HUMIDITY

 Humidity refers to the amount of water vapor

present in air or gas.
 Dry Bulb Temperature is the temperature
measured when the thermometer is directly exposed
to an air- water vapor mixture. Its is not affected by
moisture present in the air.
 Wet Bulb Temperature is the temperature
indicated by the thermometer when its bulb is
covered by a wet wick and this is exposed to the air-
water vapor mixture. When the air passes on the
wet wick present, the moisture on the wick
evaporates creating a cooling effect.
 HUMIDITY MEASURING
INSTRUMENTS
 Psychrometer (Wet Bulb And Dry Bulb
Thermometer) Method

 Hygrometers
• Hair Hygrometer
• Electrical Humidity Sensing Absorption
Hygrometer.

Dew Point Meter

 PSYCHROMETER
(DRY AND WET BULB
THERMOMETER)
Construction and working:

 consists of two separately filled thermal

systems one for DBT and one for WBT.
 DBT is kept bare in the air-vapor mixture and
the WBT is covered by a wick which is
maintained wet.
 the bulbs are kept next to each other such
that the same mixture passes over them.
 these bulbs are connected to a pressure
spring by a capillary tube.
 the pressure spring reading shows DBT and WBT
of the mixture. For these values of DBT and WBT
the intersection on the psychrometric chart is noted
 the intersection points will give the values of
absolute humidity and percentage relative
humidity.

Advantages :
 high accuracy
 easy maintenance
 low cost
Disadvantages:
 accuracy decreases below 20% relative humidity
 humidity at freezing temperatures cannot be
read
 cannot be used in closed volumes.
 HAIR HYGROMETERS
PRINCIPLE:
Some materials like hair and wood undergo changes
in linear dimensions when they absorb moisture.
This change can be used to predict the changes in
humidity of the air.

CONSTRUCTION:
 hair is arranged as a parallel beam and separated
from each other to expose them to the atmosphere.
 this hair arrangement is kept under tension using
a tension spring to ensure proper functioning.
 the hair arrangement is connected to an arm, a
link arrangement and a pointer.
WORKING:
 the air whose humidity is to be measured is
made to surround the hair arrangement. The
hair absorbs the humidity from this air and
expands or contracts.
 this expansion or contraction is passed over
to the arm and the link
 the pointer moves to indicate the humidity.

ADVANTAGES:
 accuracy is within 15 %

DISADVANTAGES:
 Slow response

 Calibration tends to change if it is used

constantly
 THERMAL
CONDUCTIVITY
 There are a number of possible ways to measure
thermal conductivity, each of them suitable for a
limited range of materials, depending on the
thermal properties and the medium temperature.
Two classes of methods exist to measure the
thermal conductivity of a sample: steady-state and
non-steady-state methods.
 In general, steady-state techniques perform a
measurement when the temperature of the
material measured does not change with time.
 The transient techniques perform a
measurement during the process of heating up.
 Thermal conductivity
measuring instruments

 conductivity cell

 Searle's bar method

 Time-Domain Thermoreflectance
 CONDUCTIVITY CELL
CONSTRUCTION:
 entire equipment is made of glass
 right side has a platinum filament held under
constant tension by a spring
WORKING:
 gas flows at constant rate through the filament
cell
 when current flows through the filament the
temperature rise in the filament depends on the rate
is conducted away from the filament
 From this the thermal conductivity of the gas can
be found.
 this cell can also be connected in the form of a
Wheatstone bridge arrangement where the
reference cell may be sealed with dry air.
 for multi component mixtures it possible to pass
the gas through an absorber hence increasing the
selectivity

SEARLE'S BAR METHOD

 Searle's bar method is an experimental procedure
to measure thermal conductivity of material. A bar
of material is being heated by steam on one side
and the other side cooled down by water while the
length of the bar is thermally insulated.
Then
Q = -kA ((T2- T1) / d) t
Where:
Q is the heat supplied to the bar in time t,
A is the cross-sectional area of the bar,
T1 is the temperature nearest the heated end,
T2 is the temperature measured a distance d away from the point of
T1 measurement ,
k is the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the bar.
Then energy Q transferred to the cooled end and absorbed by water
is:
Q= m Cp (T4- T3) Where
m – mass of water collected during time t
Cp – coefficient of specific heat capacity (specific heat)
T3 is the temperature of water coming from a reservoir,
T4 is the temperature measured as water leaves
 TIME-DOMAIN
THERMOREFLECTANCE
This method can be applied most notably to thin
film materials (up to hundreds of nanometers thick),
which have properties that vary greatly when
compared to the same materials in bulk.
The idea behind this technique is that once a
material is heated up, the change in the reflectance
of the surface can be utilized to derive the thermal
properties.
The reflectivity is measured with respect to time,
and the data received can be matched to a model
which contain coefficients that correspond to
thermal properties.