Journal of Physics: Conference Series

PAPER • OPEN ACCESS You may also like

- A pan-European investigation of the Pt-
Real-Time Monitoring System for Thermocouple 40%Rh/Pt-20%Rh (Land–Jewell)
thermocouple reference function
Inhomogeneity Equipment J V Pearce, C J Elliott, A Greenen et al.

- A modified hot thermocouple apparatus for

the study of molten oxide solidification and
To cite this article: H Nugraha et al 2022 J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 2243 012039 crystallization
Shaghayegh Esfahani, Karim Danaei,
Daniel Budurea et al.

- A critical review of the common

thermocouple reference functions
View the article online for updates and enhancements. Emile Webster

This content was downloaded from IP address 103.144.175.223 on 22/06/2022 at 13:43

9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

Real-Time Monitoring System for Thermocouple

Inhomogeneity Equipment
H Nugraha1, A Imaduddin1, A Achmadi2, Suryadi3, A S Wismogroho3
1
Research Center for Metallurgy and Material - LIPI
Gedung 470, Kawasan Puspiptek, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia
2
National Standardization Agency of Indonesia - BSN
Kawasan Puspiptek, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia
3
Research Center for Physics - LIPI
Gedung 442, Kawasan Puspiptek, Serpong, Banten, Indonesia

E-mail: heri.nugraha@lipi.go.id

Abstract. Thermocouple inhomogeneity equipment was developed to measure the Seebeck

coefficient characteristic in each wire position based on the effect of temperature exposure along
the thermocouple wire. Temperature and distance sensors are used to measure the temperature
output of the heating system and the movement of the thermocouple position. We developed a
real-time measurement system to monitor the measurement of the thermocouple sensor based on
a microcontroller. This monitoring system is needed to monitor changes in the ice bath during
measurement, if the ice bath was unstable or being melting, it can affect the output voltage of
the thermocouple. The program was compiled and uploaded to ESP 32 then monitoring data with
an open-source internet of things called Thingspeak was used as a platform to retrieve and
display the collected data. Real-time monitoring of distance from ultrasonic and temperature of
heat source (heat gun) can be accessed through web applications and smartphones. The data were
analyzed based on conditions for Seebeck value of inhomogeneity and validated with standard
calibration using the liquid bath. This study has been considered successfully implemented that
performs on IoT platforms and was adaptively ready to monitor thermocouple inhomogeneity
equipment.

Keywords: Microcontroller, Monitoring System, Thingspeak

1. Introduction
During measurement, the thermoelectric properties of thermocouples may decrease, especially when
measured at higher temperatures or as a result of mechanical stress [1]. When thermocouple wires are
exposed to heat, this degradation might affect their performance. For accurate measurements using
thermocouples, it is necessary to determine possible inhomogeneities in the thermocouple wires [2].
Inhomogeneity detection has two main objectives, namely to detect the distribution of any
inhomogeneities in the thermocouple wire, and to determine the minimum uncertainty when the
thermocouple was used [3][4].
As the temperature varies, the alloy's structure gradually changes, sometimes permanently, to the
lowest energy state at that temperature. Because the Seebeck coefficients of the different phases are
usually different, hysteresis effects occur when the phases change (where the reading depends on
previous temperature exposure) [5][6].
A heat gun was used for a source of temperature and to perform scanning of a thermocouple sensor
it takes approximately 1 hour and to facilitate monitoring of changes in temperature and distance for
each movement of the scan on the sensor. The thermocouple inhomogeneity test equipment was
developed with a real monitoring system to monitor temperature and distance changes at each movement
of the heating system.
In previous research, We have built a thermocouple inhomogeneity measurement system. This
equipment was used for scanning thermocouple wire in a long-distance scanning of about one meter.
Hot air was used for the heating source that can reach up to temperatures to 600 oC. In previous studies,
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

thermocouple wire measurements were made at temperatures of 120 oC and 300 oC with a temperature
and distance parameter monitoring system in the laboratory and could not be accessed or monitored
remotely. In this study, we have been measured type T thermocouple sensor and validated the data with
liquid bath and we developed an internet of things for easily monitoring temperature and distance using
the ESP 32 wifi module as a control for sending data from the sensor thermocouple and ultrasonic to an
open-source Thingspeak then control for switch off the heat gun if there was abnormal condition if the
temperature reaches higher than setting temperature.

2. Material and Method

2.1 Base metal thermocouples
Base metal thermocouples use relatively low-cost conductors and are adequate for most industrial
processes operating below 1000 oC [7]. Base-metal thermocouples are of relatively low cost and high
sensitivity, but they have a nonlinear output and their long-term stability makes them unsuitable for
applications demanding the highest possible accuracy [8]. Type T thermocouple with a diameter of 0.35
mm has been scanned using the local heating method at a temperature of 120 oC.
Nanovoltmeter

Ice bath

Sensor 1
Sensor 2 Hot air
Sensor 3
Thermocouple
Sensor

Stepper Motor
Microcontroller
Control

Ice bath

Figure 1. Design equipment double gradient system with real-time monitoring

Figure 1 shows the design double gradient system that was developed with real-time monitoring. To
keep the gradient temperature was only on a system scanning using hot air, an ice bath was employed
to immerse the sensor thermocouple both reference junction and measuring junction. The voltage output
of the thermocouple was recorded using a Nano voltmeter. An ultrasonic sensor for distance
measurement and thermocouple type K was used to monitor the temperature of hot air distribution.
Both sensors are connected to a digital input of ESP 32 hardware, ESP 32 is a low-cost, low-power
system on a chip (SoC) series with Wi-Fi & dual-mode Bluetooth capabilities [9]. This wifi module was
used for interfacing between data collected of temperature and distance to wireless signal then
thingspeak will be acces as an open-source to display this data. ThingSpeak is a free open source service
that collects and stores sensor data in the cloud while also allowing developers to create IoT apps [10].
ThingSpeak Webservices offers apps for analyzing and visualizing data as graphics or as MATLAB
code. ThingSpeak is capable of receiving data from a variety of hardware devices, including Arduino,
Raspberry Pi, and others. A channel is the most basic component of Thingspeak, and it has data fields,
location fields, and status fields and has been widely used in a variety of IoT related fields [11].

2.2 Measurements with double gradient system equipment

Hardware is designed to be able to control the speed of the stepper motor to be able to move according
to the microcontroller command and move according to a certain speed and distance with the data
retrieval time specified from the program. The heat gun temperature setting was set manually from the

2
9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

button on the heat gun, the heat gun used can produce an output temperature ranging from 50 oC to 630
o
C. Meanwhile, to ensure the output temperature between the heat gun and the heat received by the
thermocouple is the same, a monitoring sensor is used to read the temperature, including reading the
temperature of both sides of the thermocouple with two LM35 temperature sensors. To maintain a stable
temperature on both sides of the heating part of the thermocouple wire, an air pump is used to cool the
temperature on both sides of the thermocouple during heating. Meanwhile, to maintain the reference
temperature and the hot junction at 0 oC, ice baths are used at both ends of the thermocouple.

(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a). Set up thermocouple inhomogeneity measurement system, (b). Control panel with ESP 32
Figure 2 shows the set-up thermocouple inhomogeneity and control panel. The voltage and
temperature parameters generated during the measurement are sent data via the wifi module ESP 32
then can be accessed via thingspeak and android application. Both the reference and measurement
junctions are preserved at 0 oC. To provide quick heating over a system testing is a step to ensure the
system can function properly in thermocouple testing with the local heating method. As a result, include
a position indicator, x, which can be readily expressed as the distance from the hot junction, as follows:
𝑇2
𝑉 = ∫ 𝑆(𝑥, 𝑇)𝑑𝑇 (1)
𝑇1
where the integration of S(x, T) is performed for T, with S varying as a function of both x and T. The
output of a thermocouple is the sum of increments of emf, dV, generated as a result of temperature
increments, dT, integrated around the complete circuit. The resultant can be written as integration from
T1, the cold junction temperature, to T2, the hot junction temperature.

3. Result and Discussion

Observations of changes and uniformity at temperatures of 120 oC were carried out to see how much
temperature fluctuation was produced during measurement. To overcome temperature fluctuations that
occur during measurement, a thermocouple sensor is installed to record the heat output from the heat
gun. The following is the result of measuring the heat gun output that shows approximately reached
temperature from 118 oC to 122 oC.

Figure 3. Distribution data of temperature heat gun while 120 oC

3
9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

Using a double gradient method, the results of this investigation for real-time monitoring
inhomogeneity showed that thermocouple types T thermocouple with diameters of 0.35 mm do present
typical trends of repeatability. To make sure the real temperature was used for the sensor test, here was
the result of the scanning result temperature heat gun, the data collected from thingspeak.

Figure 4. Repeatability voltage measurement of thermocouple

Figure 4 shows the repeatability characteristic of the voltage measurement of a thermocouple. The
data shows fairly good repeatability of the data on the voltage measurement. The little difference in
voltage measurement that appears is due to the unstable ice while scanning the thermocouple. Repeated
measurements were carried out on Type T samples to see the consistency (repeatability) of
measurements using local heating. In the picture above, measurements were made at a temperature of
120 oC along a distance of 850 mm and the resulting graph of the voltage measurement pattern was
relatively the same. This measurement data has a standard deviation of 0.185-0.195 for each
measurement data.
ThingSpeak data can be seen from the channel URL with a special API key that proceeds in wifi
module code which visualizes the data in graphical form. Figure 5 shows the data displayed in graphical
form through the channel with two fields in ThingSpeak. The first field is for collecting and displaying
data of distance and the second field is for temperature.

Figure 5. Thingspeak display both temperature and distance

The data acquired from the sensor was programmed using a microcontroller, and the data was then
transmitted to the cloud platform Thingspeak. After separately verifying the hardware components, they
were integrated aboard. To begin, the Wi-Fi module was configured by transmitting commands. We
configured the Wi-Fi module ESP 32 for reading sensor data from the thermocouple and ultrasonic
sensor after startup. We use ThingSpeak's IoT analytics solution to aggregate and analyze real-time data
when sensor data is uploaded to the cloud. The Wi-Fi module uses its given IP to relay data to the cloud.
An API key is supplied to monitor the readings once ThingSpeak is linked.

4
9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

(a) (b)
Figure 6. (a) Display from android application. (b) Display data of microcontroller
Figure 6 (a) shows for free android application thingspeak viewer to display the data. While input
for the same ID with thingspeak, the android application thingspeak viewer display real-time data, and
figure 6 (b) display data from the terminal of the microcontroller. One of the measurements of the T-
type sample in a liquid bath at a temperature of 120 oC along a length of 30 cm to determine the
correction value for the thermocouple.
We have measured type T thermocouples using the local heating method and liquid bath. Based on
previous research from Webster, it was stated that the use of thermocouples or scanning at temperatures
below 200 oC would not affect the inhomogeneity of the thermocouple. Thus, in the procedure for this
research step, a thermocouple sample was scanned at a temperature of 120 oC in a liquid bath and local
heating. The following are the results of measurements on a sample of type T.

(a) (b)
Figure 7. (a). Measurement at liquid bath, (b). Seebeck Inhomogeneity of thermocouples
The graphic profiles as shown in Figures 7. a and 7. b regarding the results of the measurement of
the voltage in the liquid bath (mV) before and after scanning by local heating method and the S
inhomogeneity (Sinh) resulting from the results of calculations on the local heating method show a
relatively similar profile from the same distance of wire. The graph of voltage and S inhomogeneity
tends to decrease due to the response of the thermocouple wire to the temperature measurement received
from the heat source in the liquid bath and heat gun. The Seebeck voltage is proportional to the difference
in temperature at the time of measurement. To get a better accuracy value in the liquid bath, more
measurement data is needed by representing the measurements at each temperature in the liquid bath,
then interpolation calculations are carried out to get the Seebeck value. The results showed the
percentage of inhomogeneity in the liquid bath before exposure to heat during local heating scanning
was 0.05781% and after scanning at local heating was 0.0596%. From these results, the relative
inhomogeneity did not change significantly. The same thermocouple was scanned on the local heating
method with a temperature of 120 oC and calculated for the entire length of the thermocouple and a
length of 20 cm on the part of the thermocouple immersed in a liquid bath to compare the results of the
inhomogeneity.

5
9th Asian Physics Symposium 2021 (APS 2021) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2243 (2022) 012039 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2243/1/012039

4. Conclusion
The system created can retrieve temperature and distance data on the thermocouple inhomogeneity
equipment and the data that has been taken can be displayed on the website in graphical form both
temperature and distance with thingspeak and android application connected from the internet via ESP
32 wifi module. The development of a remote monitoring system makes it easier for users to be able to
monitor every process in a measurement system to reduce errors or errors in the running process of the
plant that has been built. The data temperature from this measurement was used for calculation Seebeck
inhomogeneity. The resulting testing of thermocouple type T with temperature 120 oC then validate with
liquid bath relatively have a similar profile in the liquid bath before exposure to heat during local heating
scanning was 0.05781% and after scanning at local heating was 0.0596%.

References
[1] E. S. Webster, “Low-Temperature Drift in MIMS Base-Metal,” pp. 574–595, 2014.
[2] M. Holmsten, J. Ivarsson, R. Falk, and M. L. L. Josefson, “Inhomogeneity Measurements of
Long Thermocouples using a Short Movable Heating Zone,” pp. 915–925, 2008.
[3] E. Webster and D. R. White, “Thermocouple homogeneity scanning,” Metrologia, vol. 130, p.
130.
[4] E. S. Webster, “Seebeck Changes Due to Residual Cold-Work and Reversible Effects in Type
K Bare-Wire Thermocouples,” Int. J. Thermophys., pp. 1–18, 2017.
[5] M. Science and K. S. Gam, “Change in inhomogeneity with temperature between 180 ° C and
950 ° C in base-metal thermocouples Change in inhomogeneity with temperature between 180
° C and 950 ° C in base-metal,” no. May 2009, 2016.
[6] L. F. Ramírez-garcía and O. L. Arnache-olmos, “Design of a Scanning Seebeck Coefficient
Apparatus : A Tool for Testing Inhomogeneities in Thermoelectric Materials,” vol. 66, no. 11,
pp. 3007–3011, 2017.
[7] C. Series, “An investigation of the base metal thermocouples uncertainty components in ILC
comparison An investigation of the base metal thermocouples uncertainty components in ILC
comparison,” 2018.
[8] E. S. Webster, “Thermal Preconditioning of MIMS Type K Thermocouples to Reduce Drift,”
Int. J. Thermophys., vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2017.
[9] N. Ismail et al., “Smart irrigation system based on internet of things (IOT),” J. Phys. Conf.
Ser., vol. 1339, no. 1, 2019.
[10] M. Alvan Prastoyo Utomo, A. Aziz, Winarno, and B. Harjito, “Server Room Temperature &
Humidity Monitoring Based on Internet of Thing (IoT),” J. Phys. Conf. Ser., vol. 1306, no. 1,
2019.
[11] D. Parida, A. Behera, J. K. Naik, S. Pattanaik, and R. S. Nanda, “Real-time environment
monitoring system using ESP8266 and thingspeak on internet of things platform,” 2019 Int.
Conf. Intell. Comput. Control Syst. ICCS 2019, no. Iciccs, pp. 225–229, 2019.

Acknowledgments
This work was supported by collaboration program with Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia-LIPI
and Badan Standardisasi Nasional-BSN