Temperature Measurements

Thermocouples

Thermocouples are temperature measurement devices that are formed with two dissimilar metals where the junction is the measurement element. The temperature at the thermocouple junction generates a voltage as a result of the Seebeck Effect.

In order to get higher confidence in measurements, a thermopile can be constructed where the temperature is the average of the measurements made by each of the thermocouples.

<img src="assets\thermopile.png", width=700px>

Measurements of voltage made with thermocouples can easily be related to temperature with the following relation:

$$ \Delta V = \alpha (T - T_{ref}) $$

Where $\alpha$, the slope, is dependent on the type of thermocouple used, $T_ref$ is the reference temperature (generally $T_ref = 0$), and $T$ is the measured temperature.


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