RADIATION METHODS (PYROMETRY)

Measures temperature by detecting thermal radiation from an object without touching the object. Consists of an optic system which accumulates visible infrared energy and focuses the energy to the detector. The detector will convert the energy to electricity, where the electric energy is proportionate to temperature. Radiation emission:

where, T is the temperature of the object in Kelvin.

Classes of Pyrometry

For temperatures above 650oC, the heat radiations emitted from the body are of sufficient intensity to be used for measuring the temperature Instruments that employ radiation principles fall into three general classes: Total radiation pyrometer

1.

sensitive to all the radiation that enters the instrument Sensitive to radiation of a particular wavelength

2.

Selective (or partial) radiation pyrometers

3.

Infrared (IR) pyrometer

the IR pyrometers employ the infrared portion of the spectrum by using a thermal detector to measure the temperature on the surface of the body

Total Radiation Pyrometer

The total radiation pyrometer receives a controlled sample of the total radiation of a hot body and focuses it on to a temperature sensitive transducer. The term 'total radiation' includes both visible (light) and invisible (infrared) radiations. Wave lengths of light in the visible range is from 0.3 to 0.72 m & infrared radiations is from 0.72 to 1000 m. Require special optical materials for focusing - ordinary glass is unsatisfactory

 It consists of blackened tube T open at one end to receive

the radiations from the object whose temperature is to be measured The other end of the tube has a sighting aperture in which an adjustable eyepiece is usually fitted. The detector disc is usually of blackened platinum sheet/foil and is connected to thermocouple or thermopile junctions or to a resistance thermometer bridge circuit Leads from the detector are led out of the casing to a meter for measuring the thermoelectric emf or the variation the electric resistance of the platinum foil.

Selective Radiation Pyrometer

The classical form of optical pyrometer is the disappearing filament optical pyrometer It is most accurate of all radiation pyrometers - 50C in the range of 850-12000C However, its use is limited to temperature, greater than about 7000C, since it requires visual brightness match by a human operator. This instrument used to realize the International Practical Temperature Scale above 10640C.

 In the disappearing filament instrument shown an image of

the target is superimposed on the heated filament The tungsten lamp (stable) is previously calibrated, so that when the current through the filament is known, the brightness temperature of the filament is also known. A red filter that passes only a narrow band of wavelengths around 0.65 pm is placed between the observer eye and the tungsten lamp and the target image The observer controls the lamp current until the filament disappears in the superimposed target image.

Thermopile

Thermopile is normally used to detect infrared energy where it normally consists of a few small thermocouples. Thermopiles are used to provide an output in response to temperature as part of a temperature measuring device, such as the infrared thermometer. These small thermocouples are connected serially to increase sensitivity of the pyrometer where the effect of serial connection will increase the sensitivity of sensor as much as n times.

Physical Construction of Thermopile

Examples of Pyrometer Applications

Measurement of exhaust gas temperature in the engine

The above diagram shows a typical exhaust gas temperature control using a thermocouple. A DC amplifier is used to amplify the thermocouple output to a suitable value to be connected to a matching network.

Temperature measurement in a hot water tank.

A platinum resistance thermometer is placed in a liquid filled tank. The resistance change will be changed to voltage through a bridge network. A DC amplifier produces enough voltage for the recorder to operate. A stirrer is used to keep the temperature uniform

Telemetry In Temperature Measurement

Sometimes temperature measurement from a distance is needed and this is when the telemetry comes in. Voltage from a thermocouple is used to modulate the frequency to high wave radio frequency. This radio wave is transmitted and received by the radio frequency receiver where a demodulator is used to get the initial temperature reading