TEMPERATURE

SENSORS

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Temperature Sensors
• Temperature Sensors measure the amount of heat energy or even coldness that
is generated by an object or system, allowing us to “sense” or detect any physical
change to that temperature producing either an analogue or digital output.
• There are many different types of Temperature Sensor available and all have
different characteristics depending upon their actual application. A temperature
sensor consists of two basic physical types:
 Contact Temperature Sensor
 Non-contact Temperature Sensor

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1. The Thermostat
• The Thermostat is a contact type electro-mechanical temperature sensor or
switch, that basically consists of two different metals such as nickel, copper,
tungsten or aluminium etc, that are bonded together to form a Bi-metallic strip.
The different linear expansion rates of the two dissimilar metals produces a
mechanical bending movement when the strip is subjected to heat

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2. The Thermistor
• A thermistor is a special type of resistor which changes its physical resistance
when exposed to changes in temperature.

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 Example
• The following thermistor has a resistance value of KΩ at oC and a

resistance value of Ω at oC. Calculate the voltage drop across the

thermistor and hence its output voltage (Vout) for both temperatures when
connected in series with a Ω resistor across a power supply.

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3. The Thermocouple
• Thermocouples are popular due to its simplicity, ease of use and their speed of
response to changes in temperature, due mainly to their small size.
Thermocouples also have the widest temperature range of all the temperature
sensors from below -200oC to well over 2000oC.

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LIGHT SENSORS

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The Light Dependent Resistor

• Made from a piece of exposed

semiconductor material such as
cadmium sulphide that changes its
electrical resistance from several
thousand Ohms in the dark to only a few
hundred Ohms when light falls upon it by
creating hole-electron pairs in the
material.
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VELOCITY SENSORS

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Angular Velocity Sensors
• Angular velocity sensors (tachometers) are devices that give an output
proportional to angular velocity.
• Velocity is the rate of change of position

Note: A potentiometer could be used to monitor velocity if the time is recorded.

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LOAD SENSORS

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Load sensors
• Measure mechanical force

• Where is the applied force, is the spring constant of the material and is the
extension of compression as a result of the force

• Example:
If a mechanical port has a string constant of & it compresses
Calculate the force load

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FLOW SENSORS

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Flow sensors
• Measure the quantity of fluid material passing by a point in a certain time.

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Example: Mobile Phone

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