DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING
CENTRE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES, SPACE
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD LABORATORY

TITLE: Non-contact Thermometer

OBJECTIVES:
1) Understand basic properties of non-contact thermometer that need to be considered in order
to get a correct measurement
2) Estimate emissivity of different body or surface

THEORY:
Non-contact thermometers can be used to measure very high temperatures impossible to be measured
in a different way. However, the user needs to be aware that a non-contact thermometer is not
measuring temperature but radiated energy. The infrared thermometer is not measuring in a single
point. Its active area is a cone with specified D:S ratio like the one shown in Figure 1. The further
the object is apart, the bigger is the cone. The cone has to be filled completely with the measured
object in order to obtain a correct reading Figure 2.

Figure 1: Non-contact thermometer measure in cone

Figure 2: Correct use of a non-contact thermometer

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 DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING
CENTRE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES, SPACE
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

Figure 3. Non-contact thermometer measures a sum of energies

The non-contact thermometer measures a sum of energies. The energy as seen by the non-contact
thermometer is composed of emitted energy (function of object temperature), reflected energy,
transmitted energy (energy passing through the object) and absorbed energy (shown in Figure 3).
The emitted energy is a function of temperature as given by Planck’s law. In order to measure the
radiation of a body correctly emissivity has to be known. It relates the spectral radiance of a black
body (the quantity of radiation) with its temperature and wavelength of the radiation. A black body
emits total radiant power WB into a surrounding hemisphere given by;
𝑊𝐵 = 𝜎. 𝑇 4
𝑊
𝜀=
𝑊𝐵
It is the fraction of black body power emitted in the surrounding hemisphere. Emissivity depends on
the surface of the body and on its temperature. By definition it is 1 for a black body. The black body
is an idealized concept. Real objects do not absorb all incident energy, some part is reflected. They
behave like gray bodies. Theirs emissivity is ε<1. In order to correctly measure temperature with
non-contact thermometer, the emissivity of the measured object has to be known. The method used
here consists in measuring the real object temperature with a contact thermometer (mercury
thermometer). The used non-contact thermometer has a fixed setting of emissivity 0.95. Therefore,
its reading is correct only for this emissivity. The non-contact thermometer measures the radiated
energy where T0.95 is the temperature shown on non-contact thermometer with fixed
emissivity = 0.95. The object radiated energy is a function of its temperature Tobj. In order to
determine object emissivity εobj the object temperature Tobj is measured with a contact thermometer.
Then the object emissivity εobj can be calculated as;
4
𝑇0.95
𝜀𝑜𝑏𝑗 = 𝜀0.95 . 4
𝑇𝑜𝑏𝑗

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 DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING
CENTRE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES, SPACE
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

APPARATUS:
1) Non-contact thermometer
2) Contact thermometer (mercury thermometer)
3) Heated plate

PROCEDURE:
1) With the non-contact thermometer, measure temperature of white surface at the
air-conditioner outlet.
2) Measure the temperature at the air-conditioner outlet for configurations of heat source using
non-contact thermometer. Record the data in Table 1.
3) Measure the temperature distribution on the bench for configurations of heat source using
non-contact thermometer. Record the data in Table 2.
4) Repeat each procedure for four (4) times.

EXPERIMENT DATA:

Table 1
Aircond 1 2 3 4 Average
outlet
1
2
3
4

Table 2

Bench 1 2 3 4 Average
1
2
3
4

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 DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING
CENTRE FOR DIPLOMA STUDIES, SPACE
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

EXPERIMENTAL RESULT:

1) Plot in the Figure 1. On each colored surface, set the correct emissivity.

Figure 1: Temperature distribution plot

2) Calculate average of each measurement

3) Calculate absolute and relative error of temperature reading caused by the different emissivity
of the surfaces.

DISCUSSION:

1) Is there any difference in the results between the temperature at the air conditioning outlet
and the bench? Why?
2) State the possible uncertainty might be happen while conducting the experiments

CONLCUSION:

Give your conclusion for this experiment in term of their advantages, usage and recommendation to
improve the quality of the experiment.

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