?At best, a thermometer only ever measures its temperature?. The aim is therefore to equalise the temperature of the sensor element compared to that of the medium to be measured. Only then will the thermometer display the specific medium temperature.
Principles to be looked at
The heat always flows from the warmer body to the colder one
Bodies at different temperatures strive for a balance of the temperature difference
Heat flow from the warmer to a colder body
Striving for a balance of the temperature difference
Heat transport between thermometer and environment
A thermometer transports heat via its thermowell and its internal components to the surroundings. Here, it is assumed that the ambient temperature is lower than the medium temperature. In the converse situation, the procedure medium is heated by the thermometer.
In general which means that each thermometer generates a heat dissipation. The art would be to minimise the resulting error.
Factors affecting the magnitude of heat dissipation
Temperature difference between your medium to be measured and the ambient temperature of the thermometer
Heat capacity of the medium to be measured
Heat capacity of the thermometer (and its components)
Heat penetration coefficient of the material of the thermometer
Thermal conductivity of the thermometer (and its own components)
Mass ratios (thermowell, neck tube, medium to be measured)
The physical design of the thermometer is, in the final analysis, the consideration of the sum of the all of the mentioned influencing factors.
Thermometer components with high temperature dissipation
With electrical thermometers: thermowell, outer sheath of the MI cable, wires
With gas-actuated thermometers: thermowell, stem, capillaries
With bimetal thermometers: thermowell, spindle
The heat dissipation thus occurs predominantly via the metal components of the thermometer; however, the air enclosed in the thermometer also transports heat ? though to Expensive . The heat dissipation is ? for exactly the same material ? also stronger, the larger the effective area is by which the heat is transported. The higher the mass of a thermometer and its thermowell and the higher its thermal conductivity, the higher heat energy is that can be extracted from the measuring point.
Conditions to prevent heat dissipation errors
Exemplory case of a measuring point that a large heat dissipation/measuring error can be expected
The physical design of the thermometer should be matched to the requirements of the measuring point (so far as is physically possible).
The thermometer must be immersed sufficiently deep in the medium whose temperature it will measure. If this is not the case, under certain circumstances, so much heat will be transported away in to the surroundings that the sensor won’t hold sufficient heat energy to adequately detect the medium temperature. It will then be barely possible to keep up the required class accuracy.
The measuring point should be well insulated as far as possible.
Note
Info on our temperature measuring instruments are available on the WIKA website.
See also our article:
Temperature ? what happens to be it?