Granier Sensor and Power Board Construction

for measurement of sap flux

I. Sensors
Each Granier sensor consists of a pair of needles – a heated needle and a reference needle
(non-heated).

Parts List Cat. # Unit Price($)

• 19G 1.5” hypodermic needles 7.69/box 100
(Becton-Dickinson)
Reorder No. 305187
Vendor: VWR Supply Store (Duke Campus)

• Thermocouple wire TT-T-36-200 120.00/spool 200’

Constantan heating wire TFCC-005-500 119.00/spool 500’
Vendor: Omega Engineering
Phone: 1-800-826-6342

• Belden multiconductor cable 03F4187 260.10/spool 1000’

Vendor: Newark Electronics
Phone: 1-800-463-9275

• Aluminum tubing Y-TTRA-2 10.00/6 tubes

36" length, 3/32" outer diameter, .014" wall
Vendor: Small Parts, Inc.
Phone: 1-800-220-4242

• solder
super glue, Elmer’s glue
clear plastic tubing (2 sizes: 0.082” and 0.125” outer diameter; we get this from VWR
supply store, Duke Campus)
heat shrink tubing
thermally conducting paste or some type of heat sink compound
emory cloth
electrical tape

Tools needed
Dremel tool w/ emory blades
Soldering iron, solder
Wire strippers
Razor blades
Ruler
Multimeter
Coarse wire for cleaning out cut and notched needles
Construction
Note: For reference needle (non-heated needle), steps 1,2,4, 6-8 apply. All steps apply
for heated needles.

1) Use dremel tool to cut needles to 2.1 cm length.

Slant needles so that distance from base to edge of
slant is 2 cm.
2) Slightly notch the cut needles at 1 cm to create a
small hole. 2cm
3) Use uncut needle to create a hole in the plastic base
of the needle.
4) Use emory cloth to clean up rough edges and coarse wire to clean burrs out of needle.
5) Cut heating wire to approximately 50 cm length. Strip one end and insert into cut end
of needle until about 5 cm comes through the plastic base of the needle. Leave the
rest of the wire’s length hanging out of the cut end of the needle.
6) Cut thermocouple wire to approximately 15 cm length. Use razor blade to separate
blue and red wires and slip off clear insulation. Carefully
Thermocouple
strip about 5 mm of the insulation from the ends of both junction
blue and red wires. Twist ends together to create a
thermocouple junction and solder with just enough
solder to hold together. Use wire clippers to trim this
junction to about 1-1.5 mm length. Apply small amount
of super glue to the junction and let dry.
7) Carefully slide non-soldered end of thermocouple through cut end of the needle until
soldered end is visible at the notch (this can be difficult for the heated needle due to
the presence of the heating wire). There should be no conductivity between the
thermocouple and the needle. Use multimeter to check this. To secure thermocouple,
place small droplets of super glue at notch until needle no longer takes in drops. Let
dry.
8) Use razor blade to scrape off any glue on exterior of needle.
9) Beginning at cut end of the needle, carefully and tightly wrap the heating wire around
needle, making sure the wraps are as close together as possible. Continue wrapping
until you reach needle’s plastic base. Needle should be
completely covered and heating wire should not overlap Heated Reference
needle needle
itself. Insert end of heating wire into the hole in the
plastic base you made in step 3. Pull tight and glue by
filling needle base with Elmer’s glue. This will also
secure all wires. Let dry. Cut heating wire so that both
ends extend 5 cm from the needle base.
10) Determine resistance value of heated needle by
measuring resistance across heating wire. Use an
ohmmeter for this and record value as R-total (should
be around 18-20 ohms). Measure length of heating wire leads coming out of the
plastic base of the needle and multiply this length by 0.4 ohms/cm to get R-leads.
The resistance of the coiled part of the heating wire is then R-coil = R-total – R-leads.
Write this value on plastic base of needle using a permanent marker.
Wiring Instructions
Cut about 3’ of Belden multiconductor cable.
Expose inner wires (red, black, green, and white)
at both ends of the cable, about 2” on one end
and 10-12” on the other end. The connections
from the Belden cable to the heated and reference
needles are as follows: red and black wires will
connect to the heater wire of the heated needle
(it does not matter which is which). The white
wire will connect to the blue (copper) thermocouple
wire of the heated needle and the green wire will
connect to the blue thermocouple wire of the reference needle. The red (constantan)
thermocouple wires from the heated and reference needles will connect to one another.
We use various-sized plastic tubing and heat shrink to insulate all wires and to make
them field durable. The procedure we follow is described below.
1) The red thermocouple wires from the heated and reference needles will connect to
one another. Before soldering this connection, slide 0.082” diameter (outer
diameter) plastic tubing over one wire and 0.125” diameter plastic tubing over the
other. Also slide over a piece of heat shrink tubing. Now solder this connection
and slide the smaller diameter tubing into the larger diameter tubing and secure
and seal the connection with the heat shrink. See illustrations.
Red thermocouple
wires from heated
and reference
needles soldered
Slide smaller diameter tubing
together Smaller and larger diameter into larger diameter tubing and
tubing and heat shrink (not secure with heat shrink
pictured) in place before
soldering

2) The heater wire from the heated needle will connect to the red and black Belden
wires. Before soldering these connections, do as above with the plastic tubing
and heat shrink. See illustration.
Heater wire Smaller diameter
soldered to tubing and heat
red Belden shrink in place
wire before soldering

Larger diameter tubing in

place before soldering

3) The blue thermocouple wire from the heated needle will connect to the white
Belden wire and the blue thermocouple
wire from the reference needle will
connect to the green Belden wire.
Use plastic tubing and heat shrink
before soldering as above. Smaller diameter tubing Larger diameter tubing
housing blue thermocouple housing white Belden wire
wire from heated needle
 4) Use multimeter to test all connections. Use electrical tape to secure wires so that
one is not bearing more weight than the others. Secure needle bases with heat
shrink Final product

Needle base secured with heat shrink

Aluminum Sheaths
In the field, both heated and reference needles will be inserted into aluminum sheaths that
are installed into hydroactive xylem of the trees selected for sap flux measurement.
Needles will first be coated with some type of thermally conducting paste (we use
silicone-based heat sink compound from Radio Shack) before inserting into sheaths. To
prepare these sheaths, use a razor blade and cut aluminum tubing to 21 mm length by
rolling the tubing back and forth beneath the blade atop a hard surface. Use emory cloth
to clean up rough edges and coarse wire to clean out any burrs.
 II. Power boards
Power boards must be constructed to regulate power applied to the heated needle.
Following are instructions for one circuit, from which 3 sensors can be operated. Each
sensor should use 0.200W. To determine the current needed to supply this, solve for
current: current = sqrt (0.200W/R-coil). R-coil is in ohms, and 3 sensors that all have the
same R-coil should be used. Current can be adjusted for each circuit with the trimpot.

Parts List Cat # Unit Price($) Number

• 1/2W 12Ω resistor 1/2W12 0.04 4
1/2W 47Ω resistor 1/2W47 0.04 4
1/2W 180Ω resistor 1/2W180 0.04 4
3 position terminal strip 74-483 0.41 4
25V 100µF radial capacitor 15-509 0.28 8
1A 50V diode 1N4001 0.04 8
1kΩ upright trimpot 38-143 1.35 4
1A 250V GMA fuse 31-325 .75/box of 5 4
voltage regulator LM317T .65 4

Vendor: Hosfelt Electronics, Inc.

Phone: 1-800-524-5414

• PC board 5mm fuse clip 98F2128 .17 4

Vendor: Newark Electronics
Phone: 1-800-463-9275

• .1” x .1” spacing, .042” hole perfboard

Vendor: RadioShack

Circuit Diagram
Fuse 1A 50V diode 1A 50V diode 12 Ω
+12V

LM317T
voltage
regulator 47 Ω 1kΩ trimpot

capacitors 180 Ω
100µF 100µF

Heated needle
(20 Ω)
Heated needle
(20 Ω)
Heated needle
0V (20 Ω)