THERMAL SENSOR

PRESENTED BY:
R. NARESH
MG 52

Thermal sensor

Thermal sensors are used to monitor, or measure temperature in and environment

or of an engineering systems.

Common thermal sensors involve thermocouples and thermopiles.

PRINCIPLE

Thermal sensors work on the principle of the electromotive forces (emf) generated
by heating the junction made by dissimilar materials (beads)

The generated voltage (V) by a temperature rise at the bead (T) is:
V = T
where = Seebeck coefficient

Thermopiles

Thermopiles

Thermopiles are made of connecting a series of thermocouples

in parallel

The induced voltage (V) by the temperature change at the hot

junction (T) is:
V = N T

with N = number of thermocouple pairs in the thermopile.

WORKING

Solids deform when they are subjected to a temperature change (T)

A solid rod with a length L will extend its length by L = T, in which
= coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) a material property.

When two materials with distinct CTE bond together and is subjected to a
temperature change, the compound material will change its geometry as
illustrated below with a compound beam

USEAGE IN MEMS

These compound beams are commonly used as microswitches and relays in

MEMS products

MICRO THERMAL SENSOR

MICRO THERMAL SENSOR

32 polysilicon-gold thermocouples

dimension of thermopile is:

3.6

mm x 3.6 mm x 20 m thick

Typical

output is 100 mV

Response

time is 50 ms