InstrumentCalibration

By


DylanM.George
iosdfiohgoadfhoighdfio
VictorAlvarez
CJThor
SeanJaehnig



DateofExperiment:September13,2013
DateTurnedIn:September25,2013



For
ME128:ThermalFluids
ProfessorMarbach
 Abstract

This experiment consists of verifying accuracy of thermal couples as well as tabulating

pressure transducer data against voltage readings. A thermal couple is a device thatuses
two materials of different thermal conductivity to measure temperature. Three thermal
couples were exposed to three separate temperatures and the voltage reading was
compared to that of known values. The result was that the thermal couples were
extremely close to the known values, verifying their accuracy. A pressure transducer
measures the force that is exerted on it and outputs a corresponding voltage. Both the
pressure read from the pressure regulators and the voltage read from the pressure
transducers were recorded. The comparison between the two enables the user to
implement them for later use. The result was a predictable trend that allows use of the
device.

1.IntroductionandBackground

Thermal couples areveryeconomicalandwidelyuseddevices.Theirreadingsare

very repeatable. Checking their accuracy is as simple as subjecting them to
different temperatures and comparingtheoutputvoltagetothatofaprovenvalue.
Three differentthermalcouplesweretested:typeJ,typeK,andtypeT.TypeJhas
the greatestsensitivity(50V/C)andatemperaturerangeofthethree(40Cto
+750 C). Type Thasasensitivityinthemiddleofthethree(43V/C)andhasa
tight temperature range of 200 C to +350 C. Type K istheleastsensitive(41
V/C)buthasawidetemperaturerangeof200Cto+1350C.

The pressure transducer had an unknown relationship between pressure and
output voltage. An simple comparison of the empirical data yielded the true
relationship.Thisknowledgenowallowstheaccurateuseofthedevice.

2.Objective

Theprimaryobjectiveofthisexperimentwastolearnhowtocalibrate
thermocouplesandanOmegastraingagepressuretransducer.Thesecondary
objectivewastoconfirmtheaccuratenessofthemeasurementsobtained.

3.ExperimentalSetupandProcedure

Figure1:SimpleSchematicofaThermocouple

Figure2:PhotographofThermocoupleActualSetUp



 Theactualsetupofthethermocouplesystemseemedalittledifficultto
understandduetothedifferenttypesofdevicesinthesystemandthewiringsetup.A
simplifiedschematicofthethermocouplesystemwasprovidedtohelpunderstandthe
systeminamoreuncomplicatedway.Threethermocoupleswereusedforcalibration.
Eachofthethermocouplearemadeofadifferenttypeofmaterialwhichthengenerates
differentvalueofvoltages.Tomeasurethepropertiesofthethermocouples,therewill
bethreedifferenttemperatureapparatuswhereeachthermocouplewillbeusedinand
theirvoltageswillberecordedandcomparedtothetheoreticalvaluesgiveninthe
handbook.Thisexperimentwillalsoconfirmthethefunctionalityandaccuratenessof
thedevice.

Figure3:SchematicofPressureTransducer



Figure4:PhotographofPressureTransducerActualSetUp(1)

Figure5:PhotographofPressureTransducerActualSetUp(2)

Theactualsetupofthepressuretransducersystemseemedevenmore
complicatedcomparedtothethermocouplesystem.Inthiscaseasimplified
schematicofthepressuretransducerwasalsogiventotohelpunderstandwhatthe
systemconsistsofanditsfunction.Tomeasurethepropertiesofthepressure
transducer,pressurewillbeappliedthroughthesystemthroughanadjustablepressure
supplydevicewhichthentravelsthroughoutthesystemtothetransducer.The
transducerwillthenconvertthepressureintoavoltageandthedatawillberecorded.

Procedure:

1. Thermocouples

Therewerethreetypesofthermocouplesthatwereusedinthis
experiment.ThesetypeswereJ,K,andT.Inadditiontherewerethree
apparatuswhereeachthermocouplewasusedtotesttheir
measurements.Thethreeapparatuswereacontainerfullofice
measuredtobe0C,hotboilingwatermeasuredtobe100Canda
calibratedhotpointcellsetat200C.Eachthermocouplewassetinto
eachapparatusandthevoltagesweremeasuredandrecorded.The
thermocoupleswerecontinuallyrotatedclockwiseintoanother
apparatusuntildatawerecollectedfromeachthermocoupleineach
apparatus.Thetheoreticaldatawerealsogatheredfromahandbookof
thermocoupletobecomparedwiththemeasureddata.Atotalof18
valueswerecollected.Halfofitweremeasuredfromtheexperiment
andtheotherhalfwerecollectedfromthehandbook.


2. PressureTransducer

Thisexperimentwassetandreadytogo.Agroupmemberadjusted
pressurestartingfrom0150psiinmultiplesof15byrotatingtheknob
onthedevice.Thepressureaccuracywasobservedbyaneedle
pressuregagebuiltwithinthedevice.Thevoltagesofeachpressure
wererecordedthroughameteralreadyconnectedtothesetupgoing
upwardsfrom0150psianddownwardfrom1500psi.Thepurposeof
recordingthevoltagesfromincreasinganddecreasingpressurewasto
observeanydifferencesofdatafromdifferentstartingpoint.Atotalof
22valueswerecollected.Halfofitwaswerecollectedstartingfrom
0150psiandtheotherhalfwerecollectedfromgoingbackwardsfrom
1500psi.

4.ResultsandDiscussion

Tables13containtheexperimentalandexpecteddataforeachthermocouplealongwith
thepercenterrorbetweenthetwo.


Table1:PropertiesoftheJTypethermocouple.
Temp(o C) Experimental Expected %Error
0 0 0 0

( 5.25.269
5.269
) * 100 = 1.310
100 5.2 5.269

200 10.8 10.779 ( 10.8 10.779

10.779
) * 100 = 0.195

Table2:PropertiesoftheKTypethermocouple.
Temp(o C) Experimental Expected %Error
0 0 0 0

( 4.04.095
4.095
) * 100 = 2.320
100 4.0 4.095

200 8.2 8.138 ( 8.2 8.138

8.138
) * 100 = 0.762

Table3:PropertiesoftheTTypeThermocouple.

Temp(o C) Experimental Expected %Error
0 0 0 0

( 4.24.290
4.290
) * 100 = 2.098
100 4.2 4.29

200 9.3 9.288 ( 9.3 9.288

9.288
) * 100 = 0.129

Withallthesamplestheexperimentalvoltageswereallveryclosetothetheaccepted
valuewiththehighestpercentoferrorat2.32%.Alsowithallthreethermocouplesthe
percenterrorwasgreaterandnegativethe100degreetemperature.Thiscouldhavebeen
becausethetemperaturesweretakenatahigheraltitudethensealevelandcouldhave
slightlyreducedtheboilingtemperatureofthewater.


Figure1:PressureTransducerVoltage

Figureonegivestheplotsofthevoltagefromthepressuretransducerasthepressureis
increasing(BlueDots)andasitisdecreasing(RedLine).Thetwolinesarealmost
identical.Thelineequationsshowjusthowsimilarthetwosetsofdataareastheyeach
haveidenticalslopesandonlyvarybyasmallamountattheyintercept.

5.Conclusions

Allthreethermalcouplesprovedtobeveryaccurateandthepressuretransducer
nowhasdatatoassistinitsimplementation.ThetypeA,K,andTthermal
couplesarereadyforuseduetoverifyingtheirpercentdifferencefromtheknown
designedvalues.Thepressuretransducernowhasabaselinetoreferencefromfor
anyadditionalreadings.

References

Duff,M.(2010),F
igure1[Photograph].Retrieved23September,2013,fromAnalog
Devices,
http://www.analog.com/library/analogdialogue/archives/4410/thermocouple.html

AppendixA:SampleCalculations

Experimental Expected
PercentError= Expected * 100

AppendixB:RawData