Thermocouples: a sensor for measuring temperature

Kim Fowler and John Schmalzel introduced many of the common sensor strategies that constitute the first stage in the measurement chain. While every element of that chain is important, the choice of an appropriate, robust sensor is an important decision. They gave examples from test stands for testing rocket engines. Measurements of the weight of liquids, their temperatures, and their flow rates in these rocket engine test stands require sensors and the understanding of how to use them. Sensors show up everywhere. Moreover, each sensor and sensor type has its characteristic values for a wide variety of descriptive parameters, such as accuracy, resolution, stability, specificity, linearity, and hysteresis. This part in the tutorial series is a case study of thermocouples, a sensor for measuring temperature. It focuses on one of the concerns for thermocouples: separating the junctions. Interestingly, the uses of just these types of thermocouples were shown. This case study is timely for that type of temperature measurement.