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Experiment G: Connection of Thermocouple in Parallel & Series

Thermocouples connected in parallel produce an average output voltage, while those connected in series have an additive output where the total voltage increases as more thermocouples are added. The experiment measured the voltages of thermocouples connected in parallel and series to water heaters and ice water mixtures. In parallel connections, the voltages were nearly equal at different quantities of thermocouples, showing the average temperature. In series, the voltages increased from 5.9mV to 11.9mV to 18.3mV as more thermocouples were added, demonstrating the additive effect.

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Salina Shaffie
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521 views

Experiment G: Connection of Thermocouple in Parallel & Series

Thermocouples connected in parallel produce an average output voltage, while those connected in series have an additive output where the total voltage increases as more thermocouples are added. The experiment measured the voltages of thermocouples connected in parallel and series to water heaters and ice water mixtures. In parallel connections, the voltages were nearly equal at different quantities of thermocouples, showing the average temperature. In series, the voltages increased from 5.9mV to 11.9mV to 18.3mV as more thermocouples were added, demonstrating the additive effect.

Uploaded by

Salina Shaffie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Experiment G: Connection of Thermocouple in Parallel & series

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this experiment is to demonstrate that thermocouple connected in


parallel produce an output equivalent to the average temperature and to demonstrate the
additive effect of combining like thermocouple in a series configuration. For parallel, the
average temperature is obtained by connected three thermocouples in parallel
thermocouple circuit while in series the thermocouple is connected to input sockets of the
indicator at Temperature Measurement Bench and two more thermocouple was added
until the voltage increase at the total voltage for three thermocouple. For the result obtain
in parallel, when one by one of thermocouple was added into the Temperature
Measurement Bench the voltage is almost the same which is 7.7mV, 7.5mV and 7.3mV.
While for series, value of voltage increases as more thermocouples are connected which
is 5.9mV, 11.9mV and 18.3mV. In conclusion, the voltage of the three thermocouple is
almost the same in parallel and the voltage of the thermocouple is increasing when there
are more thermocouple was added.

INTRODUCTION

Temperature is a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a sample of


matter, expressed in units of degrees on a standardized scale. Temperature can be
measured in many different ways that vary in cost of equipment and accuracy.
Thermocouples are one of the most common sensors used to measure temperature
because they are relatively inexpensive yet accurate sensors that can operate over a wide
range of temperatures.
The basis of thermocouples was established by Thomas Johann Seebeck in 1821
when he discovered that a conductor generates a voltage when it is subjected to a
temperature gradient (National Instrument, 2011). Measuring this voltage requires the use
of a second conductor material that generates a different voltage under the same
temperature gradient. If the same material is used for the measurement, the voltage
generated by the measuring conductor simply cancels that of the first conductor. The
voltage difference generated by the two dissimilar materials can be measured and related
to the corresponding temperature gradient (Rusby , 2012). It is clear that thermocouples
can only measure temperature differences and they need a known reference temperature
to yield the absolute readings. The Seebeck effect describes the voltage or electromotive
force (EMF) induced by the temperature gradient along the wire.
There are many types of thermocouples such as type J,K and N. Different types are
designated by capital letters that indicate their composition according to American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) conventions. Thermocouple function is based on is
the difference in the conductivities of the two wire materials that the thermocouple is
made of, at a given temperature. This conductivity difference increases at higher
temperatures and conversely, the conductivity difference decreases at lower temperatures.
Thermocouples being more efficient and useful at higher temperatures. Since the
conductivity difference is small at lower temperatures and thus more difficult to detect,
they are inefficient and highly unreliable at low temperatures (Willey, 2001)
An electrical current that flows through the thermocouple created by the conductivity
difference between the two wires, along with a temperature difference between the two
junctions. The first junction point, which is the point at which the two wires are
connected, is placed within the medium whose temperature is being measured. The
second junction point is constantly held at a known reference temperature. When the
temperature of the medium differs from the reference temperature, a current flows
through the circuit (Michalski, 2001)

OBJECTIVES
To demonstrate that thermocouple connected in parallel produce an ouput equivalent to
the average temperature.

MATERIALS

1. Temperature Measurement Bench, Model: HE 151, SOLTEQ (Malaysia)


2. Thermocouple
3. Mixture of crushed ice and pure water
4. Water heater
5. Vacuum flask

PROCEDURE

Figure 3: circuit diagram for parallel connection

Figure 4: circuit diagram for series connection

1) The connection of thermocouple in parallel is discussed and been expressed in a


circuit diagram.
2) The thermocouple is connected to the input sockets of the indicator at
Temperature Measurement Bench in a parallel circuit.
3) The result and observation when thermocouple is connected from the water heater
to the input sockets is recorded.
4) Two more thermocouple is added from the circuit and the observation (voltage) is
recorded.
5) Then, connection of thermocouple in series is discussed and been sketched as a
circuit diagram.
6) Thermocouple is connected to input sockets of the indicator at Temperature
Measurement Bench in a series circuit.
7) Two more thermocouple is added from the circuit and the observation (voltage) is
recorded.
8) Observation and result are recorded.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Parallel circuit

Table 3: Voltage Reading for Thermocouple Type-K Connected in Parallel


No. of Voltage (mV)
Thermocouple Thermocouple Type-K
1 7.7
2 7.5
3 7.3

(Milli-volt
Indicator)
(Water
Heater)
(Ice-Water
Mix)

Figure 5: Thermocouple circuit diagram in parallel

Based on the results obtained in Table 3, it is clearly shown that the amount of
voltage produced when one thermocouple is connected from the water heater and the
ice-water mixture to the input sockets of the mV indicator is almost the same as that
produced when two or three thermocouples are connected in parallel.
The voltage when one thermocouple is connected is 7.7 mV. When two
thermocouples is connected, the voltage is 7.5 mV while when three thermocouples are
connected, the reading of voltage is 7.3 mV. The values are slightly different from each
other in this experiment. The theory proposed that when thermocouple are connected in
parallel, the reading are unchanged. There are maybe a small parallax error that cause the
difference between the theoretical and experimental result. The parallel connection of
thermocouples is used for averaging. (Norbert Engelberts,2008 ).
Figure 5 above represents the parallel connection made in the experiment with 3
thermocouples. One of the thermocouple application is in food industry. The
thermocouples are primarily used in various commercial restaurant applications. Most
common uses of thermocouples in the food industry are cooking equipment.
Thermocouples can be found in large food cooking systems used for mass production to
small scale, low volume, restaurant-grade appliances.

Series circuit

Table 4: Voltage reading for Thermocouple Type-K connected in series.

No. of Voltage
Thermocouple (mV)
1 5.9
2 11.9
3 18.3

(Milli-volt
Indicator)

(Ice-Water Mix)

(Water Heater)

Figure 6: Thermocouple circuit diagram in series


Based on the results obtained in Table 4, it can be seen that the value of voltage
increases as more thermocouples are connected in series. The value for the first, second
and third thermocouples are 5.9 mV, 11.9 mV, and 18.3 mV respectively. Figure 2 shows
the thermocouple circuit diagram in series.
When thermocouples are connected in series, the combination is usually called a
thermopile. The total output from the thermocouples reading will be equal to sum of
individual electromotive force. The purpose of using a thermocouple rather than a single
thermocouple is to obtain a more sensitive element. (Michael Haskell, 2008)
The experimental value is slightly differ from the theoretical value. The values that
accurate for the result are 6.0 mV, 12.0 mV and 18.0 mV respectively. The results’
accuracy may have been affected by the heat lost from the electric kettle to surroundings
during the experiment since the hot water in the kettle was exposed to the air in the room
because the cap of the kettle was opened.

CONCLUSION

In a conclusion, for the connection of thermocouple in parallel is almost the same


when one by one thermocouple was added into the Temperature Measurement Bench
which is 7.7mV, 7.5mV and 7.3mV. While for the connection of thermocouple in series is
increasing when the thermocouple is added one by one into the Temperature
Measurement Bench which is the value is 5.9mV, 11.9mV and 18.3mV.

REFERENCES
1. Milchalski, J. (2001) Temperature Measurement. Retrieved from www.bipm.org.
(Accessed 6th October, 2017)
2. National Instrument. (2011) Temperature Measurement with thermocouples.
Retrieved from www.ni.com (Accessed 6th October, 2017)
3. Rusby, R. (2012) The Beginner's Guide to Temperature Measurement. National
Physical Laboratory.
4. Willey, J. (2001) Temperature Sensors. Retrieved from
https://controls.engin.umich.edu/wiki/index.php/TemperatureSensors (Accessed 6th
October, 2017)

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