EI2407 - Comprehension

Optical Pyrometer

Done by
K.SELVASUNDAR
42210107062
EIE-B, IV Year

Optical Pyrometer
A pyrometer is a type of thermometer used to measure high temperatures. Various
forms of pyrometers have historically existed. In the modern usage, it is a non-contacting
device that intercepts and measures thermal radiation, a process known as pyrometry. The
thermal radiation can be used to determine the temperature of an object's surface.
The word pyrometer comes from the Greek word for fire, "" (pyro), and meter,
meaning to measure. Pyrometer was originally coined to denote a device capable of
measuring temperatures of objects above incandescence (i.e. objects bright to the human
eye).

Principle of operation
A modern pyrometer has an optical system and a detector. The optical system focuses
the thermal radiation onto the detector. The output signal of the detector (temperature T) is
related to the thermal radiation or irradiance j* of the target object through the Stefan
Boltzmann law, the constant of proportionality , called the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and
the emissivity of the object.

This output is used to infer the object's temperature. Thus, there is no need for direct
contact between the pyrometer and the object, as there is with thermocouples and resistance
temperature detectors (RTDs).

Working
The radiation from the source is emitted and the optical objective lens captures it. The
lens helps in focusing the thermal radiation on to the reference bulb. The observer watches
the process through the eye piece and corrects it in such a manner that the reference lamp
filament has a sharp focus and the filament is super-imposed on the temperature source
image. The observer starts changing the rheostat values and the current in the reference lamp
changes. This in turn, changes its intensity. This change in current can be observed in three
different ways.
1. The filament is dark. That is, cooler than the temperature source.
2. Filament is bright. That is, hotter than the temperature source.
3. Filament disappears. Thus, there is equal brightness between the filament and
temperature source. At this time, the current that flows in the reference lamp is
measured, as its value is a measure of the temperature of the radiated light in the
temperature source, when calibrated.

History
The potter Josiah Wedgwood invented the first pyrometer to measure the temperature
in his kilns, which first compared the colour of clay fired at known temperatures, but was
eventually upgraded to measuring the shrinkage of pieces of clay, which depended on the
heat of the kiln. Later examples used the expansion of a metal bar.
Modern pyrometers became available when the first disappearing filament pyrometer
was built by L. Holborn and F. Kurlbaum in 1901.This device superimposed a thin, heated
filament over the object to be measured and relied on the operators eye to detect when the
filament vanished. The object temperature was then read from a scale on the pyrometer.
The temperature returned by the vanishing filament pyrometer and others of its kind,
called brightness pyrometers, is dependent on the emissivity of the object. With greater use of
brightness pyrometers, it became obvious that problems existed with relying on knowledge of
the value of emissivity. Emissivity was found to change, often drastically, with surface
roughness, bulk and surface composition, and even the temperature itself.
To get around these difficulties, the ratio or two-colour pyrometer was developed.
They rely on the fact that Planck's law, which relates temperature to the intensity of radiation
emitted at individual wavelengths, can be solved for temperature if Plancks statement of the
intensities at two different wavelengths is divided. This solution assumes that the emissivity
is the same at both wavelengths and cancels out in the division. This is known as the gray
body assumption. Ratio pyrometers are essentially two brightness pyrometers in a single
instrument. The operational principles of the ratio pyrometers were developed in the 1920s
and 1930s, and they were commercially available in 1939.
As the ratio pyrometer came into popular use, it was determined that many materials,
of which metals are an example, do not have the same emissivity at two wavelengths. For
these materials, the emissivity does not cancel out and the temperature measurement is in
error. The amount of error depends on the emissivities and the wavelengths where the
measurements are taken. Two-colour ratio pyrometers cannot measure whether a materials
emissivity is wavelength dependent.
To more accurately measure the temperature of real objects with unknown or
changing emissivitys, multi wavelength pyrometers were envisioned at the US National
Institute of Standards and Technology and described in 1992. Multi wavelength pyrometers
use three or more wavelengths and mathematical manipulation of the results to attempt to
achieve accurate temperature measurement even when the emissivity is unknown, changing,
and different at all wavelengths.

Applications
Pyrometers are suited especially to the measurement of moving objects or any
surfaces that cannot be reached or cannot be touched.
Smelter Industry
Temperature is a fundamental parameter in metallurgical furnace operations. Reliable
and continuous measurement of the melt temperature is essential for effective control of the
operation. Smelting rates can be maximized, slag can be produced at the optimum
temperature, fuel consumption is minimized and refractory life may also be lengthened.
Thermocouples were the traditional devices used for this purpose, but they are unsuitable for
continuous measurement because they melt and degrade.
Over-the-bath Pyrometer
Salt bath furnaces operate at temperatures up to 1300 C and are used for heat
treatment. At very high working temperatures with intense heat transfer between the molten
salt and the steel being treated, precision is maintained by measuring the temperature of the
molten salt. Most errors are caused by slag on the surface which is cooler than the salt bath.
Tuyre Pyrometer
The Tuyre Pyrometer is an optical instrument for temperature measurement through
the tuyeres which are normally used for feeding air or reactants into the bath of the furnace.
Steam boilers
A steam boiler may be fitted with a pyrometer to measure the steam temperature in
the super heater.
Hot Air Balloons
A hot air balloon is equipped with a pyrometer for measuring the temperature at the
top of the envelope in order to prevent overheating of the fabric.
Pyrometry of gases - Thin filament pyrometry
Thin Filament Pyrometry (TFP) is an optical method used to measure temperatures. It
involves the placement of a thin filament in a hot gas stream. Radioactive emissions from the
filament can be correlated with filament temperature. Filaments are Silicon carbide fibers
with a diameter of 15 micrometres. Temperatures of about 800 - 2500 K can be measured.

Advantages
1. Simple assembling of the device enables easy use of it.
2. Provides a very high accuracy with +/-5 degree Celsius.
3. There is no need of any direct body contact between the optical pyrometer and the
object. Thus, it can be used in a wide variety of applications.
4. As long as the size of the object, whose temperature is to measured fits with the size
of the optical pyrometer, the distance between both of them is not at all a problem.
Thus, the device can be used for remote sensing.
5. This device can not only be used to measure the temperature, but can also be used to
see the heat produced by the object/source. Thus, optical pyrometers can be used to
measure and view wavelengths less than or equal to 0.65 microns.

Disadvantages
1. As the measurement is based on the light intensity, the device can be used only in
applications with a minimum temperature of 700 degree Celsius.
2. The device is not useful for obtaining continuous values of temperatures at small
intervals.