IAM Search
Process / Instrument Suitability
Thermocouples are by far the most rugged and wide-ranging of the contact-type temperature sensors. Accuracies vary with thermocouple type and installation quality. RTDs are more fragile than thermocouples, but they require no reference compensation and are inherently more linear.
Optical sensors lack the ability to measure temperature of fluids inside vessels unless a transparent window is provided in the vessel for light emissions to reach the sensor. Otherwise, the best an optical sensor can do is report the skin temperature of a vessel. For monitoring surface temperatures of solid objects, especially objects that would be impractical or even dangerous to contact (e.g. electrical insulators on high-voltage power lines), optical sensors are the only appropriate solution.
Chemical reactivity is a concern for contact-type sensors. If the sensing element is held inside a thermowell, that thermowell must be selected for minimum reaction with the process fluid(s). Bare thermocouples are particularly vulnerable to chemical reactions given the nature of most thermocouple metals (iron, nickel, copper, etc.), and must be carefully chosen for the particular process chemistry to avoid reliability problems later.
Go Back to Lessons in Instrumentation Table of Contents
Subscribe to this comment's feed
