustment and the other for fine adjustment. These
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could be used to finely increase or decrease current flowing through the filament and so effectively
the brightness of the pyrometer filament. The brightness of the filament was adjusted until the
filament became almost indistinguishable in the image of the source by judging with the eyes.
The scale of the device that showed the filament current was initially calibrated with the value of the
current corresponding to the temperature of a black body at the corresponding radiance. The
measured temperature displayed on the scale was therefore the temperature of a black body
with the same spectral radiance ఒ ሻ as that of the measured source object ఒ ሻ.
To determine the temperature of the tungsten filament source the emissivity of the source should
be known. This was taken form Table.1 below, that shows the emissivity of tungsten for a
wavelength of 650nm at various temperatures. The values show that emissivity depends only slightly
on the temperature.
Table 1:- Emissivity of tungsten at different temperatures. (Hamaker, H.C., Diss.: Univ. Utrecht,
1934 u. Physica 3 (1936), S. 561)
The temperature could then be calculated by the equation:-
ି (3)
m.K
మ
Since it is obvious here that is a function of , the above function can be graphically plotted as
shown in the graph below where is plotted on the X-axis and T of the source on the Y-axis for
several temperatures. Therefore evaluating the source temperature this way is much easier than
using the formula.
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Figure 4:- Graph for (Source temperature) depending on (filament temperature) for Tungsten in
the Wavelength range of 650 nm.
Therefore the temperature reading of the filament shown on the scale could be used on the graph
to directly read off the temperature of the tungsten filament source .
2.21 Results and Discussion
In the experiment the temperature of the pyrometer filament ሻ was read off from the scale to be
1460 K. Using this value for ሻ the temperature of the measured source filament was read off from
the graph in Figure.4 to be 1550K. The experiment could not be repeated due to lack of time.
The primary errors that resulted from this experiment were mainly human errors while adjusting the
brightness of the filament since different people conceive the level of brightness in different ways.
This form of error is absent in photoelectric pyrometers. The major instrumental error was due to
the instability of the source tungsten lamp.
2.3 Experiment 2b - Infrared Thermometer
2.31 Physical background and theory
The infrared thermometer basically just absorbs the radiation emitted from an object and focuses it
via a lens onto a detector, which translates the radiant power to an electrical signal. This signal is
then displayed in the form of a temperature reading while compensating for the ambient
temperature. These kinds of thermometers are usually used in places where thermocouples or other
contact-based thermometers cannot be used. The aim of this experiment was to show how different
materials can have different emissivities and how this can affect radiation detecting temperature
measuring devices.
2.32 Experimental Procedure
In this experiment a hand-held infrared thermometer and a thermo-element were used to
determine and compare the temperatures of the different faces of an aluminium cube. The
temperature of the whole cube was maintained at 35 oC and this was constantly shown on a
thermocouple thermometer. Each side of the cube was made of a different material namely paper,
copper, plastic and aluminium. The infrared thermometer was fired on each of the four faces and
the temperature readings were taken. These values were then compared with the actual
temperature of the cube measured by the thermo-element.
2.33 Results and discussion
The results are tabulated here in Table.2 below. The error was determined using equation 2 and
comparing with the actual cube temperature of 35 oC. The emmisivities of the different materials
have been taken from the internet.
Material Temperature ሻ % Error Emissivity
Aluminium (Polished plate) 24.8 29 0.04-0.09
Copper (Polished) 28.6 18.2 0.03-0.05
Cardboard (Paper) 34.8 0.6 0.93
Plastic 35 0 0.91
Table 2:- Results of infrared thermometer measurements.
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The differences in the measurements from the actual temperature reading was due to the fact that
different surfaces have different emissivities and so emit the radiations in different ways. The
materials with the highest emissivity values showed the most accurate temperature readings namely
the plastic and paper. But since the aluminium and copper are very reflective they have low
emissivities and so they showed lower readings than the actual temperature. The paper had the
measured temperature value closest to the actual value since it is not very reflective and therefore
absorbs most of the radiation fired onto it. There can be many errors associated to this form of
temperature measurement, like different ambient temperatures like a hot wall or the person taking
the reading etc.
3 References
3.1 Internet
1. Omega Engineering Technical Reference; URL-
[Link] Last accessed - [18/12/2013]
2. Thermometrics - Precision Temperature Sensors; URL-
[Link] Last accessed - [ 17/12/2013]
3. Raytek - Non-Contact Infrared Temperature Measurement; - URL:-
[Link]
4. Raytek - Principles of Non-Contact Temperature Measurement; PDF link :-
[Link]/raytek.../IR_THEORY_55514_ENG_REVB_LR.PDF
5. Table 2 - (Emissivity data) - URL- [Link]
d_447.html Last accessed - [17/12/2013]
6. Thermoelectric generator - Mechanical Toys - Thermoelectric generator. URL:
[Link] Last accessed -
[17/12/2013]
3.2 Journals
1. MTL Versuch 4.2: Temperaturmessungen; Lehrstuhl für Technische Thermodynamik -RWTH
Aachen, Germany; Last amended on 28 September 2012.
3.3 Books
1. Title:- Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics; 6th Edition; Author - Michael J.
Moran and Howard N. Shapiro; Publisher - John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN-13 978-0471-78735-
8.
2. [1] - Title:- Principles of Soil Physics; Authors - Rattan Lal, Manoj K. Shukla; Publisher - CRC
Press; Page 478.
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4 Appendix
Experiment 1 - Thermocouple calibration
Demonstration 1 - Thermoelectric generator
Experiment 2a - Pyrometer
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Experiment 2b - Infrared Pyrometer
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