Resonant frequency thermometers

Another resonant-frequency thermometer is the quartz crystal resonator (Benjaminson and Rowland, 1972), which, if the crystal is properly cut, is quite linear from about 190 to 525 K. Although this thermometer has excellent resolution, it does exhibit hysteresis and drift. The principle of quartz crystal thermometry is based on the temperature dependence of the piezoelectric resonant frequency of a quartz crystal wafer of a given dimension. The angle of cut of the quartz crystal is selected to give as nearly a linear and yet sensitive correspondence between resonant frequency and temperature as possible. This angle of cut is referred to as an LC (linear coefficient) cut. The temperature sensitivity of the quartz crystal thermometer is about 1000 Hz/°C. 

Electrical effects. Electrical methods are convenient because an electrical signal can be easily processed. Resistance thermometers (including thermistors) and thermocouples are the most widely used. Other electrical methods include noise thermometers using the Johnson noise as a temperature indicator resonant-frequency thermometers, which rely on the temperature dependence of the resonant frequency of a medium, including nuclear quadrupole resonance thermometers, ultrasonic thermometers, and quartz thermometers and semiconductor-diode thermometers, where the relation between temperature and junction voltage at constant current is used. 

Other Thermometers. Among the many other types of thermometers, we will briefly discuss the following bimetallic thermometers, noise thermometers, resonant-frequency thermometers, and semiconductor diode thermometers... 

In a resonant-frequency thermometer, the resonance frequency of the medium serves as the temperature indicator. Included in this category are nuclear quadrupole resonance thermometers, quartz thermometers, and ultrasonic thermometers. These thermometers usually... 

Quartz Crystal Thermometer. The temperature coefficient of the resonant frequency of quartz (14-20 MHz), using the piezoelectric effect, is a function of temperature (1 kHz per degree). In the temperature range -80°C to 230°C, an electronically controlled quartz crystal thermometer can be accurate to 0.02°C and has a sensitivity of 10 microdegrees centigrade in temperature difference measurements. 

Quartz crystals have been used as thermometers in calorimetry relatively recently. Their use is based on the fact that the resonance frequency of the quartz crystal cut in a certain orientation to the axis of its crystal structure depends on temperature, whereby the temperature dependence is high and almost linear. 

For a quartz thermometer, the resonant frequency of a quartz crystal resonator is strongly related to the temperature variation. With high resolution, the temperature change can be directly determined from the frequency change of a quartz crystal thermometer. A quartz thermometer developed for use between -80 and 250°C [85] has a resolution of 0.1 mK. If used at the same temperature, a comparable precision can be achieved. However, with temperature cycling, hysteresis can reduce its repeatability. An accuracy of 0.05°C can be achieved with calibration. Nevertheless the temperature resolution for the quartz resonator is found to be less accurate at lower temperatures Over the temperature range from 4.2 to 400 K, the temperature resolution with the resonant frequency change for a YS cut quartz crystal thermometer drops from 1 kHz/K at 300 K to 80 Hz/K at 4.2 K [86]. 

Finally, two other temperature-measuring devices are the quartz crystal thermometer, incorporating a quartz crystal whose resonance frequency is temperature dependent, and optical pyrometers, which are useful above about 1300 K to measure the radiant intensity... 

Yokagawa Electric Works has developed a thermometer based on the nuclear quadmpole resonance of potassium chlorate, usable over the range from —184 to 125°C. This thermometer makes use of the fundamental properties of the absorption frequency of the Cl nucleus, and its caUbration is itself a constant of nature. 

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