Presently Used Industrial Thermometers.

Resistance Temperature Detectors

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department

Active Temperature Detectors

History
The same year that Seebeck made his discovery about
thermoelectricity, Sir Humphrey Davy announced that the
resistivity of metals showed a marked temperature
dependence.
Fifty years later, Sir William Siemens proffer the use of
platinum as the element in a resistance thermometer.
His choice proved most propitious, as platinum is used to
this day as the primary element in all high-accuracy
resistance thermometers.
In fact, the Platinum Resistance Temperature Detector,15 or
PRTD, is used today as an interpolation standard from the
oxygen point (-182.96C) to the antimony point (630.74C).

BASIC THEORY
The electrical conductivity of a metal depends on the
movement of electrons through its crystal lattice.
Due to thermal excitation, the electrical resistance of a
conductor varies according to its temperature and this forms
the basic principals of resistance thermometry.
The effect is most commonly exhibited as an increase in
resistance with increasing temperature, a positive temperature
coefficient of resistance.
When utilising this effect for temperature measurement, a
large value of temperature coefficient is a deal.
Stability of the characteristic over the short and long term is
vital if practical use is to made of the conductor in question.
The relationship between the temperature and the electrical
resistance is usually non-linear and described by a higher
order polynomial.

400

350

300

Platinum RTD
Copper RTD

R, Ohm

250

200

150

100

50

0
-300

-100

100

300

t, oC

500

700

900

The Birth of RTD

The classical resistance temperature detector (RTD)
construction using platinum was proposed by C.H. Meyers
in 1932.
He wound a helical coil of platinum on a crossed mica web
and mounted the assembly inside a glass tube.
This construction minimized strain on the wire while
maximizing resistance.

Laboratory Standard
Meyers design produced a very stable element.
The thermal contact between the platinum and the
measured point is quite poor.
This results in a large thermal response time.
The fragility of the structure limits its use today
primarily to that of a laboratory standard.
Another laboratory standard has taken the place of
Meyers design.
This is the bird-cage element proposed by Evans
and Burns.

The Bird-cage RTD

Stainless Steel open ended fluid

probe is ideal for protecting the
temperature sensor at the same time
of reducing thermal mass

COMPARISON OF ELEMENT TYPES

Platinum Sensing Resistors

Platinum, with its wide temperature range and stability, has
become the preferred element material for resistance
thermometers.
Platinum sensing resistors are available with alternative R o
values, for example 10, 25 and 100 Ohms.
A working form of resistance thermometer sensor is defined
in IEC and DIN specifications.
This forms the basis of most industrial and laboratory
electrical thermometers.
The platinum sensing resistor, Pt100 to IEC 751 is
dominant in many parts of the world.
Its advantages include chemical stability, relative ease of
manufacture, the availability of wire in a highly pure form
and excellent reproducibility of its electrical characteristic.
The result is a truly interchangeable sensing resistor which
is widely commercially available at a reasonable cost.

CalendarVan Dusen equation

R R0 1 A T B T 2 100 C T 3 C T 4

R R0 1 T 0.01T 10.01T 0.01T 1 0.01T

Where, andare calibration constants, dependent on the purity of

the platinum which is country dependent.
The dominant constant is which has a value of either 0.003921/C
for the so-called U.S. calibration curve, or
0.003851/C for the "European" calibration curve.
RTD sensors corresponding to either curve are available.
For the U.S. calibration curve, for T < 0 and = 0.11
for T>0.