Lab #1: Temperature

Measurement
Introduction:
Temperature is a physical quantity that relates directly to the hotness or coldness of
a body. A number of different temperature scales have been devised, two popular
choices being the Celsius (formerly, centigrade) and Fahrenheit scales. both scales
were defined by assigning two temperature points on the scale and then dividing
the distance between them into a number of equally spaced intervals.
Accurate temperature measurement is important in all areas of science and
engineering. However, there are many different devices for measuring temperature,
and each is good for certain applications. Also, each device has advantages and
disadvantages.
However, the most important feature of the different types of temperature
measurement devices is accuracy and linearity of measurement. How you calibrate
and use a device affects its accuracy. A badly calibrated or connected device is
useless.

Thermometers
All thermometers make use of the change in some physical property with
temperature. A property that changes with temperature is called a thermometric
property.

Glass Tube Thermometers:

In these type of thermometers, the bulb of the thermometer is filled with a specific
fluid (usually mercury or an alcohol). They work on the principle of a known volume
expansion rate of a liquid for a known rise in temperature.

Bimetal Thermometers
A bimetal thermometer is made from two thin strips of metal that have different
coefficients of linear expansion. When the strip is heated, the metal with higher
expansion factor causes the strip to bend.
Gas (Vapor) Thermometers
The gas thermometer works on the principle of a known volume expansion rate of a
gas (vapor of a fluid) for a known rise in temperature. As the gas (vapor above a
small volume of fluid) expands with a rise in temperature, its pressure increases and
pushes against a mechanical mechanism that turns a calibrated dial.

Thermocouples
The thermocouple is a thermometer used extensively in scientific laboratories. It
consists of thin wires of different metals, welded together at the ends to form two
junctions, hot junction and cold junction. When two junctions are subjected to
different temperatures, a small potential difference develops in the thermocouple.
The value of this potential difference is proportional to the temperature.
Infrared Thermometers
An infrared thermometer is a device that measures the infrared radiation a type of
electromagnetic radiation below the visible spectrum of light - emitted by an object.

Resistance Thermometer Detectors (RTD)

The equipment includes two resistance thermometers (sometimes called resistance
temperature detectors or RTDs).

Both are type PT100 - 100 Ohm at 0C. One is the reference temperature sensor
and has a special plug to connect to the reference sensor socket. The other is an
identical thermometer, but has four accessible wires for use with the low voltage
connections to help show how the thermometer works. The resistance
thermometers in this equipment use a thin platinum wire or film, so they are also
called Platinum Resistance Thermometers (PRTs). They have a positive temperature
coefficient (PTC) because their resistance increases with temperature.
In 1827, a Physicist - George Ohm published his discovery that all electrical circuits
obey a simple relationship:
The current passing through a conductor is directly proportional to the volt drop
and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor.
So that:
V
I=
R

This relationship helps engineers to calculate any one of the three variables, when
the other two are known, so that:

V
V =I RR=
I

From this, if you can fix the current in your resistance (make it constant), and your
resistance changes, the voltage across the resistance is directly proportional to the
resistance:
VR

Also, if you can fix the voltage across your resistance (make it constant), and your
resistance changes, the current through the resistance is inversely proportional to
the resistance.
1
I
R
Constant Current or Constant Voltage Source?

This figure shows two different ways of supplying a circuit with a resistance
thermometer and shows the resistance of the wires that connect the thermometer.
These wires could be very long in some applications, so the wire resistance could be
several ohms. In both circuits, a voltage (V1 and V2) drops across each of the
wires, so there is less voltage available to measure at the thermometer.
In the circuit supplied by a constant voltage, if you extend the wires, their
resistance increases, the circuit current becomes lower and more voltage drops
along the wires. This reduces the current through the thermometer and the
measured voltage for a given change of resistance. You would need to increase the
voltage source to compensate for the voltage lost in the wires. Also, as the
thermometer resistance changes, so does the circuit current and the voltage lost
along the wires. This gives a slightly non-linear relationship between resistance and
voltage change.
In the circuit supplied by the constant current, if you extend the wires, the circuit
current does not drop, because the current source automatically compensates. The
current through the thermometer remains constant and the measured voltage
remains the same. As the thermometer resistance changes, the supply
automatically adjusts to keep a constant current, so the measured voltage is always
directly proportional to the resistance. This gives a very linear relationship between
resistance and voltage change.

Experiment 1 - PRT Simulation, Constant Voltage and

Current
Aim
To use the PRT Simulation resistors to show the difference between constant current
and constant voltage supplied thermometer circuits.

Procedure 1 - Constant Voltage

1. Connect the simulated PRT directly to the constant voltage source and input 1
as shown by solid lines.
2. Record the input 1 reading in mV.
3. Move the wires to include the resistors shown by the dotted lines.
4. Record the input 1 reading in mV.
5. Complete the table.
Procedure 2 - Constant Current
1. Connect the simulated PRT directly to the constant current source and input 1
as shown by solid lines.
2. Record the input 1 reading in mV.
3. Move the wires to include the resistors shown by the dotted lines.
4. Record the input 1 reading in mV.
5. Complete the table.
Results Analysis: