CH2007D

PROCESS INSTRUMENTATION
Lecture – 18
Temperature Measurement – 5
Characteristics of Pressure-Spring
Thermometers
 Head Effect in Liquid- or Gas-Expansion
Thermometer
• The head effect in a pressure thermometer is caused by placing the
thermometer bulb at a considerably higher or lower position
(elevation) than the receiving element.
• The head of liquid between bulb and receiving element will cause a
greater or lesser pressure at the receiving element.
• Liquid-expansion thermometer
– Mercury system is filled at, say, 1000 psi pressure.  The error caused in the
reading of the instrument is small.
– If necessary, the mercury thermometer can be calibrated with the bulb in
position so as to correct for the head effect.
• The head effect in the gas-expansion thermometer is negligible
1. The pressure created by a column of gas is small
2. The nitrogen thermometer is normally filled with an initial pressure of
several hundred pounds per square inch.
 Head Effect in Vapour Pressure Thermometer
• The head effect in vapor-actuated thermometers is sometimes
appreciable
1. The pressure in the thermal system is low
2. The pressure effect of a head of liquid is of appreciable
magnitude.
• It is accounted for by calibrating the instrument
with the bulb at a height above the
receiving element that it will have
when actually installed.
• If the elevation of the bulb is
changed, then the instrument
requires recalibration.
 Barometric Effect in Pressure Thermometers
• Error due to changes in barometric pressures
• The pressure-spring deflection is proportional to the difference in
internal and external pressures.
• With the mercury system filled at about 1000 psi pressure and
operating solidly filled, the effect of changes in barometric pressures
is ±0.1%  Negligible
• In the gas-expansion thermometer, the initial pressure is several
hundred psi, and the operating pressure even higher.  Negligible
barometric effect
• The vapor-actuated thermometer operates at pressures in the
region of 100 to 200 psi, and sometimes lower. Barometric-
pressure changes may cause a small error, which should not be
neglected.
 Immersion Effect in Pressure Thermometers
• It results from conduction of heat along the bulb and thermal well,
thereby reducing the temperature at the bulb and causing an error,
sometimes called a conduction error.
• Heat is conducted along the bulb and extension neck and along the
thermal well to the outside.
• A temperature drop exists with this flow of heat, and the
temperature indicated by the thermometer is lower than the actual
temperature.
• A thermometer bulb and well should be immersed far enough and
the exposed head should be sufficiently insulated to keep all parts of
the bulb and well at the same temperature.
• Vapor-actuated thermometer bulb is not so dependent on complete
immersion for its accuracy as the mercury thermometer and gas
thermometer.
 Radiation Errors in Pressure Thermometers
• Radiation errors often exist in the measurement of gas and air
temperatures because of the ability of the thermometer bulb to "see"
solid bodies whose temperatures are lower or higher than that of the gas.
 Errors may be as large as 40 to 50 percent.
• In a duct, for example, the thermometer reads low if the walls are at a
lower temperature than the gas
• A radiation shield constructed around the thermometer bulb is effective in
preventing radiation error.
• The shield must be arranged so that the hot gases flow between the
thermometer bulb and the shield and between the shield and the duct
walls.
• The bulb gains heat by convection and conduction from the gas but loses
heat by radiation to the walls.
• When a shield is used, the heat lost by radiation is reduced, because the
shield is more nearly at gas temperature.
 Reproducibility of Pressure Thermometers
• Ambient-temperature compensation  can be made accurate
• Calibration drift  depends on the construction of the thermometer
and on the stability of the filling media.
– Leakage in the thermal system.
– Mechanical stresses in materials.
– Thermal stresses in materials.
– Fatigue and creep of metals.
• Ordinarily the filling media such as mercury, nitrogen, and the
lower-temperature liquids for vapor thermometers are used in quite
pure forms and are stable over long periods.
• At higher temperatures it is possible for contamination and
decomposition to take place, and these are causes for calibration
drift.
 Sensitivity of Pressure Thermometers
• The dead zone of industrial pressure thermometers depends on
– the starting friction
– lost motion existing in the linkage and in pen or pointer bearings,
– the friction between pen and chart paper in recording thermometers.
• The mercury thermometer develops a large force in the thermal
system by virtue of its liquid expansion.  It has the smallest dead
zone, generally in the neighborhood of 0.05 to 0.10 per cent of full
scale.
• The gas thermometer and vapor thermometer operate from the
pressure developed in the thermal system, producing forces
generally smaller in magnitude than those of the mercury
thermometer. The dead zone in these types may be as large as 0.25
per cent of scale for narrow temperature spans.
 Response of Pressure Thermometers
1. The characteristics of filing media, bulb, and thermal well
– Thermal capacitance
– Thermal conductivity
– Surface area per unit mass
2. The characteristics of the fluid surrounding the bulb
– Film coefficients of heat transfer
– Mass velocity
– Thermal capacitance
– Thermal conductivity
• A thermometer bulb should have a large area, a small mass, a small
specific heat, and a high thermal conductivity.
• Specific heat and thermal conductivity depend on thermometer material.
• The response of the thermometer depends almost wholly on the size of
the bulb, its area, and its method of installation.
 Dip Effect in Mercury Thermometers
• Dip effect is caused by the sudden expansion of the metal
thermometer bulb, which takes place before expansion of the fluid
because heat arrives first at the thermometer bulb.
• Temporarily this causes a net contraction of fluid volume, causing
the instrument to indicate a reversed direction of temperature
change.
• The extent of the dip effect is most noticeable
in mercury thermometers because of the
relatively large quantity of heat that must be
transferred through the bulb to the mercury.
• The lag caused by the dip effect may be of
0.01 min magnitude.
 Thermometer Lag Variation with
Characteristics of the Measured Medium
 Effect of Thermal Well on Thermometer
Response
• Considerable increment in the response lag of the thermometer.
• The second-order effect is caused by the mass of the well, which is
separated thermally from the mass of the bulb by a relatively high thermal
resistance.
• Heat transfer from well to bulb – Conduction, Convection and Radiation
• Metal-to-metal contact between bulb and
well is often increased by filling the space
between bulb and well with a metal pow-
der, graphite, oil, mercury, or thin sheet-
metal inserts. reduce thermal resistance
between bulb and well  increase the spe-
ed of response about 10% or more.
• No convection or radiation heat transfer
when the space between bulb and well is
solidly filled.
Comparison of Pressure-Spring
Thermometers