College of Aeronautical Engineering, CAE

National University of Sciences and Technology,

NUST

Muhammad Muzafar
Roll Number: 362501

Assignment # 4
A Review on Thermopile

Submitted to: Dr. Mohtashim Mansoor

January 20, 2022

School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Q. Describe their construction and give their advantages and disadvantages over simple
thermocouples.
Thermopile:
Thermopiles are used for contactless temperature sensing. The function of a thermopile
is to transfer the heat radiation emitted from the object to a voltage output. The
output is in the range of tens or hundreds of millivolts. Thermopiles work as sensors or
generators Output will be equal to the sums of the individual emf's, therefore, the
sensitivity increases. Thermopile is an important device that converts thermal energy
into electric energy. The purpose of a thermopile in a gas fireplace is to detect thermal
radiation, for gas burner safety control. A thermopile is simply dozens of
thermocouples connected in series. A typical thermopile output is 500-750 mv.
Parallel thermocouple:
Output equals the average of T1, T2 and T3 for the following arrangement (Figure1).

Figure:1: Construction of Thermopile series and parallel

Advantages:
 Thermopile is non-contact based temperature sensing device which uses infrared
radiation for heat transfer.
 It is used for temperature measurement of moving objects where contact based
sensors are not feasible.
 It is in smaller sizes.
 It produces larger output voltage due to use of multiple thermocouple devices.
 It is available at affordable cost.
 A thermopile has a higher temperature range than a thermocouple.
Disadvantages:
 Thermopile sensors are static sensitive and hence unused ones must be stored
in conductive material to protect it against static fields and static discharges.
 Stresses and polarity should be kept as mentioned in the manual. This is due to
the fact that stresses above those listed under absolute maximum ratings and
reversed polarity of power supply can damage the thermopile sensor.
  For accurate measurement of temperature, object must completely fill the field of
view of the thermopile sensor device.
 Thermopile sensors should not be exposed to direct sunlight or moisture. This
may damage or will have deterioration in the performance of the sensor device.

Also compare them with other types of electrical temperature sensors.

There are four types of temperature sensors that are most commonly used in modern-day
electronics: thermocouples, RTDs (resistance temperature detectors), thermistors, and
semiconductor based integrated circuits (IC). (Figure2)
The main difference between Thermocouple and Thermopile is their method of
measurement. The thermocouple is a thermoelectric instrument, while the
thermopile is an instrument that modifies thermal energy into electrical output.

Thermopile Thermistor RTD IC Sensor

Figure 2: Comparison of Thermopiles with other temperature sensor

Give two examples of the state of the art thermopiles reported in

literature.
 Gas fireplaces and fireplace inserts use thermocouples and thermopiles
primarily to generate electricity.
 Body temperature measurements [1] are conducted using thermopile sensors
placed within the ear canal to measure the tympanic membrane temperature,
which directly reflects the core temperature of blood. The key advantage is its
non-invasive and unobtrusive nature compared to other forms of core
temperature measurements such as rectal/oral measurements which are
unsuitable for ubiquitous monitoring. Such devices can potentially be deployed in
sports medicine and ambulatory monitoring.
 Experimental evaluation of occupancy lighting control using thermal-based
sensor, thermopile detector, and micro bolometer can offer high privacy and
security preserving capability, because these devices cannot observe the visual
appearance of occupants [2]. In addition, they can detect the occupants under
the completely dark.
References:
1. Https://www.entandaudiologynews.com/features/audiology-features/post/
hearables-in-ear-sensing-devices-for-recording-of-physiological-signals?
utm_source=JF22+Social+Organic&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Social
+Media&utm_content=link (Sited on 3/3/2022)
2. Https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/tee.23574 (Sited on 3/3/2022)