INSTRUMENTATION AND

CONTROL
BME 4053

CHAPTER 6:
TEMPERATURE TRANSDUCER

BME 4053: INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL 1

 Temperature
• Temperature is defined as a specific degree
of hotness or coldness as referenced to a
specific scale.
• It can also be defined as the amount of heat
energy in an object or system.
• Temperature can have such a significant
effect on materials and processes at the
molecular level

BME 4053: INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL 2

 Temperature
• Heat energy is directly related to molecular
energy (vibration, friction and oscillation of
particles within a molecule)
• The higher the heat energy, the greater the
molecular energy.
• Temperature sensors detect a change in a
physical parameter such as resistance or
output voltage that corresponds to a
temperature change.
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 Temperature Sensing
• There are two basic types of temperature
sensing.
• Contact temperature sensing
requires the sensor to be in direct physical
contact with the media or object being sensed.
It can be used to monitor the temperature of
solids, liquids or gases over an extremely wide
temperature range.

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 Temperature Sensing
• Non-contact measurement
interprets the radiant energy of a heat source in
the form of energy emitted in the infrared
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
This method can be used to monitor non-
reflective solids and liquids but is not effective
with gases due to their natural transparency.

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 Temperature Transducer
• Temperature is one of the most widely
measured and controlled variable in industry.
• A lot of products during manufacturing
requires controlled temperature at various
stages of processing.
• A wide variety of temperature transducers
and temperature measurement systems are
developed for various applications.

BME 4053: INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL 6

 Temperature Transducer
• Most of the temperature transducers are of
Resistance Temperature Transducer (RTD),
thermistors and thermocouple.
• RTD and thermistor are passive devices
whose resistance changes with temperature.
 Need an electrical supply to give a voltage
output.

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 Thermocouple
• Active transducers and are based on the
principle of generation of thermoelectricity.
 Two dissimilar metals are connected together
to form a junction called the sensing junction.
An emf is generated proportional to the
temperature of the junction.
• Thermocouple operate on the principle of
Seeback effect.

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 Thermocouple
• Thermocouple introduces errors and can be
overcame by using a reference junction
compensation called a cold junction
compensation.
• Thermocouples are available up to 2000°C
temperature range.
• Have the highest speed of response.
• Can be connected in series/parallel to obtain
greater sensitivity called a Thermopile.

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 RTD
• RTD commonly use platinum, Nickel or any
resistance wire;
resistance varies with temperature
has a high intrinsic accuracy
• Platinum is the most widely used RTD
because of its high stability and large
operating range.

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 RTD
• RTD’s are usually connected in a Wheatstone
bridge circuit.
• The lead wire used for connecting RTD
introduces error, hence compensation is
required.
• This is obtained by using three-wire or four
wire compensation.
• 3-wire compensation is mostly used in the
industry.
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 Thermistor
• Thermistor is a thermally sensitive resistor
that exhibits change in electrical resistance
with change in temperature.
• Thermistors made up of oxides exhibit a
negative temperature coefficient (NTC).
NTC – resistance decrease with increase in
temperature.

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 Thermistor
• Thermistors are also available with positive
temperature coefficient (PTC).
• PTC thermistors are seldom used for
measurement since they have poor
sensitivity.
• Thermistors are available in various sizes
and shapes such as beads, rods, discs,
washers and in the form of probes.

BME 4053: INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL 13

 IC Temperature Transducer
• Silicon sensors make use of the bulk electrical
resistance properties of semiconductor materials,
rather than the junction of two differently doped areas.
• Especially at low temperatures, silicon sensors provide
a nearly linear increase in resistance versus
temperature or a positive temperature coefficient
(PTC).
• IC-type devices can provide a direct, digital temperature
reading, so there’s no need for an A/D converter.

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CONTROL