Thermocouples 1

What is a thermocouple?
Watch this short video (<1 minute) video from Omega.com on what is a thermocouple. *****
https://youtu.be/qF2wCb-OWM4

https://www.omega.ca/en/resources/thermocouples

Figure 1 A typical thermocouple

What is a Thermocouple?
• It is a temperature sensor.
• It outputs a very small value of electrical voltage known as emf (electro-motive-force)
• It was first discovered by Thomas Seebeck and thus also known as Seebeck effect.

How is it constructed?
• (Figure 1) It consists of 2 dissimilar metal wires joined at one end to form a measuring junction
known as measuring junction.
o The Measuring junction is also known as Hot junction
• Free end of each metal wire is joined with a copper wire for measurement purpose.
o Each of these two junctions is known as cold junction
o Both the cold junctions are kept at the same temperature
o Cold junction is also known as reference junction.

Operating principle
• (Figure 1) It is based upon Seebeck effect.
• If there is a difference in temperature between measuring junction and reference junction, a
small voltage (emf) is generated that can be measured.
• One of the two metal wires acts as +ve metal and the other acts as -ve metal, similar to a battery
with +ve and -ve terminals.
1
Page

© S Gupta Feb 2021

 Very small value of emf
• The output from a thermocouple is very small value (Figure 2)
o For example, the output of a type T thermocouple for junctions’ temperature difference
of 1°C is about 40 µV.
o This small emf output careful considerations in measurement

How many different metal pairs are used to form a thermocouple?

• Although an infinite number of metals and their alloys are available, a limited number of metal
and metal alloys are used.
• These metal pairs are known as standard thermocouple metal pairs or simply standard
thermocouples types.

Standard Thermocouples Types

• Type T thermocouple
o Made of Copper (+ve) and Constantan (-ve) metal pair
• Type J thermocouple
o Made of Iron (+ve) and Constantan (-ve) metal pair
• Type K thermocouple
o Made of Chromel (+ve) and Alumel (-ve) metal pair
• Type E thermocouple
o Made of Chromel (+ve) and Constantan (-ve) metal pair
• Type R thermocouple
o Platinum (+ve) and Platinum (13%) Rhodium (-ve)
• Type S thermocouple
o Platinum (+ve) and Platinum (10%) Rhodium (-ve)
• Type T, J, K, and type E thermocouples are popular in industry
• Type K thermocouple is quite common in industrial temperature measurement applications.

Important Characteristics of Thermocouples

Differential Temperature Measuring device

• A thermocouple is a differential temperature measuring device.
• Its output is dependent upon the difference between measuring junction temperature and cold
(reference) junction temperature.

Ice-point Reference
• It is common to keep the reference junction at ice point (known as ice point reference junction).
• In precision laboratory applications, it was common to have ice-water mixture as ice-point bath.
• These days an actual ice point reference is not used, and instead other methods of cold junction
compensation are used including electronic ice point.
2
Page

© S Gupta Feb 2021

 Non-linear emf vs temperature characteristic
• Thermocouple output (emf) and measuring junction temperature do not exhibit a linear
relationship.

Thermocouple Tables
• Thermocouple tables are used that provide electrical output (emf) for every degree C change in
measuring junction temperature.
• Thermocouple tables assume that reference temperature is kept at ice point.
• Thermocouple polynomial equations, in the order of 11 to 13 degree, are available for
calculation of temperature from thermocouple emf (output voltage).
• Thermocouple polynomial equations require high precision in calculations (8 – 16 decimal
places).

Thermocouple Temperature vs emf characteristic

All thermocouples exhibit non-linear temperature vs. emf characteristics. It is not possible to use a
simple first or second order function to represent the temperature and emf relation. A common
approach is to use thermocouple tables that contain tabular data between temperature and
corresponding emf.

Figure 2 Temperature vs emf Ref: http://www.omega.com/temperature/Z/pdf/z019-020.pdf

3
Page

© S Gupta Feb 2021

 Conversion of T/C output to Temperature
T/C tables are commonly used to relate T/C output to measuring junction temperature. The actual
procedure is dependent upon the method used for reference junction compensation.

Case I Using Ice-point Reference

The procedure in this case is quite simple. Since thermocouple tables are defined with an ice-point
reference; the measuring junction temperature corresponding to any given T/C output voltage can be
calculated from tables.

Problem I
Determine the temperature corresponding to an emf of 0.951 mV for a type T thermocouple which
using an ice-point reference.

Solution
From the type T Thermocouple Table, corresponding to an emf of 0.951 mV, the measuring junction
temperature = 24 °C

Problem 2
Determine the temperature corresponding to an emf of 0.975 mV from a type T thermocouple. An ice-
point reference is used.

Solution
In type T thermocouple table, there is no entry for an output of 0.975 mV. This value lies between the
outputs corresponding to temperatures of 24°C and 25°C. The exact temperature can be calculated by
interpolating between these two temperature points.

Measured emf - T/C output for 24°𝐶𝐶

Measuring junction temperature = °C + 24°𝐶𝐶
T/C output for 25°C - T/C output for 24°𝐶𝐶

From Type T Thermocouple Table,

emf corresponding to 24°C = 0.951 mV, and
emf corresponding to 25°C = 0.992 mV

0.975 mV - 0.951 mV
= °C + 24°𝐶𝐶
0.992 mV - 0.951 mV

= 0.4878°C + 24°C
= 24.4878°C
= 24.49°C

Problem 3
Determine the temperature corresponding to an emf of 14.421 mV from a type T T/C. An ice-point
reference is used.

Hint:
4

Find two emf values that straddle 14.421 mV and their corresponding temperature and follow the
Page

procedure in Problem 2.

© S Gupta Feb 2021

 Case II Ice-point Reference not Used

Since thermocouple tables are defined with an ice-point reference, a correction voltage needs to be
applied to the measured thermocouple output voltage. Once corrected voltage is obtained, the
measuring junction temperature can be calculated from tables.

Compensation or correction voltage

The output corresponding to the thermocouple reference junction when an ice point reference junction
is not used is known as the compensation (or correction) voltage. This voltage needs to be subtracted
from the measured thermocouple output. The compensation voltage may be positive or negative
depending upon, if the reference junction temperature is above ice-point (+ve) or below ice-point (-ve)

Compensation or correction voltage is equivalent to the output of a (imaginary/fictitious) Thermocouple

connected between the reference temperature and ice point. An actual thermocouple is not used to
determine this output as it can readily be determined from Thermocouple Tables.

The correction voltage is added to the measured Thermocouple voltage yielding the corrected output.
Once a corrected voltage is determined, the Thermocouple Tables can be used again be determine the
corresponding measuring junction temperature. The procedure is summarized below.
Corrected thermocouple emf = Measured thermocouple emf + Correction/compensation voltage

VCORRECTED = VMEASURED + VCORRECTION

Two different methods are used to determine the correction voltage.

• Using thermocouple tables
• Using electronic ice-point reference

Using Thermocouple Tables

This method is commonly used for manual calculations, where access to a thermocouple table is
available.

Problem 4
Determine the cold junction correction/compensation voltage corresponding to room temperature of
22°C from Thermocouple Tables.

Solution
From Type T Thermocouple Tables, emf corresponding to 22°C = 0.870 mV
Thus,
Correction voltage = 0.870 mV

VCORRECTION = 0.870 mV.

5
Page

© S Gupta Feb 2021

 Problem 5
A thermocouple is not using an ice point reference and is terminated at room temperature. Determine
the corrected thermocouple output if the thermocouple was terminated at an ice point reference.
Given,
Measured thermocouple emf = 10.056 mV and room temperature = 22°C

Solution
From Type T Thermocouple Tables, emf corresponding to 22°C = 0.870 mV

Thus, the corrected thermocouple emf,

VCORRECTED = VMEASURED + VCORRECTION

= 10.056 mV + 0.870 mV
= 10.926 mV

Thus, if thermocouple was terminated at an ice point instead of room temperature of 22°C, the
thermocouple output will be 10.926 mV.

From thermocouple Tables, it can be determined that the thermocouple temperature will lie between
230°C and 231°C. The exact temperature can be calculated using the procedure given above.

Measured emf - T/C output for 230°𝐶𝐶

Measuring junction temperature = °C + 230°𝐶𝐶
T/C output for 231°C - T/C output for 230°𝐶𝐶

From Type T Thermocouple Table,

emf corresponding to 231°C = 10.962 mV, and
emf corresponding to 230°C =10.907 mV

10.926 mV - 10.907 mV
= °C + 230°𝐶𝐶
10.962 mV - 10.907 mV

= 0.3518°C + 230°C
= 230.352°C

Problem 6
Determine the temperature corresponding to an emf of 10.056 mV from a type T thermocouple. The
reference junction temperature is 22°C.
6
Page

© S Gupta Feb 2021