Spot measurement
With the emphasis on accuracy, reliability and simplicity of measurement a complete temperature measuring system for bath temperature has been developed. The sensor consists of a factory calibrated Pt - Pt10%Rh thermocouple protected by a U-shaped quartz tube. The thermocouple is housed inside a ceramic body and surrounded by a cardboard protection tube. The sensor is calibrated to provide an accuracy of ± 0.5ºC at the gold melting point (1064ºC). The low thermal mass of the sensor permits measurements to be completed in about 12 seconds. A further benefit of the disposal thermocouple is that there is no longer a need to periodically check the calibration of the thermocouple against a reference thermocouple.

To support the accuracy achieved with Pt-PtRh disposable thermocouples, a portable temperature display and logging instrument has been developed. As a result of fast temperature stabilisation of the disposable sensor, it is possible to automatically determine the bath temperature by using plateau detection and tolerance comparison techniques. When a measurement campaign is completed the instrument can then be taken to a computer where the measurements are automatically transferred via an infra red link into a dedicated Windows based PC program. Up to 400 measurements can be transferred automatically in about 15 seconds. The ability to transfer measurements rapidly and automatically not only provides a significant saving in labour time, but more importantly, eliminates the risk of human errors which might occur during the conventional, manual transfer of data from potline to process computer.

Brand name: Positherm Al