Temperature and Humidity Monitoring

using an Improvised Sling Psychrometer

A Laboratory Activity 4 Presented to
The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Don Bosco Technical College

Submitted by:
Scott Louis G. Robles, 3 – ME

Submitted on:
April 20, 2021

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements:

ME LAB 1

ME LAB 1 Professor:
Engr. Paul M. Catalan
 INTRODUCTION

In a case of determining moisture in gases, the most common measurement is the amount

of moisture in the air, which is known as humidity. Humidity measurement is an important aspect

in weather reports, the presence of humidity can indicate the chance of dew, fog, or precipitation.

Measuring and controlling humidity is also an important requirement in many buildings,

greenhouses, and vehicles.

The main goal of this experiment is to determine the mean and standard deviation of the

temperature and relative humidity. For two days, from 6:00am to 6:00pm, the student measured

the dry and wet bulb temperature using an improvised sling psychrometer and a psychometric chart

for the relative humidity. And using LibreOffice Spreadsheet to determine the mean and standard

deviation of the temperatures and relative humidity.

OBJECTIVES

1. Monitor the dry and wet bulb temperature at a convenient place in your home (6am to

6pm).

2. Using the Psychometric chart, determine the relative humidity.

3. Determine the mean and standard deviation of the temperatures and relative humidity.

4. Compare the results of Day 1 and Day 2

 BACKGROUND

I. Humidity

Humidity is a measure of the relative amount of water vapor in the air or a gas. In outdoors,

the higher the humidity, the more oppressive it feels because of sweat doesn’t evaporate and

provides cooling, while the lower the humidity, the drier it feels, people get dehydrated more easily

because of moisture being evaporated from the body. One of the ways to define humidity is the

relative humidity, it is the ratio of the actual water vapor pressure in air to the saturation vapor

pressure, it is usually expressed as a percentage (%).

II. Dry Bulb and Wet Bulb Temperature

Dry bulb temperature is the room temperature or the temperature of a mixture of water vapor

and air, measure by a thermometer whose sensing element is dry. While the wet bulb temperature

is the temperature of air measured by a moist element, such as wet bulb thermometer, air is

circulated around the element causing vaporization to occur, the heat required for vaporization

cools the moisture around the element, lowering its temperature.

III. Psychometric Chart

Psychometric chart is chart that shows the relation between dry-bulb temperatures, wet-bulb

temperatures, relative humidity, water vapor pressure, weight of water vapor per pound of dry air.

IV. Sling Psychrometer

A sling psychrometer is an instrument that can be used to determine the relative humidity. It

has two thermometers: a wet bulb and a dry bulb, the wet bulb has a cotton wick over the bulb of
the thermometer which is moistened with water. It is used to prevent the air surrounding the wet

bulb from saturating, as it provides some air movement around the wet bulb.

V. Mean and Standard Deviation

Mean is the average of a given set of values; it is obtained by dividing the sum of all measured

values by the number of measurements taken. In mathematical terms, the average 𝑋̅ of some

parameter X is (∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑋𝑖)/𝑛, where n is the number of observations or measurements and Xi is the

value of a discrete measurement. The standard deviation refers to the measure of how spread out
2
the values are, it is given by the expression, 𝑠 = [[∑𝑛𝑖=0(𝑋𝑖 − 𝑋̅) ]/(𝑛 − 1)]1/2, a large value of

the standard deviation corresponds to a high degree of scatter.

 METHODOLOGY

Materials

Plastic Bottle Towel

Cloth strip Styrofoam

Laboratory thermometers (2) Water

Tape Paper

Tissue Ballpen

Rubber band Smartphone (for timer)

Ceramic mug
Data Gathering Procedure

For calibration of the thermometers: (Freezing Point Method)

1. Prepare the ceramic mug and fill it with water at about 1/3 of its height, then place ice

inside.

2. Put a Styrofoam on top of the cup with two holes where the two laboratory thermometers

will be placed on, this will ensure that the thermometers won’t touch each other and the

mug’s surface or sides.

3. Insert the thermometer into the Styrofoam and use the towels to properly cover and insulate

the system, this is to minimize the amount of heat that will enter the system during the

calibration.

4. Let the thermometer adjust to the temperature and wait until both thermometers drop down

to 0°C.

For creating the improvised sling psychrometer: (Appendix C)

1. Using adhesive tape, stick two strips in the sides of the plastic bottle, and place the

laboratory thermometers in the adhesive.

2. To secure the thermometers in the side of the plastic bottle, use the masking tape to

surround the top and bottom part of the plastic bottle.

3. Remove the lid of the plastic battle and put about 2 inch of the cloth strip’s length inside

the plastic bottle. Tape it inside and place the lid to close it. Use another set of tape to

secure the lid of the plastic bottle.

4. Cover the bulb end of one of the laboratory thermometers with the tissue, and using the

rubber band, secure the top part of the tissue to the thermometer. This will serve as the
 thermometer that will give the wet bulb temperature and the other thermometer will give

the dry bulb temperature.

For monitoring the temperature:

1. Look for a convenient place in your home to measure the temperature. For this experiment,

the student chose the front side of the house located in Mandaluyong. (Appendix D)

2. Dip the thermometer with the tissue at the bulb end to the water, make sure that the tissue

is completely soaked in water.

3. Start whirling the improvised whirling hygrometer about three minutes before the specified

hour for about 20 – 40 seconds, use the smartphone as a timer.

4. After whirling, quickly record the temperature on both thermometers, record first the wet

bulb temperature as it can change quickly.

5. It is recommended to have multiple trials and stop when the temperature on both

thermometers stabilize. (It should have two consecutive trials where the temperature are

both the same for the wet bulb and dry bulb). For the succeeding trials, do not dip down

the wet bulb again to the water, proceed on whirling the improvised whirling hygrometer

after the first trial has been recorded.

6. Mark the temperatures where both the wet bulb and dry bulb are the exact same in the

consecutive trials, this will correspond to the wet and dry bulb temperature. For example,

for the first trial the dry and wet bulb temperatures are 30°C and 25°C, respectively, then

the second trial should be 30°C and 25°C as well.

7. For the succeeding hours, repeat from Step 2 up to Step 5.

Data Processing Method

1. Using a psychometric chart (Appendix A), the relative humidity is determined from the wet

bulb and dry bulb temperatures.

2. To determine the mean and standard deviation of the temperatures and relative humidity,

the data are recorded in LibreOffice Spreadsheet.

 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Presentation of Data

Table 1.1 Monitoring – Day 1

Fig 1.1 Temperature vs Time Diagram (Day 1)

Table 1.2 Monitoring – Day 2

Fig 1.2 Temperature vs Time Diagram (Day 2)

Figure 1.3 Relative Humidity vs Time Diagram

Table 2.1 Average Mean and Standard Deviation

Table 3.1 Day 1 – Temperature Normal Distribution Values

Fig 3.1 Day 1 – Temperature Normal Distribution Graph

Table 3.2 Day 2 – Temperature Normal Distribution Values

Fig 3.2 Day 2 – Temperature Normal Distribution Graph

Table 4.1 Relative Humidity – Normal Distribution Values
Fig 2.1 Relative Humidity – Normal Distribution Graph

The thermometers used for the improvised sling psychrometer were both calibrated using

the freezing point method, this is important before proceeding with the experiment to assure

accurate readings for the wet and dry bulb temperatures. After calibration, the experiment was

conducted for two days at the front side of the house located in Mandaluyong, monitoring the

temperature using an improvised sling psychrometer and the relative humidity using a

psychometric chart. The experiment per day lasts for 12 hours starting from 6:00 am until 6:00

pm, the monitoring is taken every passing hour, and the final wet and dry bulb temperature is

where a two consecutive trial have the exact same temperature values.

Using OpenBoard application, the relative humidity is determined by using the

psychometric chart, the point where the dry and wet bulb temperature intersects are marked and

then solved using interpolation with the help of the built-in ruler in the application. (Appendix B)
 In table 1.1, the first day of monitoring, it can be observed that the relative humidity at the

time of 4:00 pm, there is a spike in value from the relative humidity at the time of 3:00 pm. At

around 3:40 pm, it started raining, hence the sudden increase in the relative humidity, the rain

increases the relative humidity due to evaporation, this evaporation both cools the air and increases

moisture content in the atmosphere.

In figure 1.3, the relative humidity-time diagram is shown, it can be observed that the

relative humidity at 6:00 am in the first day is lower than the second day, but as 12:00pm is

monitored, the relative humidity of the first day is higher than the second day. And at about 9:00am

to 1:00pm, the relative humidity in both days are close to each other.

Using LibreOffice Spreadsheet, the mean and average standard deviation shown in table

2.1 are determined, as well for the probability density values shown in Table 3.1, 3.2 and 4.1. For

the standard deviation, in both days, the wet bulb temperature had a much lower standard deviation

compared to the dry bulb temperature, which is why the probability density of the wet bulb

temperature are more clustered around the mean value, compared to the probability density of the

dry bulb temperatures, hence, the normal distribution curve of the wet bulb temperatures are

narrower compared to a wide normal distribution curve of the dry bulb temperatures. From Table

3.1 and 3.2, it can be observed that the wet bulb temperature always has a higher peak than the dry

bulb temperature. For the relative humidity, it can be observed that the first day has higher peak in

the curve compared to the second day, and the first day also resulted to a lower standard deviation

compared to the second day, in which the Fig 2.1 shows a wider relative humidity curve for the

second day compared to a narrower curve for the first day, the relative humidity data of the first

day are clustered around the mean value compared to a spread-out relative humidity data of the

second day.
 CONCLUSION

An improvised sling psychrometer is created to monitor the wet and dry bulb temperature

of two days for 12 hours starting from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, at the front side of the house located

in Mandaluyong, and a psychometric chart is used to determine the corresponding relative

humidity. Using the LibreOffice Spreadsheet, the mean and standard deviation of the temperatures

and relative humidity are determined, which are shown in Table 2.1. In both days, the peak

temperature happens at 2:00 pm. From the monitored values, it can be concluded that the closer

the values of the wet and dry bulb temperatures are, the higher the relative humidity is, while the

father the values of the wet and dry bulb temperatures are, the lower the relative humidity is. And

there is a duration in both days where the relative humidity are close to each other, which is starting

from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that before conducting the experiment, make sure to calibrate the

thermometers that will be used, this is to ensure an accurate data and to confirm that the equipment

is still inline to the standard measurement. A proper and thorough calibration will provide an

improvement in terms of quality and productivity.

Aside from an improvised sling psychrometer, an improvised wet-and-dry-bulb

hygrometer can be used to monitor the temperatures, instead of whirling, the wet bulb and dry bulb

thermometer are steady, and air is being blown across the bulbs which will cause evaporation and

decrease in temperature in the wet bulb thermometer.

 REFERENCES

Morris, A. S. (2001). Measurement and instrumentation principles (Third ed.). Oxford:

Butterworth-Heinemann.

Dunn, W. (2005). Fundamentals of industrial instrumentation and process control. New York, NY:

McGraw Hill Education.

Callister, W. D., Jr., & Rethwisch, D. G. (2014). Materials Science and Engineering: An

Introduction. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

 APPENDIX

A. Psychometric Char

C. Interpolation using OpenBoard and Ruler

B. Improvised Whirling Hygrometer

D. Location